Truth in Media Global Watch Bulletins

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April 23, 1999

Special Truth in Media Global Watch Bulletins on NATO's War on Serbia

Issue S99-51, Day 31, Update 1

PHOENIX, ARIZONA      explosion.gif (16495 bytes)  Topic: BALKAN AFFAIRS

Apr. 23, 1999; 11:00AM EDT - DAY 31, UPDATE 1

HEADLINES

Belgrade                 1. An Eyewitness Account of NATO Murders at Serb TV HQ

Brussels                  2. Journalists Group Protests Bombing of Serb TV

Belgrade                 3. NATO and Serb Losses Detailed

Phoenix                   4. Senator McCain, Clinton's Pal and NATO War Hawk,

                                   Is No Hero

Washington             5. Albright, Correcting Blair, Admits Washington

                                   Wants Milosevic to Stay

Phoenix                   6. Repeating the Truth in Media Creed

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1. An Eyewitness Account of NATO Murders at Serb TV HQ

BELGRADE, Apr. 23 - Further to our initial report about NATO's bombing of the Serb TV headquarters early this morning Belgrade time (see Day 30, Update 1, Item 3, Apr. 22), we received the following dramatic eyewitness account from a TiM source in Belgrade:

"I live 100 meters (about 110 yards) away from the Serb TV headquarters. At 2:06AM, we were sitting in our room, talking. Then we heard awful sounds of a plane. It was so loud that we all hid under the bed, thinking that it'll hit our building and kill us all.

Then we heard strong detonations. Our windows started rattling. The lights went out. We heard several more explosions. My neighbor, who is only 10 years old, fell down the stairs while trying to reach the shelter.

We were all panic-stricken because we heard strong detonations, and we thought that our building will fall apart. After that, we heard that the Serb TV was hit. After some time, we went there to see what happened. I can actually can see the park (in front of the Serb TV building) from my window, but the building itself is behind some trees.

We saw smoke, fire... then we reached the building. Firemen, police, civil defense people... were all already there trying to help the survivors.

We saw a woman shouting from the ruins: "Please, I am here, help me!!" Some men tried her to get her out. She was walking around like a lunatic, shouting: "Where is Jelena? Jelena, she is still in the building!!"

Then we saw somebody falling from the second floor. We saw a man who was hanging upside down from the first, or second floor, I dunno. His head was all covered in blood. His legs were literary crushed by the concrete block. Everybody tried to help him. He is (or was) around 20-25 years old.

People were running around dripping with blood. Fire and smoke all over the place. Blood could be seen everywhere. A real massacre.

Then a friend of mine shouted "This man is dead!!" I didn't turn my head to see him because I thoughtserb-tv.jpg (62451 bytes) I was about to faint. My friends went a bit further, and saw the corps lying without a head. We also saw a pair of (woman's) legs lying crushed by another concrete block. I think that she was already dead, even though people tried to pull her out.

It was terrible. I don't know if I described it well enough. I am still shaking and I'm unable to think. People were lying wounded all over the place. I can still smell the mixture of blood and smoke.

I hope you understand. All (Serb TV) buildings around were destroyed. I won't have any further comments on this. I'll need some more time to recover. That's all for now.

I also heard a reporter who was in the building saying: "The plane went really low, and then made a strike right at the entrance of the building."

This was not a crime against media, nor anything else NATO was claming to save or prevent. This is a direct crime against humanity, and people world-over should know that. Thanks, Bob. Bye."

Marija Mitrovic, downtown Belgrade

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TiM Ed.: It tragically fitting that NATO, formed as a defensive organization 50 years ago to the day, should mark its anniversary with an attack on freedom of speech as well as innocent civilians in Belgrade. Now that all masks of civility have fallen, everybody can see the new NATO for what it is - a mass murdering New World Order juggernaut, or a North Atlantic Terrorist Organization, as some Belgrade protest posters have depicted it.

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2. Journalists Group Protests Bombing of Serb TV

BRUSSELS, Apr. 23 - The International Federation of Journalists, a group of journalism unions which represents about 450,000 journalists around the world, expressed deep concern today over NATO's attack against Serbia's state television center in Belgrade, saying the alliance had violated its pledge to hit military targets only, the Associated Press reported today.

