KK-Forum,
Noen husker kanskje alt oppstyret om en påstått serbisk Operasjon Hestesko
for et års tid siden. Lansert med brask og bram av en (lamslått?) Joschka
Fischer noen uker etter at NATO bombingen hadde utløst den enorme
folkefordrivelsen inn i Kososvos naboland, rett foran TV-kameraer. Etterpå
forstummet omtrent all kritikk av NATO. Her er noen ferske synspunkter på
hesteskoen.
Først fra Sunday Times 2. April 2000.
*************
Sunday Times
EUROPE
Serbian ethnic cleansing scare was a fake, says general
John Goetz, Berlin
and Tom Walker
A REPORT purporting to show that Belgrade planned the systematic ethnic
cleansing of Kosovo's entire Albanian population was faked, a German
general has claimed.
The plan, known as Operation Horseshoe, was revealed by Joschka Fischer,
the German foreign minister, on April 6 last year, almost two weeks after
Nato started bombing Serbia. German public opinion about the Luftwaffe's
participation in the airstrikes was divided at the time.
Horseshoe - or "Potkova", as the Germans said it was known in Belgrade -
became a staple of Nato briefings. It was presented as proof that President
Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia had long planned the expulsion of
Albanians. James Rubin, the American state department spokesman, cited it
only last week to justify Nato's bombardment.
However, Heinz Loquai, a retired brigadier general, has claimed in a new
book on the war that the plan was fabricated from run-of-the-mill Bulgarian
intelligence reports.
Loquai, who now works for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), has accused Rudolf Scharping, the German defence minister,
of obscuring the origins of Operation Horseshoe.
"The facts to support its existence are at best terribly meagre," he told
The Sunday Times. "I have come to the conclusion that no such operation
ever existed. The criticism of the war, which had grown into a fire that
was almost out of control, was completely extinguished by Operation
Horseshoe."
Scharping reported in his wartime diary that he had received the
intelligence report on Horseshoe from Fischer. But according to Die Woche,
the German news weekly, the report was a general analysis by a Bulgarian
intelligence agency of Serbian behaviour in the war.
Loquai has claimed that the German defence ministry turned a vague report
from Sofia into a "plan", and even coined the name Horseshoe. Die Woche has
reported that maps broadcast around the world as proof of Nato's
information were drawn up at the German defence headquarters in Hardthöhe.
The Bulgarian report concluded that the goal of the Serbian military was to
destroy the Kosovo Liberation Army, and not to expel the entire Albanian
population, as was later argued by Scharping and the Nato leadership.
Loquai also pointed to a fundamental flaw in the German account: it named
the operation Potkova, which is the Croatian word for horseshoe. The
Serbian for horseshoe is Potkovica. "A state prosecutor would never think
of going to trial with the amount of evidence available to the German
defence ministry," said Loquai.
Nato sources rejected Loquai's claims, but admitted it was impossible to
prove the origins of the Horseshoe story. "There's never any absolute
certainty about these things," said one source. "But the idea that there
was nothing pre-arranged is counter-intuitive.
"Look at the speed with which the Serbs moved. It was systematic. Until we
get into Belgrade and start tearing the files apart, we will never be
certain - and that's never going to happen."
In Belgrade, government sources said several Yugoslav army officers had
dismissed Operation Horseshoe as part of Nato's propaganda war.
******************
Dernest noe kopiert 10. April 2000 fra
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/NewsRoundUp040400.htm
Hjemmesiden til noe kalt The Rockford Institute, Center for International
Affairs, Rediscovering the national interest, World affairs Round-up.
Merk f.eks. dette: 'But this eagerness to embellish it in order to produce
a convincing forgery resulted in the fundamental flaw: the Germans named
the operation “Potkova,” which is the CROATIAN word for horseshoe. The
Serbian for horseshoe is Potkovica'
***************************
“OPERATION HORSESHOE”: KOSOVO FORGERY REVEALED
The eminent German daily Frankfuhrter Rundshau reported a fortnight ago
that Bulgarian and German secret services had forged a “secret Serb plan”
that was used as justification for NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia last year
(“General bezweifelt Existenz des serbischen Kriegskonzepts,” March 21).
