"Now, we can't respond to every tragedy in every corner of the world, but just because we can't do everything for everyone doesn't mean that, for the sake of consistency, we should do nothing for no one. Remember now, these atrocities are happening at the doorstep of Nato, which has preserved the security of Europe for 50 years because of the alliance between the United States and our allies."

That is, in essence, the administration's argument. The US and Nato are committed to the defense of human rights. Though it is not always possible to intervene against violations of human rights, there is an inescapable imperative to do so when the atrocities are taking place on Nato's "doorstep."

Letus go back some 15 months, to December 1997, and recall an event that was not too widely covered in the American press-the visit of Mesut Yilmaz, the Prime Minister of Turkey, to the United States. For three days, from December 18 through 21, 1997, Yilmaz was feted, wined and dined in Washington. In addition to his talks with Clinton, the Turkish Prime Minister met Vice-President Gore, and the secretaries of state, defense, commerce and energy.

One of the high points of the trip was the signing of a contract with Boeing, worth about $2.5 billion. A state department official, James B Foley, assured reporters at a briefing that followed Yilmaz's departure that the Prime Minister had offered assurances that the human rights situation was steadily improving.

A reporter asked if the state department had gone over a checklist to verify that the improvements claimed by Yilmaz had actually been made. "With a close friend and ally, we don't have a checklist," Foley replied. "We have a dialogue, productivedialogue."

The reporter did not press the issue. Had he chosen to do so, he might have asked Foley to comment on the report on human rights practices in Turkey that was issued by the state department in January 1997.

This report demonstrates that the repressive measures that have been taken by the Turkish government against the Kurdish minority surpass in scale and brutality even the measures of the Serb army in Kosovo.

Noting that a state of emergency has existed in nine south eastern provinces since 1984, the state department report acknowledged as a matter of fact that the Turkish government "has long denied its Kurdish population, located largely in the southeast, basic cultural and linguistic rights. As part of its fight against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), the government forcibly displaced large numbers of noncombatants, tortured civilians, and abridged freedom of expression."

The report noted, "Estimates of the total number of (Kurdish) villagers forcibly evacuated from their homes sincethe conflict began vary widely: between 330,000 and two million. A credible estimate given by a former member of parliament from the region is around 560,000."

The gross violations of human rights by the Turkish authorities are not limited to the brutal repression of the Kurdish minority. According to the state department report: "Extrajudicial killings, including deaths in detention, from the excessive use of force, in safe house raids, and `mystery killings,' continued to occur with disturbing frequency. Disappearances also continued. Torture remains widespread: Police and security forces often abused detainees and employed torture during periods of incommunicado detention and interrogation. Prolonged pretrial detention and lengthy trials continue to be problems."

At the center of the Clinton administration's propaganda war against the Serbian government is the claim that it is engaged in "ethnic cleansing," i.e., the forcible eviction of Kosovar Albanians from their villages in Kosovo. The report ofthe state department establishes that the Turkish government has practiced "ethnic cleansing" against its Kurdish minority on an even wider scale. Let us quote the findings of Madam Albright's human rights staff: The exact number of persons forcibly displaced from villages in the southeast since 1984 is unknown. Most estimates agree that 2,600 to 3,000 villages and hamlets have been depopulated. A few nongovernmental organisations have put the number of people forcibly displaced as high as 2 million.

The official census figures for 1990-before large-scale forced evacuations began-indicate that the total population for the 10 southeastern provinces then under emergency rule was between 4 to 4.5 million people, half of them in rural areas. Since all rural areas in the southeast have not been depopulated, the estimate of two million evacuees is probably too high. On the low end, the interior minister stated in July that the total number of evacuees was 330,000.

"The figure given by a former MP from theregion-560,000-appears to be the most credible estimate of those forcibly evacuated." The state department classifies Turkey as a European power. Indeed, it is, unlike Serbia, a member of Nato.

But notwithstanding the facts revealed in the report issued by the US State Department, Turkey is not being subjected to a violent media campaign for its violations of human rights, let alone being bombed by the United States. Rather, Turkey is participating in the onslaught against Serbia.

Only one month ago, the United States provided the Turkish government with the critical political and logistical support that it required to kidnap the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan. This is how the United States carries out "a productive dialogue" with a murderous regime that serves the interests of American imperialism.

Is it really necessary to argue, given the facts presented above (culled from an official US Government report), that the attempt to present the assault against Serbia as some sort of Holy War in defenseof human rights is a colossal political fraud.

--Reprinted with permission from WSWS