legger ved dokumentasjon fra spanske bombeflygere om bombing av sivile mål.
Knut Rognes
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Spanish Fighter Pilots Admit NATO Purposely Attacks Civilian Targets
June 14, 1999 Articulo 20 (Spain-weekly)
By Jose Luis Morales
(thanks to Bill Blum for finding and sending this to ZNet)
The pilots of Spanish planes who participated in bombing raids against
Yugoslavia do not feel like "supermen" nor masters of aerospace. Quite the
contrary, they say that our forces play to the tune of music played by the
North Americans, and accuse NATO of having honoured with medals the bombing
of civilian targets, what they otherwise name "collateral damages".
Captain Adolfo Luis Martin de la Hoz, who returned to Spain at the end of
May after having participated in the bombings from the beginning, an
"authentic expert for the dreadful F-18", the war plane most often used in
the war strategy of "scorched land" in the Balkans, is very categoric:
"First of all, I want to make it clear that the majority, I say the
majority, of my colleagues, even if not all, are against the war in general
and against this war of barbarity in particular."
Martin de la Hoz says that he and his colleagues "are burnt out".
"A few days ago, there appeared in the papers certain statements of
Commander Maches Michavilla, who is now in the air base at Aviano with the
pilots who replaced us, in which he said that our main helper in the air
was mental and physical health. But I tell you that our worst enemies are
our own authorities, the Defence Minister and all his team, the members of
the Government, who know nothing about war and go along with it without
informing themselves about anything and, what is gravest, who are guilty of
lying to the Spanish people through the papers, radio and television,
foreign correspondents and press agencies."
The suspicions that NATO's repeated bombings of civilian victims and
non-military targets are not the result of war "errors", are confirmed by
Captain Martin de la Hoz:
"Several times our colonel protested to NATO chiefs as to why they select
targets which are not military targets. They threw him out with curses,
saying that we should know that the North Americans would lodge a complaint
to the Spanish Army, once through Brussels and again to the Defence
Minister. But there is more, and I want to tell it to the whole world: once
there was a coded order from the North American military that we should
drop anti-personnel bombs over the localities of Prishtine (Pristina) and
Nish (Nis). The colonel refused it altogether and, a couple of days later,
the transfer order came. But what I say now is nothing compared to what I
shall have to say when the time comes."
The Spanish military denounces that "the Spanish Government not only does
not try to inform themselves, but that they also accept the false reports
that are edited for them in Aviano, where there is a sort of military press
cabinet in the hands of North American generals and functionaries. Ever
since we arrived in Italy - the captain goes on - there is no end to
humiliations and insults. The only order-givers are the North American
generals, and no one else. We are zeroes, just as our replacements are
going to be.
But there is still more to that. Here, they say that several operations
were directed by Spanish commanders and pilots. Lies over lies. All the
missions that we flew, every single one, were planned by high U.S. military
authorities. Even more, they were all planned in detail, including
attacking planes, targets and type of ammunition that we have to drop. We
never directed anything, and our missions were limited to flying over the
borders of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Slovakia (Slovenia?)."
Government's lies
None of the pilots presently stationed at Aviano, who replaced those who
went to the Italian base shortly before the start of war, last March 23,
were there with a clear conscience, says the Spanish military.
"It is being written to saturation that the disciplined and patriotic
Spanish pilots - according to Minister Eduardo Serra - are concentrating on
the complexity of their war missions".
But we read so many discrepancies, so many lies, that we agreed to not read
a single newspaper until we return. Our anger is enormous. The President of
the government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Defence Minister
are lying brazenly each time they talk about the war. Some of us are of
another opinion and believe that they do not inform themselves, because the
North Americans - the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA, the Embassy or
military information service, whoever, do not inform them about anything.
How should they inform themselves if our own Javier Solana has not informed
himself since the war broke out?
Solana is a puppet who has been put there by the Yanquis to do what they
tell him he must do. And so he does, standing straight before General Clark
when he talks to him, or better said, when he issues him the orders that he
has to implement without delay."
On the subject of manipulation of war information, Captain de la Hoz says
that "no one has said anything about the incidents that took place in
Aviano, about the disastrous maintenance of Spanish machines, about
everything, and about the constant humiliations to which we were subjected
from the beginning.
Not that we are cannon fodder. No. We are nothing. About the fatal
accidents, the losses suffered without connection to combat, the contempt
and the sanctions, not a word. From no one!"
For the wrong selection of targets and humiliations, the Spanish military
are ever more certain that there is no alibi.
"We know perfectly well that we are intervening in a conflict - says Martin
de la Hoz - which is rejected by the majority of the Spanish people and
this is most important for us. But what they do not say in any information,
commentary or speech, is that the Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese ... that we
are there to cover for the North American generals who are wheeling and
dealing in the war.
There is no journalist who has the slightest idea what is happening in
Yugoslavia. They are destroying the country, bombing it with new weapons,
toxic nerve gases, surface mines dropped by parachute, bombs containing
uranium, napalm, sterilization chemicals, sprayings to poison the crops and
weapons of which even we still do not know anything.
The North Americans are committing there one of the biggest barbarities
that can be committed against humanity. Many very bad things will be told
in the future about what was happening there because, by the way, judging
by what we talked about with the British and German officers, it was
designed in order to divide the Europeans and keep us subjected for many
decades.
Therefore, Captain Martin de la Hoz is enraged when there is talk about the
costs of the war. There should be no doubts, he confirms, that the military
detached in Aviano are receiving bonuses which "multiply by five our
salary, but not considering the daily expenses and other perquisites. We
could say that we should be satisfied with what this war means economically
for each one of us, but it is not true, what they give us is chocolate for
the parrots.
This war is going to cost the Spaniards more than all the money allocated
for culture in the last five years. And, even if now no one says anything
because of the elections, it will come in a few months and will be felt in
our pockets. Because this brutal Yanqui-only war, no one's but the Yanquis,
is going to be paid by all of us. Be certain that what I say is not to
exculpate myself and to intone 'mea culpa' for having participated in it,
because I will never be able to forget that what was being committed there
was one the biggest savageries of history."
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/spanishreport.htm
Artikkelen kunne også leses på
www.antiwar.com
fra 14. juni (men nå ser den ut til å være vekke, godt ZNet la den ut)
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