War Crimes: Highlights
War crimes
by Aryeh Neier, 6/5/96Serbian and Bosnian Serb leaders have portrayed the Tribunal in The Hague as a kangaroo court. Now, however, their citizens are able to judge for themselves. By proceeding in a dignified, deliberate and fair manner, and by focusing on particular victims of abuses and on the guilt or innocence of a particular defendant, the Tribunal has an opportunity to demonstrate that it can do justice. This allows a heightened possibility of public support for cooperation with the Tribunal.
Moreover, the broadcast of the Tadic trial, which is expected to last about three months, takes place at a crucial moment. Internationally, debate is heating up over whether elections in Bosnia can proceed on schedule in late summer. Much of the debate centers on whether an appropriate climate for the elections to take place freely and fairly is possible unless the arch- criminals indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal have been removed from the scene and sent to The Hague to stand trial. As a consequence, pressure on IFOR to make arrests is increasing. If the Tadic trial, and its broadcast into ex-Yugoslavia increases support for the Tribunal, IFOR's reluctance to make arrests could diminish. The cynical response to the Tadic trial by some in the West will turn out not to be well-founded if the proceeding against this "small fish" contributes to the apprehension of those with the highest responsibility for the atrocities in ex-Yugoslavia.
Congratulations... and a few questions
by Marc Weiss, P.O.V. Interactive (mnweiss@pov.org), 6/10/96I wonder if Mr. Neier (and others) could begin with a few straightforward questions:
Why, in your view, is it so difficult to mobilize people to oppose such atrocities? Did the media play a responsible role in reporting what was going on (it seemed to me that they did in the U.S., even inthe face of apparent disinterest from the general population.) How could the media be more effective?
It took the U.S. government several years to mobilize international forces to impose a peace in former Yugoslavia. What elements need to be in place so that "next time" (and there will surely be a next time) the delays are minimized?
Another reply to Mark Weiss
by Paola Lucchesi, 6/12/96It was a beautiful summer evening, Friday, the 26th of July 1991. War in Bosnia had not began yet, war in Croatia was beginning: just that evening. The Yugoslav Army's thanks were marching on Glina, a small town not far from Zagreb. The first journalist to die in that war had just fallen, together with many civilians. I was in Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, covering an important diplomatic meeting of the ''Hexagonale'' (Italy, Austria, Hungary, Checkoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia) for an Italian news agency. Gianni de Michelis was then our Minister of foreign affairs and here is what he replied when I told him what was happening:
''What war? There will be no war. The Yugoslav Army will do nothing. Those people will just kill each other a little...'' He was very pleased with himself and smiled while saying this.
Obstacles to stopping genocide
by Glenn Ruga, Friends of Bosnia, 6/10/96You say that it took the U.S. government several years to mobilize international forces to impose peace in the former Yugoslavia.
The biggest obstacle was the resistance of Presidents Bush and then Clinton, primarily for domestic political reasons. They and their advisors knew exactly what was happening. In fact, some State Department advisors recommended immediate and robust action to stop ethnic cleansing. Bush was not about to do anything while entering an election year. Later, although Clinton made numerous promises during his campaign to stop Serb aggression, once in office he blocked any serious response.
American Hypocrisy
by Peter Goldmann, 6/13/96The Clinton Administration's flip-flopping on Bosnia for the past three years not only prolonged the war-- and the atrocities -- it now threatens to trigger a resumption of violence. The problem is that the intense US pressure to hold elections in Bosnia is for purely domestic political reasons. Clinton wants to take credit for introducing democracy to the war-torn Bosnia...
RE: War crimes
by Mirjana Petrovic, 6/11/96Mr. Neier writes "Serbian and Bosnian Serb leaders have portrayed the Tribunal in The Hague as a kangaroo court". This is true, but not a complete piece of information. Most of the Serbs in Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska, and in diaspora share this opinion. The reasons are:
-although the wars in Bosnia and Croatia were civil wars and there were atrocities against civilians on all three sides, most of the inicted are Serbs.
-since Nuremberg and Tokyo, there have been more than 100 wars. Two of those (counting three wars in Yugoslavia as one) merit Tribunals and the others not.
