And victor's justice for all

Now that Satan's left testicle has finally been dragged into a courtroom, it seems like a good time to jump in the time machine and revisit another example of Balkans justice.  At the end of the last millennium Bill Clinton decided to establish NATO's "credibility" by attacking Yugoslavia, brushing aside a possible peaceful resolution in favor of a military assault (pointedly undertaken without UN authorization)—because, as Madeleine Albright reportedly chortled, the Serbs "need some bombing, and that's what they are going to get."

No doubt mindful of the fact that initiating a war of aggression is the "supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole," law professor Michael Mandel (and others) proffered charges against NATO to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  This was the response of ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte:

Asked if she intended to look into the possibility that NATO had committed war crimes, she said she had received many reports about such NATO intervention, and was looking very carefully at them. She would take a decision about that and make it public, but that was not her priority.  Asked why not, she said her priority was the open inquiry she had found upon taking office on 15 November.

She reiterated this later when asked a followup question:

The priority was the open inquiry she had found upon undertaking her function on 15 September, she replied to a question about why the alleged killing of civilians by NATO was not her priority. She had many ongoing inquiries, including some related to NATO activities.

So the prima facie evidence against NATO was a lesser concern to her because the folder left open on the desk by her predecessor said "Milosevic", and it's very difficult to do two things at once, as anyone who's ever tried to inflate balloons while simultaneously juggling knives knows all too well.

Asked about the same topic a few months earlier (when Del Ponte's predecessor Louise Arbour was heading the ICTY), odious NATO mouthpiece Jamie Shea offered this priceless paean to victor's justice:

I think we have to distinguish between the theoretical and the practical. I believe that when Justice Arbour starts her investigation, she will because we will allow her to. It's not Milosevic that has allowed Justice Arbour her visa to go to Kosovo to carry out her investigations. If her court, as we want, is to be allowed access, it will be because of NATO so NATO is the friend of the Tribunal, NATO are the people who have been detaining indicted war criminals for the Tribunal in Bosnia. We have done it, 14 arrests so far by SFOR, and we will continue to do it. NATO countries are those that have provided the finance to set up the Tribunal, we are amongst the majority financiers, and of course to build a second chamber so that prosecutions can be speeded up so let me assure that we and the Tribunal are all one on this, we want to see war criminals brought to justice and I am certain that when Justice Arbour goes to Kosovo and looks at the facts she will be indicting people of Yugoslav nationality and I don't anticipate any others at this stage.

(Translation: if you want to put NATO on trial, buy your own damn tribunal.)  And here's another of Shea's oily explanations of the underlying principle.  I've emphasized my very favorite bit so you can enjoy it too!

We are the countries that overwhelmingly support this Tribunal, finance this Tribunal. The United States supplies the President, Canada supplies the Chief Prosecutor and NATO countries provide many of the other judges and officials of the Tribunal. We therefore are committed to facilitating its work although, as I stress, the Tribunal is an independent body, it makes its own decisions first and foremost.

And of course the ICTY did make its own decisions first and foremost; regarding Del Ponte's assertion that she had some sort of inquiry of NATO in place, I'd say the "theoretical and the practical" have been pretty decisively distinguished at this point.

At least it's reassuring to know that there are so many people out there tirelessly dedicated to protecting us from criminals with the poor judgment to fight for the wrong side.

Comments

[Gnome Chomsky]

It's equally heartening to see how many liberal bloggers, from The Editors to Bradrocket to Michael Bérubé, used this as an excuse to attack Noam Chomsky for expressing doubts about whether Milosevic completely knew about and ordered Srebrenica to happen while cheering and pumping his fist, or if perhaps other people took some initiative there too. Hardly a big thing, but it was enough to cause them to go ballistic about how horrible it was that this senile old coot would cast doubt on just how cosmically evil The New Hitler (Until the Next One) truly was.

[Duncan]

Funny thing, though. Despite victors' justice, the US/NATO did not succeed in convicting Milosevic. From what I read, he defended himself rather effectively. The US doesn't even seem to be able to construct very efficient kangaroo courts, though I'm not sure that's not like being unfit to eat with the hogs.

[John Caruso]

Gnome: One of the things I'm thankful for is that my political awakening took place during Clinton's attack on Yugoslavia, because liberals and progressives were generally deeply snowed, and so it gave me an invaluable object lesson that the left could be just as gullible, manipulated, and vicious towards heretics as anyone else. It saved me a few years of illusions.

Duncan: Yeah, the problem with kangaroo courts is that the people who staff them are often burdened with principles and ethics that lead them to act with completely unwarranted fairness—so much so that even if they're a part of your own military, they may not go along with the program. Speaking generally, victor's justice often is justice...just carefully crafted and directed to net the right criminals.

As for Milosevic, even if his trial was never completed he did live the last years of his life in prison and die in an ICTY cell, so I doubt that the people who put him there are too unhappy with the result.

[Duncan]

Agreed, John, but y'know, if Bush or Cheney Rumsfeld or Rice or Kissinger or Madeleine Albright or Bill Clinton were to live the last years of their lives in prison and die in an ICTY cell, even unconvicted, I wouldn't be too unhappy with those results.

[John Caruso]

Yeah, and ditto for Milosevic and Karadzic, really. I'd just like them to have company.

[Duncan]

Oh, indeed. But Milosevic is already dead. And both of them are small potatoes compared to the moral giants I named.