Former Canadian ambassador J. Bissett on Kosovo, and his ICTY testimony
1. BALKAN REALITIES: A Letter to The Washington Times
2. CANADA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO YUGOSLAVIA TAKES THE WITNESS STAND /
TRIBUNAL DENIES MILOSEVIC MEDICAL TREATMENT AS CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 2006
See also:
Excellent interview with Joe Bissett - by George Kenney
http://www.electricpolitics.com/podcast/2006/05/peace_practitioner.html
Ambassador James Bissett
http://www.deltax.net/bissett/index.html
MILOSEVIC CALLS EX-CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
Anti-yugoslav, NATO servant news service IWPR describes Bissett's
testimony a few days before Milosevic was killed
http://www.iwpr.net/?
p=tri&s=f&o=259862&apc_state=henitrid4ab88b49ca8808cb98cf38658e3c2db
MONTENEGRO SEPARATISM
Speech at the conference "Montenegro at the beginning of the 21st
century: between stability and risk", July 2-6, 2005
http://www.mail-archive.com/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./
msg01058.html
or: http://www.serbianna.com/columns/bissett/001.shtml
=== 1 ===
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060719-081857-6783r_page2.htm
The Washington Times
Letters to the editor
July 20, 2006
Balkan realities
Tod Lindberg is right that the EU and NATO countries should not
turn their backs on Balkan countries wishing to share in the peace
and prosperity of the new Europe. However, he is wrong to suggest
that it was only Slobodan Milosevic's "genocidal policies" that set
the Balkans in flames in the early 1990s and wrong to condemn Serbian
determination to maintain Kosovo as an integral part of its territory
("Where Milosevic's butchery held sway," Op-Ed, July 11).
It has become fashionable to blame Milosevic and Serbia for
everything that went wrong in the former Yugoslavia while overlooking
the concerns of the Christian Serbian population in Bosnia and in
Kosovo at the grim prospects of having to live in Muslim-dominated
states.
Alia Izetbegovic, the Muslim Bosnian leader, was an Islamist
extremist who made no attempt to hide his plans for destroying the
Christian entity in Bosnia, writing, "There can be no peace or co-
existence between the Islamist faith and non-Islamist institutions."
As for Agim Ceku, the so-called prime minister of Kosovo, the
Canadian military knows what crimes he is guilty of even if the Hague
Tribunal refused to indict him.
In 1993, Mr. Ceku commanded Croatian forces that violated a U.N.-
brokered cease-fire and overran three Serbian villages in the Medac
pocket. When the Canadians counterattacked and re-entered the burned
villages, they discovered all of the inhabitants and domestic animals
had been slaughtered. Mr. Ceku later also ordered undefended Serbian
villages shelled in violation of the rules of war, causing heavy
casualties among the civilian population.
In 2002, Mr. Ceku was indicted by Serbia for responsibility as a
Kosovo Liberation Army commander for the murders of 669 Serbians and
other non-Albanians during the fighting that broke out in Kosovo in
1998. The indictment includes murder, abduction, torture and ethnic
cleansing of the non-Albanian population from Kosovo. This is the man
recently invited to Washington to meet with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, a meeting obviously planned to show U.S. support
for Kosovo independence.
For many outside observers, including this writer, the continued
support by the United States for an independent Kosovo is
incomprehensible. Granting independence to Kosovo would be a serious
violation of Serbia's territorial integrity, which is one of the most
cherished principles of international law and is enshrined in the
United Nations Charter. U.S. violation of this principle would have
far-reaching implications for the very framework of international
peace and security.
Independence for Kosovo also would create a criminal and
terrorist state in the heart of the Balkans. This is not a happy
prospect in today's world.
Kosovo independence would set a precedent for other aspiring
ethnic groups for independent status and would destabilize not only
the Balkans, but many other parts of the world. It also would mark a
low point in U.S. foreign policy. It is difficult to be held up as
the champion of the rule of law, of democracy and the global war on
terror, while at the same time giving support to war criminals and
terrorists.
JAMES BISSETT
Former Canadian ambassador
to the former Yugoslavia
Ottawa
=== 2 ===
CANADA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO YUGOSLAVIA TAKES THE WITNESS STAND
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 23, 2006
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg022306.htm
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Prof. Dr. Marko Atlagic, an MP representing Benkovac in the Croatian
Sabor from 1990 until 1992, concluded his testimony at the trial of
Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday.
