Posted April 25, 2002

Compelling Qualities

I am almost frightened when I browse your site. I feel I could see myself stuck for entire days reading every single column, and so I try to avoid (as long as I can) reading columnists such as Justin Raimondo, who is commonly quoted in your Backtalk pages. But I couldn't help avoiding Ran HaCohen, which I discovered following a link on Indymedia Israel. I was completely astonished reading his columns. He reminds me of some of the best journalism pages written by George Orwell. HaCohen's writings reveal a strong emotional participation that never clouds his witty logic. It is a pity that no Italian columnist has the same compelling qualities, at the moment. I am happy to say that HaCohen's words had the pleasant side-effect to help me getting rid of my recent angry feelings about Jews, that were turning me to the racist I have never been before. I am not proud of this, but it was beginning to happen. Thank You, Mr. HaCohen.

Alberto Garbino, Udine, Italy

Why World War IV?

Can anyone explain to me why neoconservatives refer to World War IV? What am I missing?

~ Geoff MacDonald, Berkeley, California

Justin Raimondo replies:

By their count, the cold war counts as World War III. So that makes the current "war on terrorism" World War IV. I think the idea is to get us used to the idea that world wars aren't all that bad – after all, we survived three of them, didn't we?

Racak

First, I would like to say that I support our right to freedom of speech 100%. However, when that freedom to speak cross the line and wrongful accuse another human being without true facts, then I don't support it. I was concerned about your statements concerning the KLA and William Walker. I was upset about your statement concerning the Racak murders. My name is unimportant, however, I am sure that you can find it out if you wanted to since I was the only American in Kosovo during the 1998/1999 time period in control of a region. I would like to set the facts straight concerning the two issues listed above that is burning me up inside.

First, Mrs. Jatras I understand that you have lived in many different countries and I respect you for that, however, were you in Kosovo during the Racak murders, while the Bytyqi family was being murdered, and by the way, you forgot the most important one, or maybe you don't know about it, the Berisha family murders. Well, Mrs. Stella Jatras, I was, and I lived there among the Serbs and Albanians. So Mrs. Jatras I would like to share some important facts with you from an eye witness point of view. Not from someone telling me or from some research material.

Let's talk about the Berisha, that one is kind of personal with me because I knew them so well. I am sure you already know that OSCE pulled out of Kosovo March of 1999. On 25 March the Berisha was visited by Serb forces and the entire family was murdered. This included her four children (two girls ages 16 and 14, two sons ages 10 and 2). They were all placed on a truck in an attempt to hide the bodies. Mrs. Berisha only survived because she played dead. She had gunshot wounds to her midsection and legs. Why did they kill her family? – because they had rented to OSCE – at least that's what she was told prior to Serbs' shooting practice. I take that personal because I feel that I am the blame for her family being murdered because I made the decision to move my office and personnel out of the BOSS hotel and into the community so that everyone could gain and not just one individual. I could go on-and-on but I want, I am sure that you don't want to hear about it.

Now let's talk [about] the Racak murders that occurred on 15 Jan 1999. Mrs. Jatras, I don't know were you got your information but those people were murdered by Serbian Forces. They were not KLA members dressed in civilian clothes. Their bodies were still warm when I arrived. Some of those men were too old to walk the hills, must less be a member of the KLA. What Mr. Walker stated about Racak was 100% correct. I am the one who took the wounded that was left for dead to the Hospital. By the way Mrs. Jatras, it was the Serbian forces that prevent myself and fellow workers from entering the village and we watched the Serbs pull out. There was many incidents of this nature. Racak was the one that the news media happen to catch.

I am not saying that the KLA were saints because all they were was farmers and blue collar workers that picked up arms to protect their family. There was wrong doing from both sides (Serbs and Albanians). I know this because my job was to talk with both sides in an attempt to keep the peace.

I think you should look at both sides of the story before you print an article of this nature. Mr. Walker did nothing wrong and told no lies.

~ Anonymous

Stella Jatras replies:

Dear Mr."whose name is unimportant,"

I always find it somewhat curious that those who know my name, when accusing me of writing articles and commentaries that they feel are not true, never want to give their names. In everything I write, I give sources and documentation, but they seem to be ignored, passed over for just plain name calling on many occasions.

As to not wanting to give your name, you say, "I am sure that you can find it out if you wanted..." Frankly, I have no intention of wasting my time just to find out your name because as you say it is "unimportant." Did you not give your name because it would identify you as having an Albanian or a Muslim name?

The Racak massacre has been debunked and that's that! You asked where I got my information, I believe that I listed the source, i.e., Il Manifesto, the Italian publication, as one, that hasn't exactly been very pro-Serb. Please read the article by Stephen Gowens that follows at the end of my response to you. It will give you further insight into the Racak "massacre," and to William Walker.

The KLA are Marxist narco-terrorists and that's that! They are engaged in sex slavery, prostitution, kidnaping, murder and drugs, and that's that! Now if you can defend all that, I guess there is not much to say on those issues.

