PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, May 25, 2006 (AFP) -
The former US general who commanded NATO's 1999 air war against Serbia on Thursday predicted its southern province of Kosovo would become independent within months.
Wesley Clark told Kosovo Albanian leaders in Pristina he had confidence in their "strong, positive and visionary proposals" to find a solution for Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999.
"I am confident that this issue will be solved very soon, and probably in few months, Kosovo will become independent and will respect the rights of all citizens," said Clark.
"I believe that Kosovo will be welcomed into the family of the nations and that there will be many opportunities for the citizens of this country to prosper, raise big families and make their dreams come true."
Clark, who is on a three-day visit to the disputed province, met Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who said Clark was a great friend of Kosovo, who stood by it in its most difficult times.
"He is and will always be honored by the people of Kosovo," he said.
Clark commanded the 1999 NATO air strikes that drove Serbian forces loyal to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo because of their brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
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Interestingly enough, 200 mosques (out of 500) were destroyed by the Serb forces during the Kosovo War. According to this report (link below) most of them were purposely destroyed with no sign of fighting or bullets around. A lot of them were burned down, while others were defecated with Serb propaganda (In some cases, Serbs defecated in the Kuran). The report concludes that, according to the evidence, there was a systematic campaign to wipe out all Albanian tradition/culture as well as Muslim tradition.
Now, to put things in perspective:
1. 200 Mosques destroyed by the 8% of the population directed and organized by the state.
2. 150 Churches destroyed (After the mosques were destroyed- never forget this), mostly in revenge attacks and individual attacks but never organized by the state.
While destroying cultural symbols is shameless regardless who does it, one begs the question: which one is more shameless?
As it turns out, Serbs first started the destruction of religious property and they are still number one if you compare volume per volume. What’s worst, the Serb campaign was organized and sanctioned by the state. Now, that’s terrible.
Again, any destruction of religious property should be condemned, but if Serbs want to use this for propaganda reasons, facts should be straighten up. And that’s what I did. The reliable reference is below. It’s almost always a good idea to cross reference facts when you read something written by a Serb about Kosovo (There is exception, of course)
http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/kosovo/
herscherriedlmayer.htm
Funny huh. I just visited it!
http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/kosovo/herscherriedlmayer.htm
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www.kosovo-future.blogspot.com
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Regards,
Future of Kosovo Team
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