Mr. Nice showed Atlagic Milan Babic’s testimony in which he claimed
that he received military support from both Milosevic and Borislav
Jovic.
Atlagic dismissed Babic’s testimony as pure nonsense. He said that
Babic was an opportunist who would say anything to advance his own
interests. He pointed out that Babic never said anything like that
before he got to The Hague.
Mr. Nice again dredged up the BBC documentary “The Death of
Yugoslavia”. Twice Mr. Nice played clips from the movie only to have
it turn out that the BBC’s subtitles were wrong.
Nearly every time Mr. Nice plays a clip from that film it blows-up in
his face. The subtitles are frequently do not match the words
actually being spoken. Judge Bonamy branded the film “tendentious”
and asked Mr. Nice if it was a good idea for the prosecution to keep
relying on it.
“The Death of Yugoslavia” relies on the fact that most English-
speaking people have no knowledge of the Serbo-Croatian language. By
attributing false and malicious subtitles to the people interviewed
in the film the BBC has created a film that is a gross manipulation
of facts and reality. It is disturbing that this film is widely and
uncritically shown to students in Western classrooms.
Mr. Nice spent the balance of Atlagic’s cross-examination citing
Serbian war actions in Croatia. Atlagic spent an equal amount of time
citing the Croatian war actions that provoked the Serbian war actions
in the first place.
Atlagic reiterated his testimony that violent Croatian provocations
began as early as 1989, whereas Serbian retaliation did not begin
until 1991.
After Mr. Nice concluded the cross-examination Atlagic was briefly re-
examined by Mr. Kay because Milosevic too ill to continue. Milosevic,
who suffers from high blood pressure, complained of intense pressure
behind his eyes and ears as well as a loud roaring noise in his head.
Milosevic, in spite of his ill health, spent the last hour of the
hearing examining James Bisset, the Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia
from late 1990 until mid-1992.
Bissett described the NATO bombing as an illegal and "appalling act"
that precipitated the Kosovo refugee crisis.
The witness testified that the NATO charter prohibits the use of
violence to settle international conflicts. "And, yet, in March of
1999, it began to bomb a country that was a sovereign country, that
was no threat to its neighbors," he said.
The opening article of the NATO's founding treaty commits the allies
"to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by
peaceful means (and) refrain ... from the threat or use of force in
any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."
Bisset told the tribunal that Milosevic had been unfairly painted as
the cause of the Yugoslav crisis when in fact he had worked to keep
the country together.
Yugoslavia collapsed, Bisset testified, because Germany encouraged
Slovenia and Croatia to secede and, later, American interference
caused war to erupt in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Speaking of the Kosovo Liberation army, Bisset said Milosevic tried
to "suppress an armed rebellion by an organization that had a year
before been described by the US state department as a terrorist
organization."
The witness challenged the prosecution charge that Milosevic ordered
the dismissal of thousands of Kosovo-Albanian doctors, teachers,
professors, workers, police officers and civil servants.
"To my knowledge they were not dismissed,” said Bisset. "They simply
voluntarily withdrew from their positions (and) continued to do their
work, but under a sort of underground, parallel government" in Kosovo.
His testimony was based on conversations at the time with diplomatic
staff visiting Kosovo and ethnic Albanian delegations, meetings that
he had with Milosevic, as well as intelligence sources within the
Canadian government.
Bisset will continue his testimony when the trial continues on Friday.
---
TRIBUNAL DENIES MILOSEVIC MEDICAL TREATMENT AS CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 24, 2006
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg022406.htm
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The trial of Slobodan Milosevic resumed on Friday. The hearing began
with Milosevic objecting to the trial chamber’s ruling denying his
request for medical treatment. Milosevic says he intends appeal the
decision.
Milosevic has been diagnosed with severe hypertension and is at high
risk for a heart attack or stroke. Russian cardiologists from the
world-renowned Bakoulev medical center in Moscow believe that they
can effectively treat his condition.
The doctors retained by the tribunal have been unable to adequately
treat Milosevic, and as a result the trial has been adjourned several
times on account of his ill-health.
