Since www.emperors-clothes.com is not up right now, I've decided to repost the report it on BIP's site, below. --Ken, 10/28/99

From: JaredI@aol.com
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 07:18:28 EDT
Subject: EMPERORS CLOTHES - HOLLAND REPORT (FROM AMSTERDAM)

From Jared Israel at Emperors-clothes.com ** PLEASE FORWARD

My dear friends,

Many people have expressed concern over the shutting down of emperors-clothes.com, so I'm writing you all this note. First let me tell you what I personally have been up to the past few days.

I am writing you from the offices of Global Relfexion in Amsterdam.

In Holland there is great and growing concern over the involvement of Dutch KFOR troops in the imprisonment of a large number of Serbian residents in the Kosovo town of Orahovac.

Saturday, Cedda Prlncevic, the leader of Pristina's Jewish community, who were driven from Kosovo by the KLA (UCK), and I were among the speakers who addressed a large meeting opposing the on-going attack on Kosovo Serbs. I cannot tell you how encouraged I am by the passion of the reserved Dutch when they learn the facts about what Dutch troops have been doing in Kosovo.

Cedda spoke before me. Nico Varkevisser from Global Reflexion, which sponsored Cedda and my trip to the Netherlands, had pressed Cedda to talk specifically about how KFOR's presence has affected ordinary Serbs. And he tried; but as he spoke, the pain of what has been done to the citizens of Serbia, of all nationalities, overwhelmed him, and he broke down on the stage. He was given a standing ovation.

I spoke next, about Cedda's experiences and those of the women from Orahovac, who have been interviewed by Emperors Clothes. We are currently transcribing those interviews.

The story of their suffering, of the literal imprisonment of the Serbian population of Orahovac, tremendously affected the hundreds of people at the meeting, and people are taking action. There is tremendous energy here. We have scheduled already 5 or 6 radio, newspaper and TV interviews - the Dutch media has been calling Global Reflexion to invite me to speak about what the Dutch troops have done to the Serbs in Orahovac. It seems the media in Holland has not been fully consolidated into the US/German Empire.

This is a country where Nazi occupation was once greeted with a General Strike. This is a country whose government has shamefully lied - claiming the Dutch troops are bringing multi-ethnic life to Kosovo. This is a blot on the honor and decency of the Dutch. There is a great potential here FOR resistance to the horrific policies of NATO.

Global Reflexion is demanding the women whom we interviewed, all of whom are from Orahovac but who presently live in Belgrade, be brought to Holland, at the expense of the Dutch government to testify before the Dutch Parliament.

Global Reflexion has called for a delegation of leading Dutch citizens to go to Orahovac and bring out the Serbs who want to leave. The Statement posted below describes how Dutch NATO forces have FORCIBLY PREVENTED Serbs from fleeing Orahovac. This includes children, turned back when the women whom we interviewed managed to get to the city to bring them out. The Dutch troops said: "Nein" which is not a word customarily used in Holland.

The Dutch movement is demanding: Save the Children of Orahovac! The Dutch delegation will go to Kosovo, to Orahovac, and bring out the Serbs. Let us see how the people here respond if the liars in the Dutch government try to stop them.

I spoke at the meeting Saturday afternoon. Saturday night the emperors-clothes.com website was shut down. Repeated email to the people at Internet Web Designs, our "service" provider, has been fruitless. First they did not answer until Monday night (making it too late for us to find an alternate provider on Monday). And when they did answer, their reply was absurd - they claimed a small payment, which we had sent days ago, was never received. They had no explanation why we were not contacted BEFORE the site was shut down (though they managed to shut it down, apparently late Saturday night!) or why they failed to respond to our email. I think it is reasonable to speculate that there has been US government pressure to silence the site. Anyone wishing to protest this may send email to emperors-clothes through me at jaredi@aol.com

Hopefully we will have emperors-clothes up and running by Tuesday night, Eastern US time.

I will try to arrange to publish the Orahovac interviews on www.antiwar.com as soon as they are transcribed, so you can read them there, hopefully, by Tuesday night or Wed morning, Eastern US time.

Below is a statement in English and Serbo-Croatian, written by Cedda Prlncevic, Niko Varkevisser from Global Reflexion and me.

