Vietnam Again: US Troops in Bosnia id BAA16994; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 01:38:13 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the September 18, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- VIETNAM ALL OVER AGAIN? CIVILIANS, MEDIA TARGET OF U.S. TROOPS IN BOSNIA By Gary Wilson Has Bosnia become the Pentagon's Vietnam of the 1990s? The parallels are haunting. President Bill Clinton, like President John F. Kennedy before him, declared that the United States was sending in a "peace-keeping" force that would soon be withdrawn. U.S. troops occupied part of Vietnam not for one year but for the next decade. Clinton said in November 1995 that U.S. troops would be out by December 1996. That's since been expanded to almost three years--July 1998. And, on Sept. 5, 11 so-called humanitarian organizations--the International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services and Save the Children, among others--sounded even more militaristic than the Pentagon. They sent an open letter to Clinton urging an indefinite U.S. occupation force. The warlike declarations coming out of the Pentagon are also reminiscent of the Vietnam era. U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, spoke "bluntly" to reporters in Washington Sept. 4, UPI reported. He said he is "very concerned" about "a trend toward disorder and organized disorder on behalf of some people in Srpska"--the Serb Republic in Bosnia. Clark said, "The incidents that we have seen recently give me great cause for concern because they betray a pattern on the part of some people to attempt to dissuade SFOR [the NATO military force] from accomplishing its mission." He added, "We will use all means necessary, including lethal means, to protect our forces and to continue our mission." In plain, non-Pentagon language, that is a shoot-to-kill order. U.S. troops are free to kill any of the local population that dare protest or in any way show opposition to the NATO occupation of their country. All opposition of any kind will be suppressed by "lethal force" if necessary. Pentagon generals used to sound just like that when talking about the Vietnamese who dared to resist the Pentagon's "mission." The Pentagon has also begun arming and training a local force to carry out its mission. There was something similar in Vietnam. The French news agency AFP reported Sept. 5 on the Pentagon's $100 million "Train and Equip" program. The program is building a U.S.-trained and -equipped army in Bosnia that is based in the Croat-Muslim Federation. No European NATO country is involved in this project. The other part of Bosnia, the Serb Republic, receives no military training or equipment from the United States or any NATO country. According to U.S. Balkan envoy James Pardew, the U.S.- created army will "have a NATO standard rifle, an M16, and they'll have a NATO standard helmet." In addition, they will be equipped with "U.S. tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, laser sights, trucks and small arms," AFP reported. "A U.S.-funded company, Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), is running [the] training program," reported AFP. MPRI is run by "retired" U.S. military officers and is reported to have more four-star generals than the Pentagon. According to the article "Privatizing war" in The Nation of July 28, MPRI is a front for Pentagon covert operations worldwide. The U.S. military has also sent an "Air Expeditionary Force" to its NATO base in Aviano, Italy. The 18 F-16s in the force are there to "keep a stable environment" in Bosnia, Reuters reported Sept. 4. In other words, NATO is threatening air bombardment if there are any signs of refusal to bow to U.S. dictates. It is similar to U.S. air bombardments used against the civilian population of Iraq during the Gulf War. Reuters reports an additional reason for sending the U.S. Air Force: to practice for U.S. military operations in other parts of Europe. Army Lt. Col. Steve Campbell, a Pentagon spokesperson, said that the special unit was being deployed both to intimidate the Bosnian Serbs "and to test the ability of the Air Force in Europe to deploy such units to regional hot spots. The Air Force has in the past deployed such units in the Gulf." Another way Bosnia is reminiscent of Vietnam is the way U.S. officials refer to the local population, not U.S. troops, as foreign invaders. The French press agency on Sept. 4 reported that U.S. diplomat William Farrand made the ludicrous claim that demonstrators who confronted heavily- armed U.S. troops in the town of Banja Luka were "outsiders." Were they perhaps Germans or French? Or have all Yugoslavs now been defined by the U.S. as outsiders? U.S. troops fired live ammunition over the heads of unarmed protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. Local elections are being held under NATO orders on Sept. 13-14. The NATO forces have banned all rallies in Banja Luka by opponents to NATO's occupation in the days leading up to the election. On Sept. 5, NATO commanders in Bosnia said they will close down, "using force if necessary," any TV or radio stations that broadcast reports they deem are "blatantly trying to undermine the peace accord." In other words, any voice of opposition to NATO's occupation of Bosnia will be stopped, even if it means shooting the broadcasters or bombing the stations. More confrontations are certain to happen. It's time for a wake-up call in this country. It's time to wake up the progressive forces and revive a Vietnam-like anti-war movement to demand that all U.S. troops be withdrawn from Bosnia. In fact, it's past time. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-09.12.97-01:38:13-32017