Why I have a sneaking sympathy for Milosevic

Daily Telegraph(UK) ^ | 02/12/02 | Robert Harris

[Arkle]

I feel vaguely ashamed to write the sentence that follows, but here goes. I have come to feel a sneaking sympathy for Slobodan Milosevic.

I know, I know - you don't have to tell me. The man is wicked and cynical, almost beyond belief. He bears the largest share of the responsibility for a series of "small" wars that killed more than 200,000 people and traumatised millions more. If he died tomorrow, I wouldn't care. It was surely a pity for humanity that he was ever born.

Yet still, as he is led into the dock at The Hague this morning, to begin a trial for war crimes that is expected to last until 2004, some obscure part of me will be hoping he makes a fight of it, just as I have found his earlier defiance of the court oddly compelling.

When he was asked at a previous hearing for his opinion of its procedures, and when he retorted, folding his arms, "That's your problem!", I found myself thinking, "Well, yes, actually: good point." Monster he might be, but the sheer, contemptuous resilience of the man, in the face of world opinion, commands an uneasy respect.

We have been here before. Milosevic, as we are regularly reminded, is the most senior figure to be arraigned before an international tribunal since Hitler's number two, Hermann Goering, at Nuremberg in 1946, and the way the two cases are developing is curiously similar.

Like Milosevic, Goering was in poor shape, physically and psychologically, when he was first arrested, but prison had a restorative effect. He was detoxified, slimmed down (he lost nearly six stone), and on the eve of the trial recorded an IQ of 138. Too late, the Allies realised the problem they had created.

Like Milosevic, Goering's strength, paradoxically, was the hopelessness of his position. He was in no doubt about the nature of the proceedings facing him. This was a hearing with only one possible outcome. (The prosecutors in The Hague, of course, hotly deny that theirs is a "show trial", but does anyone seriously suppose that Milosevic will walk free at the end of the next two years?)

A court of justice is a theatre; the trial is the play. Once an accused ceases to act the role in which he is traditionally cast - ie, once he stops trying to save his own skin - the drama necessarily takes on a different form. "My philosophy is that if the time has come, the time has come," Goering told his defence counsel before he took the stand.

"Accept responsibility and go down with guns firing and colours flying! It's the defence of Germany that is at stake in this trial - not just the handful of us defendants who are for the high jump anyway."

And so, for several, deeply embarrassing days, Goering cheerfully ran rings around the high-minded, flat-footed American prosecutor, Robert H Jackson. Like Milosevic, Goering had a certain rough and cynical charm; restored to prime condition, broad-shouldered and deep-voiced, he exuded a powerful presence.

Like Milosevic, he also had a reasonable command of English, but chose not to reply to questions until they had been translated into his native tongue - a useful advantage during cross-examination, allowing him time to phrase his replies.

Above all, he played on the nature of the court's proceedings to portray himself as the object of "victor's justice". Perhaps his most telling reply to the hapless Jackson came when the American produced a 1935 document, outlining German plans to clear the Rhine of civilian river traffic in the event of mobilisation: wasn't this, demanded Jackson, a secret blueprint for war?

"I do not think I can recall," responded Goering, "reading beforehand the publication of the mobilisation plans of the United States."

As Airey Neave, a British intelligence officer who interrogated Goering at Nuremberg, ruefully recorded 32 years later: "No one had been prepared for his immense ability and knowledge.

"No one had realised how much his strong character and ruthlessness had been restored by months in prison. Murderer he may have been, but he was a brave bastard too."

Similarly, no one knows how Milosevic will perform in the coming weeks and months. He might try to make long speeches from the dock, a la Goering, inviting the judges to switch off his microphone, as they have done before.

He might try to call such witnesses as Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and the former Secretary-General of Nato, Javier Solana (they won't come, we may be sure, but the point will be made - this is an unfair hearing).

He might try to muddy the waters by demanding to know why the deaths and destruction resulting from the allied bombing, or the activities of the Croats and Muslims, aren't also being taken into account. He might, conceivably, say nothing at all.

