Posted on 03/03/2006 8:19:18 AM PST by Ezekiel2517
The American Spectator
March 2006
SECTION: The railroading of a former U.S. ally.
LENGTH: 1511 words
HEADLINE: America, The Hague, and Ante Gotovina
BYLINE: Robin Harris
BODY: GREAT POWERS LIKE AMERICA CANNOT AFFORD to be too sentimental about foreign friends whose purpose has been served. But sometimes it pays to keep faith with individuals who collaborate successfully in one's policy goals. This is particularly so when those concerned know the inside story of U.S. covert activity and when their fate sets a precedent that jeopardizes U.S. personnel. Such is the case of the former Croatian General Ante Gotovina, arrested in Tenerife in December for alleged war crimes and now in prison at The Hague. Gotovina's arrest was widely welcomed. Even the Croatian government was delighted, since the failure to apprehend him had served as a reason, or excuse, to delay Croatian membership of the European Union. He had been on the run since 2001, when he was first indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Aptly for a man whose name translates as "Tony Cash," Ante Gotovina had a high price on his head -- $5 million from the U.S. State Department alone. Gotovina was made for the role of international ogre. At different times a French legionary, soldier of fortune in South America, "muscle" in the political underworld of Paris, he was the kind of shady swashbuckler that the world of NGOs, diplomats, and international lawyers loves to hate. Gotovina was also no fool. He had a shrewd idea that he would never gain a fair trial. So he disappeared. Or more precisely he "appeared" wherever it was convenient to locate him. The ICTY chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, claimed that she "knew" he was in Croatia. In September 2005, she also knew that the Vatican "knew" exactly which Croatian monastery he was in. This turned out to be completely wrong. When he was arrested three months later, Gotovina's passports revealed that he had been in Tahiti, Argentina, Chile, China, Russia, the Czech Republic, Mauritania, and Mauritius, but not Croatia. By now, though, Gotovina was notorious. His name was uttered in the same breath as those of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. But unlike the butchers of Sarajevo and Srebrenica, Gotovina is not accused of ordering anyone's murder, let alone genocide. The military operation, "Storm," conducted by Croatia in early August 1995 to recover territory, the so-called Serb Republic of Krajina (SRK), occupied by rebel Serbs supported by Belgrade, was an act not of aggression but of self-defense. The indictment mentions 150 Serb civilians as having died. These deaths were caused by Croat civilians bent on revenge, while Croatian police did nothing to help. That was, indeed, shameful. But it happened after the conclusion of the military campaign, not during it. Responsibility for maintaining order had been formally transferred by the Croatian government from the military to the civil authorities. Gotovina himself was no longer even in the area. He had joined Muslim and Croat forces in the continuing campaign within Bosnia. Despite these facts, which are not contested, Gotovina is now accused by the court of a series of crimes which could result in his lengthy incarceration. The explanation lies in the opening section of the indictment. This describes Operation "Storm" as part of a "joint criminal enterprise, the common purpose of which was the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from the Krajina region." The question, though, is: If "Storm" was indeed a "criminal enterprise," were high officials of the United States not also morally, and even criminally, culpable? IN FACT, EVEN TO POSE THE QUESTION exposes the foolishness and injustice of the case. The United States does not participate in or close its eyes to war crimes. Yet the U.S. certainly encouraged, assisted, and monitored "Storm" at every stage. The various accounts of what happened -- official and unofficial -- make that crystal clear. The CIA knew what was happening, because it had provided the intelligence and technical support to make it happen. The Pentagon knew, because approved U.S. military advisers were involved. The White House and the State Department knew, because since the previous year's Washington Agreement it had been U.S. policy to create a Croatian-Bosnian military alliance to roll back Serb territorial gains, so as to make a just peace possible. One should recall the dire position. After four years of aggression, Greater Serbia had come to occupy 70 percent of Bosnia and a third of Croatia. Britain and France had vetoed America's plan to lift the arms embargo against Bosnia and to launch air strikes at Serb forces. The UN "safe areas" in Srebrenica and Zepa had fallen. Thousands of Muslim men and boys were being massacred. Sarajevo was under continuous siege. Above all, another strategically vital "safe area" at Bihac in northwest Bosnia was under attack by Serb forces from Bosnia and from the SRK. The fall of Bihac would not only have created another humanitarian tragedy. It would have put the seal of victory on Serb aggression and prevented a viable Bosnia from surviving. Only in these circumstances was "Storm" finally launched. It was a minor military triumph, a textbook NATO-style operation based on overwhelming fire-power, real time intelligence, efficient logistic support, and the avoidance of civilian casualties. Within 72 hours Krajina was re-occupied. As Croatian and Muslim armies then attacked Serb forces inside Bosnia and U.S.