The Tribunal’s decision is a slap in the face to the Russian
Government. The Russian Government guaranteed that it would return
Milosevic to the tribunal’s custody after he was treated by the
physicians at the Bakoulev center.
In its ruling the tribunal stated, “the Chamber notes that the
Accused is currently in the latter stages of a very lengthy trial, in
which he is charged with many serious crimes, and at the end of
which, if convicted, he may face the possibility of life
imprisonment. In these circumstances, and notwithstanding the
guarantees of the Russian Federation and the personal undertaking of
the Accused, the Trial Chamber is not satisfied that the first prong
of the test has been met—that is, that it is more likely than not
that the Accused, if released, would return for the continuation of
his trial .”
What the tribunal is saying is that the Russian Government can not be
trusted to apprehend a 64-year-old man with a heart condition if he
tried to escape. For all of its empty rhetoric about human rights,
what the Hague Tribunal has shown by its decision is that it is
perfectly happy to imperil a man’s life just for the sake of politics.
After Judge Robinson announced that he would not hear any objections
to the ruling. Milosevic continued with the examination of James
Bisset, the Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia between 1990 and 1992.
Bisset testified that the United States initially supported the
preservation of Yugoslavia. He noted James Baker’s statement that the
U.S. supported the use of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) to put
down the secession of Slovenia and Croatia.
Bisset said Germany’s foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, was
partly to blame for the break-up of Yugoslavia. He said that the
German government and Genscher in particular exerted pressure on the
European Community by threatening to walk out of the EC and recognize
Slovenia and Croatia unilaterally.
Contrary to the prosecution’s assertions that Milosevic provoked the
Krajina-Serbs to rebellion. Bisset testified that Serbs in Croatia
were provoked by the Croatian government which was dismissing them
from their jobs and expelling them from their homes.
Bisset testified that Milosevic had no ambition to create “greater
Serbia.” He said that the prosecution’s thesis that Milosevic engaged
in a criminal conspiracy to expand Serbia’s territory was “pure
fantasy”.
The witness testified that Milosevic worked for peace, and that all
of the peace plans Milosevic supported for Bosnia and Croatia would
have made any expansion of Serbia’s territory impossible.
Bisset, who met with Milosevic several times in his capacity as
Canada’s ambassador, said that Milosevic supported the preservation
of Yugoslavia, but was willing to allow others to secede as long as
human rights were protected and as long as the secession was carried
out in accordance with Yugoslavia’s laws and constitution.
Unfortunately Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia did not secede in
accordance with the provisions of the Yugoslav constitution. In stead
they opted for war carried out their secession through violence.
Speaking of the JNA, Bisset testified that they were subordinated to
the federal authorities, not to Milosevic as claimed by the prosecution.
Bisset testified that Milosevic used his political influence to
obtain peace. He recalled how Milosevic used his political influence
to exert pressure on Milan Babic to accept the Vance Plan in Croatia.
The former Canadian ambassador testified that American interference
caused war to erupt in Bosnia and Kosovo.
He testified that in March 1992 (one month before the outbreak of war
in Bosnia) Portuguese diplomat Jose Cutilhiero brokered a peace
agreement in Lisbon between Bosnia’s Serbs, Croats, and Muslims.
Bisset said that the agreement had been signed by Karadzic for the
Serbs, Boban for the Croats, and Izetbegovic for the Muslims. The
witness, a career diplomat, believed that the Cutilhiero plan was a
good plan that would have avoided war in Bosnia if it had been
implemented.
Unfortunately the Cutilhiero plan was never implemented. Bisset
testified that the American ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren
Zimmerman, flew to Sarajevo and met with Izetbegovic. He testified
that Zimmerman sabotaged the peace plan by encouraging Izetbegovic to
remove his signature from the agreement.
Soon after his meeting with Zimmerman, Izetbegovic reneged on the
agreement and civil war broke out in Bosnia.
Far from being the peace seeking humanitarians they claimed to be,
Bisset testified that the Clinton Administration prolonged the
Bosnian war by sabotaging the Vance-Owen plan and the Owen-
Stoltenberg plan.
In Kosovo, Bisset testified that NATO caused the very humanitarian
catastrophe that it blamed on Milosevic. He said that prior to the
NATO bombing there were only a handful of Kosovo refugees. Once the
NATO bombing began, the flow of refugees went from a being a trickle
to a flood.
