(REVISED) HOW NATO COOKED THE BOOKS ON ETHNIC CLEANSING

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COOKING THE BOOKS--
   NATO'S ETHNIC CLEANSING CLAIMS CHALLENGED
   by Michel Chossudovsky (Revised 2-10-00)

EMPERORS-CLOTHES   WWW.TENC.NET

NATO's justification for bombing Yugoslavia on humanitarian grounds has been
refuted by the Western alliance's own official figures and documentary
evidence. The recently released OSCE report entitled "As Seen, As Told:
Analysis of the Human Rights Findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification
Mission" suggests that the allegation of mass deportations is a fabrication.
1

Although heavily slanted in its main conclusions, the OSCE figures suggest
that there were proportionately more Serbs (as a percentage of population)
fleeing Kosovo than ethnic Albanians which puts an obvious question mark on
NATO's assertion that organized mass expulsions of ethnic Albanians were
taking place.

According to OSCE numbers and Kosovar Albanian sources on population size and
distribution, an estimated 45.7 percent of the Albanian population and 59.5
percent of the Serb population had fled Kosovo during the bombings (i.e. from
23 March to 9 June 1999).2

The OSCE report summarises the balance-sheet of ethnic Albanian refugees as
numbering 862,979. In a secluded footnote at the bottom of the main table,
the report nonetheless acknowledges that: "In addition [to the 862,979 ethnic
Albanian refugees], more than 100,000 Serb IDPs [Internally displaced
persons] are estimated to have left Kosovo and to have been registered in
Serbia and Montenegro". 3 Whereas ethnic Albanians (including those who fled
to Montenegro) are categorized as "refugees", Serbs who fled Kosovo during
the same period are casually identified as "Internally Displaced Persons".
The figures for ethnic Albanians are very precise in contrast to those
indicated for the Serbs in the footnote. The number of refugees belonging to
other ethnic groups who fled the province during the bombings is not even
acknowledged.

According to Kosovo Albanian sources, the Province had a total population of
2.1 million of which 90 percent are ethnic Albanians, 8 percent Serbs and 2
percent are other ethnic groups.4 Based on these figures (which are accepted
both by NATO and the post-conflict KLA provisional government) there were an
estimated 1.89 million ethnic Albanians and 168,000 Serbs in Kosovo.

In accordance with the above population breakdown, the exodus of Serbs (as a
percentage of population) was larger than that of the ethnic Albanian
population. According to OSCE numbers (from UNHCR sources), it is estimated
that 45.7 percent of the Albanian population and more than 59.5 percent of
the Serb population fled Kosovo during the bombings (i.e. from 23 March to 9
June 1999).

In other words, Serbs --who ostensibly were not the target of "ethnic
cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs"-- had also fled the theatre of the war in
Kosovo. If there had been a deliberate and cohesive policy of ethnic
cleansing and massacres directed against ethnic Albanians, the percentages
would have been markedly different and this is something which NATO was
cautious not to reveal to public opinion while the bombings were ongoing.

The above estimates depend on the veracity of the OSCE-UNHCR refugee figures
as well as on the reliability of the data on population size and
distribution. In estimating these percentages, we have accepted official
OSCE-UNHCR refugee numbers at face value, namely that the OSCE Report has not
artificially "inflated" the number of ethnic Albanian refugees nor has it
"deflated" the number of Serbs who fled Kosovo during the bombings with a
view to vindicating NATO's claim of ethnic cleansing. We have also taken
Kosovar Albanian assumptions pertaining to population size and distribution.
In other words, the percentages are derived from their numbers! Moreover, it
should be emphasised that the percentage of Serbs who left Kosovo estimated
at 59.5 percent is based on the 100,000 figure given by the OSCE. Yet the
OSCE report states that the number of Serbs who fled Kosovo during the same
period is "more than 100,000".

Accounting for biases in the OSCE-UNHCR figures and margins of error in the
data on population, the estimates do not support NATO's allegation of a
policy of mass deportation directed against ethnic Albanians.

Ironically, the OSCE Report rather than using Kosovar Albanian sources on
population, acknowledges the assumptions of Belgrade's 1991 Census data (also
in a discrete footnote) which indicates the ethnic Albanian population at 82
percent of total population. Yet the Census was boycotted by ethnic Albanians
and the figures were never recognised by the parallel provisional government
of Kosovo. Why does the OSCE acknowledge Belgrade's 1991 Census when NATO and
KLA statements repeatedly indicate that the ethnic Albanian population is at
90 percent? Evidently, the use of the 1991 Census data by those who have
rejected it, is in this case to their political advantage. Based on the 1991
Census figures, the estimated percentage of each population group which fled
Kosovo would be 53.7 percent for the ethnic Albanians and more than 51.5
percent for the Serbs.5 Yet even in this case, NATO's claim of mass
deportations is not borne out.

The refugee crisis, we were told repeatedly during the War was limited to
ethnic Albanians. According to the Western media, Serb civilians had been
protected by the Serb police and Armed forces. The large scale exodus of
Serbs from Kosovo prior to June 9, 1999 (acknowledged by the figures
contained in the OSCE Report) was simply not mentioned. To reveal the numbers
would have discredited NATO's main justification for launching its
"humanitarian war".

