Letter to the editor Re. KLA Accuses Serb Police of Violating Cease-fire in Kosovo,'' Dow Jones Newswires (Nov. 10, 1998)
ex Singidunum
November 10, 1998; 05:41 PM
Ned Crabb
Letters Editor
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
New York, NY
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Subject: Letter to the editor Re. "KLA Accuses Serb Police of Violating
Cease-fire in Kosovo," Dow Jones Newswires (Nov. 10, 1998)
Dear Ned,
Have the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones Newswires become the
mouthpieces of Islamic terrorist organizations?
Suppose two Israeli policemen were tortured and murdered in cold blood by
the Hezbollah or Hamas terrorists. Would you ignore such news? Worse,
would you carry instead as THE story of the day a manifesto of such
murderers accusing Israel of some violations?
If not, how then do your editors explain covering up today's (Nov. 10) news
about a murder of two Serbian policemen by the predominantly Muslim Kosovo
Albanian terrorists?
The Dow Jones Newswires' "KLA Accuses Serb Police of Violating Cease-fire
in Kosovo" article (Nov. 10, 1998) is a perfect example of how editors can
manipulate the news by omission and diversion. By omission, because the
printed editions of the Wall Street Journal today said nothing at all all
about the cold-bloodied murder of Dejan Djatlov (23) and Ilija Vujosevic
(48), two Serb policemen whose bodies were found yesterday (Nov. 9) near
Malisevo in Kosovo, Serbia. By diversion, because this Dow Jones wire
story served to obfuscate the real news.
The two Serbian policemen, a young police reserve officer (the 23-year old)
and a veteran, were abducted Nov. 7 by the Albanian terrorist organization,
Kosovo Liberation Army, as they were driving a truck on a road between
Malisevo and Orlat. Today's Los Angeles Times, which carried a Reuters
report about the killings, said that Serbian officials took the reporters
yesterday (Nov. 9) to the scene of the crime to view the bodies, which also
showed signs of torture.
Why was the Journal's Kosovo "Johnny-on-the-spot" not among them? Or was
he/she there but your editors decided the story didn't fit their opinions
of what the "truth" should be? Is that why, by contrast to the LA Times,
the Journal did not even carry the Reuters' report about the murders, either?
Furthermore, the Washington Times' reported today (Nov. 10) that both of
the slain police officers had gunshot wounds to the head, indicating they
had been killed execution-style.
David Scheffer, the roving U.S. ambassador on war crimes issues, also
viewed the corpses as he toured Kosovo with the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer
Mission. "This represents one of the problems that is being experienced
here with the cease-fire, and that is that there are violations of the
cease-fire by both sides," Mr. Scheffer said, according to the Washington
Times.
Can your editors explain to their readers why the Journal chose to muffle
even an American ambassador's voice? Is it because finding out the full
truth about what happened in Malisevo would possibly implicate some U.S.
officials in tampering with the witnesses?
The Washington Times, for example, also said today that an Albanian, who
claimed to have witnessed the slayings, was quickly removed from the scene
by a two-man American observer team in an orange, U.S. military "humvee"
jeep. An angered Serbian police commander, Bozidar Filic, told the
reporters the man was one of the "only witnesses to the crime."
Serbian journalists surrounded the U.S. military officer when he returned
to the scene yesterday afternoon, according to the Washington Times. The
officer, who would not identify himself by name, apologized to the Serbian
police for what he called a misunderstanding. Officials said the
(Albanian) man will be interviewed at another time.
Sure thing. Did they also say in which world the interview will take
place? And if Saint Peter will be the stenographer, or will we have to
wait for a translation from Prophet Mohammed's notebook?
Furthermore, the day before the two Serb policemen were abducted by the
KLA, the U.S. envoy to the Balkans, Christopher Hill, met with the KLA
members in Kosovo, according to a Nov. 7 Reuters report. The KLA
spokesman, Jakup Krasniqi, later told the media that the Americans were of
great influence in Kosovo and elsewhere, and that the U.S. recognized the
KLA as a factor in negotiations with the Serbian government. No word about
that meeting, either, in your newspaper.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DPS), an opposition party,
issued a stern rebuke yesterday (Nov. 9) to the Serbian government for
allowing such negotiations with the terrorists to take place. "It is
painfully clear from Hill's behavior that, what the ruling Socialists and
his errand-boys have been vainly striving to present as a huge diplomatic
success and Slobodan Milosevic's wisdom (the Oct. 12 Kosovo agreement), is
nothing but defeat and disgrace."
The DPS statement added that, "when a diplomat, who has regular meetings
with Serbian and Yugoslav officials, holds a three-hour meeting with people
who are offenders and criminals according to the laws of this state, and
what's more, seeks their opinion on the future status of Kosovo, i.e., both
Serbia's and Yugoslavia's future, that means that such a diplomat and his
country (U.S.) do not in the least respect our legal system."
In short, while the KLA is murdering the Serbian police in cold blood, the
U.S. observers are tampering with witnesses, and the U.S. government is
elevating these Albanian terrorists to a statesmen-like level. Which is
like the C.I.A. publicly removing witnesses to anti-Israel terrorist
crimes, while Dennis Ross, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, negotiates
with the Hamas or Hezbollah terrorists over the future of Israel.
The Journals' evident news manipulation and obfuscation makes it an
accomplice to such a travesty. It also suggests your editors had better
drop their masks now that the Halloween is over, and change the paper's
name to "Pravda on the Hudson" (given that your midtown rival, the New York
Times, seems to have already earned the "Kremlin on the Hudson" epithet).
Best regards,
Bob Djurdjevic
Founder
Truth in Media
----
Bob Djurdjevic
TRUTH IN MEDIA
Phoenix, Arizona
e-mail: bo...@djurdjevic.com
Visit http://www.beograd.com/truth - the Truth in Media Web site for more
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