The former Canadian ambassador testified that American intransigence
made war unavoidable in Kosovo. He testified that Madeline Albright
attached Annex B to the Rambouillet Agreement. Annex B would have
given NATO the right to occupy all of Yugoslavia, not just Kosovo.
Bisset said that no government on Earth could have accepted such an
agreement. He pointed out that senior level U.S. diplomats have even
admitted that Rambouillet was a provocation that was intended to give
NATO an excuse to attack.
It is worth noting that NATO’s original excuse for attacking
Yugoslavia was Yugoslavia’s refusal to sign the Rambouillet
Agreement. The bombing only became a “humanitarian mission” after it
caused the humanitarian catastrophe that NATO blamed on Milosevic.
In Bisset’s opinion, Kosovo-Albanian secessionists opted for war
because they had seen that violence was an effective means to achieve
independence in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia.
He testified that NATO used the Kosovo war to transform itself from a
defensive organization into a renegade force that sees itself as
having the power to wage aggressive war notwithstanding UN charter.
Bisset was critical of NATO’s unwillingness to implement UN
Resolution 1244 in Kosovo. He said that NATO did not protect the non-
Albanian population, and as a result nearly a quarter of a million
non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo. He also said that NATO
has allowed Albanian extremists to destroy more than 160 medieval
Serbian churches and cultural monuments in Kosovo.
Not wishing to hear any criticism of NATO, the tribunal cut off
Bisset’s examination-in-chief.
Mr. Nice then cross-examined Bisset. It is worth noting that Mr. Nice
didn’t challenge most of the testimony that Bisset gave during the
examination-in-chief. Nearly all of it stood unopposed.
In stead Mr. Nice challenged some magazine articles that Ambassador
Bisset wrote about Racak, Srebrenica, and the Hague Tribunal.
In one of his articles Bisset claimed that Racak was a hoax. He based
his conclusion on the forensic evidence found by the Finnish forensic
team that examined the bodies of the so-called “massacre victims.”
The forensic evidence indicated that the people had not been shot at
close range and that they had been shot from various angles. In light
of the forensic evidence they could not have been executed as claimed
by the Tribunal.
Mr. Nice challenged Bisset by asking him if he had spoken to
survivors of the alleged massacre. Bisset said that he had not
interviewed survivors.
This is typical for Mr. Nice. He accused Bisset of making an
irresponsible statement because he didn’t take the stories of the
Albanians into account. But it doesn’t matter what the Albanians say,
Bisset based his article on the scientific evidence. If the Albanians
say something that is at odds with science then they’re lying. If an
Albanian says the Sun revolved around the Earth it doesn't make it true.
Mr. Nice accused Bisset of being irresponsible for criticizing the
Hague Tribunal, and branding the proceedings against Milosevic a
“Stalinist show trial.” Bisset said that he made that remark when the
tribunal denied Milosevic the right of self-representation.
Of course being accused by Bisset is the least of the tribunal’s
public relations concerns. The fact that they’re denying a 64-year-
old heart patient medical treatment is even worse than denying him
the right of self-representation. Denying Milosevic the medical
treatment he needs could kill him.
On Srebrenica Mr. Nice scolded Bisset for expressing doubt that 8,000
Muslims had really been executed there.
Bisset explained that the number 8,000 came from the Red Cross which
reported that 8,000 Muslims were missing from Srebrenica after the
enclave fell. 5,000 of the 8,000 were already reported missing
*BEFORE* the enclave fell (i.e. before the Serbs got there), and the
remaining 3,000 were reported missing when the enclave fell.
Bisset said that the media simply jumped to the absurd conclusion
that all 8,000 of the missing Muslims had been executed by the Serbs.
They did not take into account that there was two-way combat in the
area and that many (if not most) of the supposed “massacre victims”
died while attacking the Serbian lines in a failed bid to link
Srebrenica up with Tuzla.
Mr. Nice said that Bisset of advocated the Serbian cause. The
ambassador responded by saying that the Serbs have been wrongfully
demonized by Western politicians and media organizations, and that
somebody needs to defend them and set the record straight.
Following the conclusion of Mr. Nice’s cross-examination the witness
was briefly re-examined by Milosevic. The trial will resume with a
fresh witness next Monday.
