Gunning for Milosevic

The United States is pressuring the Vojislav Kostunica government to extradite former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes. The intention evidently is to lay the entire blame for the Balkan war on the Serbian people and its former leader.

THE United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) want the world to believe that they went to war against Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter in the Balkans. Even before the war they had found a scapegoat in President Slobodan Milosevic. Along with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, he has entered the rogues' gallery of the West. Milosevic is no saint, nor were his contemporaries ruling neighbouring Balkan states. But the Bosnian and Croatian leaders were aligned with the West. Had Milosevic not tried to stymie the Western game plan, he would have led a comfortable life, like many authoritarian rulers supported by Washington.

Milosevic's refusal to capitulate to the West and resolve to protect his country's interests and dignity has resulted in the present witch hunt. At the outset of the war, Milosevic was branded a war criminal, and "wanted" posters of the head of state were circulated in western capitals.

In the past few months, NATO has achieved most of its goals in the Balkans. A pliant government is in place in Yugoslavia and Milosevic is incarcerated in a Belgrade jail. However, the Vojislav Kostunica government had said that Milosevic would be allowed to defend himself as and would not be unlawfully transferred to the War Crimes Tribunal. Still the West has reasons to be pleased. What it could not do through the brutal bombings was achieved through the subversion of the political process in Yugoslavia.

The bombers of NATO dropped 20,000 tonnes of explosives including depleted uranium shells, on Yugoslavia. Eighty per cent of the targets were civilian. But just after a year, the political situation within Yugoslavia changed dramatically, with pro-NATO politicians emerging triumphant.

It is an open secret that millions of dollars was channelled into the coffers of the opposition by the U.S. to influence the outcome of the elections. At Washington's insistence an otherwise divided opposition put up a single candidate against Milosevic for the September 2000 Presidential election. Before the elections the E.U. and the U.S. promised that an opposition victory would mean the integration of Yugoslavia into the European mainstream and the prompt lifting of the economic sanctions.

The West put pressure on the new government for the arrest of Milosevic. The Bush administration had set the deadline of March 31 for his arrest. The U.S. threat was implicit; failure to arrest Milosevic would mean the forfeiture of badly needed loans from international banks. Despite the constant threats, Milosevic had refused to seek asylum outside the country. He continued to call for a strong multi-ethnic Yugoslav state and remained the leader of the Serbian Socialist Party.

Despite misgivings expressed by Federal President Kostunica, the Serbian state authorities arrested Milosevic without a proper warrant on April 1.

The authorities had initially said that Milosevic was held for further "investigations". Since his electoral defeat, the authorities, aided by the West, have been trying hard to unearth evidence that would implicate him in war crimes and corruption. Another reason given for his continued imprisonment was that he would influence witnesses if he was released.

In early June, the authorities announced that they had found new evidence of war crimes committed at the behest of Milosevic. A truck submerged in the Danube river was pulled out along with 86 bodies. Yugoslav authorities have spread word that the crime and the cover-up were both ordered by Milosevic at the height of the NATO war. Serbia's new Interior Minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, has stated that Milosevic ordered his Interior Minister, Vlajko Stojiljkovic to remove evidence of civilian casualties that could be used as evidence in the international War Crimes Tribunal.

Stojiljkovic has denied the allegations. Milosevic's lawyer has called them "ridiculous". It is evident that the new "evidence" are timed to prepare the ground for Milosevic's extradition to The Hague. If such a move materialises, it will be the first time that a former head of state is extradited to stand trial on foreign soil for crimes against humanity. The new charges also come at a time when the government is debating whether to frame a new law that will allow cooperation with the tribunal.

The law, if adopted, will allow for the transfer of those suspected of war crimes to The Hague. The bill is facing a strong challenge in the Federal Parliament from the Socialist Party and some former allies of Milosevic, such as the Montenegrin Party which broke off recently from the Socialists. If Milosevic is extradited, the Montenegrin Party may opt for secession from what is left of the Yugoslav Federation. The Socialist Party of Serbia has said that the moves against Milosevic are intended to conceal the responsibility of those who ordered the aggression against their country. "Slobodan Milosevic is a symbol of the Serbian people's struggle for dignity and the protection of national and state interests," it stated.

But the government in Belgrade is in a desperate hurry to get the law passed before June 29, when the international financial institutions will consider the $1 billion aid package for Yugoslavia. The Bush administration has made it clear that this money will be disbursed only if Milosevic is extradited to The Hague. The Yugoslav President seems to have succumbed to the pressure exerted on him and now seems convinced of the need to cooperate with the Hague tribunal.

Milosevic cannot be expected to get a fair trial at the War Crimes Tribunal. Article 16 of the Tribunal's statute states that the Prosecutor is to act independently and not be subject to orders from any government. According to Article 30, the expenses of the Tribunal must be covered by the U.N. budget. These two principles have never been adhered to.

Tribunal President Gabriella Kirk McDonald told the U.S. Supreme Court that the Tribunal had "benefited from the strong support of concerned governments and dedicated individuals such as (State) Secretary (Madeleine) Albright. As the Permanent Represent-ative to the U.N., she had worked with unceasing resolve to establish the Tribunal". The Tri-bunal was founded in 1993 by the United Nations Security Council. U.N. Sec-retary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said at that time that the normal channel should have been "via an international treaty established and approved by member-states, permitting them full exercise of their sovereignty".

The laws of the Tribunal are retrospective and are tailored to fit the facts after the event. There is also no provision for an "investigating judge" inquiring into the charges and counter charges. The Prosecutor can conduct the inquiry in any way he or she pleases. The source of testimony and information can remain secret, allowing organisations such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to fill the court dossier with illegally gathered information without having to submit to cross-examination.

Between 1994 and 1995, the Tribunal received $700,000 in cash and $2.3 million worth of computer equipment from the U.S. government. The other major donors were the Rockefeller Foundation, the speculator George Soros and the Time Warner media empire. A large number of lawyers working for the Tribunal have come from the "Coalition for International Justice", an organisation financed by Soros. Soros is also the main financier of the main Albanian separatist newspaper in Kosovo. It is therefore not a coincidence that the War Crimes Tribunal expends most of its energy pursuing leaders who are opposed to U.S. hegemonism.

The real reason for taking Milosevic to The Hague is to whitewash the sins of NATO and lay the entire blame for the war in the Balkans on the Serbian people and to hide the fact that the U.S. and Germany played an important role in igniting the conflict.