U.S. says Serbs still in denial over war crimes

Reuters ^ | 12 May 2005 | Beti Bilandzic

[Hoplite]

BELGRADE, May 12 (Reuters) - Most Serbs still do not believe their forces committed atrocities in Croatia, Bosnia or Kosovo, a senior United States diplomat said on Thursday, so the idea of holding war crimes trials in the country is problematic.

Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia are all trying to show their capacity to deal with the past after the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, insisting they are ready and able to dispense justice for war crimes cases at home.

U.S. charge d'affaires Roderick Moore, speaking at a seminar in Belgrade, said Serbs widely failed to recognise that their countrymen had committed war crimes, making it difficult for the judiciary to prosecute and convict perpetrators.

"I don't believe the political climate in Serbia is wholly favourable for trying war crimes impartially in domestic courts," said Moore, speaking in Serbian.

"I don't believe that your society has accepted the full extent of the crimes Serbs committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo," he added.

The seminar was part of a debate on whether countries involved in the wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia were ready to take over some of the heavy caseload of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Moore said less than half of Serbia's population believed that 7,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred in Srebrenica in 1995 by the forces of Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, despite the testimony of witnesses, graves found and even the admission of Bosnian Serbs.

"Only 37 percent believe it is a war crime and only 38 percent believe Mladic should go to The Hague to answer for the crime," the envoy said.

Polls show the level of denial is similar for other atrocities, such as the killing of some 200 prisoners of war in Vukovar in Croatia in 1991, or for the 800 Kosovo Albanian bodies buried in Serbia during the 1999 war and found later.

"Your society doubts the crimes happened at all," he said.

Serbia significantly improved its cooperation with the U.N. court this year, delivering 12 suspects since January in line with a surrender policy that earned Belgrade European Union approval to forge closer ties with the wealthy bloc.

While welcoming that, Moore criticised the way officials hailed those who surrendered as "patriots" and failed to point to the crimes with which they were charged.

"Officials organised lavish farewell parties for some of them," he told the seminar.

[Hoplite]

The Serbian mythology of exclusive victimhood is itself victimizing the Serbs.

How perverse.

[oilfieldtrash]

Selective persecution, based on race.

[Destro]

So you have to be judged guilty before you can have a trail? Innocent before proven guilty no longer applies?

[lilylangtree]

Serbs were fighting a civil war. Atrocities were committed on BOTH sides.

[oolatec]

Yeah what about the crimes committed by Muslims that brought on that whole mess in the first place?

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Many in the US still refuse to admit the Klinton war crimes.

At least the Serbs were fighting against Al Qaida, not for it.

[joesnuffy]

We backed the wrong horse in this...as proven by 09-11
and continue to do so...

imo

[Restorer]

I got news for them.

All sides committed war crimes. It's a longstanding tradition in the Balkans.

[Alex Marko]

The Serbs need to be more cooperative with the international court on its former military generals. As does the KLA with Ceku and Haradinaj.

[Neoliberalnot]

Here here!. We bombed Serbian Christians to save the stinking Muslim drug-dealers and look what we got in return--9/11.

[tahotdog]

BELGRADE, May 12 (Reuters) - Most Serbs still do not believe their forces committed atrocities in Croatia, Bosnia or Kosovo, a senior United States diplomat said on Thursday, so the idea of holding war crimes trials in the country is problematic.

I'll tell you something real funny. I don't believe it either, and I don't even KNOW any Serbs. What I DO know is that in the eight-year reign of terror of the Klinton regime, only two groups of people ever really stood up to the beast and tried to face it down, and that was the Serbs, and the Mormons in Utah.

In my estimation those two groups should be honored for that and not punished for it. Here's hoping Condi Rice will manage to weed out the remaining Clintonistas at the state department and get that rogue agency under some semblence of adult supervision and control.

As for anybody stupid enough to go on believing slammite charges of ethnic cleansing or genocide against the Serbs, may they fall prey to every used car and aluminimum siding salesman within 1000 miles of where they live. People that stupid should be the lawful prey of the unscrupulous just as wildebeast are the lawful prey of lions.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I didn't read it, but i thought I saw a post saying some of the perps from 911 even trained with the Bosnians or Albanians.

I found this with a quick search.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1256123/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1256123/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/527902/posts

[ArmyTeach]

When has innocent before proven guilty ever applied?

Innocent until proven guilty is a concept unique to the United States and our Constitution. As far as I know, anywhere else you appear in court presumed guilty and have to prove the negative. That's exactly why we should be very cautious about signing on to the World Court.

[tahotdog]

We backed the wrong horse in this...as proven by 09-11 and continue to do so...

One other thing you might notice is that if there is any group of people in the world who might have a motive to do something like 9-11, it's the Serbs. Nonetheless, you don't read about Serbs doing anything like that. Ever wonder why?

Basically, Christians simply don't do things like that. Nobody does things like 9-11 for any sort of a cause. People do things like 9-11 because they're f***ed-up people. I-slam CREATES f***ed-up people and makes f***ed-up people out of normal people.

Basically, whenever you hear slammites accusing Christians of atrocities and war crimes, you're listening to

[tahotdog]

You dont believe it?

No.

I have seen the mass graves with my very eyes and smelt the stench.

And you sat there and listened to whatever the slammites wanted you to hear about who was in those mass graves and how they got there...

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

["The Serbs need to be more cooperative with the international court on its former military generals. As does the KLA with Ceku and Haradinaj."]

Well then, to be fair, so do the Croats with Gen. Gotovina.

[kahoutek]

Bingo. About a year ago I had a conversation with a muslim Kosovian now living here that phrased the Serb actions as a 'payback' for what the muslims did in the first place.