-led NATO air strikes broke Serbia's will to resist, the outlines of a new, imposed peace settlement emerged. Flawed as the Dayton Agreement of that November was, it has since brought peace, reconstruction, and some return of refugees. A less satisfactory result of "Storm" was the mass departure of the Serb population -- probably between 80,000 and 150,000 people -- from the area. The indictment alleges that this was the whole purpose of the operation. But the exodus was ordered by the Serb leadership itself, for its own reasons. The text of the order from Milan Martic, so-called president of the SRK, was published some weeks later in the Belgrade journal Politika. It was endorsed by the SRK military chief, General Mile Mrksic, an appointee of Milosevic. The military evacuation was designed to retrieve heavy armor to be used in Bosnia. But why the civilians? The answer makes complete sense in Balkan terms. It was to advance Belgrade's policies of ethnic cleansing and re-settlement of Serbs in eastern Bosnia and Kosovo, parts of a planned Greater Serbia. Accounts given in evidence before the ICTY show exactly how the Krajina Serbs were funneled down to these areas. Whether the Croatian government was pleased or displeased to see the Serb exodus is unclear. President Franjo Tudjman had ambiguous feelings about the Serbs, as opposed to Muslims, whom he despised. But whatever Tudjman and others felt is irrelevant. The point has been made very clearly by Peter Galbraith, U.S. ambassador to Croatia at the time: "The fact is, the [Serb] population left before the Croatian army got there. You can't deport people who have already left." THE CHARGES AGAINST GOTOVINA are baseless. They are also in the widest sense politically motivated. They were brought primarily because the ICTY needed to prove to Serb opinion that it was not biased against Serbia. This, it was hoped, would make it easier to arrest Karadzic and Mladic, both still at large. But there were other motivations too. It suits many international interests to place aggressors and victims of aggression on an equal footing when rewriting the history of recent Balkan wars. The implication that all sides were equally to blame goes some way towards vindicating the egregious policy failures of the European Union and particularly Britain. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, the British Foreign Office has pursued a policy consistently favorable to Belgrade and hostile to Croatia and Bosnia. Britain has been the main block to Croatia's bid for EU membership. It is now very keen to see Gotovina sentenced. Britain is also a leading proponent of universal international jurisdiction, of which the ICTY was the forbear and the International Criminal Court is the full expression. The main loser from this trial -- apart from Gotovina -- is the United States. Its successful intervention to end the Bosnian war will be effectively criminalized. It will be exposed as an unreliable sponsor of potential surrogates in areas where it wants to exert influence. It will have its intelligence methods and sources embarrassingly revealed. On top of all that, if it is finally established that commanders of legitimate operations which incidentally lead to the exodus of civilian populations can be tried as participants in a criminal enterprise, it is difficult to see how future U.S. interventions can safely be conducted at all. So there is more at stake in The Hague than the rights of Tony Cash. Robin Harris was a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit. He writes on the Balkans and is the author of Dubrovnik: A History (London: Saqi, 2003).
The Speaker of the Serb Krajina assembly, Rajko Lezajic, has told a
press conference in Belgrade that the order to evacuate the population of
Krajina was issued by Krajina leader Milan Martic supported by the commander of Krajina Serb army, General Mile Mrksic.
_____________________________-
So really, FormerLib, do you want to see justice for the Serb victims through the indictments of Martic and Mrksic for the forced evacuation of the Krajina Serbs (according to the testimony of the leader of the Krajina Serb parliament, RSK minister of the interior, Radio Belgrade, etc)?
I write to the level of my audience. Since I'm writing to you, I've had to downgrade heavily.
And I do hope the criminal Gotovina has a nice view from his cell. Really, that would be nice.
Let's start with the dogs who murdered them as they fled (starting with top dog, Gotovina) before we worry about the ones who yelled "Run for it! The Ustashi are coming!"