As for the Berisha family whom you say you know personally, I'm sure it was very tragic, but Serbian families faced the same kind of cruelty at the hands of the KLA and ethnic Albanians. It also leads me to believe that you are either Albanian or perhaps a member of the Berisha family. The Bytyqi brothers were recruited right here in the States in one of the Albanian coffee houses to go to Kosovo to steal land that belongs to others. When you get involved in other people's civil wars, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Well, they did and they paid with their lives. Besides, these were supposed to be Americans and I believe that it is against the law for American citizens to go to another country, join a foreign army, as they did the KLA mafia and fight. It is a well known fact that Albanians became the majority by illegally crossing into Christian Kosovo and by their high rate of birth, which is compounded by those who have four wives at a time. 415 centuries under the Ottoman Turks didn't help either. Nor did the onslaught of Hitler, Tito and NATO.

Furthermore, as for Albania, it was once an Orthodox Christian country until it was decimated by the Ottoman Turks, impoverished by the Communist dictator Hoxha where even the shirt off your back belonged to the State. Albania also had their Skanderbeg Muslim Waffen SS division in World War II, as did the Bosnian Muslims with their "Hanjar Division," that fought against the Allies and killed many Americans in Italy, so instead, we reward the Hitlerites and punish those who fought with us as our allies.

For the raping of Serbian nuns, for the murder of Serbian priests, for the destructions of hundreds of 13th and 14th century churches and monasteries (mosques didn't appear until the Ottoman Turks ran amuck in Orthodox Christian countries), and this ridiculous thing of excusing all of this KLA barbarity as being done in the name of "revenge," or "reverse ethnic cleansing," please go to:

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3820cf4d2861.htm

to read my "Open Letter to General Michael Short" where I outline all the lies told by Clinton and his gang to justify the bombing of the Christian Serbs in Kosovo – and in Bosnia, where Bosnian Muslim forces mortared their own people at the Markale market place, a massacre for which we bombed the Serbs. Big headlines in Europe! "Serbs 'not guilty' of massacre, – Experts warned US that mortar was Bosnian," writes The Sunday (London) Times of 1 Oct. 1995. "U.S. Framed Serbs for Market Bombing!" The Stoneyhill Centre, Gloucester, UK, 18 Oct. 1995. The only problem is, none of the US newspapers carried the truth.

As you said, with which I agree, neither side were saints in this bloody war, but the Serbs were unjustly accused of massacres while ethnic Albanians were painted as victims 100% by our politicians and the media. I regret the innocent lives that have been lost on both sides for the sake of their "Greater Albania." As for Walker, he was part of the cover-up in Racak. Please read the Stephen Gowans article carefully. Then tell me another story.

(And by the way, one never crosses the line when one writes the truth.)

~ Stella L. Jatras, a very important family name

Elite Culture

Justin Raimondo's April 22 column, "The Meaning of Jenin," is amazingly racist and out of place on the Antiwar site.

Raimondo recounts some of the horrors of Jenin and concludes, "An Israeli island in the sea of Araby has been inundated and conquered, culturally and spiritually, if not yet demographically. That is the significance of Jenin, and of all the Jenins to come."

In other words, the savagery that the Israelis have practiced for many years against Arabs (cf. Lebanon, 1982; cf. Sabra and Shatila) and which has come to a head now in Jenin is a function of Israelis becoming more like Arabs and even acting like them – that is, like savages.

Raimondo's analysis, in addition to its ugly racism, betrays a preposterous ignoring of crimes committed by "the West" – the Holocaust, for example, was not, in fact, carried out by Arabs – and a surprising ignorance of the nature of Zionism, which has from the beginning been a racist and counterrevolutionary philosophy. The Zionists have long dehumanized Arabs, depicting them as "vermin" undeserving of humane treatment or life. The path to massacre at Jenin was prepared by decades of Zionist declarations that Jews and only Jews were given the right to Eretz Israel – by none other than God Himself – and that the Palestinian inhabitants of Palestine are mere interlopers. Jenin is part of the Zionist final solution of the "Palestinian problem."

The real cultural significance of Jenin has not to do with Arab or Western culture but with elite culture. Ruling elites, whether Western or Arab or Asian, have demonstrated repeatedly that they will stop at nothing to consolidate and extend their power. The elites of this world, whether in Washington, DC or Tel Aviv or Baghdad or Beijing, have more in common with each other than with the people whose values and aspirations they claim to represent. I'm very surprised that Raimondo doesn't realize this.

~ Dave Stratman, Editor, NewDemocracyWorld.org, Boston

Justin Raimondo replies:

Did you ever stop to think: gee, I wonder why not a single Arab country is blessed with a free economy, democratic elections, freedom of speech and of religion? I thought not. But then, from the sound of things, it doesn’t seem like you would much care for a free economy: much too "elite" for your plebeian tastes.

