Wrongly Accused: The Absolution Of Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević

[roo_ster]

Wrongly Accused: The Absolution Of Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević
https://qcurtius.com/2016/08/09/wrongly-accused-the-absolution-of-slobodan-milosevic/
http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/tjug/en/160324_judgement.pdf

Those of us who had some involvement in Bosnian peacekeeping efforts many years ago might be astonished to learn that, after all the propaganda, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) finally exonerated Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević of wrongdoing in the Bosnian War of the early 1990s.  This result is nothing less than shocking.  The full text of the judgment can be found here.

The Western press–chiefly that of the United States, Britain, and France–were united in painting MiloÅ¡ević as a new Hitler, plunging Europe into the worst carnage since the Second World War.  He was portrayed as the architect of ethnic cleansing, a monster, and a sadist who needed to be destroyed at all costs.  The truth, although it arrives decades too late, is something quite different.

... the Chamber is not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence presented in this case to find that Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević agreed with the common plan...

The Chamber also found that while MiloÅ¡ević expressed reservations about excluding Bosnian Muslims...

...Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević stated that “[a]ll members of other nations and ethnicities must be protected” and that “[t]he national interest of the Serbs is not discrimination...”

...that he continued to condemn “ethnic cleansing” but that the world was “satanizing” the Serbs without condemning actions by the other parties...

In other words, MiloÅ¡ević was just one of several leaders who was involved in the Bosnian War, and he actually tried to limit atrocities, not provoke them.  He quarreled frequently with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, according to the findings of the report, over Karadzic’s indulgence in brutality. Without doubt atrocities were committed during the war, but they were done by independent, local militia leaders who were not taking direct orders from Belgrade.

Both MiloÅ¡ević and Karadzic wanted to maintain the Yugoslav state, but MiloÅ¡ević always was careful to take a more cautious line in dealing with Bosnian Muslims and Croats...

Has the mainstream press picked up this story, and publicized it with the same vehemence that they once sought to vilify MiloÅ¡ević?  Has former President Bill Clinton, the man who led the drive to bomb Serbia, made any public statement about these new revelations?

Of course not.  That would violate one of the cardinal rules of superpower behavior:  never admit any wrongdoing, and never trouble oneself with the facts.

Clearly, MiloÅ¡ević was no choir boy.  But he was only one of many tough actors in the region, and he was pursuing what he believed to be in his country’s and people’s best interests. 

American intervention in Yugoslavia I always thought about the stupidest enterprise imaginable during WJC's administration.

Hell, I did not begrudge the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes their anger; given the history of Turk & muslim atrocities in the Balkans for centuries.

 

[MechAg94]

I agree that we had/have no business there.  My thought was if the Europeans wanted to prevent war from spreading in Europe, they should do so without us. 

[Perd Hapley]

Hey, that whole SFOR thing was a pretty good gig for me. If it took giving Slobodan a black eye for a couple of decades; well ya gotta break a few eggs. I got mine.  

[Andiron]

Shocked, I tell you.

When the scale tips the other way,  we can't possibly let the muslims answer for their past actions in kind*.

* No,  I don't care even a little bit what went on over there.  Awful *expletive deleted*it happens, and the people concerned can sort it out amongst themselves.