February 14, 2006
THE COURT WILL NOW TAKE ANOTHER BRIEF RECESS
Five years on, Milosevic is still in the dock (Vesna Peric Zimonjic, The Independent, February 13th, 2006)
The trial of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the first sitting head of state to be indicted for war crimes, enters its fifth year this week amid expectations that a verdict will be pronounced by the end of the year.Mr Milosevic, 64, faces 66 charges stemming from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He is accused of genocide against Muslims in Bosnia, war crimes and grave breaches of international conventions in the military offensives that led his forces into Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.
More than 300 witnesses have taken the stand, including Western politicians and the leaders of the former Yugoslav states torn apart by the war. Yet far from undermining Mr Milosevic's reputation in Serbia, the trial has provided the former leader with a new propaganda tool.
Who knew genocide was such a tricky forensic problem?
The trial is going exactly the way the Court (and the UN, the EU, and all other modern bodies) want it to go. Never a conclusion - that would be too judgmental.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 14, 2006 10:26 PM"Never a conclusion - that would be too judgmental." Alas, it is more sinister than that. The open secret is:
Neither the prosecution, nor the defense want the trials to end. The prosecutors get paid $200,000 - $300,000 per year plus per diem to prosecute, the defense attorneys get paid as much. Since there is no death penalty, there is no incentive for the accused to hire the best attorneys. In fact the accused can choose his attorneys, the going rate is 30% kick back from the attorneys to the family of the accused. The whole thing is an oil-for-food-like UN/Euro scam. Who is paying for it? Mostly, you and me, US taxpayers. We do not recognize the international court, but we are paying for it anyway.
The former Yugoslavia might as well be part of Alice's Wonderland in as much as what we've been taught to believe is pretty far removed from reality.
Clinton designated the Moslems victims and the Christians villains. Genocide, like beauty, being in the eye of the beholder. Anyhow, militant Moslems have a foothold in the Balkans thanks to the same fools who brought us Somalia.
Odd isn't it that the moonbats aren't asking for an exit strategy in the Balkans. Bush should put an immediate end to our involvement.
Gotta stop now. The blood pressure can't take any more.
Kerry supports the entire program. And Clinton can't wait to testify. This is international law enforcement folks, the way we've been advised to handle bin Laden.
Posted by: Genecis at February 15, 2006 12:14 PM