Goering, in the end, was destroyed by a clear chain of evidence linking him to one, relatively minor atrocity in the great catalogue of horror from the Second World War: the execution of 55 RAF officers who had escaped from a Berlin prisoner of war camp in 1944.

It is possible that something similar will happen to Milosevic - that it will be some small, terrible, single incident, rather than these huge, generalised "crimes against humanity" of which he is accused, that will puncture his bravado and secure his inevitable conviction.

But between now and then, I wouldn't be surprised if Milosevic - lonely, defiant, fighting against the odds - wins some unlikely international sympathy. The British at the end of the Second World War wanted to shoot all the senior Nazis such as Goering out of hand; it was the Americans who insisted on a trial.

Today, with Milosevic, the roles are reversed: the British want the trial; the Americans are uneasy about the embarrassments it might throw up. It could prove that they have a shrewder appreciation than we do of the perils of the Goering Syndrome.

[Arkle]

Ever hear of show trials?

Hear of them? I was watching one just this morning...

[philosofy123]

Arkle has it wrong in resembling Slobo with Hitler. Moslem terrorists (including Bin Laden operatives), were fighting the Christians Serbians. That, in my book, gives the Serbians license to kill! Kill all of them! There is no Hitler comparison here whatsover!

The reality also showed that most of the "genocide" was a bunch of lies. The damn Saudis are good at using our system. They hired Norton, the public relation lobbyist firm to fabricate resemblance to the Natzis in order to get our duped public to sypathise with them. We all should be ashamed of this part of our history. Clinton and his policies should land him in Slobo's seat, as a criminal against humanity.

[Delchev]

Reply

Bosnian Muslim Swastika patch.

The Bosnian Muslims formed purely Muslim formations as well, the most important of which was the Muslim Volunteer Legion, led by Mohammed Hadzieffendic. Other Muslim formations were the Zeleni Kadar/Kader (Green Cadres), Nazi formations created by deserters from the Home Guards (Domobranci), led by Neshad Topcic, the Muslim nationalist group, the Young Muslims (Mladi Muslimani), Huska Miljkovicís Muslim Army, and the Gorazde-Foca milicijas (policing units). Alija Izetbegovic was a key member of the Young Muslims (Mladi Muslimani) group.

Bosnian Muslim soldiers were in the Nazi-Ustasha German-Croatian ìLegionî units, the 369th, 373rd, and 392nd Infantry Divisions. The 369th German-Croatian Infantry Division, formed in 1942, was known as the Vrazja Divizija or Devil Division commanded by Generalleutnant Fritz Neidholt. The 373rd German-Croatian Infantry Division was known as the Tigar Divizija or Tiger Division. The 392nd German-Croatian Infantry Division was known as the Plava Divizija, or Blue Division.Ý The 369th Reinforced Croat Infantry Regiment, made up of Croats and Bosnian Muslims, fought at Stalingrad where it was destroyed. The NDH also sent the Italian-Croat Legion, attached to the Italian 3rd Mobile Division, to the Russian front where it was destroyed during the Don retreat. The 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, formed at Varazdin, consisted of three battalions, two from Croatia, one from Sarajevo. The Regiment left Zagreb on July 15, 1941 for the Doellersheim Training Camp near Vienna, Austria. From here, the troops were transferred by railroad to the USSR. The Regiment was deployed on various points on the Russian Front: Krementchug, Jasy, Kirovograd, Permomaysk, Poltava, the Dnieper River, Kharkov, Stalino. On May 15, 1942, the Regiment was deployed on the Voronezh Front. On September 27, the Bosnian Muslim/Croat troops deployed to Stalingrad where they fought to take the city. By February, 1943, the Regiment was totally annihilated and obliterated by the Russian Red Army. The German/Axis forces were encircled and surrendered en masse in Stalingrad.

[Arkle]

Arkle has it wrong in resembling Slobo with Hitler.

