Conscience Doth Make Cowards Of Us All

“Conscience Doth Make Cowards of Us All”

By Timothy W. Shire, March 24, 1999

growing awareness that the United States owes a certain responsibility to humanity Macbeth was referring to quite a different situation when in the “Scottish Play” he refers to the nagging feelings that result from past behaviour. The United States has through out its history had a very self centred view of the world and its foray into the world and its common troubles is a new experience. You will remember that both the Korean conflict and the troubles in Vietnam were extensions of its conflict with the Soviet alliance and had nothing whatever to do with humanitarian motivations. Somalia on the other hand was a result of the growing awareness that the United States owes a certain responsibility to humanity and of course like Canada and the United Nations this adventure had an unfortunate and stinging after affect.

Yugoslavia could not submit itself to the pressures of the world Who is to say that the reticence all the European countries and the NATO Alliance toward intervening in the ethnic cleansing in Croatia and Bosnia was largely a result of the Somalian situation and it is without question that the world stood by as a stupid observer while a million Rwandans were hacked to death despite warnings by Canadian military observers there before the event took place. Now we are again witnesses as we see a minuit little place called Kosovo being abused by the central government of Yugoslavia that we all identify as Serbia. Despite the sabre rattling the government of Yugoslavia could not submit itself to the pressures of the world community as it asserts its sovereignty over this little patch of countryside.

NATO and the United States are away out of line Make no mistake about this issue, as far as international law is concerned NATO and the United States are away out of line with their decision to intervene in Kosovo. However, if we go back into history we can realise that the precedent is well established with regard to this part of the world. Yugoslavia was an artificial construct by the League of Nations after the conclusion of World War I as the Austrian Empire was extinguished and the various squabbles that had been part of the area prior to the war indicated deep and lasting difficulties. There was no peace in the area during the 1920s as war lords and various “partisan” groups vied for control of the area. The invasion by German was only a minor interruption in the internal conflicts of the area and as soon as the war ended the most powerful leader supported by the Soviet Union, Marshal Tito grabbed power of what had been the League of Nations mandate and Yugoslavia was born. It was at best an artificial country but no less a country and under the authoritarian rule of Tito the country held together.

Serbian forces killed, and killed and killed. For this we are all ashamed It is interesting to note that during the long struggle between Eastern Europe and rest of the world, known affectionately as the “cold war,” Tito was able to maintain a certain distance from Moscow’s control and did at times court Western commerce. The collapse and reorganization of the Soviet bloc saw spontaneous disassembly of Yugoslavia with the people of Croatia being the first to assert their independence and they were only able to achieve separation with the loss of thousands of lives. Bosnia-Herzegovina with its mixed ethnic make up was an equally unpleasant event and we Canadians had made a valiant attempt on behalf of the United Nations to develop a peace programme there but we were unsuccessful and to our disgust the Serbian forces killed, and killed and killed. For this we are all ashamed. After the issue was nothing but a smoldering remnant, the United States with the help of others, sent in a ground forces to try and settle things down, but they were to late and their conscience is now the problem.

their conscience is the problem So we are at the point today where B-52s, Stealth Bombers and cruise missiles are being directed toward targets. NATO is in charge of the operation but let us face the facts it is a US show. The agreement by all military authorities is that even before the project begins it will be of little value because without a massive land force to prevent slaughter on the ground the air bombardment will only strengthen the Yugoslavian leadership’s popularity. We do know that if bombing is to have any effect it must be punitive and repugnantly targeted toward Serbian targets to bring the fighting to the home towns of the people who have administered the ravages on Croatia, Bosnia and now Kosovo. But bombing of Serbia, would in effect be a war crime, and it is unlikely that the United States would carry out such attacks even though they have no intentions of placing American foot soldiers at risk, their conscience is the problem for both alternatives.

“Conscience Doth Make Cowards of Us All”
*By Timothy W. Shire, March 24, 1999*

growing awareness that the United States owes a certain responsibility to humanity	Macbeth was referring to quite a different situation when in the “Scottish Play” he refers to the nagging feelings that result from past behaviour. The United States has through out its history had a very self centred view of the world and its foray into the world and its common troubles is a new experience. You will remember that both the Korean conflict and the troubles in Vietnam were extensions of its conflict with the Soviet alliance and had nothing whatever to do with humanitarian motivations. Somalia on the other hand was a result of the growing awareness that the United States owes a certain responsibility to humanity and of course like Canada and the United Nations this adventure had an unfortunate and stinging after affect.

Yugoslavia could not submit itself to the pressures of the world	Who is to say that the reticence all the European countries and the NATO Alliance toward intervening in the ethnic cleansing in Croatia and Bosnia was largely a result of the Somalian situation and it is without question that the world stood by as a stupid observer while a million Rwandans were hacked to death despite warnings by Canadian military observers there before the event took place. Now we are again witnesses as we see a minuit little place called Kosovo being abused by the central government of Yugoslavia that we all identify as Serbia. Despite the sabre rattling the government of Yugoslavia could not submit itself to the pressures of the world community as it asserts its sovereignty over this little patch of countryside.

NATO and the United States are away out of line	Make no mistake about this issue, as far as international law is concerned NATO and the United States are away out of line with their decision to intervene in Kosovo. However, if we go back into history we can realise that the precedent is well established with regard to this part of the world. Yugoslavia was an artificial construct by the League of Nations after the conclusion of World War I as the Austrian Empire was extinguished and the various squabbles that had been part of the area prior to the war indicated deep and lasting difficulties. There was no peace in the area during the 1920s as war lords and various “partisan” groups vied for control of the area. The invasion by German was only a minor interruption in the internal conflicts of the area and as soon as the war ended the most powerful leader supported by the Soviet Union, Marshal Tito grabbed power of what had been the League of Nations mandate and Yugoslavia was born. It was at best an artificial country but no less a country and under the authoritarian rule of Tito the country held together.

Serbian forces killed, and killed and killed. For this we are all ashamed	It is interesting to note that during the long struggle between Eastern Europe and rest of the world, known affectionately as the “cold war,” Tito was able to maintain a certain distance from Moscow’s control and did at times court Western commerce. The collapse and reorganization of the Soviet bloc saw spontaneous disassembly of Yugoslavia with the people of Croatia being the first to assert their independence and they were only able to achieve separation with the loss of thousands of lives. Bosnia-Herzegovina with its mixed ethnic make up was an equally unpleasant event and we Canadians had made a valiant attempt on behalf of the United Nations to develop a peace programme there but we were unsuccessful and to our disgust the Serbian forces killed, and killed and killed. For this we are all ashamed. After the issue was nothing but a smoldering remnant, the United States with the help of others, sent in a ground forces to try and settle things down, but they were to late and their conscience is now the problem.

their conscience is the problem	So we are at the point today where B-52s, Stealth Bombers and cruise missiles are being directed toward targets. NATO is in charge of the operation but let us face the facts it is a US show. The agreement by all military authorities is that even before the project begins it will be of little value because without a massive land force to prevent slaughter on the ground the air bombardment will only strengthen the Yugoslavian leadership’s popularity. We do know that if bombing is to have any effect it must be punitive and repugnantly targeted toward Serbian targets to bring the fighting to the home towns of the people who have administered the ravages on Croatia, Bosnia and now Kosovo. But bombing of Serbia, would in effect be a war crime, and it is unlikely that the United States would carry out such attacks even though they have no intentions of placing American foot soldiers at risk, their conscience is the problem for both alternatives.