[asia-apec 1477] NATO Willfully Triggered an Environmental Disaster

[bayan]

NATO Willfully Triggered An Environmental Catastrophe In Yugoslavia
by Michel Chossudovsky 
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, author of "The Globalization
of Poverty, Third World Network, Penang, Zed Books, London, 1997. 

Complete article and photos at Emperor's Clothes at www.tenc.net, URL for
this article click:  http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm

In this report, Michel Chossudovsky provides conclusive documentary and
photographic evidence that contrary to the statements of various
international observers, the environmental catastrophe at the Pancevo
petrochemical plant was neither the result of 'collateral damage' (that is,
an accident of war) nor a case of criminal negligence (that is, resulting
from criminal disregard of consequences). 

Rather, the evidence is compelling. NATO willfully blew up with meticulous
accuracy containers of toxic chemicals with the intention of creating an
ecological nightmare. 

At the outset of the War, NATO had reassured World opinion that "precise
targeting" using sophisticated weaponry was intended to avoid "collateral
damage" including environmental hazards: 

"We do everything we possibly can to avoid unnecessary collateral damage.
We take it very seriously, work very hard at doing that, spend a lot of
time planning for the missions." <1>

At the Pancevo petrochemical complex located in the outskirts of Belgrade,
however, exactly the opposite occurred. "State of the art" aerial
surveillance and satellite thermal image detection were not only used to
disable Yugoslavia's petrochemical industry; they were willfully applied to
trigger an environmental disaster. 

The air raids on the Pancevo complex started on April 4th 1999 and
continued relentlessly until the 7th of June. The Pancevo complex also
included an oil refinery facility (built with technical support from
Texaco) and a Nitrogen Processing Plant producing fertilizer for Yugoslav
agriculture. The petrochemical plant was bombed extensively (41 bombs and 7
missile attacks). The bombed areas were within less than two hundred meters
from residential buildings. 

At the beginning of the war, workers at the plant were actively involved in
removing toxic materials from the site, emptying several large tanks and
containers of chemicals precisely to avert the risks of "collateral
damage". Little did they realize that NATO was watching them through
air-to-ground surveillance systems and satellite images. Using thermal
detection, NATO military planners knew which of the containers had been
emptied and which remained full.  


How does this work? 

All objects in the Pancevo plant --including the containers of toxic
chemicals-- emit infrared radiation. A thermal imager from a spy satellite
or an aircraft can detect infrared radiation emitted from any object
situated on the petrochemical plant and convert its readings into a
high-resolution video or snap picture. 

The thermal imager can detect temperature differentials as small as 0.1
degrees centigrade which enables NATO planners to easily "categorize" and
distingush between full and empty containers. NATO warplanes were equipped
with various advanced imaging systems including infrared/electro-optical
sensors. Thermal satellite images were relayed to the Combined Air
Operations Centre (CAOC) in Vicenza, Italy where the bombing raids had been
carefully scheduled. Other advanced surveillance systems were used
including small unmanned predator (UAV) drones and high altitude U2 spy
planes. In the words of a Pentagon spokesman, the U2 "snaps a picture from
very high altitude, beams it back in what we call a reach-back, to the
States where it is very quickly analyzed". And from there, "the right
targeting data" is relayed to the CAOC in Vincenza which then "passes [it]
on to people in the cockpit". <2>

NATO planners also had detailed information on the layout of the plant,
which had been designed and built on contract with a US multinational
engineering company Foster Wheeler (a firm specializing in the construction
of petrochemical and polymer plants). NATO knew exactly where things were.
In a cruel irony, US investment in Yugoslavia (financed with loans from the
World Bank) was being bombed by Uncle Sam. Did the pilots sitting in the
cockpit know that they were destroying a plant which was "Made in America"? 

A large number of the containers had been emptied. By using thermal images,
NATO was able to identify which of the tanks were still filled to the brim
with toxic chemicals. Among these noxious liquids were containers of
ethylene-dichloride (EDC), ethylene, chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen, propylene
and vinyl chloride monomers (VCM). Well documented by environmentalists,
the VCM monomer used to produce plastics (eg. PVC resin) is a dangerous
cancerogenic contaminant (see photo 2). Vinyl chloride also has the
potential to cause neurological and liver damage, as well as damage to the
fetus causing serious birth defects. 