STATEMENT - ENGLISH

I ACCUSE: KFOR TERROR IN KOSOVO

Statement by Cedomir Prlincevic, edited by Nico Varkevisser of Global Reflexion and Jared Israel of Emperors-clothes.com

I appreciate very much the invitations from Global Reflexion to address the Meeting on "Terror in Kosovo" held last night in Amsterdam, and the invitation from "Association Dialogue" to address the Conference tomorrow on "NATO's Humanitarian War and the New World Order". I was very much moved by the reception of the large, and more important, motivated group whom I addressed in Amsterdam. I very much regret, due to the breakdown of our automobile, that I cannot address the Conference in Paris. I have therefore written this statement, with the participation of Mr. Israel and Mr. Varkevisser.

For months people in the West, and also, through satellite transmission, those of us in Yugoslavia, have been bombarded with Western media claims that NATO, that is the US and Germany, want to create, in Kosovo, a multiethnic, democratic society. The disadvantage of citizens of Serbia in dealing with NATO is that we tend to believe that other people mean what they say. And therefore I and others in Pristina believed that when KFOR, that is NATO, marched into Kosovo, they would protect the rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians.

The KFOR troops and the UCK crossed the border into Kosovo together; they came down the roads together; they entered Pristina together.

Immediately the UCK and gangster elements under their leadership took over government institutions and fanned out, going after the homes of non-Albanians and pro-Yugoslav Albanians. I lived in a large complex of nice apartments inhabited by doctors, lawyers, university professors, managers of various institutions, the intellectual core of Pristina society. Right after KFOR arrived, the gangster elements attacked this section, called Milana. They moved up and down through the buildings, banging on doors, breaking down doors, throwing tear gas into people's apartments, forcing them out on pain of death.

The Western media claims that KFOR has been "unable" to control the action of "mysterious gangs" who unfortunately have targeted Serbs, nor have they the manpower needed to prevent ethnic Albanians from Kosovo from exacting revenge.

This is simply untrue. For one thing, the Albanians who attacked our apartment complex spoke a dialect that made it clear they were from Albania, not from Kosovo.

When the Albanians attacked, one of my neighbors (a doctor) called KFOR. An English Major arrived with his squad. But the Albanians did not flee.

I spoke to this Major. I asked him why the didn't do anything. He said "This is a job for the Civil Authorities." But you see, by then there were no civil authorities other than the UCK.

He said KFOR was only interested in cases of murder.

I showed him documents, confirming that I was the President of the Jewish community in Pristina. He replied: "Later." He didn't have time to examine these papers. While the Major and his squad were there - before their eyes - the gangsters continued their work. In some cases, when residents appealed to these British KFOR troops, the KFOR people took the part of modern day Solomons. The Albanians explained their plight: "We have no place to stay tonight." You see they felt themselves to be victims of a housing shortage. So the KFOR people said, "Why don't you share this apartment amongst yourselves!" - in other words, the gangsters were to move in with the prey. SO KFOR left, the Albanians moved in, and then the Albanians said, "Now leave or we will slaughter you."

Under these circumstances, who would stay? We lost everything, years of our lives - our lives, and our community, the only place we can ever be at home - gone. Stolen.

About 30,000 people were driven from this huge complex in Milana in a matter of days. I have had to flee to tiny quarters in Belgrade, I and my family, including my 81 year old mother.

The Jewish community in Pristina existed by fortuitous accident. During World War II the ethnic Albanian fascists in alliance with Italian and then German forces shot some local Jews. Then they arrested the rest and shipped them, in stages, to death camps. One large trainload of Jews took a wrong turn and got stalled several days at a train station, and was liberated by the Russian Army. My family thus exists only by virtue of error; but my 81-year-old mother, alive through this accident of fate, now has to face the destruction of her life, of all our lives. I personally was Chief Archivist in Pristina, and now at 61 years of age, what am I to do? What are any of us to do?

The behavior of a large part of the Albanian population was terrible. They lied to support the NATO campaign of lies, inventing tales of harassment and mass executions. Secretly, and then openly, they supported the UCK. These people would never have done such terrible things were it not for years of encouragement from two centers - the United States and Germany. Albanian culture unfortunately includes a strong strain of intolerance; it also has a powerful Clan structure which puts Clan leaders in a dictatorial position. These two cultural traits have been utilized by NATO to provide foot soldiers for modern-day fascism, complete with a liberal rhetorical cover.

Emperors-Clothes.com recently interviewed some women from Orahovac. This town is well- known in the West because Albanian blockades kept out Russian KFOR troops. These interviews are partly transcribed and will be published this week (before Nov. 1) at Emperors-Clothes.com. I find them most instructive regarding KFOR's claims. Keep in mind, this sector is controlled by Dutch and German troops under German command.

Under German command.

The women interviewed are Orahovac natives who had previously moved to Belgrade or who escaped from Orahovac after the arrival of KFOR.

