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| NATO
Bombing of Power Plants and Water Supply in Yugoslavia Identified as War Against
Civilian Population |
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WASHINGTON
- May 25 - For the past two nights, NATO forces have bombed electrical power plants
in Serbia, plunging millions of civilians into darkness and threatening the water
supply of Belgrade and other urban centers. Peace Action, the nation's largest
grassroots peace organization opposed to this war, condemned these bombings as
a policy of war against a civilian population.
"These attacks are a clear and flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions,"
said Gordon S. Clark, Executive Director of Peace Action. "These basic tenets
of international law state specifically that it is a war crime 'to attack civilian
targets or to destroy or render useless objects indispensable to the survival
of the civilian population.' How can President Clinton of Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright possibly justify these bombings, except as a war against civilians?"
The attempt by the Administration to leverage this war against the general population
of Yugoslavia into a means of removing the government of President Slobodan Milosevic
is clearly criminal. It is, however, not an unprecedented foreign policy strategy
for the US and our allies. In the hope of removing President Saddam Hussein we
have bombed and sanctioned the people of Iraq, with devastating effect, for eight
years. Unfortunately, for the people of Iraq, it has not succeeded in removing
Saddam Hussein. Is NATO intent on replaying the U.S. government's actions in Iraq?
Is NATO going to punish everyone in Yugoslavia because it doesn't like the actions
of the tyrant who heads their government? Targeting civilians as a foreign policy
tool is inconsistent with the values of our democracy.
Peace Action, along with other national groups, is coordinating a series of protests
to demonstrate the growing demand among Americans that the bombing of civilians
stop. Following a national press conference and coordinated national action in
15 cities last week, Peace Action is helping to coordinate a protest and civil
disobedience by religious leaders at the White House this coming June 3, and a
major national demonstration in Washington on June 5. Recent polls show significant
decline in public approval for the war as civilian casualties mount.
Mr. Clark also cited a statement by ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seslj, Deputy Prime
Minister of Serbia, who as part of an "ethnic cleansing" plan for Kosovo urged
that "electricity and water supplies to the Albanian enclaves should be disrupted
to make their lives unbearable." Mr. Clark added, "It is distressingly ironic
that we are using the very methods of war criminals in an alleged attempt to stop
war crimes. The bombing and terrorism against the civilian population of Yugoslavia
must end immediately."
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