Particularly when you consider that the Ustashi were coming.
FormerLib, you run from the issues, and rightly so. I think this debate has run dry because, quite honestly, you cannot address the issues (including the incredibly damning testimony of RSK leaders Rajko Lezajic , Milivoj Vojinovic, Milan Ivanic, Milan Trbulin). I will, accordingly, declare victory at this point since all that you are left with is either namecalling, or avoidance of the issues (responsibility of Martic and Mrksic).
A piece of advice to you from George Eliot:
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt ."
Ciao.
The crimes against Serb civilians Canadians witnessed are on record. Many Canadians soldiers suffered from PTSS because of what they have seen.
That is what Ezekiel wants to hide with circular logic argumentation.
Too late, you've proved yourself a fool and, as noted in the post above, it is you who have to run from the facts as noted by the Canadians.
And Ante approaches having to face justice. It's a good thing.
That usually occurs when the Ustashi think they've "cleansed" all the Serbs from an area, but this is not the case.
You have lost and Ante's looking for the soap.
"In mid-September 1993 United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) soldiers from 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) advanced into the disputed Medak Pocket"
Wow, now you are accusing Gotovina of responsibility for Medak? Not even Carla del Ponte has done that. Pretty tough to do given that Gotovina was not involved in that operation at all.
Glad to see you've conceded that Martic and Mrksic are responsible for the exodus after Storm, and are now moving on to Medak Pocket. Unfortunately for you there is nothing to discuss with respect to Gotovina and Medak.
Keep trying though, fellas.
Wow, Peter "Riding atop a Croatian Tank During the Ethnic Cleansing of Krajina" Galbraith! Some witness!
Wow, Peter "Riding atop a Croatian Tank During the Ethnic Cleansing of Krajina" Galbraith! Some witness!
_________________________________________________
Perhaps we should rely on James Jatras, Peter Maher, and other members of the Milosevic "Insane Clown Posse"? Or how about the leaders of the Republika Srpska Krajina like Rajko Lezajic , Milivoj Vojinovic, Milan Ivanic, Milan Trbulin, who all testify that Martic and Mrksic ordered the evacuation? Or are these Serb leaders also "unreliable NGO NATO NAZI Ustashi Vatican" puppets?
"Jews exterminated themselves in death camps, Serbs ethnicaly cleamsed themselves"...
Sarcasm
Real Stormfront man is talking from you!
Im off this topic!
Antisemitism and Antiserbism is just not my background, and spetialy not Croate generals who posed on TV with their right arm high in the air.
Yes, I'll take the word of a loyal American such as James Jatras over one such as you any day of the week.
They're certainly more credible than somebody who was personally involved in the ethnic cleansing of the Krajina Serbs. By your logic, whoever does not blame the victim (the Serbs) is part of the "Insane Clown Posse." Nice.
--Yes, I'll take the word of a loyal American such as James Jatras over one such as you any day of the week.--
My question is why you won't take the word of loyal Serbs such as Rajko Lezajic , Milivoj Vojinovic, Milan Ivanic, Milan Trbulin, who all testify that Martic and Mrksic ordered the evacuation?
Let's wait until we have their sworn testimony from Ante the Butcher's trial and then we'll talk, m'kay?
_____________________
Why so scared to address the testimony of loyal Serbs like Rajko Lezajic , Milivoj Vojinovic, Milan Ivanic, Milan Trbulin, who all testify that Martic and Mrksic ordered the evacuation?
It seems to me that you are all too willing to accept the propaganda of Serbian fascists, but refuse to address the truthful testimony of other Serb leaders.
Maybe you weren't reading, child, but I just said that's exactly what I'd do once we have their sworn testimony from this murderous thug Gotovina's trial.
If you have a problem understanding any of that, you just let me know which words are confusing you and I'll try to find smaller ones, m'kay?
And why won't you address what they said in 1995? They are recorded as saying that Mrksic and Martic ordered the evacuation. Are you waiting and hoping that they change their story and lie to the Tribunal?
I'm hoping that they tell the Tribunal the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Having their testimony given under oath at The Hague only improves that chance (although they really don't like truths that exonorate Serbs there from what we've all seen).
Is is you, child, that fears they will do so and have their story change.
I see. So you won't address what they said, and instead will hope that they change their tune in The Hague.
Well argued.
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