An article on Milosevic's speech, however, is featured on the front page of today's _New York Times_: Ian Fisher and Marlise Simons, "Defiant, Milosevic Begins His Defense by Assailing NATO," _New York Times_ 15 Feb. 02, <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/international/europe/15MILO.html>. Excerpts from Milosevic's testimony are at <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/international/15MTEX.html>. The Fisher & Simons article devotes a surprising amount of space to Milosevic's own words (surprising given the NYT standards):
***** "The Americans go right to the other side of the globe to fight against terrorism - Afghanistan a case in point," Mr. Milosevic told his judges, with finger jabs and a confidence that left no doubt that this is a man used to his authority. "And that is considered to be logical and normal. Whereas here the struggle against terrorism, in the heart of one's own country, in one's own home is considered to be a crime."...
... In his testimony today, Mr. Milosevic also engaged in a duel of images, producing photographs and videos that were even more ghastly than those shown by prosecutors earlier this week, this time of the victims of NATO airstrikes. At his request, courtroom monitors flashed images of bombed sites, charred and mangled bodies and severed human limbs and heads.
"The bombing of civilian targets was merciless," he said solemnly. "The more suffering of civilians, the better."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/international/europe/15MILO.html> *****
As expected, however, NYT refuses to carry the visual images in question. Moreover, NYT has Human Rights Watch, which recently underestimated Afghan casualties of US bombings & sought to undermine Professor Marc Herold's work, come to the Empire's rescue again: "While some 4,000 corpses have been unearthed in Kosovo, most of them Albanian, Human Rights Watch estimates that NATO bombings killed at least 500 civilians, acts which _it said violated the Geneva Conventions but did not rise to the level of war crime_" (emphasis added, at <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/international/europe/15MILO.html>). In contrast, Amnesty International did not shy away from characterizing NATO bombings of civilians as war crimes: see "'Collateral Damage' or Unlawful Killings?: Violations of the Laws of War by NATO during Operation Allied Force" at <http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/kosovo/>.
What is not reported in the corporate media is private funding of the allegedly "international" Hague Tribunal:
***** Primarily US, not UN, funding
The Tribunal has received substantial funds from individual States, private foundations and corporations in violation of Article 32 of its Charter. Much of its money has come from the U.S. government directly in cash and donations of computer equipment. In the last year for which public figures are available, 1994/95, the United States provided $700,000 in cash and $2,300,000 worth of equipment. That same year the Open Society Institute, a foundation established by George Soros, the American billionaire financier, to bring "openness" to the former east bloc countries contributed $150,000 and the Rockefeller family, through the Rockefeller Foundation, contributed $50,000 and there have been donations from corporations such as Time-Warner, and Discovery Products, both US corporations. It also important to know that Mr. Soros' foundation not only funds the Tribunal it also funds the main KLA newspaper in Pristina, an obvious conflict of interest that has not been mentioned once in the western press.
The Tribunal also receives money from the United States Institute for Peace for its Outreach project, a public relations arm of the Tribunal set up to overcome opposition in the former Yugoslav republics to its work and the constant criticisms of selective prosecution and the application of double standards; objections which have obvious merit and which are never answered by anyone at the Tribunal or by any of its sponsors. The Institute for Peace is stated to be "an independent, non-partisan federal institution created and funded by Congress to strengthen the nation's capacity to promote the peaceful resolution of international conflict." Established in 1984 under Ronald Reagan, its Board of Directors is appointed by the President of the United States.
The Tribunal also receives support from the Coalition For International Justice whose purpose is also to enhance public opinion of the Tribunal. The CIJ was founded and is funded by, again, George Soros' Open Society Institute and something called CEELI, the Central and East European Law Institute, created by the American Bar Association and lawyers close to the U.S. government to promote the replacement of socialist legal systems with free market ones.
These groups also have supplied many of the legal staff of the Tribunal. In her speech to the Supreme Court, Judge Mcdonald said, "The Tribunal has been well served by the tremendous work of a number of lawyers who have come to the Tribunal through the CIJ and CEELI..." It is also interesting to note that the occasion of Judge McDonalds speech was her acceptance of an award from the American Bar Association and CEELI. In the same speech she also said that "We are now seeking funding from states and foundations to carry out this critical effort."
<http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/International_War_Crimes/ImpartialTribunal_Hague.html> *****
In the meantime, on pg. A8 of the National Edition of NYT, the reader finds "Ruling Likely to End Sharon War-Crimes Case":
***** THE HAGUE, Feb. 14
(Reuters) - The World Court sounded the death knell today for a Belgian attempt to try Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel for war crimes, ruling in a similar case that serving ministers were protected from prosecution.
Jan Devadder, legal adviser to the Belgian Foreign Ministry, said decision by the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, would most likely result in Belgium's dropping its case against Mr. Sharon.
"The Sharon case, in my opinion, is closed," Mr. Devadder told Reuters, after the ruling by the United Nations' highest judicial body....
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/international/middleeast/15HAGU.html> *****
Back to Milosevic. Here's a collection of resources on the Hague Tribunal and discussion of its implications for international law: <http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/kosovo/>.
Lastly, while his criticisms' of NATO, the Hague Tribunal, etc. have many points, they would be more politically pointed and provocative if Milosevic _admitted_ Albanian civilian casualties due to Yugoslavia's counter-insurgency campaigns and _then challenged_ leaders of the Empire to ask themselves which head of state, past and present, has better human rights records _when fighting armed insurgents_ (be they guerillas or terrorists, actual or imaginary) than himself. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>