I note, however, that neither Bosiljka Beric nor Mirjana Beric are on the amended list, which is good for your position, and that, as you noted, 7 of the listed murders took place prior to Cermak's taking over the Knin Garrison, which is not so good for your position. But overall, considering how easy it was to remove 65 of the murder charges, think how easy it would be for Gotovina to dispense with the remaining 32...
But I jest. We'll be just as happy to try Gotovina for the names on the amended schedule as we would the names on the initial one, and shall continue to hold Croatia at arm's length until either Gotovina turns himself in or Croatia grabs him and extradites him.
And in the meantime, our State Department will continue to refer to him as what he is, a despicable war criminal.
Enjoy.
The concession is appreciated.
Now, as to the remaining seven, let me tell you about all seven of these alleged "murder victims" of Gotovina. Here is a the tribunal's main witness on these seven "victims of murder" which Gotovina is alleged to be responsible for:
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Witness Stevan Grujo, son of Dusan, born 1.10.1936 in Uzdolje, municipality of Knin:
On 5 August 1995, around 16:00 I left my village on a tractor. With me were my wife Marija, as well as Pera Borjan, the widow of Acim; and Milos Borjan, son of Stevan, born 1969 in the village of Uzdolje.
When we arrived in Vrbnik Polje we were stopped by four army reservists of the (Serbian) Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, as well as one civilian, and we took them with us along to Knin.
Near the church of St. Nicholas, which is in the village of Vrbnik, we were stopped by Croatian soldiers, and there were about 15 to 20 of them. Milos Borjan was driving the tractor at the time and on the orders of the Croatian soldiers Milos stopped the tractor and we were immediately told to get off the tractor. At that moment someone shot and injured one of the Croatian soldiers. I did not see who fired the shot but I assume it was fired by a Croatian soldier because I did not see any of our soldiers in the vicinity. The (Serbian) reservists who were with us all had firearms, AP and PAP rifles and they surrendered them to the Croats. As soon as the Croatian soldier was shot, one of the Croatian soldiers who stopped us opened fire first upon the reservists among us and then upon Milos Borjan and then the civilian. He fired upon all of them with shots to the body, from about 2 to 3 meters. I saw that the bullet that killed Milos Borjan was fired into his stomach and exited through his belt on the other side. I hid behind the tractor and that same soldier wanted to kill me as well, but because my wife Marija and my cousin Pera were crying, he did not kill me. This group of Croat soldiers ordered me, my wife and Pera to go to the southern barracks in the town of Knin, where the United Nations Protection Force was located. My tractor and all of our belongings remained where we left them, as the Croats would not allow us to take anything with us.
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Now let's see. Armed Serb soldiers decide to attempt to flee the scene by intermingling with elderly Serb civilians on a tractor. They are stopped by Croatian soldiers, presumably because the Croat soldiers want to disarm the Serb soldiers and detain them, if necessary. One of the Serb soldiers shoots and wounds a Croat soldier, and the Croat soldiers return fire and kill all of the Serb soldiers along with a civilian.
This is ethnic cleansing? This is murder? For crying out loud, the Croat soldiers let the three living elderly Serbs leave and even tell them to go to the UN compound in Knin for shelter. Murderous Croat soldiers decide to allow witnesses to their "murder" live? And then tell them to go to the frickin' United Nations to tell their story?!?
The whole thing is ridiculous. I don't think the Croat soldiers who were fired on first committed a war crime by firing back on the Serb soldiers. If anything, the Serb soldiers committed a war crime by intermingling with civilians. What is even more proposterous is to accuse the overall military commander of the operation, General Gotovina, for "command responsibility" over the soldiers in this episode.
I doubt he even knew what happened here, and if he learned of it later his reaction would probably be the same as mine, which is, "Where the hell is the war crime here?"
This incident is the basis for the remaining charges against Gotovina for murdering civilians. It is almost as stupid as the charges against Gotovina for "murdering" people who are in fact alive today.
Hoplite, you can choose to believe whatever you wish. However, to call Gotovina a "despicable war criminal" on the basis of the facts described above is, I think, grossly unfair.
Deep down I think you might even agree with me.