Work of the Hague tribunal in Racak case criticized

BERLINER ZEITUNG ^ | 2004-01-17 | Markus Bickel

[Hoplite]

Wraith, you couldn't flame your way out of an oxygen tent if someone handed you an acetylene torch.

You've already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that arguing the merits of a case is beyond your severely abbreviated abilities, which is forgivable.

What is damnable, however, is your appalling incompetence when it comes to issuing meaningful, cogent insults.

[Wraith]

Again I take your babble as a compliment by once again getting under your old leathery skin......

[Hoplite]

Zzz...

[Wraith]

A very good observation Wonders. Its as if the scene would have served is purpose and no longer of any use. The leader of the OSCE? Justice by imagination or premeditated positioning on Walkers part.

[Burkeman1]

Who died at Racek? What are the names again? Post them please.

[Hoplite]

What for?

If you're too lazy to find them yourself, even when you know where to look, the possibility of your doing anything useful with the information once you have it isn't too good, is it.

[Destro]

You can't post names that do not exist.

[Hoplite]

True.

But the names do exist, and what's more, you've been told where to find them - you're just playing stupid again.

(A daytime Emmy worthy performance, were it not for the fact that you're just being yourself).

[moroz]

There are names, but they are not easily found. You have to dig deep to find them, and there is good reason for that. Much of “indictment” does not make any sense.

According to “witnesses” of alleged massacre “Yugoslav Government War Crimes in Racak”
Source (HRW): http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/racak.shtml

Ten households of the Beqa family live in the part of Racak called Upper Mahalla on the edge of the village. According to one member of the family, whose son and husband were both killed, at around 7:00 a.m. thirty members of the Beqa family tried to run toward the nearby forest when they heard the police. She told Human Rights Watch that more then forty policemen wearing blue uniforms and without masks began shooting at them from a distance of twenty meters from the top of the hill.

More “then forty policemen” armed with automatic weapons “without masks began shooting at them from a distance of twenty meters”, and result -- only 3 dead and 2 wounded!!! Incredible luck, I guess.
Second, only alleged victim old 22 years is SHABANI, Bajrush; note that he is not Beqa he is Shabani.
Source (“indictment”):http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/mil-ii990524e.htm

Also note, there is mention only of BEQIRI “victims” in the “indictment”, there are no Beqa on that list.
According to the “indictment”,
MEHMETI, Bajram Male
MEHMETI, Hanumshah Female
are victims. Allegedly they are villagers living in Racak, everybody should know them but there is no mention of age. Or any other data! No address, no ID, no description – nothing, nada, zero! And they are not only ones. For 24 names!!!! out of 45 they are not able to tell age (at least approximately) for fellow villagers.

Take for example this:
HRW: Searching for Weapons and the Killing of Nazmi Ymeri (76)
“indictment” ZYMERI, Njazi Male (mo age)
HRW: Mufail Hajrizi
“indictment” - HAJRIZI, Myfail

But let us not dwell on such details - names and positive ID.
What really amazes me is Serb incompetence! Their policeman and soldiers are really bungling and inept!
HRW: Two or three policeman beat them with wooden sticks. One was kicking them in the face with his boots. The others were just watching. It was terrible. The men were screaming, and their heads were covered with blood. A policeman locked me in the cellar with the women, but I could hear screaming for the next half an hour.
They are beating people “with wooden sticks” for half an hour and they are still able to scream!! Amazing toughness. It is strange and gets stranger!
HRW: One bullet crossed through his pocket, and another one is still in his belt.

And so on, and so forth.

HRW: Some time around 1:00 p.m. the police led the twenty-three men out of Osmani's yard.
“indictment” - A group of approximately 25 men attempted to hide in a building, but were discovered by the Serb police.

HRW: His throat and half his face had been cut by a knife. On the top of his head was a wooden stick with some paper.
Or this
Journalists at the scene early on January 16 told Human Rights Watch that many of these twenty-three men also had signs of torture, such as missing finger nails.

