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Spanish experts
see no Serbian genocide in Kosovo
by Pablo Ordaz "In the former Yugoslavia," said López Palafox, "crimes were committed, some no doubt horrible, but they derived from the war. In Rwanda we saw 450 corpses of women and children, one on top of another, all with their heads broken open." The Chief Inspector added that in Kosovo, on the contrary, they had found many isolated corpses. "It gives the impression that the Serbs gave a choice to the families to leave their homes. If some member of the clan, for whatever reason, decided to remain, upon returning they were found dead from a shot or by whatever other method." {our emphasis} One of the members of the Spanish mission shed light on events in the Istok prison, bombed at the end of May by NATO planes. The work, directed by López Palafox and Pérez Pujol was aimed at solving the following mystery: who killed the more than 100 prisoners - the bombs of NATO or the bullets of Serbian soldiers? The answer, according to the preliminary studies, is clear. Some of the cadavers analyzed had shrapnel wounds and therefore clearly appeared to have been killed by the bombardment. But others died of clear clean bullet wounds, perhaps from the bullets of machine guns. The most likely thesis is that after the bombardment, the prison inmates tried to flee and were shot by Serbian guards. *** Commentary I've been reading mass grave stories in the New York Times for most of a day. I hope to do a detailed analysis soon. Meanwhile, here are a few observations: * You would expect these stories to be horrifying. What is surprising is that they are so repetitious - using the same phrases - that reading them is exhausting. * The articles are often written in semi-fictional style, as in "A cap lay on the ground, stained bright red. 'Who would believe the Serbs would do this?' asked the gaunt Albanian. A tear trickled down the old man's cheek." This kind of writing encourages the reader to suspend disbelief, as one does when reading a short story, to accept emotionally charged statements as true. * Evidence, if any, is anecdotal; sources are vague. * The discovery or even the rumor of a grave is cited (often in a press conference by some authority figure) as proof of Serbian atrocities. These 'atrocities' are discussed in great, though entirely speculative, detail. Trial by media. It is enough to make you gaga, especially when you read such 'news' for hours at a time. The mental equivalent of smog. * Arguments are circular. A supposed mass grave is discovered. Assumptions are (publicly and loudly) made about the unopened grave: the dead bodies will be Albanians; they will be civilians; they will turn out to have been killed by Serbs; the Serbs will have been soldiers or policemen. There is no systematic follow-up, no testing of these predictions against fact. Rather, such speculations, once uttered, become part of the record, to be cited in later articles as if proven. The Spanish experts were told they would find 2000 bodies. They found 187. That is about 10%. Many of the 187 died when NATO bombed a prison or, apparently. afterwards, trying to escape. The war crime involved here is NATO's: it is a crime of war to bomb any nonmilitary target, let alone a prison, the ultimate sitting duck. |
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© Janette Rainwater 1997-2004 All rights reserved.
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