In this bestial aggression, the Yugoslav civilians are dying - Serbs, Albanians, Montenegrins, Turks, Hungarians and members of 19 other nationalities who live in this condemned country.

As a pacifist, I believe that there must be only inoffensive, peaceful, diplomatic solutions for solving any conflicts in the world. The previous essay I wrote, jumping from the chair from time to time in the night when [the] whole [of] Belgrade was turned into ... only one sound: horrible explosions. I wrote it with desire to show the connection between [the] present Yugoslav tragedy and terrorism [and] ... relevant things so important for [to] beginning of the most horrid military "adventure" in Europe [since] the end of WW II. I did so without any intention to absolve anyone.

Bus destroyed by NATO on the Luzani Bridge. Another NATO "mistake."

There are not ... good and bad guys, [or a ] black and white sides [for] such a complex story.

For centuries, [the] Balkan[s] have been a twilight zone. The guilt [for today's situation can fall on] all participants --- including NATO and [the] media who manipulate the truth. The NATO nation's media are blaming a whole nation for unimaginable atrocities without any documented evidence and [thus they] serve only the [propaganda] purposes of the aggressors [who, I believe] must be condemned and punished according the international law.

Also, if anyone on the Yugoslav side, no matter the nationality, committed [crimes which can be] .... documented and proved, [all of those Yugoslavians] must be punished by the law!

I'm not a political analyst, just an observer who can write from personal point of view according the facts. For a long, long time, I believed that the symbol of Western democracy is the USA.... Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to choose your own life path, [to] be allowed to work freely and earn enough for [your future] life... [All ideas which were and continue] a pure science-fiction story here in my country. Instead of bringing those values to the people of Yugoslavia NATO with [the] US President, and his Secretary of the State, brought us death and destruction. Why?

Before the war even started, I've heard Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright talking at first that the US national interests are imperilled in [the] Serbian province of Kosovo. What kind of national interests [does the] US in Kosovo?

Next, they said that air strikes will stop the humanitarian catastrophe of [the] Kosovo ethnic Albanians. But NATO jets deliberately killed Albanian refugees on the way back home to Djakovica and are still killing them.

Then, they said that dropping bombs will prevent the spread of war. But bombs only escalated war and humanitarian catastrophe.

Another reason [that U.S. President] Clinton says [justifies this war is that] he wants to underscore the credibility of NATO.

But how can we talk about the credibility of a defensive Alliance [committing] unprovoked attacks on a small country which never jeopardised or endangered any of the NATO countries?

They also say that the ability of [Serbian President Slobodan] Milosevic to build up his defences and enforce Serbian territorial claims, must be curb[ed].

The fact is that for 800 years Kosovo territory [has been part of] Serbia (until WW II it was called the Old Serbia) and the presence of ancient churches and monasteries central to the Serbian Orthodox faith in Kosovo are the proof.

Finally, the masks fall down.

To justify the US war which could otherwise be only a criminal bombing campaign by US and its military NATO machinery against sovereign Yugoslavia, President Bill Clinton says that the US must bomb Yugoslavia because its leader, Slobodan Milosevic, is like Hitler and must be stopped because the Yugoslav government is carrying out nazi-like genocide...

To quote Gary Wilson:

"... However, the facts do not in any way justify US military action against Yugoslavia. But Clinton's statement is so inflammatory that it is clear he does not want any kind of negotiated settlement. The US government is demanding the full surrender of Yugoslavia on terms dictated by the State Department. Germany under Hitler was a major industrial country, an imperialist power that invaded its neighbours. Yugoslavia is primarily a farming country that has had its small industrial base severely weakened by years of US- imposed sanctions. Yugoslavia has not invaded any other country and has never made any threats to do so.

"The United States military, on the other hand, has attacked four countries--Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia--in the last six months. This puts the US at the top of the list of aggressor countries in the world today. The Yugoslav government's policy of defending its own country from attack, both internal and external, cannot be characterised as different from what any other government in the world would do under similar circumstances...

"The stories being propagated by the White House, the Pentagon and NATO are intended to justify their military aggression. This is a war against Yugoslavia, and in a war the first thing to question is the daily barrage of propaganda from the officials of the attacking countries.

"For example, thousands of civilians are reportedly fleeing Kosovo. Why are they fleeing now, after this monstrous high- tech war has begun? The explanation carried by the media comes completely from US and NATO military authorities, who claim the refugees are victims of a Serbian 'rampage.' No really independent reporting is allowed.

"The possibility that they may be fleeing because their villages are being destroyed by US and NATO missiles and bombs is curtly dismissed.

"While the Pentagon claims to be bombing only military sites, its record in every other war says it is hitting both military and civilian targets.

"In fact, according to a study done by the US Congress, only 40 percent of the bombs used against Iraq during the Gulf War actually hit their targets. Civilian casualties were quite high in that war, and were all caused by US bombs. After just four days of the attack on Yugoslavia the US had killed over 1,000 civilians, according to reports by the Russian government. Yugoslavia is not releasing casualty figures, for the same reasons that the US government refuses to release militarily sensitive information about its planes that are downed. Since most of the NATO bombs have been dropped on Kosovo, that would indeed be a very good reason to flee.

