NATO BOMBING TRAIL IN

„The U.S. led attack on Yugoslavia was designed to improve President Clinton‘s public image and restore credibility to NATO, whose existence since the end of the cold war was in jeopardy. This was the real agenda of the NATO war. In terms of Balkan history it is an old agenda. Traditionally western intervention in the Bal- kans has proven to be disastrous. From the Congress of Berlin to both world wars, the western powers have intervened in the Balkans for their own selfish policy objectives. These aims have had little relevance to the issues affecting the peoples of the Balkan countries. What was true of the past has proven true again in Kosovo.“

Ambassador James Bisset in „New diplomacy - old agenda“ (he was Canada‘s ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and A free guide offered to commemorate the damage Albania. He is widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on Balkan politics) caused by NATO Agression in 1999 on Serbian teritory NOTHING AGAINST www.sajkaca.blogspot.com NATO BOMBING TRAIL IN BELGRADE 4 9

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8 This is an unusual gui- de to Belgrade. Take a walk (or a ride) to see what the „humanitari- 3 an“ war did to the capi- tal of Serbia. Many lost their life and existence 7 because of this agressi- on. This trail suggests to give a look and to be aware of that.Here you A free guide offered to commemorate the damage find also some background caused by NATO Agression information. in 1999 on Serbian teritory NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 1 2 USCE TOWER

Hotel Jugoslavija in Belgrade is one of NATO Bombing Reconstruction Usce Tower was built in 1964 to serve the oldest luxurious Serbian hotels lo- as headquarters of the Central Com- cated on the River bank in the Hotel Jugoslavija stands for Ex-Yu nost- mittee of the League of Communists in Novi Beograd municipality. It was built algia and wonderful lifstyle. Since it was the former Yugoslavia and was exclu- in stages between 1947 and 1965 not a military building and is in a atrac- sively used for the Communist party. and opened in 1969 as one of the big- tive location, private companies had big Until 2003 people called the building gest hotels in the region. The architect interest to start business again. In fact, CeKa which stands for Centralni Komi- was Lavoslav Horvat. in 2006 it was bought by Alpe-Adria tet (Central Committee). With its 24 Hotels then in 2007 Casinos storeys, overlooking the Danube and It was used as an accommodation for announced to invest 100 million euros river it stands like a gateway to celebrities and high officials visiting into the hotel and transform it into a Novi Beograd. The competition projects Belgrade. Some of the famous people luxury casino. There are some plans to that stayed in hotel Jugoslavija include add new 33 storey twin towers. , , Queen The building was directly hit by 2 mis- July 2nd 2007, Casino Beograd ope- Elizabeth II, Willy Brandt, Tina Turner, siles, during the night of 7/8 May ned its doors occupying 700m2 in , , etc. 1999, and the west wing of the hotel Hotel Jugoslavija. During the years the hotel with 130 was totally destroyed. One guest got This is the first part of the hotel which rooms decayed and has fallen from 5 killed. The reason is not really evident reopened its doors. It celebrated its star hotel to a 3 star one. for bombing the hotel. opening on february 9th 2008 and now In the same night the nearby Embas- covers an area of 9500m2. sy of in Novi Beograd was also bombed, four employees got killed, and five of them were heavily injured. Thas night was one of the heaviest attack since the beginning of the aggression (the buildings of the Yugoslav Army Headquarters and the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs were also hit again)