1. BALKAN REALITIES: A Letter to The Washington Times
2. CANADA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO YUGOSLAVIA TAKES THE WITNESS STAND /
TRIBUNAL DENIES MILOSEVIC MEDICAL TREATMENT AS CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 2006
See also:
Excellent interview with Joe Bissett - by George Kenney
http://www.electricpolitics.com/podcast/2006/05/peace_practitioner.html
Ambassador James Bissett
http://www.deltax.net/bissett/index.html
MILOSEVIC CALLS EX-CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
Anti-yugoslav, NATO servant news service IWPR describes Bissett's
testimony a few days before Milosevic was killed
http://www.iwpr.net/?
p=tri&s=f&o=259862&apc_state=henitrid4ab88b49ca8808cb98cf38658e3c2db
MONTENEGRO SEPARATISM
Speech at the conference "Montenegro at the beginning of the 21st
century: between stability and risk", July 2-6, 2005
http://www.mail-archive.com/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./
msg01058.html
or: http://www.serbianna.com/columns/bissett/001.shtml
=== 1 ===
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060719-081857-6783r_page2.htm
The Washington Times
Letters to the editor
July 20, 2006
Balkan realities
Tod Lindberg is right that the EU and NATO countries should not
turn their backs on Balkan countries wishing to share in the peace
and prosperity of the new Europe. However, he is wrong to suggest
that it was only Slobodan Milosevic's "genocidal policies" that set
the Balkans in flames in the early 1990s and wrong to condemn Serbian
determination to maintain Kosovo as an integral part of its territory
("Where Milosevic's butchery held sway," Op-Ed, July 11).
It has become fashionable to blame Milosevic and Serbia for
everything that went wrong in the former Yugoslavia while overlooking
the concerns of the Christian Serbian population in Bosnia and in
Kosovo at the grim prospects of having to live in Muslim-dominated
states.
Alia Izetbegovic, the Muslim Bosnian leader, was an Islamist
extremist who made no attempt to hide his plans for destroying the
Christian entity in Bosnia, writing, "There can be no peace or co-
existence between the Islamist faith and non-Islamist institutions."
As for Agim Ceku, the so-called prime minister of Kosovo, the
Canadian military knows what crimes he is guilty of even if the Hague
Tribunal refused to indict him.
In 1993, Mr. Ceku commanded Croatian forces that violated a U.N.-
brokered cease-fire and overran three Serbian villages in the Medac
pocket. When the Canadians counterattacked and re-entered the burned
villages, they discovered all of the inhabitants and domestic animals
had been slaughtered. Mr. Ceku later also ordered undefended Serbian
villages shelled in violation of the rules of war, causing heavy
casualties among the civilian population.
In 2002, Mr. Ceku was indicted by Serbia for responsibility as a
Kosovo Liberation Army commander for the murders of 669 Serbians and
other non-Albanians during the fighting that broke out in Kosovo in
1998. The indictment includes murder, abduction, torture and ethnic
cleansing of the non-Albanian population from Kosovo. This is the man
recently invited to Washington to meet with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, a meeting obviously planned to show U.S. support
for Kosovo independence.
For many outside observers, including this writer, the continued
support by the United States for an independent Kosovo is
incomprehensible. Granting independence to Kosovo would be a serious
violation of Serbia's territorial integrity, which is one of the most
cherished principles of international law and is enshrined in the
United Nations Charter. U.S. violation of this principle would have
far-reaching implications for the very framework of international
peace and security.
Independence for Kosovo also would create a criminal and
terrorist state in the heart of the Balkans. This is not a happy
prospect in today's world.
Kosovo independence would set a precedent for other aspiring
ethnic groups for independent status and would destabilize not only
the Balkans, but many other parts of the world. It also would mark a
low point in U.S. foreign policy. It is difficult to be held up as
the champion of the rule of law, of democracy and the global war on
terror, while at the same time giving support to war criminals and
terrorists.
JAMES BISSETT
Former Canadian ambassador
to the former Yugoslavia
Ottawa
=== 2 ===
CANADA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO YUGOSLAVIA TAKES THE WITNESS STAND
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 23, 2006
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg022306.htm
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Prof. Dr. Marko Atlagic, an MP representing Benkovac in the Croatian
Sabor from 1990 until 1992, concluded his testimony at the trial of
Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday.