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

Other documentary evidence including an official report of the German foreign
ministry published prior to the War, confirms that there was no evidence of
"ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo in the months immediately preceding the
bombings. Who is lying? German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had justified
NATO's intervention pointing to a "humanitarian catastrophe", yet the
internal documents of his own ministry stated exactly the opposite: "Even in
Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked to Albanian ethnicity is not
verifiable. The East of Kosovo is still not involved in armed conflict.
Public life in cities like Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc. has, in the
entire conflict period, continued on a relatively normal basis. The actions
of the security forces [were] not directed against the Kosovo-Albanians as an
ethnically defined group, but against the military opponent [KLA] and its
actual or alleged supporters."...6

Moreover, a report of the United States Committee on Refugees (USCR) confirms
a significant reduction in the number of refugees and internally displaced
persons in the period following the signing of the October 13, 1998 agreement
between U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (FRY) President Slobodan Milosevic. According to USCR, the overall
refugee situation had improved with the entry of the OSCE Kosovo Verification
Mission (KVM). The USCR report also confirms that "KLA ethnic cleansing of
ethnic Serb civilian population pockets intensified in December [1998]"
substantiating the results of the German Foreign Office intelligence report.
But we were told time and again that the Serbs rather than the KLA had been
responsible for ethnic cleansing in the months leading up to the War... 7

The OSCE-UNHCR figures on the number of refugees rather than supporting
NATO's main justification for waging the war, suggest that more than half the
Serb population had also fled Kosovo during the war. This tendency could be
explained by the fact that the KLA had been responsible for relaying
intelligence to NATO pertaining to potential targets in the bombing
operation. Moreover, a history of the war also suggests that the massacres
and atrocities directed against the Serbs by the KLA Military Command (amply
documented for the period after June 9) had already commenced prior to the
arrival of KFOR forces in Kosovo.

NATO'S TWO "HUMANITARIAN PREMISES" INVALIDATED

NATO's pretext for bombing Yugoslavia on humanitarian grounds rests on two
central premises: 1) the alleged indiscriminate mass killings of Albanian
civilians (premise number one); 2) the implementation of a deliberate policy
of mass deportations or "ethnic cleansing" (premise number two). Both these
premises have now been refuted by NATO's own evidence and documentary
evidence

The alleged indiscriminate mass killings of Albanian civilians had earlier
been invalidated by the FBI and European forensic teams working under the
auspices of the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) casting doubt on NATO's justification
for waging the war. The forensic and police investigators had uncovered
several hundred bodies in grave sites in Kosovo as opposed to the 10,000 to
100,000 civilian massacres claimed by NATO and Western governments as a
pretext for waging the War. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had announced
that President Milosevic was "set on a Hitler style genocide equivalent to
the extermination of the Jews during World war II".8 " "Genocide is
starting," stated German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping.10...

The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) (while upholding the war crimes indictment against
members of the Yugoslav government), has acknowledged the exhumation"the
allegations of indiscriminate mass murder, rape camps,...crematoriums,
mutilation of the dead have not been borne out" by the police investigations
and forensic evidence. 12

NO REMAINING LEG TO STAND ON Since the release of the forensic reports
--which have invalidated premise number one--, the policy of mass
deportations against ethnic Albanians (premise number two) is now being
upheld by NATO and the Western media as "a sufficient justification" for
launching the war. In the words of Madeleine Albright "opposing ethnic
cleansing is central to our values... We are reaffirming NATO's core purpose
as a defender of democracy, stability and human decency on European soil."13
Yet NATO's claim of mass deportations has now also been refuted by the
figures contained in the OSCE report. NATO has no remaining leg to stand on.
Official documentary evidence (including the forensic reports and the data on
the number of refugees) unequivocally refute NATO's two central postulates
for waging the war. What then was the justification for the humanitarian
bombings? What was the hidden agenda? Ultimately the truth must prevail,
public opinion must be informed and those who are responsible for waging this
criminal war must be brought to trial.

NOTES

1. OSCE, Kosovo/ Kosova, As Seen, As Told, An analysis of the human rights
findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, October 1998 to June 1999,
Warsaw, 1999.

2. Ibid

3. Ibid.

4. Figures for 1993. See Albania Worldwide Web, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_
http://www.albanian.com/main/. See also Musa Limani, Pristina, The
Association of Lawyers of Kosova, 1992. Kosovar Albanian estimates place the
population of Kosovo at 2.3 million for 2000.

5. The Government of Yugoslavia 1991 Census data for Kosovo identified a
total population of 1,956,196 of which 82.2 % are Albanians, 9.9 % Serbs and
7.9 % other ethnic groups. The Census was boycotted by the ethnic Albanian
population. During the 1990s, the evidence suggests that Kosovar Serbs left
the Province in large numbers.

6. Intelligence Report from the German Foreign Office, January 12, 1999 to
the Administrative Court of Trier. (See
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/german/Germany.html)

7. See USCR GOTOBUTTON BM_2_
http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/europe/yugoslavia.htm

8. Quoted in Peter Gowan, Kosovo; the war and its aftermath, Labour Focus on
Eastern Europe, no. 64, 1999, p. 26.

9. CBS , May 17, 1999.

10. Quoted in Peter Gowan, op. cit.

11. Reuters, 10 November 1999.

12. Wall Street Journal, 31 December 1999.

13. Quoted in Time Magazine, May 17, 1999, p. 25-26.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ REPORTS OF the German Foreign Ministry and various
German courts repudiating claims of ethnic cleansing PRIOR to the NATO
bombing, please see http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/german/Germany.html

MORE ARTICLES BY MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY

"Seattle and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order"
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm

"NATO's Reign of Terror in Kosovo"
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/chossnato.htm

"The KLA: Grim Origins"
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/kla.html

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C Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, February 2000. All rights
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Copyright, Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, February 2000