Posted on 02/27/2009 1:40:55 PM PST by Nachum
Serbia's former President Milan Milutinovic returned to the country Friday after being acquitted by a UN court of war crimes in Kosovo.
"I am very pleased to be back in Serbia and my Belgrade," a smiling Milutinovic told reporters at Belgrade airport as he arrived on a regular flight from Amsterdam.
He thanked his family, friends, lawyers and "everybody who believed in my innocence." He refused to comment further.
Bill Clinton?
Well, you all, here’s some good news for once!!!!
Free Radovan, too!!!!
A Balkans ping.
David Binder (longtime NYT writer from 1961 until 2004, specializing in coverage of central and eastern Europe, and one of the last NYT "good guys") recently made the Serbs a public "offer". I hear it is on the Politika site, but I can't read Serbian so...:
Dear Serbs,
To employ an old American advertising cliché, “I have an offer (which) you can’t refuse.”
I am prepared to stand trial in The Hague in place of General Mladic.
True, I don’t speak Serbian very well and I am two decades older than him. But I do have blue eyes.
With cosmetic surgery and hair I might even look a bit like Ratko...or Joe Biden.
I have met and interviewed the general and thus could plausibly imitate his steely glare.
Besides I already have a sajkaca.
Think of the advantages, Serbs!
1- You could FINALLY get off the hook at The Hague . Serbia could close down its own costly pursuit of alleged war criminals and at long last begin the process of accession to the EU and NATO …AND join whatever else is worth acceding to! It might even enable Sonja Biserko, Natasa Kandic and Sanja Liht to retire in grace and honor from their long labors.
2 - ICTY Judges, prosecutors and guards would gain a new lease on life. Correspondents specializing in The Hague trials would get great stories and avoid early retirement.
3 - I am even prepared to confess before the high court that I threatened to bomb Washington (which Mladic did in 1993). That would permit the Tribunal to add a new charge to the Mladic indictment: Terrorism. Another victory in The War On Terrorism
(Of course I would miss my wife’s cooking, and my three daughters - two born in Serbia - and my six grandkids.)
But maybe they could visit me in Scheveningen. All I would ask are my medications (I had two strokes) and dental care.20I mention this because medical coverage in the USA is poor and coverage under “Medicare” is laughable. Besides, pensions have declined in value after the foxes of Wall Street took over the national henhouse. I take it you have heard about the $50 billion Bernie Madoff stole....
All I need is some assistance. Could your government fly me to Belgrade ? Charge it to the war crimes investigation. I could not afford a trip to Serbia after autumn 2007!
That, a bowl of pasulj, a dish of cold prebranac, some fresh Belgrade-baked bread, kajmak and it’s a deal! What do you say, Serbs?
David Binder
You’re right! This news is nowhere as good as this Israeli article suggests.
The ICTY is still a rotten New World Order/muslim kangaroo court, and should have never been created!!!!
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