Mr. Nice showed Atlagic Milan Babic’s testimony in which he claimed
that he received military support from both Milosevic and Borislav
Jovic.
Atlagic dismissed Babic’s testimony as pure nonsense. He said that
Babic was an opportunist who would say anything to advance his own
interests. He pointed out that Babic never said anything like that
before he got to The Hague.
Mr. Nice again dredged up the BBC documentary “The Death of
Yugoslavia”. Twice Mr. Nice played clips from the movie only to have
it turn out that the BBC’s subtitles were wrong.
Nearly every time Mr. Nice plays a clip from that film it blows-up in
his face. The subtitles are frequently do not match the words
actually being spoken. Judge Bonamy branded the film “tendentious”
and asked Mr. Nice if it was a good idea for the prosecution to keep
relying on it.
“The Death of Yugoslavia” relies on the fact that most English-
speaking people have no knowledge of the Serbo-Croatian language. By
attributing false and malicious subtitles to the people interviewed
in the film the BBC has created a film that is a gross manipulation
of facts and reality. It is disturbing that this film is widely and
uncritically shown to students in Western classrooms.
Mr. Nice spent the balance of Atlagic’s cross-examination citing
Serbian war actions in Croatia. Atlagic spent an equal amount of time
citing the Croatian war actions that provoked the Serbian war actions
in the first place.
Atlagic reiterated his testimony that violent Croatian provocations
began as early as 1989, whereas Serbian retaliation did not begin
until 1991.
After Mr. Nice concluded the cross-examination Atlagic was briefly re-
examined by Mr. Kay because Milosevic too ill to continue. Milosevic,
who suffers from high blood pressure, complained of intense pressure
behind his eyes and ears as well as a loud roaring noise in his head.
Milosevic, in spite of his ill health, spent the last hour of the
hearing examining James Bisset, the Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia
from late 1990 until mid-1992.
Bissett described the NATO bombing as an illegal and "appalling act"
that precipitated the Kosovo refugee crisis.
The witness testified that the NATO charter prohibits the use of
violence to settle international conflicts. "And, yet, in March of
1999, it began to bomb a country that was a sovereign country, that
was no threat to its neighbors," he said.
The opening article of the NATO's founding treaty commits the allies
"to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by
peaceful means (and) refrain ... from the threat or use of force in
any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."
Bisset told the tribunal that Milosevic had been unfairly painted as
the cause of the Yugoslav crisis when in fact he had worked to keep
the country together.
Yugoslavia collapsed, Bisset testified, because Germany encouraged
Slovenia and Croatia to secede and, later, American interference
caused war to erupt in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Speaking of the Kosovo Liberation army, Bisset said Milosevic tried
to "suppress an armed rebellion by an organization that had a year
before been described by the US state department as a terrorist
organization."
The witness challenged the prosecution charge that Milosevic ordered
the dismissal of thousands of Kosovo-Albanian doctors, teachers,
professors, workers, police officers and civil servants.
"To my knowledge they were not dismissed,” said Bisset. "They simply
voluntarily withdrew from their positions (and) continued to do their
work, but under a sort of underground, parallel government" in Kosovo.
His testimony was based on conversations at the time with diplomatic
staff visiting Kosovo and ethnic Albanian delegations, meetings that
he had with Milosevic, as well as intelligence sources within the
Canadian government.
Bisset will continue his testimony when the trial continues on Friday.
---
TRIBUNAL DENIES MILOSEVIC MEDICAL TREATMENT AS CANADIAN AMBASSADOR
CONCLUDES HIS TESTIMONY
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 24, 2006
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg022406.htm
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The trial of Slobodan Milosevic resumed on Friday. The hearing began
with Milosevic objecting to the trial chamber’s ruling denying his
request for medical treatment. Milosevic says he intends appeal the
decision.
Milosevic has been diagnosed with severe hypertension and is at high
risk for a heart attack or stroke. Russian cardiologists from the
world-renowned Bakoulev medical center in Moscow believe that they
can effectively treat his condition.
The doctors retained by the tribunal have been unable to adequately
treat Milosevic, and as a result the trial has been adjourned several
times on account of his ill-health.
