"UN investigators have exhumed 2,108 corpses in Kosovo so far, but the true number of ethnic Albanian victims may be much higher, the chief UN [War Crimes Tribunal] prosecutor Carla del Ponte said on Wednesday."[3]

[END REUTERS QUOTE]

NATO had claimed up to 100,000 Albanian civilians were killed by Milosevic's forces. But 2108 is only 2% of 100,000. Could NATO really be off by 98%?

No, it was worse.

*Before* the onset of bombing, NATO estimated that fighting between the Yugoslav Army and the Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists, or KLA, had resulted in 2000 deaths on all sides. [4] So, if they found 2108 corpses in their post-bombing investigation, then by NATO's own numbers no more than 108 people had died during NATO's attack.

So, NATO had produced only 108 out of the claimed 100,000? That is, they were off by 99.9%?

No, it was worse.

First, Del Ponte’s 2108 figure was of “exhumed corpses.” Thus it included not only Albanian civilians, but Serbian civilians, KLA combat deaths, Serbian combat deaths, NATO-bomb victims, KLA victims—everyone.

Moreover, we know that NATO dropped bombs primarily on civilian targets, including convoys of tractors and cars full of…*Albanian civilians*. [See APPENDIX] http://emperors-clothes.com/milo/freezer1app.htm

Finally, the KLA several times proudly claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks against uncooperative Albanian civilians. [5]

So we can't assume the "extra" 108 were all Albanian civilians and we can't assume they were killed by Serbian forces. We can't assume anything.

So what do we have? That, *using NATO’s own numbers*:

1. NATO’s estimate of murdered Albanian civilians was off by 100%.

2. NATO’s bombs and KLA terrorism can easily account for any Albanian civilians who might be among del Ponte’s exhumed corpses.

Hence NATO's problem. Because the Hague Tribunal meant to put *Slobodan Milosevic* on trial for war crimes—not NATO, and not the KLA.

You may well ask: why is this a ‘problem’? Why not just drop the charges against Milosevic and try NATO and its ally, the KLA, for war crimes?

Because that's not the function of the Hague Tribunal. It was set up illegally and is funded by NATO for the specific purpose of putting Serbs on trial, not NATO officials. (See here, and here).

And thus on 13 June 2000, the Hague Tribunal announced “that no investigation [will] be commenced by the OTP [Office of The Prosecutor] in relation to the NATO bombing campaign.”[6]

And that is why, in her November 1999 press conference, Carla del Ponte, The Hague's chief prosecutor, expressed the hope (!) that “the true number of ethnic Albanian victims may be much higher.”

But del Ponte’s hoped-for corpses did not materialize, and by August 2000, as the UN and NATO forensic experts wrapped up their investigations, the *total* body count was still…“under 3,000.”[7] Without the promised cartloads of murdered Albanians, how were they going to get Milosevic to The Hague?

NATO took a year trying to solve that one. And then they came up with a solution. They suddenly 'realized' that Milosevic’s forces had used freezer trucks to haul thousands of murdered Albanians out of Kosovo, hiding the bodies in Serbia.

Presto! Problem solved.

Never mind that before April 2001, in over two years of investigations, this ‘theory’ *was never even heard of*—not even hinted at; never mind that this 'theory' was *patently absurd*; never mind that this 'theory' was every so convenient for NATO.

Never mind that not *one shred* of evidence ever existed to support this 'theory'…

On the ‘strength’ of this 'theory', Milosevic was illegally abducted and sent to The Hague.

Up next I will do the following (if there is no link, I am still working on that part):

PART 2. — I Examine the freezer-truck story on its own terms and show that it defied all reason.

PART 3. — I show that the story was, in every respect, *utterly false*.

To be precise, I will show that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by the new, NATO-installed government in Belgrade, in order to send Milosevic to The Hague and please their masters. I will give proof.

PART 4. — I Examine how the mainstream Western press *consciously lied* to the public concerning these allegations.

I will show how the media enthusiastically and lyrically grew and developed the freezer-truck story, communicating with every turn of phrase that all its important details were established fact, *always disregarding available contrary evidence* including evidence the press itself had already published.

To trace the details of the freezer-truck story is to get an education in the structure and operation of a vast propaganda system, colloquially known as the Western free press.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The Times (London), November 2, 1999, Tuesday,  Features,  553 words,  Kosovo’s corpse count.

[2] In late May 1999, the Hague Tribunal decided to indict Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes. See: The New York Times,  May 27, 1999, Thursday, Late Edition - Final,  Section A; Page 1; Column 6; Foreign Desk,  1323 words, "Crisis In The Balkans: The Indictment; Tribunal Is Said To Cite Milosevic For War Crimes," By Roger Cohen, Brussels, May 26

[3]Reuters, 11-10-99

[4] “In Kosovo, an estimated 2000 people died from February last year until March this year under President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian rebels.” The Daily Telegraph,  June 5, 1999, Saturday,  WORLD; Pg. 20,  1026 words,  Last hours of an evil dream - But NATO leaders still wary of Milosevic,  Tom Hundley

[5] Here is an example: “The clandestine Albanian separatist movement Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) has vowed 'multiple vengeance for the innocent deaths' in the Serbian region's central Drenica area, in a statement published Wednesday…The UCK, a group that wants the province to secede, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against Serbian civilians and Albanians loyal to the Belgrade regime.” Agence France Presse,   March 04, 1998,  International news,  243 words, "Albanian separatists vow 'multiple vengeance'"

[6] “On the basis of the information available, the committee recommends that no investigation be commenced by the OTP in relation to the NATO bombing campaign or incidents occurring during the campaign.”

This is the last, concluding line in: ICTY, Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee established to Review the NATO bombing Campaign Against the FRY, PR/P.I.S./510-E, 13 June 2000

This document may be found in Krieger, H. (2001). The Kosovo conflict and international law: An analytical documentation 1974-1999, Cambridge International Documents Series, Volume II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (pp.340-352).

[7] The Guardian,  August 18, 2000,  989 words,  "Serb killings ‘exaggerated’ by west: Claims of up to 100,000 ethnic Albanians massacred in Kosovo revised to under 3,000 as exhumations near end," Jonathan Steele

* Francisco J. Gil-White is Assistant Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania and a fellow in the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict. He specializes in ethnicity and the psychology of ethnic conflict. He is Deputy Editor of Emperor's Clothes.

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