If NATO's intent were solely to disable the plant without risking
"collateral" environmental damage, they could have done it by smart bombing
the equipment and machinery. Why did they also decide to hit with utmost
accuracy the tanks containing noxious liquids? 


The "smart bombs" were not dumb; they went where they were told to go. NATO
had scrupulously singled out the containers, tanks and reservoirs, which
still contained toxic materials. According to the petrochemical plant
director, NATO did not hit a single empty container: "This was not
accidental; they chose to hit those that were full and these chemicals
spilled into the canal leading to the Danube". Moreover, according to the
plant director, the ethylene-dichloride (EDC) spillovers had contaminated
10 hectares of land on and in the vicinity of the plant. <3>

When the smart bombs hit their lethal targets at Pancevo (see photos
below), noxious fluids and fumes were released into the atmosphere, water
and soil. The containers were deliberately blown up or perforated. The soil
at the petrochemical complex is still soaked with toxic
ethylene-dichloride. According to a report of the Regional Environment
Center for Central and Eastern Europe
(REC):  

"More than one thousand tons of ethylene dichloride spilled from the
Pancevo petrochemical complex into the Danube [through the canal which
links the plant to the river]. Over a thousand tons of natrium hydroxide
were spilled from the Pancevo petrochemical complex. Nearly 1,000 tons of
hydrogen chloride spilled from Pancevo into the Danube River" <4>

Eight tons of mercury also escaped from the petrochemical complex spilling
into the soil. The wastewater treatment plant was also bombed thereby
contributing to exacerbating the ecological impacts. <5>

NATO military strategists knew precisely what they were doing and what
would be the likely consequences. At the neighboring oil refinery, two NATO
missiles had hit on April 4th the refinery's control rooms killing three
staff members. The strikes had set the plant on fire, reducing it to a
toxic wreck. The objective was not to avoid an environmental disaster. The
objective was to create an
environmental disaster (see photos). NATO was expecting that by ruthlessly
bombing Pancevo among other civilian sites, this would intimidate Belgrade
into accepting the Rambouillet Agreement including its infamous Military
Appendix which essentially gave NATO the right to occupy all parts of
Yugoslavia.  

In the wake of the bombings, the Greens from Germany and experts from the
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) as well as other groups
visited the Pancevo plant. The UNEP report dismisses the environmental
impacts caused by the bombings while underscoring in its main conclusions
that Pancevo and other petrochemical plants in the country were an
ecological hazard prior to
the bombings due to lax environmental standards. <6> The UNEP report is a
carefully worded cover-up. It whitewashes NATO; it downplays the
seriousness of the environmental catastrophe, while placing the blame
(without supporting evidence) on the Yugoslav authorities. Tacitly
upholding the legitimacy of the Western military alliance, UNEP's findings
are in overt contradiction with those of other scientific studies including
that of the Regional Environment Center for Central And Eastern Europe
(REC) prepared for the European Commission (see footnote 4). 

The complicity of UNEP --a specialized agency of the UN with a track record
of integrity-- is yet another symptom of the deterioration of the United
Nations system which now plays an underhand in covering up NATO war crimes. 

PHOTOS

photo 1 A 'smart bomb' hit this container with perfect accuracy. (Pancevo
petrochemical complex ( ©Michel Chossudovsky, March 2000 )

photo 2 The two containers look so different that at first the eye is misled;
one falsely concludes that the container on the right is old, the one on the
left is new. In fact, the one on the right was targeted by NATO because it was
full of highly cancerogenic VCM ( © Michel Chossudovsky, March 2000 )

This article was first published by Emperor's Clothes. Text and photos can be
consulted at :  http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm


FOOTNOTES

1. Statement of General Charles Wald of the Pentagon, Department of Defense
Press Briefing, Washington, 12 April 1999.
2. Department of Defense Press Briefing, Washington, May 14th, 1999.
3. Interview conducted by the author in Pancevo, March 2000.
4. See the report of the REC entitled Assessment of the Environmental
Impact of Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict at
http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/background.html
5. Interview conducted by the author in Pancevo, March 2000.
6. The UNEP report entitled The Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the
Environment & Human Settlements prepared for the European Commission can be
consulted at
www.grid.unep.ch/btf/final/index.htmlhttp://www.grid.unep.ch/btf/final/index
.html


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 videotron.ca; (Altern. E-mail: chossudovsky at sprint.ca)

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