The Death of Slobodan Milosevic
Today, Saturday 11 March 2006, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations Detention Unit in Scheveningen.
The guard immediately alerted the Detention Unit Officer in command and the Medical Officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.
I would have posted more....But....Right now, the nature of what's available from the English-language news sources to which we all have ready access in this Internet age is so predictably biased and, indeed, systematically distorted (e.g., Reuters quotes the French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the effect that "Milosevic conceived and planned" everything), I'm afraid to touch it, without also putting on a pair of gloves before doing so. Or a toxic waste disposal suit.
Just to give you one example of what I mean: Milosevic's corpse can't be more than a few hours cold, and the American Senator, leading light of the Democratic Party, and ranking Minority Member of the Senate International Relations Committee, Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, already has taken to the American airwaves to recapitulate the statement he issued way back on June 28, 2001---the day when certain Belgrade officials shipped Milosevic to the same Scheveningen Detention Unit where he just died.
Said Biden then: "We are witnessing one of the most significant events in postwar European history, where a nation has voluntarily turned over to an international tribunal for trial one of the most dangerous and maniacal European leaders since Hitler." Now. Tack on the French Foreign Minister's line about Milosevic having "conceived and planned" everything, and we have a pretty good foretaste of tomorrow's headlines.
Over the next several days, be on the lookout for statesmen and commentators and above all professional victims whose point of view will be indistinguishable from that of the Office of the Prosecutor at the Tribunal where Milosevic just died. Modern Hitler + Conceived and Planned Everything are the order of the day. The purpose of such historical engineering and revisionism-before-the-fact---indeed, the most egregious reaches as far back as 1990-1991---it's always best to stake-out one's claim to the record as early as possible---is, and always has been, to use the West's institutional machinery to impose an account of the breakup of Yugoslavia that hews to these revealed Truths.
As Michael P. Scharf, an American professor of international law and, as Michael Mandel tell us in his invaluable book, How America Gets Away With Murder (Pluto Press, 2004, p. 117ff), a "self-described 'insider' who was actively involved in the formulation of US war crimes policy, and who had a big hand in drafting the law governing the tribunal," wrote in the months following the U.S.-led war over Kosovo in 1999 ("Indicted For War Crimes, Then What?" Washington Post, Oct. 3, 1999):
From the beginning, the Security Council's motives in creating the tribunal were questionable. During the negotiations to establish the court--talks in which I participated on behalf of the U.S. government--it became clear that several of the Security Council's permanent members considered the tribunal a potential impediment to a negotiated peace settlement. Russia, in particular, worked behind the scenes to try to ensure that the tribunal would be no more than a Potemkin court.
The United States's motives were also less than pure. America's chief Balkans negotiator at the time, Richard Holbrooke, has acknowledged that the tribunal was widely perceived within the government as little more than a public relations device and as a potentially useful policy tool. The thinking in Washington was that even if only low-level perpetrators in the Balkans were tried, the tribunal's existence and its indictments would deflect criticism that the major powers did not do enough to halt the bloodshed there. Indictments also would serve to isolate offending leaders diplomatically, strengthen the hand of their domestic rivals and fortify the international political will to employ economic sanctions or use force. Indeed, while the United States and Britain initially thought an indictment of Milosevic might interfere with the prospects of peace, it later became a useful tool in their efforts to demonize the Serbian leader and maintain public support for NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia, which was still underway when the indictment was handed down.
Five years later, at the time Milosevic was scheduled (finally) to begin his defense, the master cynic returned to this theme ("Making A Spectacle of Himself," Michael P. Scharf, Washington Post, Aug. 29, 2004):
In creating the Yugoslavia tribunal statute, the U.N. Security Council set three objectives: first, to educate the Serbian people, who were long misled by Milosevic's propaganda, about the acts of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his regime; second, to facilitate national reconciliation by pinning prime responsibility on Milosevic and other top leaders and disclosing the ways in which the Milosevic regime had induced ordinary Serbs to commit atrocities; and third, to promote political catharsis while enabling Serbia's newly elected leaders to distance themselves from the repressive policies of the past. [Trial Judge Richard] May's decision to allow Milosevic to represent himself has seriously undercut these aims.
Confronted with material such as this, I'm afraid that we can but repeat the same response only so many times before turning blue in the face. Either one reads a Michael Scharf and instinctively recoils from the shameless commitment to Big Lying. Or one doesn't. For every person who has recoiled over the past 15 years, a thousand have applauded.