Well, let me tell you something, bud: just because I defend the Palestinians against Israeli aggression doesn’t mean I don’t realize that the West is morally, politically, and economically superior to the Arab world in every way. From your own narrow and blinkered perspective, this no doubt implies some sort of genetic predisposition to Asiatic-style despotism, but I think the answer is a bit more complicated than that.

If pointing to the obvious ­ that the West has a humanistic tradition, one rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic, the sanctity of the individual soul, and the idea of natural rights, entirely lacking in the Asiatic cultures ­ makes me a racist, by your PC definition, then so be it. Oh, and by the way: thanks for reminding me why I hate most leftists.

The Quran

In otherwise very excellent article by Gore Vidal, the statement that "according to the Koran, it was on a Tuesday that Allah created darkness" is incorrect. The Quran does not mention when God created darkness, nor when earth was created, nor how old is earth.

In the last few months,there have been many statements such the above have been attributed to Quran, or Islam, that not true. Many verses of the Quran were misquoted, taken out of context, and some were just a part of verse. Likewise many terms were mistranslated into English that reflect the western prescription, or western terms were substituted for the correct meaning. Take for example the word Jihad, in Arabic it means struggle. However, it was translated as "holy war," a term first used by Christian crusaders in their wars against the Muslims during the middle ages, the same with the word infidels.

The misquoting of the Quran, using just a part of verse while ignoring the rest, and the taking out of context has been used by pro-Israel pundits, neocons,and pro-Israel Christian Fundamentalists to further their own agenda in relation to the Muslim world, and especially the Middle East.

~ SS

Let's See Action

Thank you for a brilliant article Raimondo. War is never an alternative. The combatants of the Middle East have proved themselves time and again that they are not fit to determine their own destiny, and it is time for the US to take an unbiased stand and stick both the Arabs and Israelis heads in the mud till both say uncle.

From the beginning of this Intifada, where poor little innocent Mohammed Durra lay dying in his father's arms, one got the impression that there is no justice in this world and nothing good can come out of armed struggle. Clinton was moved to tears by it, but he soon lost sight of how he could put an end to it. It is now the eleventh hour and America's credibility as champion of human rights is on the line. America is the only country that can solve this age old conflict once and for all – and I mean the Americans and not the vested interests in Washington. Let's stop hearing accusations and counteraccusations, let's see action.

~ Michael B., United Kingdom

Disconnect

I have considerable regard for Antiwar.com. Given your obvious interest in matters relating to war, I wanted to bring to your attention a disconnect between Canada and he US regarding recent events in Afghanistan.

As you are perhaps aware a number of our elite soldiers died in an unfortunate incident involving a US aircraft dropping two laser guided bombs on what the pilot presumed to be enemy forces. They were actually Canadian forces from the Princess Patricia regiment undergoing "live fire training." Four soldiers died and a number of others were seriously injured.

While it is perhaps to be expected that soldiers will occasionally die, it is being reported here that these are the first Canadian soldiers to die in active service since the Korean war. As a mark of respect most flags in Canada have been flying at half mast for several days now, and the incident has generated considerable sympathy regarding the risk our troops face, in providing assistance to US forces.

However the incident has generated considerable antipathy towards the US, not because of the bombing itself, which while being careless on someone's part (quite possibly Canadian), is part and parcel of the risk all soldiers take, but because of the subsequent US response to the death of these soldiers.

Our local paper has reported George Bushes initial refusal to comment on the incident, and unwillingness to even express sympathy to the families involved. It has [been] reported that no US officials wished to be present upon the return of these soldiers bodies to Canadian soil, and our CBC announcer this morning described how hurt he personally felt that at the Raptors basketball game, the American fans from Detroit took it upon themselves to add insult to injury by booing our national anthem while memory of our soldiers death was still very much in all our minds.

It is also being reported that this event (like so many involving Canada) is below the US radar. It is apparently not even being reported by such papers as the New York Times.

As editor of a news source which focuses on the real news, I think that both Canadians and Americans would be well served by an editorial exploring the dichotomy between US and Canadian reporting of this event. Canadians are genuinely somewhat bemused because we find it difficult to believe that had our roles been reversed, we would have been anything but appalled had one of our soldiers so much as injured a US soldier. I don't think we would have been appearing to be acting as if the incident had never happened, or was of little significance.

Rightly or wrongly, this incident is either generating (or being used to generate) a lot of bad feeling north of the border, towards the perceived prevailing attitudes south of the border.

I think your readership should at a minimum be made aware of this.

Although no more than coincidental, it might also be of interest to you (particularly in the light of the recent report regarding Dutch forces and the events at Srebenica) that the regiment that the soldiers belonged to has the almost unique honour of actually holding their ground and fighting back against advancing Croat forces, during operation Storm in 1993. Their bravery during this battle (reported as the largest for Canadian forces since Korea) at Medak pocket, went unreported and unrecognised for four years, in large part because it was Serbs who were being defended. Other Canadian regiments when similarly challenged by advancing Croat forces (the Van Doos?) let those challenging UN cease-fire lines advance without opposition.

~ Ian D., Canada