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com for this building stirred up much dis- Reconstruction cussion over the issues of symbolism. Until then, buildings for parties and Reconstruction work on the building goverment were built in the style of started in early 2003 and was com- sociorealism, but this tower (designed pleted in 2005. The multi-million dollar also by Mihailo Jankovi� ) was a simple project has now 25 stories, totalling aluminium and glass clad Internatio- around 25,000 square meters of class nal style administrative type building A office space. An observation deck, of anonymous character void of any fitness area and restaurant are located symbolism and represented the latest on the last level of the building. architectural modernity. The planned project is much bigger thougth. It will boast two towers (the second also with 25 floors) and a mul- tifunctional office-commerical-sports remaining two floors of the mall will be centre. The complex will be 180000 above ground. The shopping mall will square metres and the construction have a total commercial space area of will cost 160 million Euros. 36000 square metres and will feature There will also be one underground cafes, restaurants, boutiques, stores, floor of the shopping mall, while the furniture stores, banks, and pharma- remaining two floors of the mall will be cies. The third part of the complex will (A World Trade Center style destruc- have a multiplex theatre and sports tion nearly occurred during the 1970s recreation centre. NATO Bombing when Nikola Kavaja planned to board a Boeing 747 in Chicago, hijack it and hit Destruction On April 21, 1999 NATO USCE Tower to kill president Josip Broz air strikes hit the building, setting the Tito to signal the end of communism. upper floors on fire. Several days later However, minutes before he planned NATO repeated the attack. In total 12 to hijack the plane, Kavaja was talked Tomahawk missiles were fired at this out of doing this by a priest, and spent building. 23 years in prison for his unsuccessful plan.) NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 3 FEDERAL MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

The building, completed in 1963, is identity in Yugoslavia shortly after the street front across the site had already Selective Bombing or NATO as ar- today Belgrade’s most famous ruin: the break from Stalin in 1948. During the been filled with pre-war representati- chitectural critics Federal Ministry of Defense building on spring of 1954 the Yugoslav Army onal buildings in a variety of academic the corner of Miloševa and Nemanjina invited nine Yugoslav architects to com- and Neo-classical styles. Had NATO wished to destroy a building streets is the work of Nikola Dobrovic. pete for a new building complex. One Dobrovic‘s proposal connected the two with more Western influences, it could Especially the twin giant frontbuildings of them was Nikola Dobrovic, already divided areas of the site by proposing a not have found a better target than were heavily damaged during NATO known in leftist circles of the European long and narrow volume from one end the Ministry of National Defense. The bombings on 7th May 1999 and are intellectual avant-garde for his moder- of the site to the other with a full length leveling of Vukovar, the siege of Sara- scary examples of precision bombing nist work. He was a pioneer among of 250 meters, thus keeping a space jevo, and the random bombardment of on Kneza Milosa Street. Yugoslavian architects in resisting the open for the street coming up the hill Dubrovnik were believed to have been influence of tradition. from the main railway station to the city ordered from this place also referred and forming a symbolic gate. to as the „heart of the war machine.“ Dobrovic, an „academic“ with a „libera- By setting this volume back from the ting voice,“ was there to serve as proof line of the crossing street, Dobrovic For NATO it was difficult to classify this of the recent shift in Yugoslav politics created a 270-meter wide field open building, because its presence was towards a pro-liberal image endorsed for experiments in elevation. The void more represented by the void between by the West. After the break with the in that elevation evoked a canyon and two part of the complex and it was Eastern Bloc was unlikely to favor a Dobrovic imagined the void as an inte- extremly modern looking. NATO‘s late Neo-classicist variations on national gral part of his new image of national decision to bomb the building, more identity (like e.g. the competition ent- identity. than a month after the air attacks had rance of Josip Plecnik, an established started, may have been the effect of academic from Ljubljana) especially this low level of symbolism: no exposed since Stalin had already appropriated columns, no ornamental narration of the Neo-classicist image for the com- history, as might have been present in munist state. Dobrovic is considered Serbia’s most Stalinist architecture. important modern architect although Dobrovic won with a scheme stripped he built only one building in Belgrade of any classical representations of po- Would a historical looking building with towards the end of his career. wer. The changes and the liberalization colums and classical shape have been The making and building of the Federal of a transitional state such as Yugos- enough to remind NATO‘s cultural advi- Ministry of Defense coincided with the lavia were to be shaped into a volume, sers of the possibility that it belongs to construction of the post-war national not expressed as a narrative. The Culture? NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com Reconstruction What grows, needs time to grow, what goes down, needs time to be forgot- NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia Will this building now be remembered ten, but everything that existed leaves and the Lessons of the 20th Century in relation to its creation or to its des- traces. by Sanderson Beck The air war of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of 19 truction? And the building of the Federal Minist- nations led by the United States on Serbians in Yugoslavia has been The reconstruction is not planned. ry of Defense seems to be too much carried out under the rationale that it will prevent a humanitarian Here 3 reasons why the building pro- Yugoslavian, too much a reminder of disaster similar to Nazi atrocities in the second world war. This ar- ticle attempts to answer the following questions: Is this justified? bably will remain a ruin: the past, a past that represent a dark What are the likely results? What are the pertinent lessons of World 1) Lack of money chapter of the collective memory,that War II? What other lessons can we learn from the disastrous wars of It’s nothing unusual, in the Balkans it’s is still not forgotten. Like the most of the 20th century? What else can we learn from the experiences of this century? What are better ways of responding to Serbian crimes against always lack of money. Dobrovic’s modernist works, they leave the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo? But back in 1999, right after bombing, a bad feeling in the mind of Serbians. Is this justified? the talk from Washington indicated The NATO air campaign in Yugoslavia is clearly a violation of in- ternational law. Since Kosovo is a province of the nation Yugosla- that most financial aid to the region via, and the United Nations charter prohibits aggression against a will land in Kosovo, the area reported sovereign nation, NATO has no right to interfere in their internal by the UN to have the least damage. In affairs. Article 2 Section 4 states, „All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against these days, we understand why! the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.“ 2) Souvenir of a void as National Iden- NATO‘s intervention is also a crime against peace according to the tity Nuremberg Principles. The rationale of stopping Serbian genocide against the Albanian people of Kosovo has been proven false, sin- This famous ruin in the heart of Belgra- ce those atrocities have actually increased as a result of the air de now asks that we think of two voids war. The war crimes of the Serbians in Kosovo do not justify NATO in relation to each other: one created in committing crimes against the Serbians; rather this policy only multiplies the war crimes. Now thanks to the European Greens it has by Nikola Dobrovic within his building come out that the press failed to report Appendix B of the Rambouil- of the Federal Ministry of Defense and let agreement in which Yugoslavia had to accept occupation of all the new one created by NATO‘s bombs Yugoslavia by NATO troops with NATO press censorship to avoid being bombed. Yet the Serbian parliament was willing to accept the poli- falling on the building. The dilemma is tical settlement with autonomy for Kosovo if implementation would be about which void to identify with, which by United Nations authority. Not being willing to yield its national void to remember. sovereignty to occupation by a hostile military alliance while wil- ling to accept a UN-implemented agreement is hardly the resolution of 3) Symbol as too much Yuogslavian a nation „asking to be bombed.“ In the Balkan Symbols, Rituals Ideolo- gies still count! People have a cultural memory. NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 4 AIRFORCE HEADQUARTER