The plan, code-named “Horseshoe,” purported to prove that the Serbs had
planned ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians well before the NATO bombing
campaign. The German paper quoted Heinz Loquai, a retired Bundeswehr
brigadier general, who says that the “plan” was no more than an
intelligence assessment written in Sofia and subsequently embellished in Bonn.
But during the NATO war “Horseshoe” was given top billing. It was first
revealed by Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, on April 6 last
year, almost two weeks after bombing had started. Two days later, on April
8, 1999 it was mentioned again at a press conference by the Bundeswehr
Inspector-General Hans-Peter von Kierbach. The general claimed that this
document provided evidence that Belgrade wanted to liquidate the KLA “even
if that would mean extermination of the Albanians in Kosovo.”
Then “Horseshoe” crossed the Atlantic. On April 15 it was invoked by
William Pfaff in the International Herald Tribune in support of his claim
that it would be “immoral” to stop the bombing. Pfaff treated “Horseshoe”
as a given fact:
Mr. Milosevic and his government are attempting to solve their Kosovo
problem by producing a basic demographic change in the province through
deporting its Albanian population, the overwhelming majority. According to
German government sources, this program for purging Kosovo of its Albanian
population was prepared at the end of last year under the code name
“Horseshoe.” … Horseshoe was designed to produce a permanent solution, and
was launched even before the Rambouillet discussions in February, which the
Serbian leadership did not take seriously.
On April 24, 1999, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kostov also quoted the
“Horseshoe” to justify the pending Bulgarian collaboration with NATO:
“Operation ‘Horseshoe’ began on February 26 and aimed at two things: to
exterminate the KLA and to turn Kosovo into a desert.” It was subsequently
used by a whole host of NATO apologists, and most recently by State
Department’s James Rubin only two weeks ago.
But in Europe it is now common knowledge that Operation Horseshoe was yet
another Kosovo Lie. On April 2 The Sunday Times of London followed the
Rundschau story up with a comprehensive and conclusive report (“Serbian
ethnic cleansing scare was a fake, says general,” by John Goetz in Berlin
and Tom Walker):
Horseshoe - or "Potkova", as the Germans said it was known in Belgrade -
became a staple of Nato briefings. It was presented as proof that President
Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia had long planned the expulsion of
Albanians. James Rubin, the American state department spokesman, cited it
only last week to justify Nato's bombardment. However, Heinz Loquai, a
retired brigadier general, has claimed in a new book on the war that the
plan was fabricated from run-of-the-mill Bulgarian intelligence reports.
Loquai, who now works for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), has accused Rudolf Scharping, the German defence minister,
of obscuring the origins of Operation Horseshoe. “The facts to support its
existence are at best terribly meagre,” he told The Sunday Times. “I have
come to the conclusion that no such operation ever existed. The criticism
of the war, which had grown into a fire that was almost out of control, was
completely extinguished by Operation Horseshoe.”
Loquai claims that the German defense ministry turned a vague report from
Sofia into a "plan", and even coined the name Horseshoe.
But this eagerness to embellish it in order to produce a convincing forgery
resulted in the fundamental flaw: the Germans named the operation
“Potkova,” which is the CROATIAN word for horseshoe. The Serbian for
horseshoe is Potkovica. It is a bit like claiming that a secret IRA
document was called “Operation Londonderry” – impossible by definition. “A
state prosecutor would never think of going to trial with the amount of
evidence available to the German defense ministry,” said General Loquai.
But how about Carla Ponte? “Horseshoe” is now proven to be a lie, but it
may yet be used to indict a few more Serbs by the “tribunal” at The Hague.
**********************
Interessant er det at tidligere forsvarsminister Løwer skrev dette i en
kronikk i Aftenposten 1.10.99:
'I januar 99 ble så Operasjon Hestesko avdekket, en serbisk plan for
systematisk etnisk rensing av Kosovo'
Så hun var godt 'orientert'. Se i denne forbindelse
http://www.itk.ntnu.no/ansatte/Andresen_Trond/kk-f/fra011099/0121.html
http://www.itk.ntnu.no/ansatte/Andresen_Trond/kk-f/fra011099/0321.html
Jeg har ikke sett noe i norske aviser om den falske hesteskoen. KK må
skrive noe iallfall.
Knut Rognes
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 11 2000 - 20:16:12 MET DST