Letter to Colin Powell

I heard snippets of Madeleine Albright's testimony to the 9-11 commission yesterday, and as far as I could tell, when she listed the "plans" the Clinton Administration had "left in place" for the Bush Administration, the word "Kosovo" never came up.

Having committed NATO and the UN and several thousand U.S. troops to watch a boil fester in the Balkans seems like a "plan" "left in place" for the next administration to deal with.

As far as I can tell, the Bush Administration hasn't. I dunno. Maybe they've been busy. But since our adolescent president wrecked the family car in the former Yugoslavia, it does seem that it's up the the grown-ups to pay off the damage. (It might be nice to ground the adolescent for a few years and take away his car keys, but we don't do that to ex-presidents.)

The Serbian Unity Congress has written a letter to Colin Powell. It's a good letter, and I hope he takes it to heart.

Here are their recommendations:

RECOMMENDATIONS

Specific Objectives for Achieving Long-Term Stability in the Serbian Province of Kosovo & Metohija

1. Guarantee security
   
   • Halt immediately all ongoing violence.
     
   • Guarantee freedom of movement:
     
     1. Checkpoints around non-Albanian enclaves
        
     2. Robust protection of patrimonial sites and sacral objects
        
     3. Escorts for general travel through province
        
     4. Full protection for agricultural enterprises
        
     5. Security in integrated/mixed communities
   • True and comprehensive demilitarization of all paramilitary forces (specifically, KPC) and armed civilians.
   
   
2. Reversal of ethnic cleansing during UNMIK administration
   
   • Return of all refugees to sustainable conditions of safe habitation.
     
   • Rebuilding of all churches, homes and infrastructure.
     
   • Reparations for all damage to private and community property.
     
   • End discriminatory practices in employment and other social spheres
   
   
3. Accountability and justice
   
   • Enforcement of the rule of law.
     
   • Decriminalization: investigation, indictments (at the level of the Hague War Crimes Tribunal), trials and convictions of perpetrators of all ethnically motivated crimes (crimes against humanity, acts of terrorism and general violations of human rights) committed during UNMIK administration and the armed conflicts that preceded it - actual perpetrators as well as political leadership.
     
   • Resolution of all unresolved ethnically motivated abductions.
     
   • Establishment of an independent and objective judiciary system.

The above objectives can be achieved only with mechanisms capable of providing:

1. Effective monitoring of compliance
   
2. Enforcement of administrative accountability
   
3. Implementation tracking with defined milestones and timeframes

These recommendations seem like a reasonable beginning to me.

As much as we are occupied by the Middle East, we need to remember that the Balkans have long served as the gate between the Eastern invaders and Europe. The invaders now are arguably more barbaric than the Ottomans, and Europeans would be wise to remember how lucky they were that the Ottomans stopped at Venice in the 17th century.

It would be a shame to see centuries of art and architecture in Italy, Greece, France and England follow the great Buddhas in Afghanistan and the churches of Kosovo into piles of rubble. People are more important than buildings, but our heritage is important, as the barbarian invaders know quite well.