Their phone lines were destroyed by NATO bombing. Then Yugoslav radio and TV facilities were bombed, so the population in Orahovac was effectively cut off from Yugoslav information sources. But Western media, especially Voice of America, got through. VOA broadcast a clear message: "We are fighting to guarantee a multiethnic, democratic Kosovo. When we come in, we will disarm the UCK. And we will protect all groups."

So the Serbs and Roma and other minorities in Orahovac felt reassured. They felt that perhaps there would be problems, but basically, the West only wanted military bases, apart from that they would prefer Orahovac to have a normal life. The minority population of Serbs and Roma would naturally be protected. Why wouldn't KFOR want to protect them? It's only normal. Now, say the women that we interviewed, they realize their error. They made the same mistake I and the other Pristina Jews made. That is, they miscalculated what was Natural for NATO.

On the morning of the day KFOR came into Orahovac, their representatives met with leading Serbs, including the Mayor. They told the leaders: the UCK will be disarmed and everyone will be protected.

That day KFOR marched in - and with them in marched the UCK. Realizing that they had been betrayed many Serbs and Roma living among ethnic Albanians fled, moving into the Serbian part of town. Those who remained in the mixed part were kidnapped; their fates are unknown.

Immediately, the UCK forces started to take over and loot and burn the homes of Serbs living in the mixed neighborhoods. Did KFOR do the normal thing for an army of occupation in a town under Martial Law? Did they send trucks with loudspeakers warning that looters and arsonists would be shot? Did they create some examples, arresting and jailing arsonists? Did they track down kidnappers and arrest them? Did they establish a massive presence on the streets, shooting looters and arsonists?

No. They occupied strategic parts of the town. They did nothing to stop the attacks on Serbs and their property. When Serbs saw KFOR troops patrolling they would ask: "What are you going to do to help us?" They were told: "We don't have the men to guard every house or every Serb."

No, they had the forces to do nothing.

One of the interviewed women saw an Albanian starting to torch a Serb's home and stopped a Dutch KFOR soldier. "Please! Do something." The man was a decent person - he was visibly distressed. "I have to call headquarters for instruction," he said, or words to that effect. He checked with his superiors and then told our correspondent: "I was ordered to do nothing." But even his limited concern was too much for the Dutch commanders - he was never seen again patrolling the Serbian area. He had been corrupted: he questioned existing orders. The women whom Emperors-Clothes interviewed did notice that KFOR forces were constantly shuffled lest these politically naive people become infected with human decency, a dangerous contact disease.

The women report that shortly after occupation, the Serbs, who had guns because of the old Yugoslav strategy of arming the population against foreign invasion, were forcibly disarmed by Dutch and German KFOR troops. The Mayor of Orahovac, who happened to be a Serb, the local Serbian doctor and 4 others were arrested for "War Crimes" and taken to jail. And then the torture of an entire population began.

There are two levels of containment in Orahovac. There is the inner control, manned by Dutch and German troops, with a roadblock that controls entry to the Serbian part of town. And then there is the outer control, with Albanian -manned roadblocks and roving bands of terrorists. If a Serb tries to slip out of the city, he simply disappears, and God help him.

The Western media has written about the Albanian roadblocks. Albanians who supposedly suffered abuses at the hands of Serbian forces supposedly set them up. These Albanians supposedly heard about the imminent Russian takeover in Orahovac and, fearful that the Russians would protect Serbian war criminals, they spontaneously set up the roadblocks.

In fact, the Albanian roadblocks can only operate with the connivance and participation of the Dutch and German KFOR troops that control the city. The roadblocks have tents with weapons - in violation of the UN so-called Peace agreement, under which UCK forces were to have turned in their weapons.They have electric lines running to these tents; the lines require KFOR approval.

KFOR is simply creating a smokescreen: the UCK blockades are really KFOR blockades to keep out the Russians. After all, the Russians might challenge the ghettoization of the Serbs and Roma.

If Serbs try to get into Orahovac to visit their relatives, as our correspondents tried, they are subjected to humiliation and risk. The Yugoslav government, pressed by relatives of the Serbian residents of Orahovac, has organized two trips to Orahovac. Let me briefly relate some of what the interviewed women experienced on these trips. The second trip was a few weeks ago. A group of Serbian women were, by agreement between the Yugoslav government and KFOR, escorted to the KFOR roadblock. There they were questioned, photographed and searched for three hours. They were forced to submit to extreme indignities, including body searches which decency prevents me from describing. They told Emperors-clothes that nobody ever heard of such things in undemocratic Yugoslavia; they only witnessed such measures in US gangster movies. But you see, life is imitating American art.