"This bomb attack seems to make a very clear statement that civilian and particularly media targets are legitimate," IFJ General-Secretary, Aidan White, told a news conference. He said the attack meant that Serbian journalists who are working for a free media are now more than ever in danger of being persecuted.

"We need more solidarity with these journalists, not actions which mean they will be put more in the firing line," White said.

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3. NATO and Serb Losses Detailed

BELGRADE, Apr. 23 - With various Serb sources claiming an average of three shoot-downs of various NATO aircraft per day, "sometimes even more;" and with NATO keeping its mouth shut while licking its wounds, it's hard to get an accurate handle as to how badly NATO is hurting.

In the Special TiM GW Bulletin Day 28, Update 1, Item 2 (Apr. 20), we provided the estimates of some Russian sources. Now, we can refer you to the following Web site, which details, incident by incident; day by day; the 63 instances in which NATO planes had been shot down between Mar. 24 and Apr. 20:

http://members.tripod.com/YUModelClub/war_over_yugoslav/list_of_shot_down.htm

And yes, if you browse through this Web site, you can also see some photos of the NATO planes' wrecks.

Meanwhile, the Serb side in the war has also outlined its losses to-date. The Yugoslav minister for information, M. Komnenic, said in a report released in Belgrade on Wednesday (Apr. 21) that 517 civilians were killed by NATO during the Mar. 24-Apr. 20 period, among them 13 children. And that over 4,000 civilians were wounded in NATO's raids.

Preliminary estimates of material damages inflicted by NATO bombers and missiles during the same period put the amount at about $10 billion. The northern province of Vojvodina alone suffered about $3.5 billion in damages.

Across Yugoslavia, 11 bridges were destroyed, 14 damaged; 12 railroad lines and stations were hit, as well as six major highways and airports during the first four week period of the war. Also, 16 hospitals and clinics were damaged, along with over 190 school buildings, and thousands of private residences, according to the Yugoslav government report.

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4. Senator McCain, Clinton's Pal and NATO War Hawk, Is No Hero

PHOENIX, Apr. 23 - Supporters of John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona and a possible presidential candidate, claim he is a Vietnam "war hero." He is not. In fact, the American POWs who knew McCain when he was imprisoned by the North Vietnamese say that he is a fraud, a collaborator with his captors, and a "phony Rhinestone hero," according to Ted Sampley, publisher of the "U.S. Veterans Dispatch" (July 1995 issue).

Why are we bringing this up now? Because one should keep that in mind when listening for McCain's repeated calls for his political pal, Bill Clinton, to bomb the hell out of Belgrade bridges and other civilian objects across Serbia, such as last night's raid on Serb TV. And because McCain has now co-sponsored a resolution in the Senate authorizing a ground war in the Balkans. The resolution, if passed, would authorize Clinton "to use all necessary force" to achieve U.S. and NATO objectives in their war against Serbia.

"Congress, no less than the administration, must show the resolve and confidence of a superpower whose cause is just and imperative," said McCain, according to an Apr. 21 Washington Times story.

Other senators sponsoring the resolution are Republicans Richard Lugar of Indiana, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, along with Democrats Joseph Biden Jr. of Delaware, Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd, both of Connecticut.

Meanwhile, back to the back to the spotty military record of the man who would be president, check out our article, "Who Is Senator John McCain of Arizona?" (TiM GW Bulletin 97/4-6, 20-Apr-97), which is available at our Web site.

Also, if your search the Web for additional information, you will find a number of different sources corroborating the "U.S. Veterans Dispatch" report.

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5. Albright, Correcting Blair, Admits Washington Wants Milosevic to Stay

WASHINGTON, Apr. 20 - Never mind that Washington, London, Paris and Brussels have been demonizing the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, for years. Never mind that they claimed they were waging war on him, while killing and maiming hundreds of innocent Serb civilians. Never mind that NATO has now even bombed his residence (while denying it was targeting Milosevic personally!?).

