- The trial of Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague threatens
to expose sordid details of the roles played by the United States and its
NATO allies in the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia...
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- The potential for the on-going war crimes trial of former
Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague to embarrass the United
Nations, the United States and its NATO allies, by exposing their roles
in the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the subsequent Balkan conflict,
is well understood in the Netherlands, where the International Criminal
Tribunal (ICTY) is based.
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- The Dutch people have been through an extended national
scandal as a result of the role played by the 450 Dutch UN "peace-keepers,"
who reportedly did nothing to prevent the massacre of thousands of Bosnian
Muslim civilians at Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst massacre in Europe
since World War II.
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- If the alleged perpetrator of the Srebrenica massacre,
Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, is captured
and brought to trial, the role played by the Dutch troops and the failure
of NATO forces to provide them with requested air support will be discussed.
However, it is highly unlikely that any punitive legal action will be taken
against the NATO alliance.
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- As David Rohde wrote in his 1997 book, Endgame: The Betrayal
and Fall of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II:
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- The international community partially disarmed thousands
of men, promised them they would be safeguarded and then delivered them
to their sworn enemies. Srebrenica was not simply a case of the international
community standing by, as a far-off atrocity was committed. The actions
of the international community encouraged, aided, and emboldened the executioners
. . . . The fall of Srebrenica could have been prevented.
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- An investigation by a French Parliamentary Com mission
supports Rohde's conclusions and has sharply criticized Dutch UN peacekeepers
for their role in the fall of the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July
1995, in which thousands of refugees were killed. The report asked why
a major NATO air operation to support the blue-helmets was called off just
after the aircraft had taken off from their bases.
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- The commission assigned prime responsibility for the
massacre to the Bosnian Serbs, but says part of the blame should go to
the United Nations and to the countries involved in the peacekeeping mission,
including the Netherlands.
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- Requests Ignored
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- One Dutch veteran from Srebrenica told AFP that seven
urgent requests for air support were made during the first night of the
Serb attack and support was promised, but that the lightly armed Dutch
troops were left without support and forced to retreat.
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- The ICTY, however, is solely dedicated to determining
individual "criminal responsibility" for war crimes committed
in the former Yugoslavia and is not interested in actions taken, or not
taken, by the United States, NATO, or the UN that may have contributed
to the conflict.
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- However, when Milosevic calls former president Bill Clinton
to the court and the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Clinton's
chief envoy to the Balkans, Richard C. Holbrooke, the political aspects
of the trial will be unavoidable.
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- After the UN's chief war crimes prosecutor, Carla del
Ponte, asked Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to authorize U.S. officials
to testify on March 18, a senior State Department official said that the
United States is willing "to permit some U.S. officials to provide
testimony in The Hague if it is necessary."
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- The Bush administration has "agreed in principle"
to allow some current and former U.S. officials to provide "limited
testimony" at the Milosevic trial, which would potentially subject
American officials to cross-examination by Milosevic. U.S officials have
reportedly been engaged in intensive negotiations to determine the circumstances
in which Americans might appear before the court.
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- "We don't want to have a parade of our people through
the court," a senior State Department official said. "We want
to know that our people have a particularly unique and useful role and
want to be able to help determine whether that's done in open or closed
session."
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- Since the trial began on Feb. 12, Milosevic, who claims
the court is illegitimate and that he is being detained unlawfully, has
surprised observers by his ability to conduct his own defense and turn
the tables on his accusers.
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- http://www.americanfreepress.net/NWO/Milosevic_Trial_/milosevic_trial_.html
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