"Follow the Money" Testimony

If you examine today's testimony by the preceding administration officials closely, you will find they avoided defining clear goals and interests, although that was the subject of the hearing. To understand the goals behind most dubious conduct, the first step is to "follow the money" to ascertain who benefits most.

1. US Policy in Kosova since the End of the Bombing

After the bombing stopped, our staff focused on what KFOR is really doing in Kosova. We questioned US military officers, regional experts, and KLA members in Kosova. Our research has shown that while the official Administration position is that Milosevic must be removed from power, in practice KFOR has helped Milosevic retain significant economic and military power.

2. KFOR is allowing the Serbs to retain control of the $5 billion Trepce mine complex.

The Trepce complex includes 20 major mines and processing plants with tens of thousands of employees. The real estate value of Trepce is about $5 billion. The Serbs had already cleansed the Albanian Kosovars from this northern part, where they had been a pre-war majority. When Kosovar refugees tried to return home, French troops blocked their way. The Trepce complex remains under Milosevic's control. Meanwhile, behind the KFOR shield, hundreds of Serbs are being moved into the Trepce complex according to KLA reports. KFOR appears to be rewarding the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing at the victims' expense. Although NATO bombed Serbia's economy, KFOR is protecting Milosevic's personal economy. This helps him retain power and impoverishes his opposition.

3. The Serbs are leaving covert units in Kosova, while KFOR looks the other way.

Milosevic insisted on the right to keep paramilitary units in Kosova until forced to concede at the end of the negotiations. Nevertheless, the Serb "Frenki" paramilitary brigade was spotted preparing to stay behind covertly, despite NATO orders (Sunday Times of London, June6, 1999). Since then, the media has reported violence involving armed Serbs in Pec, Orahovac, Zegra, and Gniljane. Anonymous NATO officials leaked, "hundreds, possibly thousands of Serb troops remain in Kosova" (London Sunday Telegraph, July 4, 1999).

Gniljane, in the US sector of Kosova, was the main hub of Serb "stay behind" activity in June and July, according to KLA reports. But a US military officer just back from Gniljane played down the threat in Washington last week, saying "There was a lot of concern [about stay-behind units] in the beginning, but I do not hear about it any more." Just a week before his report, however, U.S. forces had arrested four Serb paramilitaries in Gniljane, and merely returned them to the Serb authorities, stating that no action would be taken against the four men because they were "very close to the border." (Reuters, July 23, 1999). In fact, Gniljane is not close to the border. KFOR may be signaling that it will not punish Serb paramilitary activity in Kosova, acquiescing in Milosevic's intent to keep covert armed forces there.

4. US Policy Impact on Bosnia Since Dayton

In Bosnia as in Kosova, following the money provides clues to the real goals of US policy. Administration officials admit that not enough has been done to implement refugee return. About 1.5 million Bosnians still cannot go home. While they suffer, however, others profit. About 250,000 homes which formerly belonged to Bosnian citizens are now controlled by Republika Srpska. The average value of such homes is $40,000. Republika Srpska's resulting real estate windfall is thus about $10 billion.

US policy tools are solidifying this potential real estate windfall. The US:

*gerrymandered elections in Bosnia to reinforce ethnic divisions or create new ones *funded reconstruction of housing on an ethnic basis, strengthening Republika Srpska's boundaries. Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) stated that our reconstruction aid rewards ethnic cleansing (Foreign Relations Committee Hearing, July 17, 1997);

*chopped up the Ploce-Samac railroad, Bosnia's key rail artery, among the three ethnic statelets; and

*led SFOR in manning an Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL), which cements Republika Srpska's boundaries.

The Bosnian people have begun to recognize the results of US policy. On the eve of President Clinton's visit to the Stability Pact Summit in Sarajevo last week, Bosnian activist Ibran Mustafic was arrested for possessing 10,000 leaflets he planned to distribute to officials and media attending the summit. The leaflet's title was "Save us from Dayton!" It set forth SFOR's complicity with Milosevic's agenda in Bosnia. Mustafic was distributing the leaflets on behalf of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje Association, which he leads. A group of women from the same association smuggled their posters past cordons of police officers to get the same message through.

Haris Siladjic, current co-chair of Bosnia's Council of Ministers, repeatedly asked for the use of force to return the refugees (Balkan Crisis Report No. 49, June 22, 1999). But US troops have done the opposite. According to Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), "US troops have reinforced ethnic cleansing." In effect, they protect Republika Srpska and its real estate windfall. In Bosnia as in Kosova, US policy is on a collision course with the aspirations of the people.

5. US Interests at Stake in Our Balkan Policy

The key American interests in Balkan policy are outside the Balkans. On the night he began bombing Serbia, President Clinton explained US interests as follows: "Ending this tragedy is a moral imperative. It is also important to America's national interests." The President, like Congress, put our moral interest in Kosova ahead of other national interests. US policy is about to squander a chance to make "never again" a meaningful factor in US foreign policy. Congress has made scores of legislative attempts to correct US moral myopia since Serb aggression began. While Bosnia and Kosova do not equal Rwanda in scale, the Balkan television coverage exposed Americans to the moral issues at stake in a way future presidents may not enjoy. In grass-roots efforts around the country, people personally touched by the Holocaust often took the lead. Yet the Clinton administration is pretending to oppose the ethnic cleansing while rewarding it in Kosova and Bosnia. Rewarding ethnic cleansing encourages its spread. Rwanda and Chechnya followed Bosnia. After Kosova, Sandzak, an historic Muslim enclave in Serbia may be next. Abandonment of morals can affect strategic interests.

US Balkan policy is encouraging the rise of Russian ultranationalism, which could destabilize the 20,000 nuclear weapons in Russian hands. Russia, with an arc of Muslim countries to its south, has a serious interest in amicable relations between Orthodox and Muslim societies. When Serb aggression in the Balkans began, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev offered to provide Russian transport planes to ferry UN troops from Muslim countries to help Bosnia. But since then, years of Western acquiescence to Milosevic's aggression have emboldened Russian ultranationalists. US Balkan policy could encourage Serb aggression in Sandzak, Vojvodina, and Montenegro. Although the media has covered the threat to Montenegro and somewhat less to Vojvodina, it has overlooked the 300,000 Muslims of Sandzak, where low-level cleansing has already begun. Sandzak's Muslims are the most prosperous in the Balkans, making them a tempting target for ethnic cleansing. US acquiescence in the destruction of Bosnian and Kosovar statehood could increase the chance of a clash between Western and Muslim civilizations. Although about 5 million members of the US Muslim community have not yet fully engaged in the American political process, their awareness of US policy is rapidly growing.

New policies can better serve US interests:

Congress should deprive Milosevic of his $15 billion profit from cleansing as follows:

1) Reunite Bosnia and dismantle Republika Srpska, thus eliminating Milosevic's $10 billion real estate windfall;

2) Support Kosovar independence and territorial integrity,including Kosova's sovereignty over the $5 billion dollar Trepce complex;

3) Empower Serbs, Croats and Muslims of good will in a Balkan-wide coalition of tolerance against the forces of hatred.

It is time for Congress to reject any further funding of the counterproductive administration Balkan boondoggle. By asserting America's moral interests, Congress will be at its best. Nothing less will do when the administration is at its worst.

Bosnia Support Committee