After being strip-searched they were allowed into the Ghetto. They were allowed to stay only three hours to visit their relatives.

Before the trip they had been permitted to phone these relatives for only one minute per week. 1 minute.

The three hours were paid for by the treatment they had received at the roadblocks.

They were told: you will be permitted to bring NO ONE out. Nevertheless, a large number of children appeared at the church where the women were to be picked up by KFOR and returned to the checkpoint. The children were sent by parents desperate to save them from this horrid situation. Life in the Ghetto had deteriorated. Food was scarce. Water was occasional. Electric power was unreliable or nonexistent. There were no regular phones. It was dangerous - literally risking death - to step out of the house onto the street and you never knew when the knock would come at the door.

In desperation the parents sent a large number of children. KFOR did not, apparently, want a scene at the church. They want desperately to avoid KFOR casualties so they have to be careful, even with disarmed people. They could scratch and bite. So they allowed the children to go with the women back to the checkpoint.

At the checkpoint the Dutch Major was in charge. He said: "Only those who came in may leave!" The women told Emperors-Clothes that their identification papers had been photographed when they were searched, so KFOR knew exactly who was a proper visitor and who was not, making it impossible for any of the women to change places with relatives.

"Only those who came in may leave! The children must go home."

Home!

It was, the women say, a scene from hell: the children, terrified, crying, the women yelling and protesting to the Dutch troopsVYou see, that is the problem with these Serbs. They will not simply lie down and die. They are disobedient Jews!

Albanians were milling around. You see, while the Serbs were detained and searched for 3 hours, Albanians could simply drive past the checkpoint without stopping. They waved to the KFOR troops and sailed by, sometimes chanting "NA-TO! NA-TO! NA-TO!"

The Dutch Major became increasingly impatient. Finally he said: "You may leave with these children but we will not guarantee your protection. No armed escort."

No armed escort. What could this mean? Only that an unfortunate incident was to occur and these women and children would disappear. Then perhaps after witnessing the death of their elders the children would be brought back to Orahovac. They would tell people about the terrible deaths of the adults. The idea would be to terrify and therefore paralyze Serbs and Roma. Moreover, the children would provide, by their very presence, a guarantee against rebellion by the adults.

Or perhaps all would simply disappear.

Still, the women protested.

What IS wrong with these Serbs? The Major's patience had its limits. "Enough!" he roared. "The children will go back and you will leave!"

And so thewomen and children were seperated, and the children were forced to go home.

Recently I was interviewed for the second time by Emperors-clothes.com and during that interview I tried to communicate to the interviewers why the Albanians left for Macedonia and Albania during the war. I told the interviewers they didn't understand the significance of certain +features of modern Albanian culture. It is very closed off, very self-oriented, and very much under the control of the leaders of Clans. The word 'clans' is not used here simply to describe a formal structural feature of Albanian society. Quite the contrary, clans are the actual, functioning social unit of vast numbers of Albanians.

During the bombing, my neighbor, an ethnic Albanian, left. And I said to him why are you leaving? We're not getting killed in this housing development, we're all helping each other, and we're all together in the air raid shelter - why are you leaving? And he just looked at me, and he said, "I have to. I've been told to leave now. Everyone will be leaving now."

And that was that. This man and his wife, who were sophisticated intellectuals, whose children played with the Serbian children, whom I had considered to be friends - they were leaving.

Many opponents of the war thought the UCK was making a big mistake by terrorizing Albanians. But it wasn't making a mistake. It was making a point to the clan leaders: we have the backing of NATO and we will kill Albanians who buck us. Given the existence of anti-Serb racism among Albanians, this we're-the-winning-team argument brought the leaders into line.

Huge numbers of Albanians left Kosovo during the bombing. They did not leave because Serbs were slaughtering them, which was a made-up story. They did not leave because they were getting bombed; though they were getting bombed.

They left because they were told to leave by their clan leaders.

Vast numbers of people from all over the world have protested the bombing of Yugoslavia. In doing so they have created a movement out of the political shambles of our world.

And yet it is now, after the cessation of bombing, that we have entered the worst hell. This terrible fascist-like invasion has created far worse suffering than the bombing. Some are driven out, some disappear, some are murdered and their murders attributed to forces beyond NATO's control. Some, like the Serbs and Roma of Orahovac, have been imprisoned in a new Warsaw Ghetto.

I urge those who care about Justice not to remain silent.