I only posted the article, I didn't write it. I thought it put an interesting new slant on the Serb/Nazi comparison that the media used to serve up on such a regular basis. The only crime Milosevic is guilty of is trying to defend his country.

[cicero's_son]

My, Tony, how very Jacobin of you. I wouldn't have expected it.

Though I must say I would prefer the nakedness of your solution to this dandified perversion of Western justice. If Milosevic is guilty of "genocide," then we must by all means re-open the case of Bomber Harris, whose RAF killed more civilians at Dresden than our bombs did at Nagasaki and Hiroshima...combined. But let's not stop there, we can posthumously convict Truman for his atomic genocide against the Japanese.

Then there is the matter of the French war in Algeria--more than a few genocide cases could no doubt be dragged up there.

And how many civilians have died as a result of our policy against Iraq? How many Serbs died in our indiscriminate bombing of Belgrade?

Milosevic should be left to the justice of his own people.

[varon]

(The prosecutors in The Hague, of course, hotly deny that theirs is a "show trial",

Blatant lie! It's show and nothing but show.

[Ichabod Walrus]

Oh my, how clever.

The writer claims he has a certain sympathy for Milosevic. And then he spends the rest of the article comparing him to Goering and the Hague Tribunal to the Nuremberg proceedings.

Quite unimpressive when you know that one of the former Nuremberg prosecutors, Walter J. Rockler has repeatedly stated it's NATO that should be in the dock, not Milosevic.

It seems that when it comes to justifying NWO imperialism, western media will never cease to insult the intelligence of its readers.

[Voronin]

.S. Lord of the Rings is definately better than Harry Potter. My wife pointed out that the Harry Potter books have much in common with the plot of Lord of the rings. Think about it!

I'm with you on the first part, though I have to admit that I only got halfway through book one of Lord of the Rings before I got bored...

VRN

[tonycavanagh]

re : Milosevic should be left to the justice of his own people.

I agree, he should of had an accident save all this three ring circus.

Well Saddam is next when the Iraqi Military determined to save there own skins have a coup and hand him over.

Cheers Tony

[Voronin]

'ear tc, I just remembered something I wanted to ask you about the time you were in bosnia looking for rare butterflies ;) Did you ever see Croatian soldiers sporting ex-NATO second line (British) equipment?

VRN

[cicero's_son]

"Well Saddam is next when the Iraqi Military determined to save there own skins have a coup and hand him over..."

You're probably right. I suppose people will never learn that it's best not to feed the crocodiles.

[Voronin]

And this for the record:

British deal fuelled Balkan war

VRN

[Arkle]

Thanks for that link to the Rockler article. I think it might come in useful, with all the comparisons between the farce in the Hague and Nuremberg flying around at the moment.

It's possible to read the Harris article as a clever piece of propaganda. I prefer to see it as the work of someone who might, just might, be on the verge of realising the truth about this whole affair. I think it'll be interesting to see how the tone of the media coverage of the trial alters as it goes on. It's started as you might expect, with the atrocity stories, Hitler comparisons and so on. Some commentators like Harris are now starting to admit to a grudging respect for Slobo. The next stage might be when they realise that what he is saying has a lot of truth in it. "Robert Harris - His Struggle With Truth"?

I'm probably being too optimistic. Nobody likes to admit he was wrong, least of all a journalist.

[Ichabod Walrus]

It's such a bad comparison, it has no intellectual merit at all.

A better comparison could be made between Goering and today's leaders of NATO. The article is absurd.

When we look at Milosevic and such matters as the Dayton Agreement or the Rambouillet Ultimatum, he could be better compared to a Pole asked to put his pen to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, or a Czech leader agreeing to the seizure of the Sudetenland.

Welcome to the world of Orwell, where nobody has learned anything from history, and the persecuted are labelled as aggressors.

[MK]

Stupid comment from a pan-Slavist.

I guess you are a wannabe Kraut then.