According to so-called “indictment”.
In one such incident, on 15 January 1999, 45 unarmed Kosovo Albanians were murdered in the village of Racak in the municipality of Stimlje/Shtime.

No mention of this torture in “indictment”. “unarmed”, but wait according to witnesses:
HRW: I heard the police ask them [the men] where is the headquarters of our army [the KLA], and they answered where it was.

So, Racak really was KLA military stronghold, terrorist base, second Srebrenica. Which, according to HRW, means:

All of them (“victims”) were wearing rubber boots typical of Kosovo farmers rather than military footwear.

But from Ranta’s testimony we learn following:
Milosevic::
But in Dunjic's report, for example, it says these military boots

13 on 23 persons. As you can see, they were not able to take these boots off

14 because had they removed the footwear because of religious custom, they

15 would have removed the footwear of all the persons. But they removed only

16 the footwear of those wearing military boots. They were unable to take

17 off the underwear showing their military status.

and much, much more
9 Q. Mrs. Ranta, on all these photographs here, you have people wearing

10 military boots. Here, have a look at them. And in the report of

11 Professor Dunjic and other professors, expert witnesses, it says that they

12 even have markings, a "O" signifying that they were made in Germany. And

13 here, have a look at these photographs. There you can see the military

14 boots.
Source: http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030312ED.htm


Conclusion: So-called Hague tribunal's indictment is not a serious legal document supported by probative evidence.

[Hoplite]

ut they are not easily found

The low expectations started at that point and were completely fulfilled when you quoted Milosevic's attempt to try to run the 'Military footwear' BS past Ranta during his cross examination as if it were, how would you put it - 'probative' evidence.

Try it again, but with some intellectual honesty this time, Ok?

[Burkeman1]

I think the Serbs themselves disagree with your description of Milosevic's defense:

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8277274%255E1702,00.html

I guess we haven't pumped in 75 to 100 million dollars (in a nation of under 10 million) to "opposition" figures lately like we did in 1999 (about the same time we "conservatives" were complaining about foreign money in our campaigns). I guess they are too busy killing each other.

[DTA]

The indictment was written without evidence by Nancy Patterson. Later shreds of data were spliced in to resemble legal document. The problem ICTY encountered were HRW transparent that were used as "evidence". That's why there are no approximate ages and positive I.D.

THis is entrapment, not indictment.

If Nancy Patterson wrote Indictment without evidence in any court in U.S.A. she would probably lose licence to practice law.

No wonder Ms. Patterson faded into obscurity after her stint as prosecutor in ICTY.

She ought to be disbarred.

[Burkeman1]

But as you are a sincere "interventionist" I thought you might find this article interesting if still tragic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1065745/posts

[Hoplite]

Marion Barry was re-elected as well.

Guess all that talk about him smoking crack was just the MAN trying to victimize him.

I really don't know where you're going with the Tibet thing.

[Burkeman1]

Not going anywhere- just thought you would like the article and find it interesting. LOL on the Marion Barry thing. And I can go one better- Mayor Curley from Boston was also elected from prison.

[Hoplite]

Great, Barry and Curley - what was the point of your post about Milosevic being re-elected then?

[Burkeman1]

Neither had an opposition being pumped full of foreign money.

[Hoplite]

Neither had stolen elections in the past either.

Strike three, and Slobo was out, thanks in part to the election monitoring system our funds helped emplace.

[Burkeman1]

Wrong- Curley had stolen elections (The Rascal King). As did Gore most likely as well in the popular vote at least but the Bush admin was to chicken poop to say so as it would bring up some very unPC issues- so they ran to the USSC like cowards.

It looks like the people who view the Slobo trial on TV daily- namely the Serbs- disagree with you. The same people who ousted him in a "popular" revolution in 1999 (with the aid of multi millions from us and the backing of gangsters- but shhhhh!)

You are indeed a true believer. God bless you.

[Hoplite]

You've taken the Talking Head's "stop making sense" advice too close to heart.

Let's not waste any more of each other's time.