The monumental Headquarters building Exhibitions, poetry evenings and musi- in was built in 1935 to the ar- cal shows were held here. A conspira- chitectural plans of Dragiša Brašovan. cy led by general Dušan Simovi� was NATO’s bombing of hatched in this building in 1941. The Yugoslavia was done without Cvetkovic-Macek Government was the involvement of the United Nations. overthrown and the under-aged Petar II Karadjordjevic came into power. It failed utterly to do serious damage to the Target Yugoslav military. The building was severely damaged on The bombing has destroyed April 5, 1999, during NATO bombing. the infrastructure of Ser- Dragiša Brašovan (*1887) is considered as the one who introduced Modern Architecture bia and has caused untold in the Balkans. He studied in Budapest and after working for 6 years in Budapest in 1920 he environmental damage to the founded an architecture firm in Belgrade with Milan Sekulic (this lasted until 1225 after that countries along the Danube This unique building expresses he went on on its own). After 1929 he started modern style architecture and joined the group river . „ Arhitekata modernog pravca“. However he was not a strictly functionalist architect, in the Brasovan‘s poetical, romantic under- modern language of his buildings there was always some place for decoration or expressionistic In the name of humanitarian standing of modern architecture and elements in his works. After 1945 he made a couple of bulidings in socio-realism style, where objectives it caused a huma- is a good example of expressionism (a he combined modern style with ethnic and monumental elements. Brasovan died in 1965. He‘s nitarian disaster. modernist adoption of new materials to considered one of the most famous Serbian architects of the century, distinguished connoisseur express forms and emotions) in Serbi- of the age of baroque and introduced modern style architecture to the Balkans. NATO took sides in a civil war and became the air force an architecture. of the KLA to wrest away from a sovereign state an According to the architect, the building integral part of its terri- resembles a dual of „Roda“ fighter jets tory. with its two wings and indented middle Ambassador James Bisset section.

