[asia-apec 1074] Impacts of NATO's "Humanitarian" Bombing

[BAYAN]

>Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 21:07:29 -0400
>From: Michel  Chossudovsky <chossudovsky at sprint.ca>
>Subject: Impacts of NATO's "Humanitarian" Bombing
>
>Ad-hoc Committee to Stop Canada's Participation
>in the War in Yugoslavia
>-----------------------------------------------
>
>For distribution at Press Conference
>Monday, April 12, 10 a.m.
>National Press Theatre
>150 Wellington Street, Ottawa
>
>
>	IMPACTS OF NATO'S  "HUMANITARIAN" BOMBINGS,
>	THE BALANCE SHEET OF DESTRUCTION IN YUGOSLAVIA
>
>	by 
>
>	Michel Chossudovsky
>
>Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa, author of The
>Globalization of Poverty, Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms, Third
>World Network, Penang and Zed Books, London, 1997. Professor Chossudovsky
>can be contacted at 1-514-4252777;  email chossudovsky at sprint.ca; fax
>1-514-4256224.
>
>
>Amply documented, the bombings of Yugoslavia are not strictly aimed at
>military and strategic targets as claimed by NATO. They are largely intent
>on destroying the country's civilian infrastructure as well as its
>institutions. 
>
>According to Yugoslav sources, NATO has engaged around 600 aeroplanes of
>which more than 400 are combat planes. They have flown almost 3,000 attack
>sorties, "with 200 in one night alone against 150 designated targets". They
>have dropped thousands of tons of explosives and have launched some 450
>cruise missiles. 
>
>The intensity of the bombing using the most advanced military technology is
>unprecedented in modern history. It far surpasses the bombing raids of
>World War II or the Vietnam War. 
>
>The bombings have not only been directed against industrial plants,
>airports, electricity and telecommunications facilities, railways, bridges
>and fuel depots, they have also targeted schools, health clinics, day care
>centres, government buildings, churches, museums, monasteries and
>historical landmarks. 
>
>
>Infrastructure and Industry 
>
>According to Yugoslav sources: "road and railway networks, especially road
>and rail bridges, most of which were destroyed or damaged beyond repair,
>suffered extensive destruction". Several thousand industrial facilities
>have been destroyed or damaged with the consequence of paralysing the
>production of consumer goods. According to Yugoslav sources, "[B]y totally
>destroying business facilities across the country, 500,000 workers were
>left jobless, and 2 million citizens without any source of income and
>possibility to ensure minimum living conditions". Western estimates as to
>the destruction of property in Yugoslavia stand at more than US$ 100 billion.
>
>Bombing of Urban and Rural Residential Areas 
>
>Villages with no visible military or strategic structures have been bombed.
>Described as "collateral damage", residential areas in all major cities.
>The downtown area of Pristina (which includes apartment buildings and
>private dwellings) has been destroyed. Central-downtown Belgrade --
>including government buildings-- have been hit with cluster bombs and there
>are massive flames emanating from the destruction. According to the
>International Center for Peace and Justice (ICPJ): 
>
>"No city or town in Yugoslavia is being spared. There are untold civilian
>casualties. The beautiful capital city of Belgrade is in flames and fumes
>from a destroyed chemical plant are making it necessary to use gas masks". 
>
>Civilian Casualties
>
>Both the Yugoslavia authorities and NATO have downplayed the number of
>civilian casualties. The evidence amply confirms that NATO has created a
>humanitarian catastrophe. The bombings are largely responsible for driving
>people from their homes. The bombings have killed people regardless of
>their nationality or religion. In Kosovo, civilian casualties affect all
>ethnic groups. According to a report of the Decany Monastery in Kosovo
>received in the first week of the bombing: 
>
>"Last night a cruise missile hit the old town in Djakovica, mostly
>inhabited by Albanians, and made a great fire in which several Albanian
>houses were destroyed ... In short, NATO attacks are nothing but barbarous
>aggression which affects mostly the innocent civilian population, both Serb
>and Albanian. 
>
>The Dangers of Environmental Contamination
>
>Refineries and warehouses storing liquid raw materials and chemicals have
>been hit causing environmental contamination. The latter have massively
>exposed the civilian population to the emission of poisonous gases. NATO
>air strikes on the chemical industry is intent on creating an environmental
>disaster, "which is something not even Adolf Hitler did during World War
>II."According to the Serbian Minister for Environmental Protection
>Branislav Blazic, "the aggressors were lying when they said they would hit
>only military targets and would observe international conventions, because
>they are using illegal weapons such as cluster bombs, attacking civilian
>targets and trying to provoke an environmental disaster". A report by NBC
>TV confirms that NATO has bombed a the pharmaceutical complex of Galenika,
>the largest medicine factory in Yugoslavia located in the suburbs of
>Belgrade. The fumes from this explosion have serious environmental
>implications. "The population is asked to wear gas masks that in fact nobody 
>
>Supply with drinking water for the inhabitants of Belgrade is also getting
>difficult after the drinking water facility at Zarkovo was bombed. 