-if the Tribunals are absolutely vital to reconcilliation, a point very commonly argued, including by Judge Goldstone et al, is there peace in other post-WWII conflicts?
Question
by Nihad Alibegovic, 6/17/96Who cares what nationality did the crimes, if the indicted criminals are guilty they should be punished whether there are any Moslems, or Croats being indicted at all. You think they the Nationalist Serb leadership is not guilty just because there are not as many Moslems or Croats indicted in Hague ?
Mirjana Petrovic mit den deutschen Nazien?
by Linda E. Mankof, 6/21/96Every respected fact-gathering agency and organisation has concluded that the Serb nationalist forces and the JNA were the only side in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia which systematically practiced genocide and rape in a top-down command structure. These include the U.S. State Department and the CIA, the latter which kept its memorandum secret for fear of embarrassing the Clinton administration at a time when it opposed intervention. All respected fact-finding organisations and human rights observers have also concluded that the overwhelming majority of all war crimes in Bosnia were committed by Serbian nationalist forces.
Ah - the Sympathies of Chetnik Serbs who were killed by their Muslim neighbors
by Linda E. Mankof, 6/22/96Having read the accounts of young girls who were repeatedly gang-raped by Serb soldiers in front of their parents and neighbours until they died of internal bleeding what am I supposed to feel if not hatred? ... And I admit that I feel this even more toward a paid propagandist of the Serbian lobby who clutters up what could otherwise be a useful forum with apologies for the perpetrators of the worst crimes on European soil since Hitler.
Decoupling the Attrocities from the Will of the People?
by Ivan D. Trifunovich, 6/12/96It is fairly obvious that the war started because the Bosnian Croats wanted to live in Croatia, the Bosnian Muslims in a sovereign Bosnia, and the Bosnian Serbs in Serbia. The number of people in each ethnic group that wanted and wants otherwise is negligible.
During the war atrocities were committed. The question is: How does one decouple the quest for punishing the perpetrators from the legitimate political will of the innocent people? For example, should the Serbs be forced to answer to a Muslim dominated government in Sarajevo because some Serbs committed war crimes?
Don't make Karadzic and Mladic martyrs
by Michael Pravica, 6/14/96At this stage in the Bosnian civil war, Bosnia will never exist as a single, unified politcal entity unless the Bosnian peoples can learn to trust one another. This can only happen when all of the leaders throughout the former Yugoslavia are replaced by more moderate leaders who understand the meaning of democracy and multi-ethnic coexistence. However, going after only Karadzic and Mladic makes them ... martyrs.
The Hague: Kangaroo Court of New World Order?
by Bob Djurdjevic, Founder, Truth in Media, 6/18/96The Hague War Crimes Tribunal operates like a lynch mob. How do I know that? Because I was in Bosnia myself in July 1995 (and, in fact, had crossed the front lines near Srebrenica twice), when the ALLEGED massacre was supposed to have taken place. The only mass grave I saw on that trip was near a sports center in Milici. It was that of the Serbs who were killed by their Muslim neighbors in 1992.
Response to 'Kangaroo Court of New World Order'
by P. Goldmann, 6/19/96Your defense of Karadzic and Mladic sound very much like the apologists for Hitler in the early 1930's. To deny that these individuals should be considered suspects when hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims died at the brutal hands of Serb fighters is tantamount to advocating legalized genocide. Clearly someone slaughtered a large number of innocent bystanders. Therefore it stands to reason that one or more individuals should be brought to justice under international law. The Hague Tribunal is simply trying to do the job it was mandated to do-- just as the Nuremburg trials sought to prevent the butchers of Germany from getting away with murder....
Question and comment for Mr. Goldmann
by Michael Pravica, 6/19/96Mr. Goldmann, Can you tell me where you get your claims of "legalized genocide" with respect to the Bosnian Civil War? Has anyone yet in the International community PROVEN that genocide has actually occurred in Bosnia? Remember, one of the most FUNDAMENTAL TENENTS OF THEAMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM IS THAT YOU ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Let us not judge and throw around the politically correct lingo jargon until ALL OF THE FACTS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED.
