Letter to the Editor, Ocala Star Banner, August 11, 1999

Editor,

India and Pakistan engage in military actions. Russia bombs a Muslim province. The US has no role in either event. Great Stuff. The US is getting its priorities in order - take care of US interests first.

After the dust clears in Yugoslavia, the facts may show the US played a destructive role in starting and taking sides in the Yugoslavia civil wars. The US helped spark the civil war between Croatia and Yugoslavia by pressuring the European Union prematurely to approve Croatia's claim for independence from Yugoslavia. Former Sec. Of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, said it was a mistake for the US to do this. It ignited ancient rivalries and led to unintended bloody civil wars and the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

The US supported Croatia as it repelled Yugoslavia's troops and killed or ethnically cleansed more than 1.25 million Serbs from their homes in Croatia. Croatia now is "ethnically pure."

Muslims in the province of Kosovo, wanting independence from Yugoslavia, killed or ethnically cleansed more than 20,000 Serbs from Kosovo. In 1999, Yugoslavia sent troops in to root out the Kosovo Liberation Army. The KLA asked the US for help and got it. Under US and NATO bombing of military and civilian targets, Yugoslavia proceeded to ethnically cleans Muslims out of Kosovo till they were stopped. Many Muslims have returned to Kosovo seeking revenge.

The US says it doesn't want Muslim "ethnic purity" in Kosovo; it wants Serbs to stay there also. With most of the Serbs already out of Kosovo and more being killed or leaving every day, it's clear the US has helped create an "ethnically pure" Muslim Kosovo. The presence of more than 35,000 NATO troops fail to stop the daily killing and other crimes against the Serbs.

The US was a party to igniting all these killings and ethnic cleansing and took sides in the civil wars. As Eagleburger said, the US made a mistake.

James O'Hara