Pogrom divides Kosovo occupiers

According to Canadian military reporter Scott Taylor (“NATO in Kosovo, a place of divided goals” – The Halifax Herald Limited, Monday, April 19, 2004), various units among Kosovo’s NATO occupiers reacted quite differently to the March 17-19 pogrom.
For example, German troops offered no resistance to Albanian rioters, to the great disgust of their fellow peacekeepers:

“If Georgian troops were stationed there we would have defended this holy site,” said a young corporal from Tiblisi. “We understand the importance of such things. The Germans, on the other hand, are only intent on maintaining friendly relations with the local Albanians.”
Swedish troops, on the other hand, seem full of fight:

“My platoon suffered 14 wounded outside the village of Caglovica,” said Cpl. Anderson of the Swedish battalion. “While the incident took us by complete surprise, we are now looking forward to Round 2 with these Albanians – it will definitely be payback time.”

Czech troops also fought the Albanians, and don’t hesitate to give them a piece of their mind:

At the NATO checkpoint on the administrative boundary between Serbia and Kosovo, members of the Czech battalion now routinely flash Albanian motorists the three extended fingers hand-sign that symbolize Serbian nationalism. In response to these deliberate provocations, Albanian drivers draw a finger across their throats at the Czech troops.

And then there’s the British…

It seems the the moral rot of Tony Blair & Co. reigns supreme in the Royal Army’s ranks as well:

“While the martial ethos of the Brits can rarely be called into question, and certainly commands respect, the impartiality of the Kosovo reinforcements may not live up to expectations. On a fast patrol through Pristina, Pte. McWilliams of the Gloucester Regiment expressed his personal opinion on the March 17 crisis. “I don’t know why the Serbs don’t get the message. They are not wanted here, so they should go back to their own country,” he said.

When it was explained to him that Kosovo still officially remains an autonomous province of Serbia, the young British soldier replied: “You can’t claim what you can’t defend.”
Taylor’s article ends here, probably because he couldn’t fathom such apalling ignorance, thuggishness and mental fascism, either. One could point out to Private McWilliams that he could go back to his own country, which is nowhere near Kosovo or the rest of Serbia; or that Serbia did defend Kosovo (against his government, among others, who was the clear aggressor in the entire affair), only to be cheated when NATO dishonored the armistice agreement. Maybe he would understand.

Then again, given the British involvement in Iraq (again!), another country nowhere near their own and very much none of their bloody business, maybe he would not.