Bill Clinton's Arrogance...

[nawainwright]

Former President Bill Clinton Unveils Statue in Kosovo - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name.
Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
This is his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last year.
Many waved American, Albanian and Kosovo flags and chanted "USA!" as the former president climbed on top of a podium with his poster in the background reading "Kosovo honors a hero."
Some peeked out of balconies and leaned on window sills to get a better view of Clinton from their apartment blocks.
To thunderous applause Clinton waved to the crowd as the red cover was pulled off from the statue.
The statue is placed on top of a white-tiled base, in the middle of a tiny square, surrounded by communist-era buildings.

"I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me," Clinton said of the gold-sprayed statue weighing a ton.
He also addressed Kosovo's 120-seat assembly, encouraging them to forgive and move on from the violence of the past.
The statue portrays Clinton with his left arm raised and holding a portfolio bearing his name and the date when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, on March. 24, 1999.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed during the Kosovo crackdown and about 800,000 were forced out of their homes. They returned home after NATO-led peacekeepers moved in following 78 days of bombing.
Leta Krasniqi, an ethnic Albanian, said the statue was the best way to express the ethnic Albanians' gratitude for Clinton's role in making Kosovo a state.
"This is a big day," Krasniqi, 25 said. "I live nearby and I'm really excited that I will be able to see the statue of such a big friend of ours every day."
Clinton last visited Kosovo in 2003 when he received an honorary university degree. His first visit was in 1999 -- months after some 6,000 U.S. troops were deployed in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission here.
Some 1,000 American soldiers are still based in Kosovo as part of NATO's 14,000-strong peacekeeping force.
Police in Kosovo upped security measures ahead of Bill Clinton's arrival by adding deploying more traffic police and special police.
NATO officials said the peacekeepers were also on alert, although no additional security measures were taken.

I realize Clinton didn't "make" the statue...regardless, let the flaming begin

 

[rambone]

Whats the real story on Kosovo? I wasn't politically awake back in 1999.

 

[SavageEagle]

Whats the real story on Kosovo? I wasn't politically awake back in 1999.

Neither was I. I do know this was almost too late as genocide was being conducted, but beyond that I don't know the whole story...

 

[Pami]

It's long reading, and I've learned to become fairly skeptical of wikipedia these days.. but this article is pretty well cited.

Kosovo War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[rich8483]

It's long reading, and I've learned to become fairly skeptical of wikipedia these days.. but this article is pretty well cited.

Kosovo War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

yes, wikipedia is the free encyclopedia b/c anyone and their brother can write or edit the articles. I could write an article right now if i wanted to and just make stuff up. thats why its a wiki.

 

[Pami]

yes, wikipedia is the free encyclopedia b/c anyone and their brother can write or edit the articles. I could write an article right now if i wanted to and just make stuff up. thats why its a wiki.

Which is why I've learned to become fairly skeptical of it.

However, as I said, for its length that one is pretty well cited, and it lines up with my vague recollections of what was going on over there. This was right about the time I was losing interest in being a journalist but still had a fair idea of current events.

 

[Phil502]

Albanians are mostly Muslim. Clinton and his pal General Wesley Clark bombed the hell out of Serbia while they fought the Muslims. Here is a link to the history of the area. Some say Clinton started this just after Lewinsky decided to air her dirty "laundry." Eventually Kosovo broke free of Serbia.

A Short History of Kosovo

 

[LEaSH]

You probably won't see large statues of bush going up in iraq (or anywhere else), but it is somewhat positive that the US get some recognition at times. Clinton, meh. Would rather have a statue of an airforce general or bomber itself.

In my memory, there were attrocities on both sides of the conflict. It just so happened that the orthodox christian serbians had the upperhand at the time and the UN was not effective in stopping ethnic cleansing. Pretty messed up situation and it could easily happen again.
These animals never acted in the name of their respective religions, they where using ethnicity as a means of stiring hate and one-upsmanship. Like I stated, it will happen somewhere else and again and again.

 

[husker]

Arrogance? Perhaps.

But hey, if somebody builds a statue of you, what are you gonna do...
I mean you can act all humble and say you don't deserve it, but the statue is going to be there anyway.
So you might as well show up and express your appreciation.

Now it would be a different story if you were awarded some sort of prize...
Maybe some famous international prize which you had done absolutely nothing to deserve.
And of course you could say thanks, but I didn't earn this and can't accept it.
But instead you accept it because somehow you believe you actually deserve it.

Now that would be arrogance.

 

[Jeremiah]

Arrogance? Perhaps.

But hey, if somebody builds a statue of you, what are you gonna do...
I mean you can act all humble and say you don't deserve it, but the statue is going to be there anyway.
So you might as well show up and express your appreciation.

Now it would be a different story if you were awarded some sort of prize...
Maybe some famous international prize which you had done absolutely nothing to deserve.
And of course you could say thanks, but I didn't earn this and can't accept it.
But instead you accept it because somehow you believe you actually deserve it.

Now that would be arrogance.

What you did there, I see it.

