>On Behalf Of Seth Ackerman
> >
> Point of information: The above press release was written by Human
> Rights Watch -- the "progressive human rights group." Not by me.
> Apparently,
> HRW fears that its credibility is threatened by NATO's tendentious
> war-propaganda.
>
> It seems that Nathan does not share this concern.
The point is that Human Rights Watch is a very careful documenter of human rights abuses, so for the sake of accuracy, there is a worthwhile goal of noting how and when gang rapes were occuring by Serb forces.
However, for the Kosovars gang-raped by Serb forces, the distinction does not matter very much. For a piece that you seemed to argue was a rebuttal against NATO propaganda, it's major information is that the Serb army continued the use of rape as terror weapon that they have continually been condemned for during all the Balkan conflicts in the last decade.
You seem so obsessed with documenting the possible misinformation by NATO over where the rapes occured that you seem oblivious to the vile acts committed by the Serbian forces documented by Human Rights Watch. Maybe gang rapes organized in a camp are worse than gang rapes promoted systematically by roving armies under the direction of officers, but the distinction is hardly that large.
So far the sins of NATO as far as propaganda are: (1) Predicting 10,000 deaths but, by raising concerns about "missing people", they raised fears of more deaths (2) Accusing the Serbs of running rape camps, when in fact gang rapes were done by mobile units
These examples just don't rank very high on the Geobbels standard of lying propaganda. The Serbs during the Kosovo conflict were involved in mass expulsions, murder, organized gang rape, burning of homes and general terror against the Kosovar population. Nitpicking the details does not change that reality, and that reality is why public support for the war was generated.
Do you seriously argue that if the public had been informed that gang rapes were only being done by mobile units, the public would have said, "oh, well as long as they aren't doing it in camps, that's okay"?
-- Nathan Newman