Gen. Clark's misguided justice-the only Democratic hopeful "who's ever faced a dictator down

Jewish World Review ^ | Dec. 31, 2003 | Debra J. Saunders

[SJackson]

After retired Gen. Wesley Clark testified at the United Nations international criminal tribunal in The Hague — where former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is being tried on 66 charges, including crimes against humanity — Clark boasted to the New York Times that he is the only Democratic presidential hopeful "who's ever faced a dictator down. I'm the only one who's ever testified in court against one."

Now Clark can boast that he's the only Democratic hopeful to testify against a dictator who quickly thereafter was elected to his country's parliament, as happened Sunday. (Not that Milosevic or Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj — another U.N. tribunal defendant/electoral victor - - is likely to serve in office. As U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday, "Milosevic is otherwise engaged in The Hague.")

Milosevic's electoral success should give pause to those who argue, as does Clark, that the United Nations should preside over a trial for another dictator — Saddam Hussein. Despite its good intentions, the United Nations has managed to botch several elements of Milosevic's prosecution.

To start with, the U.N. refusal to consider the death penalty has to be balm to Milosevic. A lawyer by training, Milosevic is representing himself in The Hague knowing that the absolute worst that can happen to him is a sentence of life in prison. Even if the 62-year-old former dictator is convicted, he could be eligible for parole, if he lives long enough. In U.N. hands, Milosevic has little to fear.

In fact, Milosevic is probably safer awaiting trial in The Hague than he would be if he were free on the streets in Belgrade, where a popular uprising swept him from power in 2000.

Broadcasts of the trial in the former Yugoslavia probably helped Seselj and Milosevic win in the polls. (Seselj's party won 27.5 percent of the vote, more than any other party, while Milosevic's Social Party won 5 percent.) The court is so feckless that both men were able to campaign for office despite a prohibition on campaigning.

Right or wrong, many Serbs believed that the United Nations has wrongly concentrated on prosecuting Serbs, while undercharging Kosovar Albanians.

Thus the tribunal erred when it indicted four members of Serbian security forces close to the election. Rebeka Bozovic, deputy president of the Liberal Party, complained to the New York Times, "My genuine belief is that (U.N. prosecutor Carla) Del Ponte was the best head of an electoral campaign that (Seselj's) Radical Party could ever have had."

International criminal tribunal defendants are believed to have profited from their trials, as they engaged in what diplomats call "fee-splitting" — a polite term for kickbacks. Last year, London's Independent newspaper reported that war-crimes defendants have been able to pocket as much as 40 percent of their legal fees. So the family of a man sentenced to 25 years for war crimes bought two apartments, a business and three transport vehicles, while the families of victims waited for justice.

There's a lot of money to be made; the Yugoslav trials already have cost almost $700 million. While the trials are to end in 2008, it's unlikely the schedule will be met — Milosevic's trial already has outlasted its 14-month deadline. Thus, these trials will cost billions. Imagine if a good chunk of that money had been spent on rebuilding the former Yugoslavia.

[jmstein7]

Tell The Media: NO on Valerie "Plame", YES on Memogate!!! (memos and judges action alert)

[Conspiracy Guy]

I'm getting tired of posting these dang poems as much as everyone else is tired of me posting these dang poems.

No rest for the weary.

The Gen’ral

I‘d say that you’re invalid,
Even though you served.
The Clintons really like you,
That’s why I am unnerved.
You seem to be a sissy,
Too light in your old loafers.
I’d say it seems for Bill and Hill,
You’re just one of their gofers.
Retired your stars and that is best,
For you’ve not got a clue.
I’d vote for Sharpton, Gen’ral Clark,
Before I’d vote for you.

Conspiracy Guy 12/17/03

[marlon]

Well I think the UN should be in charge of the Sadaam trial. After all I just saw on the news last night that they have just received a confession from the former leader of the Khemar Roughe that said, yes in hindsight I guess we are guilty of slaughtering 1.7 million of our fellow citizens. That only happened in 1972-74 and provides convincing evidence to me that these UN guys are tough as nails prosecutors.

Hell I'll bet as punishment the former KR leaders won't even get there turn heading up the Human Rights committee!

[DTA]

>>>>Hell I'll bet as punishment the former KR leaders won't even get there turn heading up the Human Rights committee!<<<
What are your bets regarding those responsible for slaughter of Khmers during "secret bombing" of Cambodia?

[DTA]

>>>>>Now Clark can boast that he's the only Democratic hopeful to testify against a dictator who quickly thereafter was elected to his country's parliament, as happened Sunday<<<<

Now Gen. Gen. Clark can boast of commiting perjury before being elected to the highest office.

Clark brazenly lied under the oath that NATO countries did not aid KLA terrorist before 1999

Clark as a NATO supreme Comander was in position to know the facts.

Arkansan. Rhodes Scholar. Democrat. Perjuror. Natural Born Liar.

Sounds familiar?

[HamiltonJay]

OH please Clark, your little air campaign that blew up tank shaped baloons is hardly a major victory in the war on despotism.

You followed orders, good for you, but you didn't make the policy... moron.

[finnman69]

"The only candidate who swapped hats with a war criminal, Ratko Mladic in 1994

[finnman69]

On NBC, Clark defended his 1994 meeting with Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic, which he had over the objections of the State Department. Clark was photographed with Mladic in a picture that showed the two men wearing each other's military caps. He had also accepted gifts from Mladic, which Clark conceded Sunday was a mistake.

At the time, an unidentified U.S. official was quoted as saying, "It's like cavorting with Hermann Goering," a German general convicted after World War II as a Nazi war criminal but saved himself from the hangman's noose by poisoning himself the night before his scheduled execution.

But Clark maintains the meeting itself was not a mistake, and he said he had never been warned not to see Mladic. After the talks, Pentagon officials said there had been a "breakdown in communication" between the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

While admitting that Mladic was a "bad guy," Clark pointed out that the Serb general had not yet been indicted when they met. Clark said the talks were appropriate because Washington was trying to get the Serbs to sign a peace treaty.

[The Electrician]

Clark boasted to the New York Times that he is the only Democratic presidential hopeful "who's ever faced a dictator down. I'm the only one who's ever testified in court against one."

I wonder whether he is also the only Democratic presidential hopeful to have shaken hands with and exchanged hats with a mass murderer? On second thought, though, Al Sharpton probably fits that definition (Freddy's). Carol Moseley Braun probably too (Abacha). I don't know for certain about Gephardt or Lieberman or Dean or Kucinich or Kerry or Edwards.

[Maelstrom]

The only Democratic candidate to face a dictator down...from the safety of 10,000 feet.

[duckln]

Email to Debra

Odd that you did'nt go to the merits of the accusations
against Milosevic and Serbia.

How did Milosevic fight the Muslim terrorists in
Kosovo differently than we are fighting them in
in the Philippines, in Iraq, Putin in Chechnya, or Sharon
in Palestine?

You seem to resent the fact that Milosevic is winning
his case at the Hague despite all of the NATO
and UN shenanigans.

It's not that Clark failed to convince anyone of
Milosevics' guilt on any of the charges, it's that he
didn't have the truth on his side and was one of
the henchmen that created the Balkan fiasco.

Truth is, 'we' were on the wrong side in the Balkans.
By 'we' I mean the EU, NATO, Clinton, Clark and
the neocons.