>
>Hospitals and Schools 
>
>NATO has targeted many hospitals and health-care institutions, which have
>been partially damaged or totally destroyed. These include 13 of the
>country's major hospitals. More than 150 schools (including pre-primary day
>care centres) have been damaged or destroyed.  According to Yugoslav
>sources, more than 800,000 pupils and students do not attend schools in the
>wake of the war destruction. There is almost no pre-school institutions
>(nurseries and day-care centres) which are operational.
>
>Churches, Monasteries and Historical Landmarks
>
>NATO has also systematically targeted churches, monasteries, museums,
>public monuments and historical landmarks.
>
> "The targets of the attacks on historical and cultural landmarks have
>included the Gracanica monastery, dating back to the 14th century, the Pec
>Patriarchate (13th century), the Rakovica monastery and the Petrovarardin
>Fortress, which are testimony to the foundations of the European
>civilization, are in all world encyclopedias and on the UNESCO World
>Heritage list". 
>
>The Use of Weapons banned by International Convention
>
>The NATO bombings have also used of weapons banned by international
>conventions. Amply documented by scientific reports, the cruise missiles
>utilize depleted uranium "highly toxic to humans, both chemically as a
>heavy metal and radiologically as an alpha particle emitter". Since the
>gulf War, depleted uranium (DU) has been a substitute for lead in bullets
>and missiles. According to scientists "it is most likely a major
>contributor to the Gulf War Syndrome experienced both by the veterans and
>the people of Iraq". According radiobiologist Dr. Rosalie Bertell,
>president of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health: 
>
>"When used in war, the depleted uranium (DU) bursts into flame [and]
>releasing a deadly radioactive aerosol of uranium, unlike anything seen
>before.  It can kill everyone in a tank. This ceramic aerosol is much
>lighter than uranium dust.  It can travel in air tens of kilometres from
>the point of release, or be stirred up in dust and resuspended in air with
>wind or human movement.  It is very small and can be breathed in by anyone:
>a baby, pregnant woman, the elderly, the sick.  This radioactive ceramic
>can stay deep in the lungs for years, irradiating the tissue with powerful
>alpha particles within about a 30 micron sphere, causing emphysema and/or
>fibrosis.  The ceramic can also be swallowed and do damage to the
>gastro-intestinal tract.  In time, it penetrates the lung tissue and enters
>into the blood stream. ...It can also initiate cancer or promote cancers
>which have been initiated by other cancinogens". 
>
>According to Paul Sullivan, executive director of the National Gulf War
>Resource Center: 
>
>"In Yugoslavia, it's expected that depleted uranium will be fired in
>agricultural areas, places where livestock graze and where crops are grown,
>thereby introducing the spectre of possible contamination of the food
chain." 
>
>The New York based International Action Center called the Pentagon's
>decision  to use the A-10 "Warthog" jets against targets in Serbia "a
>danger to the people and environment of the entire Balkans". (Truth in
>Media, 10 April 1999). In this regard, a report in from Greece:
>
>"registered an increase in levels of toxic substances in the atmosphere of
>Greece, and said that Albania, Macedonia, Italy, Austria and Hungary all
>face a potential threat to human health as a result of NATO's bombing of
>Serbia, which includes the use of radioactive depleted uranium
>shells".(April 10, 1999, see Truth in Media, 10 April 1999). 
>
>The Plight of the Refugees
>
>What is not conveyed by the international media, is that people of all
>ethnic origins including ethnic Albanians, Serbs and other ethnic groups
>are leaving Kosovo largely as a result of the bombing. 
>
>There are reports that ethnic Albanians have left Kosovo for Belgrade where
>they have relatives. There are 100,000 ethnic Albanians in Belgrade. The
>press has confirmed movements of ethnic Albanians to Montenegro. Montenegro
>has been portrayed as a separate country, as a safe-haven against the
>Serbs. The fact of the matter is that Montenegro is part of Yugoslavia. 
>
>
>    Michel Chossudovsky
>    
>    Department of Economics,
>    University of Ottawa, 
>    Ottawa, K1N6N5
>
>    Voice box: 1-613-562-5800, ext. 1415
>    Fax: 1-514-425-6224
>    E-Mail: chossudovsky at sprint.ca
>
>
>Recent articles by Chossudovsky :
>
>On Kosovo:  http://www.transnational.org/features/crimefinansed.html
>
>On the break-up of Yugoslavia:
>http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/62/022.html
>
>On the Brazilian financial crisis:
>http://wwwdb.ix.de/tp/english/special/eco/6373/1.html
>
>On global poverty and the financial crisis:
>
>http://www.transnational.org/features/chossu_worldbank.html
>http://www.transnational.org/features/g7solution.html
>http://www.twnside.org.sg/souths/twn/title/scam-cn.htm
>http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/chossd.htm  
>http://www.heise.de/tp/english/special/eco/  
>http://heise.xlink.de/tp/english/special/eco/6099/1.html#anchor1
>