Edward Said: Protecting the Kosovars (fwd)

[lvermeer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Leslie Vermeer)]

>>Protecting the Kosovars
>>Dawn newspaper -- Pakistan
>>http://www.dawn.com
>>April 5, 1999
>>
>>By Edward Said
>>
>>ONCE again, and led by the United States as usual, a war is being
>>conducted - this time in Europe - against an unprincipled and racist
>>dictator who will almost certainly survive the onslaught even though
>>thousands of innocents will pay the actual price. The pretext this time
>>is of course the persecution, ethnic cleansing and continued oppression
>>of Albanians in the province of Kosovo by the Serbian forces of
>>Slobodan  Milosevic.
>>
>>No one at all doubts that horrible things have been done to the
>>Albanians under Serbian domination, but the question is whether US/NATO
>>policy will alleviate things or whether they will in fact be made worse
>>by a bombing campaign whose supposed goal is to make Milosevic give up
>>his policies.
>>
>>Since, as in most cases, the bombing campaign is not all that it seems
>>to be, a look behind the headlines is worth the effort, especially
>>given  the new ferocity and willingness to intervene militarily on the
>>part of  US foreign policy decision makers (Clinton, Cohen, Albright,
>>Berger).
>>
>>One needs to remember that since the US is a world, and not merely a
>>regional, power one calculation that enters each of its foreign policy
>>decisions is how the deployment of its military might will affect the
>>US's image in the eyes of other, especially other competitive
>>countries.  Henry Kissinger made that point a central concern of his
>>Indochinese  policy when he undertook the secret bombing of Laos: your
>>enemies will  learn that there are no limits to what you are prepared to
>>do, even to  the point of appearing totally irrational.
>>
>>Thus the exercise of massive destructiveness wholly disproportionate to
>>the goal, say, of stopping an enemy from advancing further, is a
>>principal aim of this policy, as it has been of Israel's policy in
>>southern Lebanon, where massive raids on civilian encampments do
>>absolutely nothing to affect Israel's main enemies, the Hizballah
>>guerillas. Punishment is its own goal, bombing as a display of NATO
>>authority its own satisfaction, especially when there is little chance
>>of retaliation from the enemy.
>>
>>That is one consideration behind the current bombing of Yugoslavia.
>>Another is the misguided and totally hopeless goal of humbling, and
>>perhaps even destroying Milosevic's regime. This, as has been the case
>>in Iraq, is illusory. No nation, no matter how badly attacked from the
>>air is going to rally to the attackers.
>>
>>If anything, Milosevic's regime is now strengthened. All Serbs feel
>>that  their country is attacked unjustly, and that the cowardly war from
>>the  air has made them feel persecuted. Besides, not even the Kosovo
>>Albanians believe that the air campaign is about independence for
>>Kosovo  or about saving Albanian lives: that is a total illusion.
>>
>>What transpired before the bombing was that the US seems to have
>>persuaded the Kosovars that if they went along with the "peace plan"
>>Kosovo would get its independence; this was never said, but only
>>implied, leading the Kosovars to expect NATO help. But, as usual, the
>>US  has never stated unequivocally that it is for full
>>self-determination  for all the peoples of former Yugoslavia.
>>
>>There should have been a straight-out and clearly stated willingness to
>>accept self-determination for Kosovo as well as a safeguarding of
>>rights  for the Serbian minority there. None of this was done. And
>>neither were  the consequences thought through, i.e., the certainty that
>>the Serb  forces would respond to NATO bombardment by intensifying their
>>attacks  against Albanian civilians, more ethnic cleansing, more
>>refugees, more  trouble for the future.
>>
>>There is now talk of 200,000 ground troops (mostly American) to enter
>>the battle and expand the war, with the attendant problems of prolonged
>>occupation, guerilla warfare, greater devastation, more refugees, and
>>so  on. A lot of this comes from the delusion that the US is the
>>world's  policeman. In the meantime, its genocidal policy against Iraq
>>continues,  and its sanctions policy against other Islamic or Arab
>>countries also  continues.
>>
>>Nothing of what the US or NATO does now has anything really to do with
>>protecting the Kosovars or bringing them independence: it is rather a
>>display of military might whose long-range effect is disastrous, just
>>as  is a similar policy in the Middle East. In 1994 when a US
>>intervention  might have averted genocide in Rwanda, there was no
>>action. The stakes  were not high enough, and black people not worth the
>>effort.
>>
>>Therefore it seems to me imperative that the NATO bombing should stop,
>>and a multi-party conference of all the peoples of former Yugoslavia be
>>called to settle differences between them on the basis of
>>self-determination for all, not just for some, nor for some at the
>>expense of others. This is the same principle that has been violated by
>>US-sponsored peace processes elsewhere, notably in the Middle East.
>>
>>There is nothing about the current policy of bombing Serbian forces
>>that  will either guarantee democracy for Serbia or protect the
>>Albanians who  are still being treated horribly by Milosevic's forces.
>>In its arrogance  and ill-considered military deployment the US has
>>forced NATO to go  along with it, whereas it is quite clear that there
>>is increasing  disunity within the NATO ranks, not just Greece and Italy
>>and Turkey,  but also France and Germany.
>>
>>The greatest danger of all is that more people will be displaced, more
>>lives lost, and more fragmentation will occur in places like Macedonia
>>and Bosnia-Herzegovina. All this for the US to assert its will and to
>>show the world who is boss. The humanitarian concerns expressed are the
>>merest hypocrisy since what really counts is the expression of US power.
>>
>>What I find most distressing is that destruction is being wrought from
>>the air along with a fastidiousness articulated about the loss of
>>American life that is positively revolting. Clinton knows well that
>>Americans will not tolerate the loss of life for Americans. Yet he can
>>destroy Yugoslavian lives with impunity from the safety of the ultimate
>>in modern technology and airpower, with American pilots and bombers
>>sanitizing their horror with the illusion of safety and distance. When
>>will the smaller, lesser, weaker peoples realize that this America is
>>to  be resisted at all costs, not pandered or given in to naively?
>>
>>- -Copyright Edward W. Said, 1999.  (Source: DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan, 03
>>April 1999)