The Tribunal’s decision is a slap in the face to the Russian
Government. The Russian Government guaranteed that it would return
Milosevic to the tribunal’s custody after he was treated by the
physicians at the Bakoulev center.
In its ruling the tribunal stated, “the Chamber notes that the
Accused is currently in the latter stages of a very lengthy trial, in
which he is charged with many serious crimes, and at the end of
which, if convicted, he may face the possibility of life
imprisonment. In these circumstances, and notwithstanding the
guarantees of the Russian Federation and the personal undertaking of
the Accused, the Trial Chamber is not satisfied that the first prong
of the test has been met—that is, that it is more likely than not
that the Accused, if released, would return for the continuation of
his trial .”
What the tribunal is saying is that the Russian Government can not be
trusted to apprehend a 64-year-old man with a heart condition if he
tried to escape. For all of its empty rhetoric about human rights,
what the Hague Tribunal has shown by its decision is that it is
perfectly happy to imperil a man’s life just for the sake of politics.
After Judge Robinson announced that he would not hear any objections
to the ruling. Milosevic continued with the examination of James
Bisset, the Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia between 1990 and 1992.
Bisset testified that the United States initially supported the
preservation of Yugoslavia. He noted James Baker’s statement that the
U.S. supported the use of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) to put
down the secession of Slovenia and Croatia.
Bisset said Germany’s foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, was
partly to blame for the break-up of Yugoslavia. He said that the
German government and Genscher in particular exerted pressure on the
European Community by threatening to walk out of the EC and recognize
Slovenia and Croatia unilaterally.
Contrary to the prosecution’s assertions that Milosevic provoked the
Krajina-Serbs to rebellion. Bisset testified that Serbs in Croatia
were provoked by the Croatian government which was dismissing them
from their jobs and expelling them from their homes.
Bisset testified that Milosevic had no ambition to create “greater
Serbia.” He said that the prosecution’s thesis that Milosevic engaged
in a criminal conspiracy to expand Serbia’s territory was “pure
fantasy”.
The witness testified that Milosevic worked for peace, and that all
of the peace plans Milosevic supported for Bosnia and Croatia would
have made any expansion of Serbia’s territory impossible.
Bisset, who met with Milosevic several times in his capacity as
Canada’s ambassador, said that Milosevic supported the preservation
of Yugoslavia, but was willing to allow others to secede as long as
human rights were protected and as long as the secession was carried
out in accordance with Yugoslavia’s laws and constitution.
Unfortunately Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia did not secede in
accordance with the provisions of the Yugoslav constitution. In stead
they opted for war carried out their secession through violence.
Speaking of the JNA, Bisset testified that they were subordinated to
the federal authorities, not to Milosevic as claimed by the prosecution.
Bisset testified that Milosevic used his political influence to
obtain peace. He recalled how Milosevic used his political influence
to exert pressure on Milan Babic to accept the Vance Plan in Croatia.
The former Canadian ambassador testified that American interference
caused war to erupt in Bosnia and Kosovo.
He testified that in March 1992 (one month before the outbreak of war
in Bosnia) Portuguese diplomat Jose Cutilhiero brokered a peace
agreement in Lisbon between Bosnia’s Serbs, Croats, and Muslims.
Bisset said that the agreement had been signed by Karadzic for the
Serbs, Boban for the Croats, and Izetbegovic for the Muslims. The
witness, a career diplomat, believed that the Cutilhiero plan was a
good plan that would have avoided war in Bosnia if it had been
implemented.
Unfortunately the Cutilhiero plan was never implemented. Bisset
testified that the American ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren
Zimmerman, flew to Sarajevo and met with Izetbegovic. He testified
that Zimmerman sabotaged the peace plan by encouraging Izetbegovic to
remove his signature from the agreement.
Soon after his meeting with Zimmerman, Izetbegovic reneged on the
agreement and civil war broke out in Bosnia.
Far from being the peace seeking humanitarians they claimed to be,
Bisset testified that the Clinton Administration prolonged the
Bosnian war by sabotaging the Vance-Owen plan and the Owen-
Stoltenberg plan.
In Kosovo, Bisset testified that NATO caused the very humanitarian
catastrophe that it blamed on Milosevic. He said that prior to the
NATO bombing there were only a handful of Kosovo refugees. Once the
NATO bombing began, the flow of refugees went from a being a trickle
to a flood.
