"Laughs"
and "chuckles" in
State Department transcripts:
Where did the KLA get its weapons from?
By Michel
Chossudovsky
TFF Associate
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa
Official transcripts of US State Department briefings
reproduce "verbatim" the "questions" (Q) by journalists
and the answers of the State Department spokesperson.
Words are always transcribed phonetically, "Yes" is
recorded as "yeah", grammatical and speech errors are
also recorded, non-verbal "noises" such as "laughs",
"chuckles", "applause" as well as "mm-hmm", "wow"
and "huh" are also transcribed.
"Laughs" and "chuckles" are usually associated with a
Question (Q) from an individual journalist or an answer
by the State Department official, whereas "laughter" is
from the floor. The "chuckles" and "laughs" often
come after an embarrassing question, or when the State
Department spokesperson says "Yeah, I don't know"
or "I don't want to get into that". "Chuckles" is
often a way of skirting the question. It also
means, "You know the answer, why are you
asking·"
A few months before the onslaught of the NATO bombings
of Yugoslavia, the State Department held a "Special
Briefing" on Kosovo (November 1998).
James Pardew, Washington's "mediator" now in
charge of "disarming" NLA-KLA terrorists in Macedonia,
had been appointed in 1998 "Special Representative for
Kosovo Implementation" by the Clinton Adminstration.
Joined by Julia Taft, Assistant Secretary of State for
Population, Refugees and Migration, Pardew answers
questions on a central issue of the Kosovar crisis:
"Q: Where are the arms coming from? I
mean, the Yugoslav forces' arms are coming from
Yugoslavia. Where is the KLA getting
their arms?
MR. PARDEW: I can't answer that. I don't know the
answer to that.
Q Don't have any suspicions?
MR. PARDEW: No, not that I'm going into here.
(Chuckles.)
Q (Chuckles.)
MR. PARDEW: Okay --
MS. TAFT: He's guns, I'm butter. Any other --
other questions? (Laughs.)
(Laughter.)"1
Ambassador James Pardew was sent by Washington to
Macedonia in July 2001 with a mandate to "disarm" the
NLA-KLA terrorists and implement a US-EU brokered
"cease-fire". "No laughing matter": recent developments
in Macedonia confirm that Washington rather than
disarming the terrorists is in fact equipping them with
brand new weapons "Made in America."
Note:
1. Federal News Service, State Department Briefing on
Kosovo, Washington, November 13, 1998.
For details on how Washington has armed and equipped
the KLA, see the following articles by the author:
"Washington Behind Terrorist Assaults in Macedonia",
July 2001 at http://www.antiwar.com/rep/chuss6.html.
"Washington Finances Ethnic Warfare in the Balkans",
April 2001, at http://www.antiwar.com/rep/chuss4.html
"Macedonia: Washington's Military-Intelligence
Ploy", June 2001, at http://www.antiwar.com/rep/chuss4.html.
"America at War in Macedonia", June 2001, at http://www.antiwar.com/rep/chuss5.html.
"Kosovo 'Freedom Fighters' Financed by Organised
Crime", Covert Action Quarterly, Fall 1999,
available at http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/2743/1.html.
Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, July 2001.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to post this
text on non-commercial community internet sites, provided
the essay and the title remain intact, the copyright note
is displayed and no headers or footers are added to the
article without consulting the author. To publish this
text in printed and/or other forms, including commercial
internet sites and excerpts, kindly contact the author at
chossudovsky@videotron.ca, fax: 1-514-4256224.
©
TFF & the author 2001
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