Imprisoned by NATO
Milosevic rebuts those who bombed Belgrade
By John Catalinotto
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic used his Dec.
11 appearance before the pro-NATO tribunal in The Hague to turn
the tables on his captors with a sharp political rebuttal of
the U.S.-NATO charges against him.
The prosecution read charges of 29 counts of "genocide"
against Milosevic for alleged actions involving Bosnia and
Croatia. As part of a general policy of abusing its prisoner,
the court placed loudspeakers at ear level right in front of
Milosevic as the charges were read. The Yugoslav leader refused
to enter a plea on these charges.
"I deserve credit for the peace in Bosnia, not the war,"
Milosevic told the court. "The responsibility for the war lies
with the powers that have been breaking up Yugoslavia and with
their agents in Yugoslavia--not with Serbia, not with the
Serbian people and not with Serbian policy. This is an attempt
..."
At this point the court cut off the captive's
microphone.
Later that day he was able to make a more complete
statement. The prosecution had moved to try Milosevic for
charges involving Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia in one single
case. This was denied and the trial involving Kosovo is now set
to open Feb. 12, 2002.
Milosevic told the court it was entirely clear to him why
the prosecution insisted on "unifying" the charges. Milosevic
said, "It is because of September 11th. They want to divert
attention from the accusations against me concerning Kosovo,
since those accusations inevitably open the question of the
Clinton administration's collaboration with terrorists in
Kosovo, including [Osama] bin Laden's organization.
"Second, regarding what we have heard today, they are
conscious that, if they focus on Kosovo, they cannot,
regardless of the illegality of this court, avoid having the
main perpetrators of the crimes committed against my country
and my people, starting from [former President Bill] Clinton,
[former Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright and [Gen.
Wesley] Clark and then also the others, appear before this
body."
Since he was kidnapped to The Hague last June, Milosevic has
refused to recognize the authority of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia--the official name
of the tribunal. He has treated the ICTY as a tool of the
Western powers in its campaign to destroy Yugoslavia and take
over the Balkans. These powers created the ICTY and fund
it.
The current U.S. "war against terror" targets many of the
same forces that Washington used against Yugoslavia in the
1990s. An article in the Oct. 7 Los Angeles Times reported that
Al Qaeda operatives were active throughout Bosnia and Kosovo
with the forces that waged civil war against Yugoslavia.
The Times article asserted that U.S. policy would turn
hostile to Washington's clients in the Bosnian government and
in the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army if they refuse to hunt
down the Al Qaeda agents and turn them over to the U.S.
The events expose how U.S. policymakers attempt to
manipulate religious or national antagonisms to divide and
conquer.
Defending his country's record of allowing equal rights to
many national minorities, Milosevic said, "The example of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its very good inter-ethnic
relations during the whole period of conflicts demonstrates
this best. During the conflict in Bosnia no Muslim was expelled
from Serbia. During the conflict in Croatia no Croat was
expelled from Serbia.
"More than that, during the conflict in Bosnia--look at the
records at UNHCR [United Nations Human Rights Commission]--over
70,000 Muslim refugees found shelter in Serbia. What nation,
what tens of thousands of people, would seek shelter among
those who had committed aggression against them?"
Then, in apparent reference to the U.S. role in Iraq,
Milosevic continued:
"Do you know that more Muslims live in Serbia than in Bosnia
and Herzegovina? The Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina were
pushed into that disaster, into that war, so that those outside
forces, appearing as supporters of Muslims, could hide their
responsibility for the deaths of many times more--millions of
Muslims--in accordance with their interests of enslaving the
world and a new colonialism."
In defending his overall role, the former Yugoslav president
said, "I think that all we heard here today, which is in total
contradiction to the truth, has shown how failed these
'indictments' are. I can only understand them as a statement of
anger and revenge for the fiasco that NATO has suffered in the
attempt to militarily occupy Yugoslavia.
"I can tell you that I am proud that I commanded the armed
forces of Yugoslavia that have stopped NATO, since this has
shown that a country, even a small one, having a strong will to
defend its freedom and defend the idea of freedom and equality
of nations and peoples, can succeed. I am here as a punishment
for our standing up against the danger of the biggest tyranny
that has threatened humankind."
An official transcript of Milosevic's statement can be found
at the Web site of the Socialist Party of Serbia, or at the
site of the International Committee for theDefense of Slobodan
Milosevic at www.icdsm.org.
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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