See a discussion of various Chomsky statements denying or minimizing Serbian crimes against the
peoples of Bosnia and Kosovo, compiled and edited by Roger Lippman.
Denial and Defamation: The ITN-LM Libel Trial Revisited
This exhaustive recapitulation of the Living Marxism (LM)
episode covers some of Chomsky and Edward Herman's
complicity in spreading Serbian lies about its chain of
concentration camps. By Jamie Palmer, Quillette,
November 1, 2019
Chomsky and the Syria revisionists: Regime whitewashing
Just as he has done in the case of Yugoslavia, Chomsky uses
spurious claims to cast doubt on the responsibility of a war
criminal. By Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, May 5, 2017
Serbia Honors Chomsky for Criticizing NATO Bombing Also honored by
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic was Smilja Avramov, known as a strong
supporter of Slobodan Milosevic, along with Serbian army chief of staff
Ljubisa Dikovic, who was recently accused of being responsible for war
crimes in Kosovo. Activists from the Serbian NGO Youth Initiative for Human
Rights (YIHR) staged a protest in front of the Serbian parliament and
presidency on Sunday, saying that army chief Dikovic should be investigated
for war crimes. A group of around 100 activists held up banners with slogans
like “General, you shoot civilians,” “Investigation, not award,” and “I love
Serbia, but I love truth more.” “We believe this award is offensive for the
whole of society and for the victims,” said Anita Mancic from YIHR. Balkan Insight, February 16, 2015
See No Evil How
did genocide denial become a doctrine of the
internationalist left? By George Monbiot, May 21, 2012
Supporting material:
Correspondence with Noam Chomsky, in which Chomsky shows himself to
be incapable of responding to criticism that he endorsed Edward Herman and
David Peterson's denial of the Bosnia and Rwanda genocides. By George
Monbiot, June 2011
A Critical Chomsky Reader
When Truthdig interviewed Noam Chomsky in April
2010, three activists who had respect for his work were
disappointed. The article ignored Chomsky's persistent
misrepresentation of Balkan war crimes, even though author
Chris Hedges had risked his life to report them.
There are broader lessons for radicals here, about humanity,
solidarity, and complexity. Western involvement in the wars
of Yugoslav dissolution has confused many anti-imperialists,
who still distort the facts to fit preconceptions. Though
we've valued Chomsky's insights on other subjects, from
Israel and Palestine to propaganda, we’ve been forced to
reappraise his analysis. By Roger Lippman, Daniel Simpson,
and Owen Beith, May 2010
Karadzic, photography, and revisionism On Chomsky's Bosnian blind spot.
By David Campbell, November 9, 2009
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Noam Chomsky invited to give the annual Amnesty International Lecture
(October 2009)
Noam Chomsky and Ian Williams engage in a debate over the UN's
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) declaration, and others weigh in. In the
course of the discussion, Chomsky still
defends his statement that "NATO air raids on Serbia [beginning March 24,
1999] actually precipitated the worst atrocities in Kosovo,"
and Ian Williams rebuts.
The articles:
Ban Ki Moon and
R2P, by Ian Williams, August 3, 2009
Kosovo, East
Timor, R2P, and Ian Williams, by Noam Chomsky, August 17, 2009
Response to
Chomsky, by Ian Williams, August 21, 2009
Response to
Williams, by Noam Chomsky, September 1, 2009
Response to
Chomsky II, by Ian Williams, September 8, 2009
Noam Chomsky and genocidal causality, by Marko Hoare, August 25, 2009
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Chomsky, The Guardian, and Bosnia
The authors critique Noam Chomsky's endorsement of Diana Johnstone's
Srebrenica genocide denial.
By
David Aaronovitch, Oliver Kamm, and Francis Wheen,
March 20, 2006
In a 2006 interview with the New
Statesman, Noam Chomsky, if he is quoted accurately, makes an
egregiously false statement about the 1999 Kosovo war. Speaking of
Serbian actions in Kosovo, Chomsky says that "there were terrible atrocities,
but they were after the [NATO] bombings."
Chomsky's ethical and political failure is tragic for those of us who agree in
substance with many of his positions on US foreign policy, most notably the
catastrophe in Iraq. By legitimizing historical deceit and diminishing the
sufferings of the Bosnians and Kosovars, he only succeeds in causing moral and
political confusion where authentic principle and political clarity are most
needed.
Response by Roger Lippman, June 21,
2006
Response by
Michael Bérubé, June 22, 2006
Response by David Watson,
June 23, 2006
Response by Oliver Kamm, June 2006.
Refutes Chomsky's reference to a British
parliamentary inquiry.