The former Canadian ambassador testified that American intransigence
made war unavoidable in Kosovo. He testified that Madeline Albright
attached Annex B to the Rambouillet Agreement. Annex B would have
given NATO the right to occupy all of Yugoslavia, not just Kosovo.
Bisset said that no government on Earth could have accepted such an
agreement. He pointed out that senior level U.S. diplomats have even
admitted that Rambouillet was a provocation that was intended to give
NATO an excuse to attack.
It is worth noting that NATO’s original excuse for attacking
Yugoslavia was Yugoslavia’s refusal to sign the Rambouillet
Agreement. The bombing only became a “humanitarian mission” after it
caused the humanitarian catastrophe that NATO blamed on Milosevic.
In Bisset’s opinion, Kosovo-Albanian secessionists opted for war
because they had seen that violence was an effective means to achieve
independence in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia.
He testified that NATO used the Kosovo war to transform itself from a
defensive organization into a renegade force that sees itself as
having the power to wage aggressive war notwithstanding UN charter.
Bisset was critical of NATO’s unwillingness to implement UN
Resolution 1244 in Kosovo. He said that NATO did not protect the non-
Albanian population, and as a result nearly a quarter of a million
non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo. He also said that NATO
has allowed Albanian extremists to destroy more than 160 medieval
Serbian churches and cultural monuments in Kosovo.
Not wishing to hear any criticism of NATO, the tribunal cut off
Bisset’s examination-in-chief.
Mr. Nice then cross-examined Bisset. It is worth noting that Mr. Nice
didn’t challenge most of the testimony that Bisset gave during the
examination-in-chief. Nearly all of it stood unopposed.
In stead Mr. Nice challenged some magazine articles that Ambassador
Bisset wrote about Racak, Srebrenica, and the Hague Tribunal.
In one of his articles Bisset claimed that Racak was a hoax. He based
his conclusion on the forensic evidence found by the Finnish forensic
team that examined the bodies of the so-called “massacre victims.”
The forensic evidence indicated that the people had not been shot at
close range and that they had been shot from various angles. In light
of the forensic evidence they could not have been executed as claimed
by the Tribunal.
Mr. Nice challenged Bisset by asking him if he had spoken to
survivors of the alleged massacre. Bisset said that he had not
interviewed survivors.
This is typical for Mr. Nice. He accused Bisset of making an
irresponsible statement because he didn’t take the stories of the
Albanians into account. But it doesn’t matter what the Albanians say,
Bisset based his article on the scientific evidence. If the Albanians
say something that is at odds with science then they’re lying. If an
Albanian says the Sun revolved around the Earth it doesn't make it true.
Mr. Nice accused Bisset of being irresponsible for criticizing the
Hague Tribunal, and branding the proceedings against Milosevic a
“Stalinist show trial.” Bisset said that he made that remark when the
tribunal denied Milosevic the right of self-representation.
Of course being accused by Bisset is the least of the tribunal’s
public relations concerns. The fact that they’re denying a 64-year-
old heart patient medical treatment is even worse than denying him
the right of self-representation. Denying Milosevic the medical
treatment he needs could kill him.
On Srebrenica Mr. Nice scolded Bisset for expressing doubt that 8,000
Muslims had really been executed there.
Bisset explained that the number 8,000 came from the Red Cross which
reported that 8,000 Muslims were missing from Srebrenica after the
enclave fell. 5,000 of the 8,000 were already reported missing
*BEFORE* the enclave fell (i.e. before the Serbs got there), and the
remaining 3,000 were reported missing when the enclave fell.
Bisset said that the media simply jumped to the absurd conclusion
that all 8,000 of the missing Muslims had been executed by the Serbs.
They did not take into account that there was two-way combat in the
area and that many (if not most) of the supposed “massacre victims”
died while attacking the Serbian lines in a failed bid to link
Srebrenica up with Tuzla.
Mr. Nice said that Bisset of advocated the Serbian cause. The
ambassador responded by saying that the Serbs have been wrongfully
demonized by Western politicians and media organizations, and that
somebody needs to defend them and set the record straight.
Following the conclusion of Mr. Nice’s cross-examination the witness
was briefly re-examined by Milosevic. The trial will resume with a
fresh witness next Monday.