It‘s difficult to take pictures of the mi- litary buildings in Belgrade because it happens often that officers chase you away and cofiscate your pictures.

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com Muzej savremene umetnosti 5 Museum of Contemporary Arts Uš�e 10. Blok 15 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART 11070 Novi Beograd

The edifice was erected between The Museum was founded in 1958 1961 and 1965 after the design of aiming to collect, study and exhibit the architects Ivan Antic and Ivanka Raspo- works of modern Yugoslav art. Now povic, who were awarded the October the museum has a collection of more Prize of the city of Belgrade in 1965 than 35,000 works of arts by Yugoslav when the museum opened. artists: paintings and sculptures dating This building represents an original from 1900 up to the present day. architectural concept linking its interior with the exterior and at the same time meeting all the principals of a museum, thus ranking it among the most signi- ficant examples of modern museum architecture in in Serbia and the world in general.

Bombing On April 28th, when the Usce Business Center was bombed by NATO for the second time, the glazing of the Muse- um was blown off and and the Museum exhibits were damaged. The sculptures The Muesum from the Kalamegdan in the park surrounding the Museum Fortress blends nicley with the surroun- sustained substantial damage too. ding

An old pictures from the 60‘s showing Ivan Antic was born in Belgrade in 1923. He made his studies in Belgrade from 1945 until he Renovation got his diploma in 1950. While studying he worked for the Ministery of Transportation and from It is undergoing an €8 million renovati- the well composed facade 1950 until 1953 he worked for the „Jugoprojekt Office“ where he met people like Stanko Kliska that takes care of aesthetics and of the and Vojin Simeonovic (both famous architect in former Yugolslavia) . After 1957 he started to on fully funded from the Government‘s needs of a museum make own projects and after that he joined the Architectural Faculty in Belgrade. He‘s Member National Investment. of the Academy and his buildings are masterpieces of Serbian modern architecture: they are functional and aesthetical. He died in 2005 in Belgrade. NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 6 TOWER NEAR BELGRADE

The TV Tower on Avala Mountain, re- It was was 202.87m high and standing Target nowned for modern architectural and on three slim legs (buried 1.4m into the was destroyed on April 29, structural concepts, was completely mountain rock) it was the only tower 1999 by NATO bombardment suppo- destroyed during NATO’s April 29 th that had an equilateral triangle as its sedly to put Radio Television of Serbia attack. The attack managed to stop TV cross section. off the air. Radio Television Serbia broadcast for 10 hours. And for that broadcasting did not suffer as it was the tower had to be destroyed?! relying on a network of local TV stations From the height which were obliged to relay its program Before of 102 metres throughout the whole of Serbia. A The tower was constructed between to a 135 metres special bomb was used to destroy the 1961 and 1965 designed by Uglješa there was an all tower. The blast was one of the loudest Bogdanovic and Slobodan Janjic, and glass area to explosions heard throughout Belgrade civil engineer Milan Krstic. which visitors during the NATO bombardment. could come via Reconstruction two quick lifts. In 2004, Radio Television Serbia commenced a series of fund-raising It was a matter events in order to collect money to of prestige to reconstruct the building (over 1 million have a drink at euros was collected through fund- the top of the raising and donations supported by Tower, to have politicians and celebrities). On Decem- dinner and watch ber 21, 2006 the construction of a the city glittering at night. new Avala Tower started. An agree- ment regarding its construction was On the top of the tower there was an signed by Dušan Basara, director of antenna, which was at first used for the construction sector of the Ratko black and white television transmission. Mitrovi� Company—which will be in char- In 1971 the antenna was replaced by ge of the construction of the tower— a new one used for colour TV transmis- and general director of RTS, Aleksan- sion. It quickly became the symbol of dar Tijani�. Completion of the new tower Belgrade and a popular lookout point. is expected in August 2008.

