<<  <  >  >>

The arguments

they have suffered themselves, they

Bosnian Serbs and also by the Croatian Serbs,

inflict in turn on others.12

of forcibly expelling the local population

that intervention

whether it was Muslim or Croat using terror

in Kosovo was

General Sherman was correct: War is hell. It  tactics."15 Red Cross officials, United Nations

required to pre-

is particularly so in a region like the  representatives, and Western diplomats re-

Balkans, a region where memories are long  jected Ambassador Galbraith's assessment.

serve U.S. "credi-

and fuses are short.

One ambassador described the remark as

bility" and to pre-

"breathtaking."1 6

Washington's Selective Outrage

Although the Clinton administration and

vent the toppling

Of course, even if one were to accept the  NATO (especially the British) have depicted

of geopolitical

claim that the United States should intervene  Serbian actions in Kosovo in the most chill-

dominoes in

in conflicts that cause widespread suffering,  ing light possible, they have remained silent

the question still must be posed: Why Kosovo  about the human rights atrocities perpetrat-

Europe are nei-

but not Sudan, Rwanda, Congo, or Sierra  ed by Turkey, a NATO member that partici-

ther novel nor

Leone--all places where armed humanitarian  pated in the war against Yugoslavia. For the

persuasive.

intervention could be as justified to stop  past 14 years, Turkey has been waging a sav-

appalling atrocities? Furthermore, why were  age military campaign of repression against

President Clinton and Secretary of State  its own ethnic Kurd minority; that campaign

Albright so outraged by the expulsion of eth-  has resulted in the death of approximately

nic Albanians from Kosovo yet utterly indif-  37,000 people, mostly Kurds.1 7 Turkey's

ferent to the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from actions against the Kurds--terror, "geno-

Croatia?

cide," and suppression of human rights--are

Before 1991 ethnic Serbs composed 12  far more egregious than Serbia's actions in

percent of Croatia's population. Today, virtu-  Kosovo before the onset of NATO air strikes.

ally no ethnic Serbs remain in Croatia.

The United States and NATO were willing

Interestingly, several days before the NATO to bomb Belgrade; however, they did not

air strikes began, the Hague war crimes tri-  bomb Ankara and Zagreb. Yet the logic of the

bunal (the same tribunal that indicted  alliance's policy, if applied evenhandedly,

Milosevic) released a report that spelled out  would suggest that Turkey and Croatia

in chilling detail the atrocities committed by  deserve the same kind of punishment meted

the Croatian army during its 1995 summer  out to Serbia. In addition, the war crimes tri-

offensive, including the forced expulsion and  bunal has not indicted Turkish leaders, or

summary execution of ethnic Serbs.13 (The  Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and his

Croatian army was trained and organized by  henchmen, for war crimes, although they

"unofficial" U.S. military advisers, who also  have committed the same kinds of "crimes

supervised the planning of the summer 1995  against humanity" of which Milosevic and

offensive.) Moreover, President Clinton took  his colleagues are accused.

Humanitarian concerns, and the desire to

what one administration official character-

ized as a "yellow-light approach," and anoth-  punish war crimes, were pretexts for U.S. and

er called an "an amber light tinted green  NATO policy, not the motives behind the

approach," to the Croatian ethnic sweep  policy. The same rationales could also be

through the Krajina region.1 4 The U.S.  invoked to justify U.S. military action in

ambassador to Croatia at the time, Peter  countless trouble spots around the world. It

Galbraith, dismissed the flight of up to  is difficult to resist the conclusion that, as in

150,000 Serbs from Croatia, telling a BBC  Kosovo, those rationales are called up by U.S.

radio interviewer that ethnic cleansing was  policymakers for the purpose of manipulat-

carried out only by Serbs. "Ethnic cleansing,"  ing public opinion into backing foreign

he explained, "is a practice sponsored by the  interventions that would otherwise be

leadership in Belgrade, carried out by the  unsupported. During the conflict, Washing-

5