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The arrest of former President Slobodan Milosevic
revealed the caliber of the men the United States
installed to run Yugoslavia. A Government that timidly
asks NATO’s permission to send a few hundred lightly
armed men to fight KLA terrorists in Southern Serbian
sends thousands of heavily armed men wearing ski
masks and stockings over their heads to storm a family
home in suburban Belgrade. Faced with such a
terrifying show of force Milosevic, his family and
friends responded the way most people would. They
tried to defend themselves. After all, they had no idea
whether this armed detachment had been sent to
arrest Milosevic, to kill him or to kidnap him on behalf
of Carla del Ponte. The regime responded in character
by adding yet further charges against Milosevic. With
typical gallantry it also announced that it intended to
prosecute Milosevic’s wife as well as his daughter who,
if media stories are to be believed, was so distraught at
her father being hauled away to prison, most probably
for the rest of his life, that she fired her gun into the air
several times.
Milosevic was arrested just as the March 31
deadline supposedly stipulated by Serbia
Democratization Act 2000 was expiring. By this
date, according to the legislation, the
Administration had to certify to Congress that
the Belgrade regime was sufficiently in
compliance with Washington’s demands that it
merited $50 million in aid. This in fact is yet
another lie. The Serbia Democratization Act
does not condition the release of $50 million on
Yugoslavia cooperating with the Hague
Tribunal. It is only the continued imposition of
sanctions, particularly membership in the
international financial institutions, that
depended on how Belgrade comported itself
towards Carla del Ponte. Moreover, the March
31 deadline was completely arbitrary. The
legislation makes no mention of this date. Yet,
as usual by dint of repetition, the story of the
looming March 31 deadline became the stuff of
high drama. Even so, Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran Djindjic showed his usual shamelessness
by denying that the timing of Milosevic’s arrest
had anything to do with the deadline.
"Conditioning of that kind is unacceptable for a
sovereign country," he declared. Of course it is.
No doubt when Djindjic was in Washington a
few days before the arrest US officials must have
reassured him that they would not seek to get
their money’s worth from the bought and paid
for Belgrade politicians. Yet two days after the
arrest Djindjic was positively salivating at the
prospect of millions of dollars pouring into
Yugoslavia. "We do cooperate with The Hague,"
Djindjic boasted to Reuters. "Our government
has met all the criteria stipulated by the US
Congress law."
The United States Government responded
entirely in character. Having caused billions of
dollars of damage during NATO’s 1999
bombing, US lawmakers patted themselves on
their backs for their unparalleled generosity in
forking over a measly $50 million. The US
Government shelled out $1 billion for tiny
Montenegro last year alone as it sought to
detach it from Yugoslavia as part of its
anti-Milosevic campaign. Washington’s
response to Milosevic’s arrest was even less
generous. Having humiliated the
Kostunica/Djindjic regime by making it clear
that there would be no flexibility on deadlines
US officials turned around and announced that
Belgrade’s record of compliance was only
adequate so far and that it would have to do a lot
better in the future if it wanted more money.
Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that US
support for a forthcoming international donors
conference depended on Yugoslavia’s "full
cooperation" with Carla del Ponte’s Tribunal.
According to a UPI story, "State Department
officials privately told United Press
International they believe Belgrade is
foot-dragging on cooperation with the tribunal."
Djindjic was soon reassuring Washington
lawmakers by saying the sorts of things they
want to hear. Yugoslavia’s new government, he
said, was determined to confound the
expectations of foreigners about Serbs being
reluctant to confront the abuses of the past. "We
must try to organize some therapy," he declared.
He knows his public. Djindjic also declared that
the Belgrade regime intended to press war
crimes charges against Milosevic. The truly
creepy Serbian Interior Minister Dusan
Mihajlovic announced that Milosevic could face
the death penalty. He could be tried for inciting
an armed rebellion, murder, even treason. "We
have indications that Milosevic was also
involved in serious crimes which carry the death
penalty. But we are talking about investigations,
we need proof," he said. The United States
Government invariably works with the lowest
kinds of people. Only low people are prepared to
turn their country over to the control of foreign
powers for a few miserable dollars. Mihajlovic
throws out accusations and then lamely adds:
"we need proof." In a particularly nauseating
touch he suggested that Milosevic might prefer
to be tried at The Hague so as to avoid the death
penalty he would face at home. "Also the
prisons in Serbia are far from being very
comfortable," he sniggered. No, they are not like
the luxury suites laid on at The Hague.
President Vojislav Kostunica also conducted
himself entirely in character. His first act was to
be out of the country when the first attempt at
arrest was made. The military, fearing a setup,
refused to cooperate with the police until the
President himself signed off on the arrest. Thus
a meeting was hastily arranged between
Kostunica, Djindjic and General Nebojsa
Patkovic, the Army Chief-of-Staff. Kostunica,
unable to perform his usual "No one tells me
what’s going on" routine had to step forward
and admit that he had authorized the arrest. "In
order for the state to survive, no one must be
untouchable," he declared. "Whoever shoots at
the police must be apprehended. Whoever has
been subpoenaed by a judge must answer those
summons. Whoever hinders the law must bear
responsibility regardless of his rank or official
status. The law applies to every citizen." Yet in
no time at all Kostunica was distancing himself
from the arrest. He said he himself had only
been told about the operation after it had
started. The police action was "clumsy and not
well thought out," he announced. Transferring
Milosevic to The Hague was not "his
government’s immediate priority." This is
standard Kostunica evasiveness. Interviewed by
the New York Times, Kostunica sounded more
categorical. Milosevic would not be handed
over. "It should never happen," he explained.
Even Djindjic was opposed to Milosevic’s
extradition. This is yet another lie. Djindjic has
never expressed any opposition. Kostunica
demonstrated his usual slipperiness by also
announcing his approval of a draft law on
cooperation with the Tribunal that would allow
Yugoslavia to extradite anyone sought be Carla
del Ponte.
Kostunica then went into his "Serbian
nationalist" routine and launched into familiar
complaints about the Tribunal. It had not
indicted leaders of other former Yugoslav
republics. It had not indicted any of the leaders
of the NATO countries involved in the bombing
of Yugoslavia. "If that would come about," he
declared, "we could start thinking of the validity
of cooperation with The Hague tribunal." This
seems bizarre even by Kostunica standards.
Carla del Ponte herself has expressed her
satisfaction with Belgrade’s cooperation with the
Tribunal. It is noteworthy that no one in the
world seriously doubts that the Kostunica
regime will not hand Milosevic over to The
Hague – probably within the next couple of
months.
All this will be for very little. The financial aid
supposedly heading Belgrade’s way from the
financial institutions is a pittance. There is talk
of a $260 million loan from the IMF. But far
more important is the small matter of
Yugoslavia’s $12.2 billion external debt.
Yugoslavia owes some $5.0 billion to the Paris
Club and around $3.0 billion to the London
Club. The creditors want their money back.
That’s what the IMF is there for: to make sure
bankers and financiers are taken care of.
As for Milosevic himself, he will remain in
detention indefinitely. Evidently, one of the
things the United States does not export is the
Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination. The basis of any justice
system is that a defendant does not have to talk
to prosecutors if he does not want to. Moreover,
there is also the right to a speedy trial. A
fundamental protection against arbitrary
government is that one cannot be arrested and
then be detained in prison while prosecutors
take their time to look for the evidence. But no
one cares. Milosevic’s arrest and imprisonment
without trial serves one purpose only: to absolve
the true instigators of the carnage in the
Balkans of any responsibility for their actions.
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