More Bogus "Justifications' for NATO War

The German Section of the International Association of Lawyers
Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) has characterized as a smoke
screen the April 23 reaction of the Foreign Ministry to IALANA^Òs
April 22, 1999 press communiqué and as an unserious attempt to
conceal the Foreign Ministry^Òs hypocritical public declarations on
the status of persecutions in Kosovo.

.....

IV.  Operation Horseshoe

In order to justify NATO^Òs air attacks, the Foreign Ministry claims
that ^Ó^ÑOperation Horseshoe^Ò provides for a systematic expulsion of
the Kosovo-Albanian population aiming at violent, demographic
changes in Kosovo.^Ô  In doing so, it relies on documentation and
positions taken by Minister Scharping^Òs Ministry of Defense.

To begin with, ^ÑOperation Horseshoe^Ò will not do as a justification
for NATO air attacks, if for no other reason than the fact that it
first became known to the Ministry of Defense only after March
24, 1999.  In its press statement, even the Foreign Ministry admits
that it had become aware of the existence of such a plan only on
April 1, 1999.

What is more, one should realize that the documentation on
^ÑOperation Horseshoe^Ò has not yet been presented to the public for
critical scrutiny; it is merely claimed to exist.  It is still impossible
to know whether it can adequately prove that already before the
NATO air attacks the Yugoslav state and its organs had introduced
measures for ^Ñethnic cleansing^Ò of Kosovo, on the basis of a state
program of persecution and carried out systematic violations of the
human rights of Kosovo^Òs population linked to Albanian ethnicity.

And finally, in answer to the question whether the documents on
^ÑOperation Horseshoe^Ò given her by Minister Scharping were
useful,  the Chief Prosecutor of the UN Criminal Court for
Yugoslavian Affairs in the Hague, Louise Arbour, stated:
^ÓAs to Operation Horseshoe, I have my doubts as to its capacity to
prove anything.  If it were a document with cover, date and
signature, it would be fantastic.  But it looks more like verbal
descriptions and conclusions.^Ô (See Der Spiegel, No. 17/1999, p.
152).

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                   ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
250 Kensington Ave - Apt 608     Tel: 1-514-933 2539    
Westmount/Montreal PQ/QC         Fax: 1-514-933 6445 
Canada H3Z 2G8              e-mail:agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca 

My Personal/Professional Home Page> http://www.whc.neu.edu/gunder.html
My NATO/Kosovo Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/nato_kosovo/       
My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's - 
            We have met the enemy, and it is US 
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