With Milosevic's death, we lose the opportunity that his trial provided us to hijack the institutional machinery of the Tribunal in the faint hope of countering the historical-engineers and party-liners and cynics-without-peer who populate World-NATO like so many busy little bees.
Decision on Assigned Counsel Request for Provisional Release (IT-02-54-T), Judge Patrick Robinson, Presiding, ICTY, February 23, 2006
"Slobodan Milosevic Found Dead in His Cell at the Detention Unit" (CC/MOW/1050ef), Press Release, ICTY, March 11, 2006
"Statement by the ICTY Prosecutor" (FH/OTP/1051e), Press Release, ICTY, March 11, 2006
"Milosevic dies in jail: UN Tribunal," Nicola Leske, Reuters, March 11, 2006How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity, Michael Mandel (Pluto Press, 2004)
The New York Times on the Yugoslavia Tribunal: A Study in Total Propaganda Service, Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, ColdType, 2004
"A Premature Death," George Kenney, ElectricPolitics.com, March 11, 2006"The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic VI," ZNet, February 11, 2006
"The Death of Slobodan Milosevic," ZNet, March 11, 2006
the Left didn't follow the trial
The tragedy is that so few people followed the trial or understand what went on at all. Instead most leftists and activists continue to rely on and parrot the same grossly compromised, unreliable and hysterical sources that made the NATO bombing possible. Take for instance, the "ethnic cleansing" of kosovo. Ms. Prentice's testimony simply confirms once again that there was no Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Albanians. When will people accept that the Yugoslav government did not launch a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Albanians in Kosovo? Given not only the testimony of Prentice but also 1) The large exodus of Serbs, Roma and others from Kosovo during NATO's bombing campaign (pecentage wise more Serbs than Albanians left Kosovo) 2) the presence of tens of thousands of Albanians in Belgrade itself throughout the war and even today 3) the testimony of key defense witnesses and the exhibition of hundreds even thousands of documents to the effect that the VJ issued orders to respect international law and that there was a policy of punishing and prosecuting those soldiers who did commit war crimes 4)the glaring inconsistencies and outright lies exposed in the testimony of Albanian witnesses (indeed for so many prosecution witnesses quite regardless of ethnicity) for the ICTY prosecution 5) the testimony of both defense and prosecution witnesses including documentation that the KLA was planning to stage an exodus of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo (and that the KLA and Albanians criminals were even engaging in massive pressure against fellow ethnic Albanians to force them to comply) 6) the outrageous campaign of lying, deception and pro-NATO bombing propaganda that the press engaged in and continues to engage in on nearly all matters concerning Yugoslavia 7) the fact that OSCE, German and British documents show no sign of a plan to ethnically cleanse Kosovo etc., given all that why (apart from ignorance, fear or indoctrination) do so many on the left (including some Znet contributors) continue to claim the FRY government launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kosovar Albanians? This has nothing to do with liking Milosevic or hating him. It's just a question of information and honesty.
The "Left" Led the Cheers for the Trial
Dimitri:
As at least one of the principals behind the International Committee To Defend Slobodan Milosevic described Milosevic's death in custody today, the Tribunal's refusal to permit Milosevic to seek the medical care he had been requesting since last December at Moscow's Bakoulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery was "tantamount to murder." (About which, see "Decision on Assigned Counsel Request for Provisional Release," February 23, 2006. "[T]he Chamber notes that the Accused is currently in the latter stages of a very lengthy trial, in which he is charged with many serious crimes, and at the end of which, if convicted, he may face the possibility of life imprisonment. In these circumstances, and notwithstanding the guarantees of the Russian Federation and the personal undertaking of the Accused, the Trial Chamber is not satisfied that the first prong of the test has been met—that is, that it is more likely than not that the Accused, if released, would return for the continuation of his trial" (par. 18). So Milosevic didn't get to travel to Moscow for medical care. And some 16 days later, he wound up dead. The wreckage of the ICTY's prosecution of its star defendant notwithstanding, the ICTY outlives its star defendant. With the ICTY's help.)
I agree with your assessment overall ("The Left didn't follow the trial," March 11). And not only didn't the Left follow the Milosevic trial. Or even familiarize itself with the fundamental injustices of the entire ICTY apparatus. But, disgracefully, the Left (if usage of the term has any merit at all) frequently led the cheers for ICTY-type injustices, having spent the past 15 years propagating accounts of the breakup of Yugoslavia that often read as if they had come straight from the Office of the Prosecutor's press kit.