"This isn't the first time Washington has used the humanitarian excuse for outright intervention. The US said it was involved in a humanitarian mission in Somalia in 1993. But US troops were finally forced out by an enraged populace after they assaulted the population and killed 500 Somali civilians, according to the just-published book, 'Black Hawk Down.'

The US also claimed the invasion of little Grenada was part of a humanitarian mission to rescue medical students. Yugoslavia is the only country in Europe to refuse US military bases. At the talks in Paris, the Yugoslav authorities agreed to the autonomy terms for Kosovo demanded by the US government. But they refused to allow Kosovo to be occupied by foreign troops from the US and NATO. For insisting on their rights as a sovereign nation, they were attacked by Clinton's 'humanitarian' bombers."

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Oh yes, Slobodan Milosevic is a long time bad news for ...most Yugoslavs. He ruined the country, make a lot of educated and proficient young people of all nations flee abroad. In last ten years we came to the very edge of existence - wages go unpaid and pensions shrink monthly. A class of rich war profiteers, corrupted managers, low life criminals and a bunch of illiterate new "jet-setters" obedient to the regime became every day richer while intellectuals, [the] middle class and workers became social [welfare] cases.

Mladjen Dinkic, economist from [the] Belgrade "G7 group", in December, 1996 issue of the Timemagazine said he believes that "Milosevic, a former banker, has spirited huge amounts of money out of the country and into [the] banks of Greece, Israel and Cyprus, where Milosevic's friend Borka Vucic runs an offshore private bank. The money was extracted from ordinary Serbs during rampant hyperinflation and siphoned to foreign bank accounts from a network of black-market currency vendors and quasi-government banks. Even if that is not true, it seems the Milosevic family values are costly indeed".

In November 1996, the opposition won the elections for 15 city halls in Serbia and defeated Milosevic's party. But he ordered the courts to annul the election in Belgrade and some other cities.

Tens of thousands of students, intellectuals and elderly citizens went out into the streets of downtown Belgrade to protest against the court order, against the regime, for freedom of the press, freedom of speech and democratic changes. The protest [spread] to ... all Serbian cities.

The protesters, armed with American, British, German and EU flags, pelted [the] regime's ministries with snowballs, eggs and paper aeroplanes, sung serenades under the government's office windows and blew whistles. The people's rage w[as] enormous.

The pulse of Serbia was pictured by the slogan "Better dead than red!"

Sonja Biserko, then director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia said: "For the first time, it is evident that he is not here forever".

Newsweekwrote on December 16, 1996 : "Father was having a bad week. After loosing local government elections in major Serbian cities, Slobodan Milosevic overturned them, pushing thousands of demonstrators into the streets. Mother wasn't much help. Mira Markovic, Slobo's wife and an unrepentant communist, saw her own political party trounced....Nearly three weeks of daily demonstrations have humiliated Milosevic; for the first time he really seemed in trouble. Washington, which had embraced him as its partner in implementing the Dayton peace plan, now pronounced him "not indispensable" and threatened to reimpose sanctions if he uses force to suppress the protests....What really seemed to scare the regime was that the marchers began to demand not just the restoration of opposition victories, but Milosevic's resignation".

The protest which last for three months could of been the beginning of the new, democratic era in Serbia and the end of Milosevic's regime if only US support didn't stay .... simply [an idle] threat.

The U.S.... sanctions NEVER hurt Milosevic and his regime, just [the] common people in Serbia.

In the meantime, Milosevic - the Great Master of the Game (and despite all he [has] subsist[ed] for over 10 years), managed to disband the opposition coalition and put in his own pocket some of oposition leaders by letting them enter the government. The US had the power to help democratic changes in Serbia and never used it.

TIME wrote on May 25, 1998:" When Richard Holbrooke returned to the Balkan arena last week for talks with Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic, he was armed with a piece of heavy artillery: a draft executive order by US President's Clinton targeting the Yugoslav President's private financial assets and curbing the travel privileges of most of his cronies by restricting their visas. The document included a detailed list of Milosevic-controlled assets in the US and Europe...ready to be frozen when the order took effect".

Despite of all, Milosevic's regime survived again.

There was a local joke in Belgrade, referring each Holbrooke's visit: "Here came Richy to collect another chest of money, donated by Slobo"!

Milosevic played their game and was very useful at that time. But somehow he slipped from their hands in France, refusing to accept the proposed military Annex which would mean the occupation of Serbia and loss of [the] southern Serbian province - Kosovo. And the war began in the name of humanitarism!

Such a cynicism [causes] some questions:

• What is this war about?
• How can pointless massacre [of] civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructures, industry, hospitals, schools, buses and TV stations ends Milosevic's regime and bring Yugoslavia democracy?

Their Brussels reporter mentioned a statement of US General Wesley Clark that NATO will destroy everything Milosevic care[s] for. What no one understood is the fact that before this war there were extremely strong evidence that the next elections [would] be a disaster for Milosevic and his party.

Instead of that, this aggression just make[s] him stronger then ever.

• There are no more opposition [parties versus] ruling regime in this country, just people fighting against enemy who kills women and children, spreading lies and destroying everything we all love, have and care for.
• For the first time in a very long period, political games and disagreements stopped. As an answer to the NATO aggression, the entire country including people of whole 26 nationalities unified and stand up against [the war.]