OUR DEEPEST CONDOLONCES TO ALL GRIEVING AMERICANS

Dear Friends,

we the Academic Information Center of Serbia would like to express our deepest condolences to all the families who had lost their beloved ones in tragic shooting at Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado where the couple of deranged Furer followers, savagely and mercilessly massacred their innocent schoolmates, leaving the blood trail that will never be forgotten in once peaceful community. We are addressing our sincere sympathy to all decent Americans who are shocked and appalled with this senseless violence and terrible loss of young lives. However, this lunatic act, executed by high-school students who believed that violence, as depicted both in real and in fiction is reasonable manner of living, shows that American society had deeply embraced the militaristic doctrine of violence as key solution to existing problems and life frustrations.

The very doctrine, relentlessly imposed on all Americans, especially young, implies that none should be bothered with tiresome peaceful dispute settlement, when all the awaiting results could be obtained with simple lethal force. It is very sad that such examples of violent behavior are constantly set to all American youth, yet fully undeveloped and susceptible to various influence as well as powerless to clearly distinct right from wrong, through violence packed block-busters like Rambo, Commando etc. as much as in real.

We believe that American leadership, especially American President Mr. William Clinton is now having very hard time of reassuring its public that his relentless war engagement worldwide, does not have any impact whatsoever on American people and that incidents of these kind, as in Colorado, were not logical interpretation of U.S. military doctrine, backed so fiercely by many prominent political leaders in past decades. We understand that young cannot cope so easily with constant U.S. supremacy demonstration and are likely to interpret these notions as positive, thus installing them for good as well as looking up to them whenever problem arises. It is the solemn responsibility of American leadership to offer qualitative guidance to its youth, the responsibility so often neglected, even pushed aside in favor of unjustified interventionism whenever possible. The U.S. government, by directly intervening in more than 220 war disputes since WWII, should reassess the impact of the warmonger policy on its vulnerable youth and must not fake surprise, once the violence is accepted as the final solution. By cynically deceiving American people with words that allegedly support peaceful solutions to all problems, U.S. government and Mr. Clinton in particular, have betrayed the basic values of humanhood and kindness in favor of irrational militaristic strong points. Therefore, they should be treated as the accessories in all the horrendous crimes, committed by astrayed American youth that looked up ito their leaders and conscientiously applied their ěpeace urgingî advises.

Our country, Yugoslavia, small practically defenseless nation has been fiercely attacked by NATO Alliance, led by U.S. warmonger government, and we have so dreadfully experienced the ostensible peace seeking rhetoric, which qualify us for addressing these words with utter comprehension and sincere grief for all direct and indirect victims of this notorious policy, among them the innocent children from Littleton, the victims of lethal force supporters and violence worshipers.

Yours truly

Academic Information Center of Serbia
www.aic.org.yu
aic@barw.org.yu