Increasing plight of refugees from NATO & US policy
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 07:47:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steve Habib Rose habib@thegarden.net
Peace.
The front page articles of yesterday's (April 7) USA Today, and the editorial
on page 2A raise some very important questions about NATO and US policy.
These articles include tragic examples of refugees beeing beaten and forced to
board airplanes for Turkey and other countries. And, the editorial strongly
criticizes the fact that the 20,000 refugees supposedly allowed entry into the
U.S. by President Clinton will actually be kept in camps in the (U.S.)
Guantanamano naval base in Cuba! According to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col.
Bill Darley: "It's all set up. It's a cordoned-off area. It's easy to
control. It's easy to supply. And nobody will be freezing there."
The first week of bombing created an additional 100,000 refugees who fled the
active war in Kosovo. Up till this point, the ugly policies of forced
relocation ("ethnic cleansing") by Milosevic's Serbian forces in Yugoslavia,
had led to a total of approximately 400,000 refugees.
Macedonian Refugee Camp Abruptly Emptied; Thousands Forced Back to Kosovo
"A day after ripping NATO leaders for failing to recognize the humanitarian
consequences of their airstrikes against Yugoslavia, the Macedonian government
early Wednesday abruptly moved tens of thousands of refugees from a squalid
border crossing into vast new tent cities set up by NATO forces and relief
agencies. More worrisome, however, was Yugoslavia's decision to close all
border crossings leading out of Kosovo, effectively trapping thousands of
Kosovars in the conflict zone."
If NATO is presumably acting to protect the refugees, does it matter at all
that their actions are, in reality, increasing their suffering?