Old-time TiM readers will recall what we've also saying for years - that the New World Order leaders NEED the bogeys like Milosevic or Saddam Hussein so as to justify their vile crimes against innocent people of Serbia or Iraq, while pursuing their imperial geopolitical objectives. Well, now Madeleine Albright, the U.S. secretary of state, has just about admitted as much herself, however unwittingly.

Answering a question at a press conference on Apr. 20, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, said: "I think the solution is very simple; we carry on until he [Milosevic] does step down." The words were barely out of the PM's mouth when Albright suggested that Blair had tripped on his tongue. "Even though we have a common language, I gather there was some garble in that [the PM's statement]," she said. "It is not 'step down' but 'back down.' " (see the Wall Street Journal editorial, "All Wobbly," Apr. 21).

In other words, Washington wants Milosevic to STAY! Which, once again, ought to be no surprise to TiM readers. Not only because Saddam is still in power, eight years after having lost the war. But also because the CIA admitted that, too (see Day 13, Update 1, Item 1, Apr. 5).

Bill Clinton might argue that removal of a man he has likened to Hitler would involve a larger war effort. So he has Albright puff pipe dreams. "We have no intention of sending ground forces of any kind," she told CBS. "He [Milosevic] will come out of this with a military that is devastated." But still in power, if Madam Halfbright has her way.

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6. Repeating the Truth in Media Creed

PHOENIX, Apr. 23 - Every so often, we get e-mails from various TiM readers or visitors to our Web site asking us if we are biased in our coverage of NATO's war on Serbia. The answer, of course, is that we are. We biased to the extent that we want the whole truth to be known, not just the Washington-Brussels propaganda dished out by the major media.

Which is why we wish to remind all of our readers of the TiM creed, displayed at the top of our Web page since day one of our presence on the Internet, nearly two years ago now:

"We travel the U.S. and the GLOBE;

We LISTEN to the UNSAID

We READ the UNWRITTEN

We UNCOVER the CONCEALED

and then...

We WRITE the TRUTH IN MEDIA!"

So if some readers wonder why we don't cover ALL of the war's angles, such as the plight of Albanian refugees, for example, it's because such stories are more than adequately covered by the major media. And then some... (like some fictional "stories"). What we try to do is show the parts of the truth which the "lie and deny" Washington PR spinners LEAVE OUT.

In other words, we try to provide a UNIQUE and an EXCLUSIVE coverage of the war. As we do, by the way, with all other global geopolitical or economic issues TiM covers under normal, peacetime circumstances.

By combining the various news sources, we hope that TiM readers will have a balanced view of NATO's war on Serbia. We trust that you are all intelligent people who can make up your own minds as to whom or what you choose to believe. Given that an overwhelming percentage of the feedback we get is highly supportive of our efforts, guess that's also how most of you also feel about the truth and the Truth in Media.

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Also, check out... Truth in Media Statement on Kosovo Crisis, "Wither Dayton, Sprout New War?", "On the Brink of Madness", "Tragic Deja Vu's," "Seven U.S. Senators Suggest Ouster of Milosevic", "Biting the Hand That Feeds You", "A Balkan Affairs Potpourri", "Put the U.N. Justice on Trial", "International Justice 'Progresses' from Kidnapping to Murder", "Milosevic: 'A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery'...", "Kosovo Lie Allowed to Stand", "New World Order's Inquisition in Bosnia", "Kosovo Heating Up""Decani Monastery Under Siege?", "Murder on Wall Street""Kosovo: 'Bosnia II', Serbia's Aztlan""What If the Shoe Were on the Other Foot?", "Green Interstate - Not Worth American Lives", "An American Hero or Actor of the Year?" (A June '95 TiM story) and/or "Clinton arme secrètement les musulmans bosniaques"

Or Djurdjevic's WASHINGTON TIMES columns: "Chinese Dragon Wagging Macedonian Tail,"  "An Ugly Double Standard in Kosovo Conflict?", "NATO's Bullyboys", "Kosovo: Why Are We Involved?", and "Ginning Up Another Crisis"

Or Djurdjevic's NEW DAWN magazine columns: "Washington's Crisis Factory,"  and "A New Iron Curtain Over Europe"