Hey XXX,

What are you doing to put the brakes on this remote control war we've been delivered into? Here in New York I've been to a protest march, but it was largely dominated by idiot nationalist Serbs. Some artists and gallery people met on Sunday to discuss what might be done to mount a resistance to the info- war apparatus that threatens to shroud events in complete irreality. I'm working on web art projects about war and putting together other activist response pages to focus people's attention on the stories that are not being told. I think we need to turn attention back on first issues instead of letting the Brigadeer Generals steer into micro-analysis of attack chronologies in their PowerPoint presentations.

AnDY

Good call to arms.

I'm languishing in the morass of media induced doubt Elie Weisel says "it's not the holocaust," But we should bomb them anyway. What does the just person do? Very conflicted conflict. Concerns about NATO as a VETO used to trump UN. But Kofi Annan says bombs ok. What are we supposed to think?

My own perspective on the war is that, even though it's pretty terrible what the Serbians are / have been doing, there is also much room for questioning the motives for the roles of the "western" powers in this affair. I wonder, for example, why more resources were not brought to the aid of democratic resistance to Milosevic's rule? I recently turned up a web page about how good (ca. 1998) the prospects were for arms manufacturers. And I don't feel we can separate their lobbying efforts in Washington from this foreign policy. Yes, the Serbians are pursuing an evil course, but so are "we," and therein lies the conflict. The Serbs are very proud people and, like the Iraqis, Libyans, or Cubans for that matter, are not inclined to follow Bill Clinton's mandates.

For some interesting .net based views, you might want to check out a page I've been following by a friend of mine: Kosovo

Andy

No fucking doubt. The genocide in Rwanda is an obvious parallel. Where were our fucking bombs then? three times as many people killed. Cambodia? Sure I hate our toxic Foreign policy (even the name of it is noxious), but Milosevic is not exactly Dudley Doright.

>The genocide in Rwanda is an obvious parallel.
What's more, you could hardly be less convincing than Mad Ellen Lightbright concerning this contradiction. "I've always felt we should have done more." Whatever.

Some interesting points to consider:

1. Plans for Nato -- is this a prelude to a Giuliani style overhaul of globo cop politics?
2. If stopped now, will more or fewer Kosovars be killed/displaced? I'm inclined to believe our bargaining position is not getting better -- we will be confronting inveterate hatreds in the region for centuries to come-- unless of course there is a total rebuild of the culture as well as the infrastructure
3. Haven't we already demonstrated that this sort of "cleansing" (racist terminology in my opinion) is not tolerated by the international community?
4. Isn't the use of low level nuclear weaponry in contradiction with the president's claims that we want to repatriate the Kosovars? Or does he think they're dirty people too, deserving birth defects?

Andy

Letter to the Representative Nadler, June 3, 1999:

Chemical cloud over Belgrade

I oppose the war in Kosovo. Over the last months, I have spent a lot of time researching the circumstances that led to the bombing, and reading history. I don't believe our cause is all that just. The Yugoslavians are now being punished unduly. The atrocities that 'we' are supposed to be rectifying are overshadowed by the atrocities 'we' are committing. Depleted uranium weapons, destruction of civilian infrastructure, contamination of water. These are not laudable endeavors, and our trigger happy government needs to realize that. I do not believe Milosevic is Hitler, nor do I believe that the KLA is an organization that is morally superior to Yugoslavia's elected government. Please work to stop this war immediately.

Andy C. Deck

Letter to the president, June 2, 1999:

To the President:

I've recently read your letter to me regarding Kosovo. Bill, it's bullshit. From start to finish, this war is not about humaneness, it's imperialism, and you are the mouthpiece for this imperialist war.

Now there is a march scheduled June 5 that the "police authorities" have denied a suitable permit for. It is expected that thousands of people will walk along a narrow bike path? I've attempted to argue in favor of the path over Route 27, between the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and the Pentagon. It has been said (Governor's spokesperson) that IF 2000 or more people arrive for the march, the route will be made along the path chosen by the organizers. But there is no legal assurance of this. Who will count the heads? It's clearly a political move being made to suppress the rally. The duplicity of calling this a move for public safety is reminiscent of your bogus attempts to call this war an humanitarian protection of the Kosovar people. Where was the humanity in Rwanda? You're demonstrating that Democrats love war and that, therefore, the party must be abandoned.

Andy C. Deck

Letter to the president, Apr 19, 1999:

Please, please be human! Stop this remote control murder of the people in the Balkans. The administration's policy has turned a bad situation into a worse situation. Now the fragile democratic movement is all but crushed and both Serbs and Kosovars are dying. The media management and propaganda of this war is more sickening than the Gulf War -- which you also persist in continuing. The legacy of the Clinton administration is currently in the process of becoming the transition from a period of relative peace and stability into an age of the corporate imperialism of high tech weaponry. This is not the will of the American people. At best it is the will of the interested corporations like GE and Westinghouse that have such a ponderous influence over media coverage of war and politics. Please move to stop this war!

Andy C. Deck

Letter to the president, Apr 14, 1999:

Your policy in the Balkans is stupid and wrong. I quote from a Nation editorial:

For all Clinton's talk about vital interests, the struggle in Kosovo is only of the remotest geopolitical consequence to the United States. For Serbia, however, it involves the highest stakes for which a nation can fight: the defense of its sovereign territory. In conflicts like those in Vietnam or Kosovo, the interests of US adversaries clearly outweigh US interests--which means that an opponent's resolve is likely to outlast America's.

Do you honestly think you can jump in for a year and convince the Serbs to surrender their sovereign territory? Do you expect Americans to be stupid enough to believe that the KLA is has sovereignty over Kosovo? That's a fiction at best. You're repeating the same mistakes that were made about Vietnam. Get out of this war!

Andy C. Deck