I had expected a vituperative reaction to my piece on Ramush Haradinaj (Kosovo on a Knife-Edge), but the reaction exceeded expectations.

Readers might like to visit www.kosovo.com. This is the official website of the Serbian Orthodox church in the diocese of Raska and Prizren. (It is also the source of the cut and paste contribution from “Ana”). Imagine for a moment substituting the word “Jew” for “Albanian” and you begin to understand the depth of racist hatred peddled by the venerable clerics and their fellow-travelers. Another race-hatred site worth a look, if you like this kind of thing, is www.serbianna.com.

This is more than a pity; it is a tragedy for Serbs and Albanians alike. Alongside a catalogue of vicious lies about Ramush Haradinaj the clerics of Prizren put on record much that is true about the unacceptable conditions in which many Kosovar Serbs now live. But how can reconciliation be possible when lies are so freely mingled with truth.

It is interesting however that at the same time that my piece excites such bilious reactions, Belgrade’s foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, is striking an altogether more realistic note. Speaking in Tirana on Wednesday last, Draskovic said "we can not change the historical past, but we can change our common future." Any intelligent observer of Kosovo’s politics, who also knows a little about European history, can see that a Haradinaj-led government offers real potential for a lasting settlement that will ensure the rights of Kosovo’s Serbs. Perhaps we are now seeing the first signs of a realistic rapprochement between Pristina and Belgrade.

The issues at stake in the Balkans have too often been clouded by irrational responses to individual personalities. For Kosovo the issue is very clear. Belgrade has, since 1980, systematically and brutally excluded Kosovar Albanians from participation as equal citizens with their Serb neighbors. The atrocities committed against the Albanian population in the mid- to late-nineties by the police, army and paramilitary thugs of Milosevic rank with the greatest crimes of the twentieth century. The international community recognized, in a very practical way, the right of the Albanian people to defend themselves, just as the international community now recognizes that stability in the region requires the independence of Kosovo in a close alignment with Europe and enjoying mutually respectful relations with Serbia.

Mr. O'Reilly substitute the word "Jews" for "Serbs in all the anti-Serb writings of the past fifteen years, and see what you get.

Mr O'Reiley is spot on when saying "But how can reconciliation be possible when lies are so freely mingled with truth".
Without the truth, there is no justice, without justice, there is no lasting peace.

Take for example Mr. O'Reiley's claim that "Belgrade has, since 1980, systematically and brutally excluded Kosovar Albanians from participation as equal citizens with their Serb neighbors."

In reality, after 1980, Albanians occupied top positions of Yugoslav State, Communist Party, Federal Parliament (Fadilj Hoxha was President of collective federal PResidency, Sinan Hasani was member of Presidency, ALi Shukria was President of Communist Party Presidency, more than 10 Albanians were diplomats and so on). One has to wonder why Mr. O'Reiley made this claim if he cherishes truth. If this is "brutal exclusion", one has to wonder what fair representation is -perhaps what is happening in Kosovo today? It is interesting to note that the term "Ethnic cleansing" came into English usage after Albanian phrase "ethnically clean Kosovo"(i.e. clean of dirt such as Serbs, Roma, Jews, Gorani and others who are not Albanian) popularized in the 1980's by Albanian political elite.

Other claim, "The atrocities committed against the Albanian population in the mid- to late-nineties by the police, army and paramilitary thugs of Milosevic rank with the greatest crimes of the twentieth century" is even stranger.

According to Prof. Rummel, over 200 MILLION people were murdered by brutal regimes in the 20th century. Some of the greatest crimes of 20th century are mass crimes of Hitler, Stalin and Mao, Armenian genocide, The Holocaust, Rwanda, Nagasaki, Dresden. List is long. Before the NATO war in 1999, some three thousand (3000) people were killed in Kosovo province - 2000 Albanians and 1000 Serbs. Ranking two thousand (2000) killed Albanians (mostly KLA members) among "the greatest crimes of the 20th century" is either slick political marketing or total lack of moral judgment.

After the war, more than 1000 Serbs and 1000 Albanians were murdered by KLA thugs in Kosovo, who acted under the orders of Mr. Haradinaj and other KLA leaders. I doubt Mr. O'Reiley would rank these 2000 killed among “the greatest crimes of the twentieth century".

Last but not least, innuendo used to project the Hitler's racist treatment of Jews on Albanians to equate Serbs with Nazis
is factually incorrect and morally wrong and borders on HOLOCAUST DIMINISHING. During WWII, Serbs, like Jews, were the victims of NAZISM. During WWII, Albanians in Albanian Waffen SS Division Skenderbeg took an active role in The Holocaust. Sixty years later, their descendants made Kosovo JUDENREIN.

These three claims were not made by an uneducated hick, (or even by Australian KLA/AL Qaeda David Hicks) but by NDI consultant who advises others on international policies. Peddling part truths and lies is not a way to achieve lasting peace. I believe that this article as well as subsequent reaction, warrants more thorough inquiry than 'vituperative reaction' on an obscure website.

Alternatively, it can serve as a platform to elect David Hicks for Prime Minister of Australia. Like Mr. Haradinaj, Mr. Hicks also has murdered civilians with KLA and has excellent connections with Al Qaeda.

O'Reilly makes Ramush Hardanaj to be an unblemished Albanian hero and Serbs to be evil liars who distorted history. His perspective is one-sided. Such issues are never one-sided.

