European Justice (Crapweasel mills of justice don't grind much of anything)

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | January 23, 2005 | Debra J. Saunders

[quidnunc]

In 1995, Bosnian Muslims fled to Srebenica — a designated United Nations "safe haven," but U.N. troops couldn't or wouldn't save them from the Bosnian Serb army. Serbian thugs first divided the men from the women, children and the elderly, and then drove them away in separate buses. In the massacre that followed, Serbian troops gunned down some 7,000 to 8,000 Muslim men.

Europe was outraged then at what good people called Europe's first holocaust since World War II. Europe and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The Hague today are too busy being high-minded to be outraged.

It tells you how feckless the court has become when it sentences a defendant for aiding and abetting in genocide to a modest 18 years in prison — and the Associated Press describes the sentence as "lengthy."

Specifically, the court found former Bosnian Serb Col. Vidoje Blagojevic, 54, guilty of aiding and abetting the genocide, murder, persecutions and inhumane acts. The 18-year sentence, if fully served, factors out to less than one day per Srebenica victim.

The court also convicted Dragan Jokic, a chief engineer in charge of bulldozing over the bodies, for murder, extermination and persecution on racial grounds. His term: nine years. Why are these sentences so short for these heinous crimes?

The tribunal noted that it couldn't prove that Blagojevic knew he was helping the military kill the Muslim males. Still, it found his troops did provide "practical assistance" in separating men and women and busing the victims out of town. He saw the buses, helped in the search operations and, according to the court, "knew of the discriminatory basis upon which the underlying acts of murder, cruel and inhumane treatment, terrorizing the civilian population and forcible transfer were committed."

-snip-

[mark502inf]

Problem No. 1: The United Nations rejects the death penalty. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has had little to fear in his trial on 66 charges, including crimes against humanity. He has used it as a stage to publicly ridicule adversaries and the court -- secure in the knowledge that the worst that can happen to him is that he'll get a life sentence, without parole, if the court is in a hanging mood, along with good medical care and protection from the thousands of Bosnian Muslims who lost loved ones during the carnage and would like to kill him.

Lack of a death penalty for someone so richly deserving as Milosevic is a great drawback for this court.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Let's see....and the UN took care of this problem how?

[Bulgaricus]

Ah, yes. Another "how not to do things" example from the Euros. You'll notice that Srebinka was also given by the UN to the Serbs, thus very graciously rewarding their genocide when they carved up Bosnia. Would be like the Allied Powers giving Germany Auschwitz and Maribor to Germany to reward them for genocide. Some idiots, namely the UN & Euros, just never learn.

Then please note that even though the US has bled for Muslims not in at LEAST 3 wars. My question is, so, when will they go to bat & bleed for us?

Euro justice is always justice lite. Slap a terrorist on the wrist, free 'em, etc., as they were just misunderstood. What we need is a hanging judge to string these guys up to encourage the others of what would happen if the US was running the trials instead of Euroland.

[oilfieldtrash]

The muslims had Srebnica declared a safe area and then abused this privilege to attack Serbian civilians in the surrounding villages.

The Serbs got PO'ed because the Dutch refused to control them and went on the warpath.

Quidnic will use any excuse to trash the Euros but I cant see that the US has been much more effective in protecting minorities in Kosovo than the Euros were in Srebenica.

[Hoplite]

If anyone can disabuse me of this notion, feel free.

Kind of like asking someone to disabuse you of the notion that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

Do you know anything about the war in Bosnia?

[mark502inf]

I cant see that the US has been much more effective in protecting minorities in Kosovo than the Euros were in Srebenica.

Your blame-America-first reflex kicked in a little too fast again, oilfield. In Kosovo, UNMIK has primary responsibility for law & order, to include protecting minorities. It is a UN operation currently run by a Scandinavian. It is supported by KFOR, a NATO military force currently commanded by a French general. About 1/6 of KFOR troops are American. The Kosovo governing structures and security ops are run by Europeans and primarily staffed by Europeans.

[oilfieldtrash]

Run by a European. Maybe. But lets not forget whose war this was. Our former president, William Jefferson Clinton and the ugly toad, Madeline Albright. The policies are their policies anbd the only ones who have been interested in the interests of the Serb minority is the French. The Americans have always been firmly on the side of teh Albanians and havent tried to hide it.

[mark502inf]

But lets not forget whose war this was.

True that Clinton administration figures, especially Holbrooke & Albright, played a large role. However, NATO actually ran the war and NATO requires unanimity to act. That means the "activation order" for military action was approved by every member of NATO, including at that time France, Greece, Norway, UK, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Canada, and the USA.