The Victory In Kosovo
By Bajram Rexhepi, prime minister of the coalition government of Kosovo.
Washington Post, March 19, 2003
There are moments in history when the world is confronted with an age-old question: Do you stand united in the face of evil, or do you close your eyes and hope for the best?
A cruel and cowardly dictator has used his military and security forces to brutalize civilians. He has flouted every international convention and norm relating to the protection of human life and liberty. He has played on the good intentions and patience of the international community to buy time while his reign of terror prevails across the land. He has played the international community for fools.
We in Kosovo know something about facing evil, because that dictator was Slobodan Milosevic, and we were his victims.
For 10 years our people faced the brutality of his police state. Villages were burned, women and children were killed, and all the while the dictator was given one chance after another by the international community to reform his ways. While they talked, our villages burned.
The U.N. Security Council could not agree on what to do. But our voice was heard, and under the leadership of the United States, a coalition of the forces of freedom confronted the dictator with an ultimatum. This coalition acted with the courage of its convictions, backed up by the promise of the use of force in the defense of human rights. In our hour of need, the United States, Britain and the rest of the coalition took on the dictator and liberated a nation.
We Kosovars know firsthand that peace is not simply the absence of war. Dictators will use the goodwill of the international community to buy time while they continue to crush the people under their control. Wherever men are denied freedom, there is a threat to peace. Whenever we leave them in bondage, there is a threat to our own dignity. Whenever we fail to act in the face of evil, a shadow is cast across the future of humanity.
Today the world is faced with the age-old question: Do we stand united in the face of evil, or do we close our eyes and hope for the best? We Kosovars stand with the forces of freedom. We know that when confronting evil, there is no compromise.
And so, in the coming conflict with Saddam Hussein, we stand with you, America. We are here to tell you that your sacrifices for the cause of human freedom are remembered. We are here to bear witness to the fact that the day of the dictator is over -- and that peace can be ensured only when all are free.