The Serbs claim to Kosovo is no more than the Jews claim to the land of Israel except that Serbs have been resident there continuously for centuries whether as a minority or majority. Pec is to them as Rome is to the Catholics, Jerusalem is to the Jews, Mecca is to the Muslims., Constantinople (Istanbul) is to Orthodox Christians until it was taken from them by the Ottomans. These attachments are all based on deep religious sentiments, not politics, and should be respected. Kosovo has less religious significance for the Albanians than the Palestinians have for the land of Israel. .Muslim Albanians and Palestinians look to Mecca.

If Hardanaj is an unblemished hero who fought for the rights of the Albanians as O'Reilly claims, then Milosevic is an even greater unblemished hero to the Serbs for having stood up for their rights in his speech at Kosovo on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. Milosevic tried to keep as much of Serbian populated lands in Croatia and Bosnia as part of Serbia when Yugoslavia disintegrated. This is not the same as Germany annexing the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and Silesia from Poland, both German-majority areas. Serba did not try to seize land from Hungary or Romania, sovereign states. If Kosovo deserves independence, then the earlier unilateral declarations of independence by Republika Krajina and Republika Srpska should also be restored and recognized. If these must remain part of Croatia and Bosnia, then so must Kosovo.

The "International Community" should either keep Kosovo as part of Serbia, or divide it to encompass all the Serbian holy sites within Serbia, even if much of the holy places have already been demolished by Albanians in the face of KFOR's presence. Partition of Kosovo may salvage some of the priceless historical Serbian Christian churches and monasteries that still remain. They are not interested in the minerals of Kosovo.

Mr. O'Reilly, have you ever tried, to check whether, what you call “a catalogue of vicious lies about Ramush Haradinaj [by] the clerics of Prizren” are really lies? Have you checked the list of missing Serbs, the list of those who were beaten, and expelled from their houses and now live in run down elementary school gymnasiums, the list of the destroyed churches - all that Father S. Janic put on the site, before you wrote that Father S. Janic is putting vicious lies on kosovo.com? If you haven’t, I think Father S. Janic should sue you in the court of law.

As for Vuk Draskovic he comes from the same flock as you do.

Even The New York Times, which you cannot accuse of being pro Serbian, has doubts about your hero Haradinaj.

December 24, 2004
EDITORIAL - For Fair use only

A Poor Choice in Kosovo

Five years since international administrators took control of Kosovo, the situation in that badly bloodied Balkan province remains intractable. The choice of a new prime minister illustrates some of the reasons why: Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader, was questioned by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia only a couple of weeks before he was picked to lead Kosovo's government, and he may soon be indicted for war crimes. If the Kosovars want to show that they can run an independent country in which the Serbian minority will be safe, this is a bad way to do it. Yet President Ibrahim Rugova forged a political alliance with Mr. Haradinaj, and the United Nations' administrator of Kosovo did not block it.

It is hardly likely that the Serbian minority in Kosovo, or the Serbian government in Belgrade, will have anything to do with Mr. Haradinaj. They accuse him of committing atrocities in the Decani region of western Kosovo as a commander there of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the guerrilla army that battled Serbian forces in the late 1990's. Mr. Haradinaj has denied any wrongdoing, but K.L.A. fighters were reported to be responsible for killing Serbs and Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serb rule.

Whatever hopes the United Nations had for starting talks on Kosovo's future next year are effectively stalled. If Mr. Haradinaj is indicted, the problem will get worse: Kosovar Albanians who voted for him will be enraged. Yet the alternative - shelving a potential indictment because the target is prime minister - would weaken the credibility of the international tribunal.

The United Nations may have been unduly optimistic on the future of the Kosovo talks. But if there is to be any chance of bringing the Albanians and Serbs together, both the Kosovars and the United Nations have to understand that putting people like Mr. Haradinaj forward as their leaders only sets the clock back.

Michael wrote: ... "Imagine for a moment substituting the word “Jew” for “Albanian” and you begin to understand the depth of racist hatred peddled by the venerable clerics and their fellow-travelers. Another race-hatred site worth a look, if you like this kind of thing, is www.serbianna.com."

Yes. In case of Albanians one would indeed need to "imagine" the depth of racist hatred if one would substitute the word "Jew" for "Albanian".

However, in Serbian case there is no need to imagine. The scope of Albanian ("international community" and the western media) hate and racial discrimination against the Serbs in Kosovo [and not only in Kosovo] has been far from imaginative. It is real and deadly! So much so that Albanian/ Islamic terrorists try to eradicate every tail of Serbian heritage in Kosovo starting with Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries and finishing it with expulsion and killing of almost every Serb living in Kosovo.

Instead of being outraged with the scope of devastation and destruction of hundreds of Christian Orthodox churches and monasteries and the expulsion and killings of over two hundred thousands Christian Serbs by Albanians in Kosovo; instead of being outraged that we have handed over Serbia's Holy land, Serbian Jerusalem, the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to KLA narco-terrorists and Bin Ladin's followers in Kosovo, O' Reilly celebrates them as heroes and liberators.

You are pointing finger in the wrong direction, Mr. O'Reilly. Look at yourself in the mirror and you'll see who is the one who hates the most.

By the way, you haven't told your readers what was not correct in the article posted by me about Ramush Haradinai.

Could it be that the story is true?