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com Just ten days after NATO bombs began falling on Yugoslavia, Mi- losevic appointed Milutin Mrkonjic to head the nation‘s post-war reconstruction and development. „He said ... Mrko, we have to rebuild our country,“ said Mrkon- jic. „Start with the team tomorrow ... go and visit the sites.“ Mrkonjic, a 58-year-old civil engineer, said there was a reason to start the project long before 79 days of bombing had ended on June 11, 1999. „We were monitoring sites during the war ... gathering informa- tion about those sites that were destroyed ... like bridges,“ Mrkonjic said. „We used that documentation after the war, which helped us begin the work right away.“ Ahead of schedule In the past year, according to official records, the natio- nal reconstruction agency that Mrkonjic leads has repaired 174 houses or apartments and rebuilt 449. It also has rebuilt 28 road bridges, four railway bridges and a railway track. Many projects have been completed ahead of schedule, Mrkonjic said, an achievement he attributes to strict discipline among Avala tower was a „proudness“ symbol his workers. But Mrkonjic‘s successes have been hindered by a and a famous touristic landmark, so trade ban by NATO nations against Belgrade in an attempt to there was a big wish and acceptance to force Milosevic, who has been indicted as a war criminal by a U.N. commission, out of office.„Sanctions made our job harder,“ rebuild this unique tower. Mrkonjic said. „But our companies have good personnel, our engi- neers and experts are well-known all over the world. Knowing these qualities we began our work assured.“ Paying for reconstruction if not otherwise indicated, all texts are from www.sajkaca.blogspot.com Cost of the reconstruction has been estimated in billions of and some extracts are from serbian wikipedia. dollars, 80% from government resources and taxes, and 20 percent Some picutres from: from abroad.The sanctions, said Mrkonjic, are „a mistake of the www.sramota.net (site not working anymore) West... They need to look at the economy. We are talking with the rest of the world, and many countries are interested... Chi- www.ostarchitektur.com na, Russia, we still talk to them.“ Last year China, which had www.predsednik.rs denounced the NATO bombing campaign, reportedly offered Belgrade www.belgradefvc.com (wiki) $300 million in credit and loans to help rebuild the damage.

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 7 BUILDINGS AT KNEZA MILOSA

THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA THE OLD GENERAL STAFF BUILDING GOVERNMENT BUILDING No.17 Kneza Milosa Street The buildings were shaken as a result No.11 Nemanjina Street of two attacks on the Serbian Govern- The old General Staff was considerably ment Building located in the immediate The building is presently the seat of the damaged by the bombing of the new vicinity; first during the night of 29/30 government of the Republic of Ser- General Staff (Ministry of Defence). The April and then during the night of 7/8 bia. Due to its architectural style and facades, pillars and sculptures were May; window and door frames were cultural-historic values, the building is damaged by shrapnel and bits of stone blown out of place, while all the glass currently the object of an evaluation which flew from the demolished building was shattered. procedure, necessary for the granting in the immediate vicinity. All window and of the status of an immovable cultural door frames in the building were blown asset cultural monument. out of place, while all the glass was The building is located in the immediate shattered. vicinity of the Federal Minsitry of de- fence complex, and the fasade was se- verely damaged in the bombing during the night of 29/30 April. However, during the night of 7 May, the building was directly hit and partially demolished.

