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WSWS : Readers' forums : US-NATO attack Yugoslavia

An open letter to Clinton from a reader in Greece

8 May 1999

Open letter to the President of the USA regarding the air strikes in Yugoslavia

Mr. President,

I am not at all certain that this letter will reach you, but it is my duty to address this letter to you and to all people and tell you openly the truths that the politicians and diplomats do not dare to say.

1. According to the International Law, neither USA nor NATO has any right to start air strikes against Yugoslavia or any other state.

2. You supplied arms to the terrorists of the UCK [KLA] of Kosovo. (You and your administration used to call them terrorists just a few months ago). You secretly invited them to raise arms against Yugoslavia. You continue to supply arms to them.

3. Before the air strikes, there were almost no refugees in Kosovo. Now, after one month of air strikes, there are almost one million refugees. And the same, the USA that created this problem can be very proud for providing almost no help at all to these refugees.

4. After one month of air strikes (and propaganda by TV and by all other media) against a small but heroic country, what have you succeeded in doing? You have made refugees of all Albanian-speaking civilians and even killed some of them with your bombs, when they were returning home, so that the others get the message that they must not try to return.

5. You succeeded in destroying the welfare of the Yugoslavian people. You managed to kill many innocent civilians in Yugoslavia, including many journalists. You also contaminated all the Balkans with lethal pollutants, just by bombing the chemical industry.

6. I recall the US defeat in Vietnam. We all know that the US does not easily accept defeats. That is why humanity must be afraid that in the end you are going to make use of nuclear weapons as you did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

7. You do not respect international law that gives the right to all states (and evidently also to Yugoslavia) to rule their country and solve their internal problems themselves. You have an obsession with President Milosevic, because he has not become your slave and yielded to your requirements and let your army and your spies invade his country. You do not respect the right of the Yugoslavian people to choose their leader.

8. The Greeks also believed (and we continue to believe it now) that man is the measure of all things on earth. Man's betterment is the basis of culture. But what impression does the world now have of American culture? Look in the mirror. The US is a violent society. It seems to have no real culture at all and not to really want to obtain one. Children are brought up and educated in violence. The US is the only society in the history of mankind that has incidents like the recent event in Colorado where two schoolchildren raised arms and killed their classmates and their professors for no reason at all. The US looks like a society with no values, without respect for man, for human life. Its only concern appears to be money. And for money, who cannot be sold out?

9. You pursue your economic interests by bombing Yugoslavia, in spite of the fact that you know very well that this harms not only the Yugoslavian people, but also all the others in the Balkans, including Greece, whom you call your ally. On one of the first days your bombs destroyed the pharmaceutical factory of Galenika in which Greece had invested money. You also bombed schools and universities and you do not let the youth continue their education. Shall I remind you that among Yugoslavian students were more than 1,500 Greek students that, together with all the others, are going to lose their academic year?

10. We have had enough of your barbarian behaviour. First it was Vietnam, then Cuba, then Libya, then Iraq, then Somalia, then again Iraq, now Yugoslavia. This is an endless history of blood. You must stop this war and never again make war in the future. If you do not stop it out of respect for human lives, then do it to prevent you, Mrs. Albright, General Wesley Clark, Secretary Cohen, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr. Solana and all the other NATO chiefs from having to face the International Criminal Court as war criminals.

11. Anyone that has studied history in depth knows that all societies that have based their power on military force have had a very short life. American society is based on violence and that is why it is declining. If you do not reconsider your educational system and the values that you give to your children, you are condemned to disappear.

Athens, 24 April 1999
KNS

See Also:
NATO attack on Yugoslavia
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