http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/orl-myword03a08mar03,0,5383490.story
ORLANDO SENTINEL (USA)
COMMENT
High price for recognizing Kosovo's independence
Christopher A. Roach
March 3, 2008
America's hasty recognition of an independent Kosovo has upset powerful
interests, most notably Russia. Serbia, though far from Moscow, has long
been Russia's "Israel": an embattled sister nation on the frontier of the
Islamic world.
The Iraq war eclipsed Kosovo in the public's consciousness. The United
States fought a 78-day air war over Serbia in 1999 and maintains 7,000
troops today as part of a U.N. occupation force. Though American casualties
have been mercifully low, the rationale for the campaign has proven even
less durable over time than the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Specifically, claims of Serbian genocide in Kosovo have been proven false,
and Kosovo's declaration of independence directly violates the peace
agreement that ended hostilities.
The Kosovo war began unusually. The United Nations did not authorize
American intervention in support of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a group that
until 1998 the United States considered a terrorist organization. Yet the
Kosovo Liberation Army's public-relations campaign proved decisive. For
months, CNN displayed heart-breaking pictures of Albanian refugees. Rumors
abounded of "genocide" and "mass graves." Shamed by its cautious response to
earlier events in the former Yugoslavia, the West would "get it right" this
time. After failing to secure U.N. support, President Bill Clinton went
shopping for diplomatic cover and found it among America's NATO allies.
As in Iraq, faulty intelligence played a key role, complete with satellite
photos of "mass graves." When the war ended, the FBI went home empty-handed
after an extensive search for evidence of genocide. In fact, the death toll
from NATO bombings -- estimated at more than 6,000 -- exceeded 2,108
confirmed killed in the fighting, a total that includes Serbian combatants.
This was a far cry from the 100,000 dead Albanians Clinton warned of in the
run-up to war.
NATO and the Kosovo Liberation Army ended the war against Serbia through a
negotiated peace. The parties agreed to U.N. Security Council Resolution
1244, which mandated that the remains of the Yugoslavian nation -- by then
reduced to Serbia and Montenegro -- be preserved intact.
Though the genocide did not exist, and the Kosovo Liberation Army leadership
has since flouted its treaty obligations, American leaders are applauding.
After embracing the broader principles of democracy and self-determination
that led to the Kosovo war, how could the U.S. now condemn the Kosovar
declaration of independence?
No one believes that the Kosovar Albanians will act as tolerant stewards of
a multicultural society. Since 1999, Kosovar extremists have destroyed
Christian churches and monasteries and expelled thousands of Serbs in a
campaign that one NATO commander described as "ethnic cleansing."
History has not been kind to the Serbs. After World War II, the communist
regime murdered Serbians en masse who fought against the Nazi invaders. In
the 1990s, though all sides committed atrocities in the Balkans, Americans
and Europeans singled out the Bosnian Serbs for condemnation. The hypocrisy
reached its peak in 1995 when the West remained silent as well-armed
Croatian forces expelled 200,000 Serbs from Bosnia's Krajina region. Today
in Kosovo, the holy land of the Serbs, the West has explicitly approved the
nationalist aims of the Albanians by recognizing an independent Kosovo.
This is a bigger issue than Serbia. Once again, the United States has
needlessly provoked Russia. In recent years, we've meddled in its Ukrainian
neighbor's elections and pushed NATO'S boundaries farther eastward. In 1999,
a weak Russia could do little to support its Serbian ally. But today
Vladimir Putin's Russia is strong, and its patience with the West has worn
thin.
We may soon find that we have insulted Russia one time too many.
Christopher A. Roach is an attorney in private practice in Orlando.
ORLANDO SENTINEL (USA)
COMMENT
High price for recognizing Kosovo's independence
Christopher A. Roach
March 3, 2008
America's hasty recognition of an independent Kosovo has upset powerful
interests, most notably Russia. Serbia, though far from Moscow, has long
been Russia's "Israel": an embattled sister nation on the frontier of the
Islamic world.
The Iraq war eclipsed Kosovo in the public's consciousness. The United
States fought a 78-day air war over Serbia in 1999 and maintains 7,000
troops today as part of a U.N. occupation force. Though American casualties
have been mercifully low, the rationale for the campaign has proven even
less durable over time than the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Specifically, claims of Serbian genocide in Kosovo have been proven false,
and Kosovo's declaration of independence directly violates the peace
agreement that ended hostilities.
The Kosovo war began unusually. The United Nations did not authorize
American intervention in support of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a group that
until 1998 the United States considered a terrorist organization. Yet the
Kosovo Liberation Army's public-relations campaign proved decisive. For
months, CNN displayed heart-breaking pictures of Albanian refugees. Rumors
abounded of "genocide" and "mass graves." Shamed by its cautious response to
earlier events in the former Yugoslavia, the West would "get it right" this
time. After failing to secure U.N. support, President Bill Clinton went
shopping for diplomatic cover and found it among America's NATO allies.
As in Iraq, faulty intelligence played a key role, complete with satellite
photos of "mass graves." When the war ended, the FBI went home empty-handed
after an extensive search for evidence of genocide. In fact, the death toll
from NATO bombings -- estimated at more than 6,000 -- exceeded 2,108
confirmed killed in the fighting, a total that includes Serbian combatants.
This was a far cry from the 100,000 dead Albanians Clinton warned of in the
run-up to war.
NATO and the Kosovo Liberation Army ended the war against Serbia through a
negotiated peace. The parties agreed to U.N. Security Council Resolution
1244, which mandated that the remains of the Yugoslavian nation -- by then
reduced to Serbia and Montenegro -- be preserved intact.
Though the genocide did not exist, and the Kosovo Liberation Army leadership
has since flouted its treaty obligations, American leaders are applauding.
After embracing the broader principles of democracy and self-determination
that led to the Kosovo war, how could the U.S. now condemn the Kosovar
declaration of independence?
No one believes that the Kosovar Albanians will act as tolerant stewards of
a multicultural society. Since 1999, Kosovar extremists have destroyed
Christian churches and monasteries and expelled thousands of Serbs in a
campaign that one NATO commander described as "ethnic cleansing."
History has not been kind to the Serbs. After World War II, the communist
regime murdered Serbians en masse who fought against the Nazi invaders. In
the 1990s, though all sides committed atrocities in the Balkans, Americans
and Europeans singled out the Bosnian Serbs for condemnation. The hypocrisy
reached its peak in 1995 when the West remained silent as well-armed
Croatian forces expelled 200,000 Serbs from Bosnia's Krajina region. Today
in Kosovo, the holy land of the Serbs, the West has explicitly approved the
nationalist aims of the Albanians by recognizing an independent Kosovo.
This is a bigger issue than Serbia. Once again, the United States has
needlessly provoked Russia. In recent years, we've meddled in its Ukrainian
neighbor's elections and pushed NATO'S boundaries farther eastward. In 1999,
a weak Russia could do little to support its Serbian ally. But today
Vladimir Putin's Russia is strong, and its patience with the West has worn
thin.
We may soon find that we have insulted Russia one time too many.
Christopher A. Roach is an attorney in private practice in Orlando.
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