In a commentary for Wall Street Journal yesterday (February 1, 2005; Page A12), pretentiously titled “Set Kosovo Free,” none other than the real Butcher of Belgrade, ex-General Wesley Clark, stumped for the latest outrage by his employer, the International Crisis Group.
(Like other content from the War Street Journal, Clark’s editorial isn’t online.)
It is only natural that Clark pimps an “independent” Kosovo, given his role in the aggression that brought about the occupation of that Serbian province. Furthermore, his cozy relationship with the KLA terrorists went above and beyond the call of duty, as shown by last year’s video of him and Richard Holbrooke fundraising for John Kerry among the New York KLA.
Clark, who once aspired to presidency on a Democratic ticked (with the gushing endorsement of Michael Moore!) now fully endorses Bush’s “visionary” inaugural pledge to promote “freedom abroad.”
Like his military accomplishments, Clark’s arguments are specious. Echoing ICG’s claim that a new conflict threatens to erupt in Kosovo, Clark blames it on a phantom “strategy of provocation” from Belgrade, not the very real hateful belligerence of his KLA buddies. He’s even got the nerve to charge that “after a decade of Belgrade’s oppression capped by war, mass expulsion and atrocities, Kosovo’s 90% Albanian majority rejects completely any renewed link with Serbia and will not settle for less than independence.”
Let’s see: The ‘oppression’ was a myth. ‘Mass expulsion’ was a propaganda stunt. ‘Atrocities’ ditto. Albanians got to be 90% of the population by, well: oppression, mass expulsion (of non-Albanians), atrocities and war. Ah yes, the war of unprovoked aggression Clark fought on KLA’s behalf! According to the Nuremberg Principles, that makes him a war criminal. So honestly, no one should care what the Kosovo Albanians – or Wesley Clark and the ICG – are or are not prepared to settle for.
In any sane universe, Kosovo would be free – of the Empire and the KLA – and the Wesley Clarks of the world would be in jail.
O tempora, o mores!