A lot of buildings at Kneza MIlosa THE BUILDING Street are demolished. it‘s enough to at No.6 Kneza Milosa Street take a walk. at Generala Danova Street at the corner of No.3 Bircaninova Street and Generala Danova Street. at the corner of No.20 Kneza Milosa street and Admirala Geprata Street

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 8 RADIO TELEVISION SERBIA HEADQUARTER

The building at Aberdareva Street 1, Tasmaydan Monument Tasmaydan was nothing special, but when Sixteen Park. employees of RTS died when a single Was erected to commemorate the Many apologists in the west NATO rocket hit the building people children killed during the NATO bom- argue that the NATO inter- were very shocked. bings of 1999. vention was to stop ethnic cleansing but NATO bombed Yugoslavia because President Target Milosevic would not sign the The bombing started controversy in Rambouillet Agreement. Serbia, as it turned out that employees were not properly evacuated and that The two provisions of that Agreement which made it im- more poepole than the minimum ne- Reconstruction possible for any sovereign cessary wheren in the building at that state to sign were eventu- time. Many were trapped for days, only A new building has been built next to ally dropped by NATO after communicating over mobile phones. the bombed station while a monument seventy odd days of bombing was erected to all of those who have failed to subdue Yugoslavia. The television station went on air again died in the attack. The 16 killed are seen as heroes who Ironically, through the good 24 hours later from a secret location, offices of the Russians, and for that 16 people had to die! were offered for political purposes. NATO agreed not to insist on A monument overlooking the ruins the occupation of all of Yu- from Tasmaydan park asks zashto goslavia by NATO troops and (‘why?‘), lists the names, profession and to forget about insisting ages of the victims and has a photo of on a referendum in Kosovo within three years. the ruins directly after the attack. These were the two provi- sions of the Rambouillet Agreement that had caused the bombing in the first place! President Boris Tadic in 2006 at the monument in Tasmajdan Park

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com 9 War In The Balkans: Fatherland sees truth through a looking-glass: The Propaganda War by Robert Fisk CHINESE EMBASSY Wednesday, 31 March 1999 (The Independent)

On May 7, 1999 NATO bombs hit the Chinese reaction Just after Nato‘s air strikes on Yugoslavia began last week, Chinese Embassy at Bulevar Nikole The bombing sparked outrage among Belgrade state television entertained its viewers with Wag the Tesle killing three Chinese citizens and the public in China and provoked de- Dog. It took a genius to show at such short notice a perfect copy - equally perfectly sub-titled into Serbian - of Hollywood‘s fan- outraging the Chinese public. At the monstrations outside the United States tasy about an American president who manufactures a totally arti- time of the bombing, the embassy was embassy in Beijing and U.S. consulates ficial war in Albania to escape from private scandal. But no lon- located in Novi Beograd – later, a new in other Chinese cities. ger do the people of Yugoslavia have to turn to Hollywood. site was designated for the embassy For to live in Belgrade just now is to see the Balkan war through in Dedinje. NATO later apologized for US response a looking- glass. While BBC World and Sky TV show a war in which Kosovo Albanians suffer, Belgrade television portrays Nato‘s at- the bombing, saying that it occurred The U.S. tacks as an act of international aggression against an innocent because of an outdated map provided made a lot of nation - Serbia - which is fighting for its life against KLA „ter- by the CIA. Few Chinese accepted this efforts to rorism“ in Kosovo. explanation, believing the strike had explain that the been deliberate. Several media reports bombing was Instead of fleeing Albanian refugees, it shows bombed-out Serb homes in Kosovo, wounded children - Albanian and gypsy as well as from the US, UK, Denmark and Canada not intended, Serb - in a damaged Pristina hospital, and a massive haul of arms supported this view. Some US sources but a mistake captured from Kosovo Albania guerrillas by young Yugoslav sol- such as New York Times maintain cul- of unfortunate diers, one of whom eagerly passes on his love for his mother in pability still lies with U.S. strike planning. casualties. Subotica the moment a microphone is waved in front of his face. Even the military briefings are a mirror-image of Nato press con- ferences. While RAF officers talk to journalists in Brussels, Yugoslav Air Defence Commander General Spasoje Smiljanovic invited us for a Yugoslav armed forces military assessment in Belgrade. In 2005, the Centre for Research on In a massive room dripping withchandeliers and decorated with two gold twin-headed eagles of Serbia and Yugoslavia, the general was Globalization reported that the attack even equipped with a slide projector to illustrate Nato air stri- was deliberate and was „based on kes and those countries involved in the „aggression“ against Yu- intelligence that then Serbian leader goslavia. A map showed guilty nations coloured in purple, the in- Slobodan Miloševi� was to have been in nocent - and Russia, of course, is a very big innocent - in white. the Embassy at the time of the attack“. General Smiljanovic reels off the codenames of Nato jets invol- ved in the air bombardment with all the panache of a Nato comman- The report does not provide sources der: F-15s, F- 16s, F-18s, EAGD „Prowlers“, A-10s, E3-Awacs, Mi- or independent confirmation, adding to rages, Tornados, Harriers and B-52s. When America‘s downed F-117A the long list of conspiracy theories con- „Stealth“ fighter-bomber comes up on the big screen, the general cerning US motivations for the attack. is in top form. „It flew from New Mexico to come to rest on Serb territory,“ he says sarcastically.