By the way, you mention "many on the left (including some Znet contributors)...."
Pray tell: Which ZNet contributors do you have in mind?
Not the first ICTY death in custody either
Milosevic's death follows the recent and rather mysterious "suicide" of former Republika Srpska Krajina leader Milan Babic. Neither of these were the first deaths in ICTY custody. Milan Kovacevic and Djordje Djukic died after being denied medical treatment and Slavko Dokmanovic also died in his cell, another alleged "suicide". All Serbs, all dead in ICTY custody. Then there are the various "indicted war criminals" and/or their "supporters" who were shot by NATO troops while "resisting arrest" (according to NATO troops and their spokesmen). As far as I know all Serbs also. That the ICTY has not been denounced by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and various other so-called human rights groups speaks volumes about the cooptation of such human rights groups and the role they play in legitimating various kinds of imperial violence (even while denouncing other kinds of imperial violence) and helping construct the official narrative.
Deaths While in ICTY Custody
Dimitri:
At least according to Associated Press, here is an answer to your query ("Not the first ICTY death in custody either," March 11):
Associated Press Worldstream
March 11, 2006 Saturday 8:07 PM GMT
HEADLINE: 11 war crimes suspects indicted by U.N. tribunal have died
BYLINE: By The Associated Press
DATELINE: BELGRADE Serbia-MontenegroEleven war crimes suspects indicted by the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have died:
March 11, 2006: Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his bed at the U.N. prison near The Hague.
March 2006: Milan Babic, 50, a Croatian Serb convicted of war crimes during a Serb rebellion against Croatia's independence, was found dead in his prison cell after an apparent suicide.
May 2003: Momir Talic, a Bosnian Serb general charged with genocide, died at the age of 61, following his release from the U.N. detention facility after doctors diagnosed him with cancer.
March 2003: Mehmed Alagic, a Bosnian Muslim general indicted for war crimes against Serbs and Croats during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war, died of a heart attack at home during a temporary release from the U.N. custody.
August 1998: Milan Kovacevic, a Bosnian Serb charged with crimes against humanity, died in the U.N. court's detention facility at the age of 57. His family claimed he was denied medical assistance and died painfully from a ruptured aorta.
June 1998: Slavko Dokmanovic, a Croatian Serb indicted for war crimes during the Croatian war, hanged himself in his cell at the U.N. detention facility.
April 1997: Djordje Djukic, Bosnian Serb general charged for his role in the shelling of Sarajevo, died shortly after being released from the U.N. detention center as terminally ill from pancreatic cancer.
Four other Serb war crimes suspects died before they were extradited to The Hague:
April 2002: Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Serbia's former police chief who served under Slobodan Milosevic, shot himself in the head in front of the parliament building in the capital, Belgrade, saying in a suicide note he did it because of his refusal to be handed to The Hague. The tribunal sought him for crimes during the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict.
October 2000: Janko Janjic, a Bosnian Serb wanted for alleged rape during the Bosnian war, committed suicide and wounded four German soldiers with a hand grenade while resisting arrest by NATO troops in Bosnia.
January 1999: Dragan Gagovic, a Bosnian Serb accused of raping and torturing Muslim women, was shot to death by French NATO troops in eastern Bosnia while resisting arrest on war crimes charges.
July 1997: Simo Drljaca, a Bosnian Serb suspect, was killed by British commandos trying to arrest him.
For five hours in mid-August 2004, I met with 
This was murder
The ICTY killed Milosevic, pure and simple. He suffered from high blood pressure and a heart condition. The ICTY refused to allow him to go to Russia for treatment despite his complaints of diziness and a roaring pressure in his ears recently. The ICTY pushed on at a breakneck pace and adopted tactics that would raise anyone's blood pressure. From the large number of outright liars and NATOcrats testifying for the prosecution to the endless documents given Milosevic at the last moment to the judges cutting off his microphone, placing arbitrary limits on his examinations and cross-examinations, the many outrageous restrictions placed on him and so much more the ICTY's ways would drive anyone crazy. I really believe most people in that position would have given up or gone much sooner. This death conveniently saves the ICTY the trouble of fabricating a guilty verdict which they had NO evidence for. None. Although the trial did see lots of evidence against NATO, the KLA, Croat and Bosniak forces, and even the various "democratic opposition" leaders and their paramilitaries(so beloved by the West and even the Left),
folks like Djindjic and Draskovic.