The Clinton Administration found little support from Americans for a war in the Balkins, and in particular in Kosovo. So how did they get away with it? The answer is very simple: a compromised media and slick public relations.

In the early stages of the war, Washington Post staff writer Howard  Kurtz reported the Clinton administration’s staff began “The Hosing” by making appearances on every major network in support of Clinton’s Yugoslavian  policies.

According to Kurtz, "Albright  and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, who blitzed the networks Thursday [March 25, 1999], are doing more than pressing the administration’s line in time of war. They are demonizing the opposition and carefully controlling the flow of information as part of the all-important battle for public opinion."

Unfortunately for Clinton, Americans had just been through a wringer because of his lies and deceptions on other matters, and they weren’t very receptive to their overtures. As a result, Americans measured each and every word coming out of their mouths... and in spite of the REPORTED atrocities committed by Milosovic, they didn’t believe what they were hearing.

The Lamestream Media Locksteppers also failed with their assertions of rape, ravaging, and brutality: independent media refuted their charges with videos showing quite the opposite. Instead of men, women, and children a running for their lives from the Kosovo army, they were doing so because of the NATO bombs!

CNN’s Christine Amanpour, described by Truth In Media (www.truthinmedia.org) as “an ethnic Iranian raised  in Britain, who freely admitted in June 1996 that her broadcasts from Bosnia were  ‘advocacy journalism’, also failed to sway most Americans. But then again like most things in the Clinton Administration, lies like hers were to be expected. It should also be borne in mind that Amanpour is married to James Rubin, the Clinton-Albright spokesman for the State Department!

The NATO warlords also claimed Milosevec was engaged in both genocide and ethnic cleansing. The administration and the media were quick to join in this attempt to deceive and divide the public by successfully linking the two together. In fact, the resulting confusion created the impression Serbs had been on a killing binge.

But what exactly is “ethnic cleansing”? “Ethnic Cleansing” is described by the Albanian leaning Balkans website (www.igc.org/balkans/ethnicl.html) as “a process in which an advancing army of one ethnic group expels civilians of other ethnic groups from towns and villages it conquers...”. “Genocide”, on the other hand, occurs when the advancing troops employ systematic killing of an ethnic group.

In the 4/12/99 issue of Newsweek, Holocaust expert and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel decries the use of the term “genocide” in describing what the Serbs are doing to the Albanians. Wiesel flatly states (about genocide) “This is not the case here.” He repeated the same assertion on the 4/4/99 edition of the CNN Late Edition show with Wolf Blitzer. With respect to the assertion by Clinton, Amanpour, and others that Milosevic was like Hitler, Wiesel went on to say “There is no comparison between Hitler and Milosevic.” 

In fact, on CNN’s Moneyline show of  3/31/99, Senator Inhofe (R-OK) stated he was only aware of two dead Albanians during his fact finding tour of the area. However, other sources report that a total of only 2,000 had been killed during the past twelve months... 1,000 Albanians and 1,000 Serbs.

The NATO forces did for  Milosevic what he could never have achieved on his own: forcing ethnic Albanians to flee as they sought refuge from the bombs dropping all around them.

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