Tuesday, July 22, 2008

• Huzzah! Radovan Karadzic is in custody, caught by fellow Serbians in the suburbs of  Belgrade. The once spectacularly coiffed Karadzic had dyed his  newly-grown beard and hair, and was posing as a doctor of alternative medicine.

   
       Then, and now
  

  As President of  Bosnia, Karadzic instigated a program of ethnic cleansing against the country's Muslims, leading to forced relocations, mass graves, and unspeakable crimes against women and children. The World Court has been pressuring Serbia to turn Karadzic over for trial, but he has relied on aid and support from families and friends for years. Here are two excerpts from the indictment handed down by the war crimes tribunal of 1995:

   

  • "They (Karadzic and General Mladic, not yet caught) are criminally responsible for the unlawful confinement, murder, rape, sexual assault, torture, beating, robbery and inhumane treatment of civilians; the targeting of political leaders, intellectuals and professionals; the unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians; the unlawful shelling of civilians; the unlawful appropriation and plunder of real and personal property; the destruction of homes and businesses; and the destruction of places of worship."

  • "Thousands of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians, including women, children and elderly persons, were detained ... for protracted periods of time. They were not afforded judicial process and their internment was not justified by military necessity. They were detained, in large measure, because of their national, religious and political identity. The conditions in the detention facilities were inhumane and brutal ..."

  Note the second excerpt; "They were not afforded judicial process and their internment was not justified by military necessity. They were detained, in large measure, because of their national, religious and political identity. " Sound familiar? Bush might want to reconsider any post-presidential plans to travel to any nation that is a signatory to the World Court. I don't mean to equate the crimes committed by Karadzic to Bush' attempts to end-run around the Constitution, I only mean to point out that there is a method by which Dubya can be held accountable for his execrable actions while in office. But I digress.

  Serbia has been under international pressure to turn over Serbians accused of war crimes, and so far some 43 men have been arrested and charged with war crimes ranging from mass murders to rape and torture. It has taken more time than I would have liked, but those slow wheels of justice are indeed turning, and grinding exceedingly fine.

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