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com „Such a pity! If it had come as a friend, it would still be General Smiljanovic insisted that Yugoslav air defence forces flying.“ He insists that Yugoslavia has sustained „minimal losses“ had shot down seven Nato aircraft - Nato says it has lost only one among its air-raid personnel - just seven soldiers killed and 17 - and three helicopters, more than 30 cruise missiles and three wounded (a lower figure than the weekend‘s) - while admitting „se- pilotlessdrone reconnaissance aircraft. vere damage to stationary facilities and infrastructure“ costing $300m (pounds 183m). Nato denies the helicopters although it has made no comment about lost drones or missiles destroyed by ground fire. The ge- While Western television viewers were watching exhausted Kosovo neral went out of his way to praise his MiG-29 pilots. And inde- Albanian refugees talking of Serb executions and „ethnic clean- ed, yesterday‘s issue of Soldier magazine - the journal of the sing“, their Serb counterparts were seeing a badly damaged hospi- Yugoslav armed forces - shows that Serb and Montenegrin pilots tal in Pristina reported to have been bombed by Nato and a damaged are praised as much here as Nato‘s warriors of the air are on BBC maternity ward in which 51 babies were reportedly rescued from World. Four MiG pilots were promoted by President Slobodan Milose- incubators as the air attacks began. Film at a different clinic vic, and a medal of honour went to two senior officers for defen- showed children, said to be Albanian as well as Serb, with stomach ding „the Fatherland‘s airspace“. wounds. So much for the gongs. In reality, Yugoslavia has shrewdly kept Third item on the national news here in the past 24 hours was a most of its mobile anti-aircraft missile defences intact, keeping dramatic report of a Yugoslav interception of Albanian „terro- them deactivated and moving them around to avoid Nato target po- rists“ carrying weapons into Kosovo, 13 of whom had been killed, sitioning. Whenever air- raid alerts suggest a threat to MiG air- the remainder having fled back across the border. The film report fields, Yugoslav jets are scrambled, either returning to their air - and the arms - appeared to be new; they included a large number bases after the alert or, if their airfields are damaged, landing of anti-armour weapons, apparently of Austrian manufacture. The on the great highways that Tito built for just such a purpose more Kosovo town of Djakovica had been attacked by Nato forces, viewers than 20 years ago. were told, and dozens of civilian houses damaged as well as the town‘s Catholic church and monastery.

Serbs were outraged to be told that the Serb village of Gra- canica had been almost totally destroyed by Nato bombs. Other In other words, despite all the reports said that KLA „terrorists“ had attacked military po- Nato bombing, the Yugoslav armed sitions immediately they had been targeted by Nato. Clearly, forces are far from down and out. there have been Serb civilian casualties. Yesterday, for examp- le, Care Australia reported that nine Serb refugees from Kra- Just who, one wonders here jina, captured by Croatian forces more than four years ago, these days, is wagging the dog? had been killed in Cacak, 85 miles from Belgrade, where they had been living in an abandoned barracks attacked by Nato.

NOTHING AGAINST SERBIA www.sajkaca.blogspot.com