The rebels are suspected of using the buffer zone to launch their deadly attacks. About 300,000 non-Albanians, mostly Serbs, lived in Kosovo prior to the bombings. Today, only about 100,000 Serbs remain, living mostly in isolated enclaves and depending on KFOR peacekeepers for protection. The Orthodox Day of the Dead took on new meaning as mourners of the latest victims gathered in cemeteries with family and friends who were praying for the souls of departed relatives. Some of the dead, no doubt, were victims of the centuries-old ethnic conflicts that have plagued the Balkans and Kosovo in particular.
Ancient blood stains the hands of everyone.
One wonders, then, why the Hartford Courant s editorial writers chose this time to take a stand against a hunted people in favor of known thugs and hoodlums. One assumes the respected publication has access to wire service stories about Kosovo's daily conflicts, and that its writers are current on the region s horrific events. That attack occurred shortly after two other Serbs were murdered while gathering firewood. He had been stabbed, mutilated, and beheaded. It told of the destruction of another Serbian Orthodox Church near Pristina, bringing to 104 the number of Orthodox holy sites destroyed in the past 18 months.