Chomsky's
Genocidal Denial By Marko Hoare, December 17, 2005
In
writings and interviews, Chomsky misrepresents the statements of a former high
Clinton State Department official on the causes of the Kosovo intervention.
Click here for several discussions of
this issue.
Chomsky has expressed his support for one of the most notorious Serbian
ultra-nationalist war criminals facing the Hague Tribunal, Vojislav Seselj, who set up paramilitary groups to
accomplish the annihilation of
Kosovo Albanians and Bosnian Muslims. (See Seselj's party's
Program for "Cleansing" Kosovo, 1991
and
Program for a Greater Serbia Theocracy, 1996.)
Chomsky appears at the top of a
list of Seselj's foreign supporters. (Scroll down, to find Chomsky in the
company of such genocide apologists as Edward Herman, Sara Flounders, and
David Peterson. At the top of the list Serbian supporters is Smilja Avramov, the first person
to testify in Milosevic's defense at his war-crimes trial.)
Seselj says he expects to pay for the services of famous experts, including
the US intellectual
Noam Chomsky.
When Seselj's Serbian Radical Party held a rally in Belgrade in December 2006
demanding Seselj's release, Noam Chomsky sent a letter of support that was
read aloud at the event. See report in Der Tagesspiegel, December
4, 2006, in
German.
In
April 1999, Chomsky and others signed a manifesto entitled "Academics
Against NATO's War in Kosovo." For critical comments on Chomsky's
statement, see the
response by Igor Korsic
of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Chomsky
condemned the NATO action in Kosovo on principle without being able to offer
plausible alternatives, using theories often based on a world order that no
longer exists. Discussion of ill-informed observations by Chomsky and other
Left critics, and how their words were appropriated by the Serb lobby.
The Serb Lobby in the United
Kingdom, By Carole Hodge, 2003
Controversy over the interview with
Chomsky in the Guardian (UK) Though flawed, the
Guardian article had
some interesting observations on Chomsky's attitude toward the Srebrenica
massacre. October 31, 2005
Chomsky ignores lessons of wars on Kosovo
Review
of Noam Chomsky's book The New Military Humanism, criticizing Chomsky for
not making enough of Milosevic's crimes. -- Peter Hudis, July 2005
Srebrenica and Honesty
The writer
criticizes Chomsky for soft-pedaling the Serbian massacre of Bosnian
Muslims at Srebrenica. "I cannot believe you are ignorant of the
facts about Srebrenica and the Yugoslavian wars. You've devoted your life to
uncovering hypocrisy and dispelling ignorance. So how am I to understand your
bias in this matter?"
By Julie Wornan, member of Americans Against the War,
France, January 4, 2005
Chomsky bamboozles on the Balkans II
In an
interview
with Radio-TV Serbia, Chomsky endorses
the lies of LM Magazine. Oliver Kamm rebuts and rebukes Chomsky. June 2006
Chomsky misrepresents the
Dutch investigation of Srebrenica. June 2006
The Left Revisionists
An extensive review of a broad array of those on the Left who downplay the
violence and suffering involved in the wars in the former Yugoslavia and shift
the blame to the Western alliance. Among those discussed are
Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Michael Parenti, Michel Chossudovsky, Diana Johnstone, Mick Hume, John Pilger, Harold Pinter,
and
Jared Israel. By Marko Hoare, November 2003
Nothing Is Left
A review of several books covering the former
Yugoslavia, by authors
Philip Hammond, Edward Herman, Michael Parenti, Diana Johnstone, Noam Chomsky,
Michael Moore, and Kate Hudson.
By Marko Hoare, Bosnia Report,
October-December 2003
My Very, Very Allergic Reaction to Noam Chomsky
Khmer Rouge, Faurisson, Milosevic. By Brad DeLong, June 17,
2002
Chomsky's prior:
Averaging Wrong Answers: Noam Chomsky and the Cambodia
Controversy
Chomsky's work with regard to Cambodia has been marred by omissions, dubious
statistics, and, in some cases, outright misrepresentations. On top of this,
Chomsky continues to deny that he was wrong about Cambodia. He responds to
criticisms by misrepresenting his own positions, misrepresenting his
critics' positions, and describing his detractors as morally lower than
"neo-Nazis and neo-Stalinists."
Consequently,
his refusal to reconsider his words has led to continued misinterpretations
of what really happened in Cambodia. By Bruce Sharp, 2004
Chomsky after the Balkans (more of same):
Chomsky and the Syria revisionists: Regime whitewashing
In denying the Syrian regime's responsibility for recent
sarin attacks, Chomsky's main authority is a scientist with
a reputation for dabbling in zany conspiracism. By
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, May 5, 2017
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