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On April 19th in Belgrade, Slobodan Milosevic allowed himself to be interviewed for one hour ( actually sixty-six minutes ) by Ron Hatchett of Texas. The interview was completely spontaneous and unscripted by both parties. Milosevic came off with a great deal of credibility, displaying a wide variety of emotional responses to the heavily loaded questions.
" Everybody is the victim " said Slobodan Milosevic, in a no holds barred one-on-one interview last Monday. He flatly denied every charge the President and NATO have been making, saying " We are defending the right to be free and independent ". He described the civilian casualties and declared, " We are ready to accept UN civilians and aid ".
He was asked about the flood of refugees, saying " they fled to protect their lives, who can protect them from the bombing ". He firmly believes the Kosovars are trying to remain in the province, but the bombing is disrupting and/or destroying their lives. He described the actual ethnic makeup of Kosovo as having twenty different groups, including the Albanians. He was quick to point out that the Albanians were the only ones making trouble.
On neutral authorities visiting the American POWs in Yugoslavia, Milosevic said, " Red Cross. They can come whenever they want ". On their humane treatment, he commented, " We are an old people with an old tradition. We are civilized people ". He debunked any stories of massacres by the Serb police or military, as Washington D.C. propaganda spin. He asked a rhetorical question that summed up the way he felt about the Clinton/Gore War, by suggesting how could the American people think, " your interest is stronger than our interest in our ancient territory? ".
He described the KLA ( Kosovo Liberation Army ) as a construct of the Clinton White House and the American media to offer a rationalization for the bombing to come. He accused the Albanian separatist movement in Kosovo of being guilty of atrocities against their own Albanian population and he pointed out, " their publicly declared aim is an ethnically pure Kosovo " like Greater Albania in the times of Mussolini ( scary thought, but he has the territory right from World War II ). Remember he has offered to let the United Nations and the Red Cross observers into Kosovo earlier in the interview.
He finished by saying Yugoslavia would not surrender to " a super-power telling them what to do, how to live..." He ended with, his three aims, " peace, equality and freedom ", for Yugoslavia.
Ron Hatchett was interviewed directly after they aired the videotaped interview ( Saturday April 24th ). He thought to hold Milosevic to several of things he said in the interview, including, " He said send the Red Cross, send the United Nations, if you want to see what's going on in Kosovo ". He thought we should send them in immediately. When answering a telephone question from a viewer, he pointed out that, " through 1997 the KLA was on the State Department list of terrorist organizations ". He reinforced my belief that the KLA was involved with militant radical Muslims like " Ossama Bin Laden " and " drug dealers ".
All in all, sadly, Slobodan Milosevic was more sincere and believable than Bill Clinton. With a track record like the Clinton White House has displayed, it may be Milosevic who is telling the truth this time.
- Bongo ( Oh no Mister Slobo. )