 

[TopDog]

What sort of morons would idolize Dirty billy Clinton ?

 

[miguel]

Screw the Albanians.

The government bemoans the Talbian activity in Afghanistan, but when we had a chance to stand with the Serbs against Talbian-like activity in southeastern Europe, we chose the wrong side in the name of "self-determination".

Remember this?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORo9N2pOIxM[/ame]

Serbia has always been on the front lines against the Turks and as usual is sold out by the west.

Disgusting...

 

[abnk]

The above dirtbags do not characterize all Albanians any more than John Walker Lindh and other homegrown Muslim terrorist characterize all Americans.

In Kosovo, the Serbs were not fighting Taliban-like people. The conflict was just a succession of the secession of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which respectively exacerbated. And Serbs did not stand up to the Ottomans anymore than Albanians, Montenegrans, Greeks, Bulgarians, or Hungarians.

By the way, more celebrations were held when G.W.B visited in 2007. Clinton just happened to be the president at the time of the intervention. If I remember correctly, more than one plaza is named after G.W.B. One thing we need to understand is that these memorials are more of a tribute to the US then the presidents on a personal level.

 

[PATBUZZARD]

Not quite sure how I feel about having a statue of "Slick Willie," representing america in europe!

 

[IndyGunworks]

i did a years tour in kosovo, and all i can say is that clinton made the right choice sending troops in... there was some pretty crappy stuff being done to the right people... he does deserve some credit because he (and the UN) went in despite an american population not wanting it... it was a complete success no matter how you look at it and thats why its not on the news... military action leading to good things??? never!

 

[Bigum1969]

i did a years tour in kosovo, and all i can say is that clinton made the right choice sending troops in... there was some pretty crappy stuff being done to the right people... he does deserve some credit because he (and the UN) went in despite an american population not wanting it... it was a complete success no matter how you look at it and thats why its not on the news... military action leading to good things??? never!

Well said... and thank you for your service!

 

[JetGirl]

i did a years tour in kosovo, and all i can say is that clinton made the right choice sending troops in... there was some pretty crappy stuff being done to the right people... he does deserve some credit because he (and the UN) went in despite an american population not wanting it... it was a complete success no matter how you look at it and thats why its not on the news... military action leading to good things??? never!

Finally. Someone who was actually there! OK, I have a question...
I really never made up my mind if it was right to go or not, and mostly at the time leaned towards "not right". The determining factor for me was that when they had their agreements in order, the US stepped in and sabotaged it and supervised the re-write of their constitution in a slant that gave power to one political party exclusively. Not only did that sound hinkey to me, but all those victims that Clinton claimed to be rushing in for, never turned up anywhere - alive OR dead.
Just the same three photos kept hitting the news accompanied by numbers that he seemed to change at will...in BOTH directions. That sounded fake to me.
So what really was going on there? Did he lie to get things going and THEN the masses started getting whacked BECAUSE of it?
Thanks.

 

[SigSense]

I was active duty at that time also, and remember Clinton saying in '95 or '96, "All of our troops will be home by Christmas". Well citizens, guess what, we STILL have troops in that area! Lets have a history lesson, shall we. We still have US troops in the following nations, YET the conflict/wars ended long ago:

Germany (WW II ended in 1945)
Japan (WW II ended in 1945)
Korea (Conflict ended in 1953)
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (Desert Storm ended in 1991)

I point these things out when I get asked WHY we still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's almost as though the average citizen is not aware that WW II was actually fought.

 

[Jay]

I point these things out when I get asked WHY we still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's almost as though the average citizen is not aware that WW II was actually fought.

The average citizen doesn't care whether WW-II was fought or not..... UNLESS he/she has a personal/family reason to be aware of the impact historical military conflicts have had on this country. Ask any college student where the invasion of Europe started, and when......... most won't know....and worse.... most don't care.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Finally. Someone who was actually there! OK, I have a question...
I really never made up my mind if it was right to go or not, and mostly at the time leaned towards "not right". The determining factor for me was that when they had their agreements in order, the US stepped in and sabotaged it and supervised the re-write of their constitution in a slant that gave power to one political party exclusively. Not only did that sound hinkey to me, but all those victims that Clinton claimed to be rushing in for, never turned up anywhere - alive OR dead.
Just the same three photos kept hitting the news accompanied by numbers that he seemed to change at will...in BOTH directions. That sounded fake to me.
So what really was going on there? Did he lie to get things going and THEN the masses started getting whacked BECAUSE of it?
Thanks.

while i may not be as up to date on the political aspects of things as i should be it was slightly one sided.... but its a differant culture over there... it was like giving more power to the big sister to baby sit the younder sister.... sure they should have had equal powers, but you trust be big sis to make the right decsion and be able to stand by it.... both sides were commiting some atrocities BUT the fact that an actual serbian military was coming through casing problems was the final straw. we stepped up for the little guy who was just protecting his families... threw out the bad guys.... and left the most responsible part in charge... kosovo is now its own independant country and i dont think is considered a poversed nation anymore..... clinton gets in my book for the kosovo thing.