http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/croa-f26_prn.shtml
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WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkans
War crimes tribunal drops charges against Croatian general
By Keith Lee and Paul Mitchell
26 February 2003
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
has dropped war crime charges against the former Chief of the Croatian
Army, General Janko Bobetko. Medical experts appointed by the tribunal
have declared the 83-year-old Bobetko too ill to stand trial.
Bobetko was the most recent of a number of top ranking Croatian
military officers to be accused of war crimes during the Homeland War.
This conflict erupted soon after Croatia declared independence from
Yugoslavia in June 1991 and the Serb majority in the Croatian Krajina
region responded by establishing an independent Serb Republic.
As the war escalated the United Nations sent peacekeeping troops into
the Krajina in February 1992. The following year Croatian Army units
attacked an area close to the UN patrolled area called the Medak
Pocket. Canadian UN troops reported how the Croatian Army laid waste
to the area killing unarmed Serb civilians.
In May 2001 the ICTY indicted General Rahim Ademi, commander of the
Medak Pocket troops, with unlawful killing of at least 38 Serb
civilians and the destruction of hundreds of buildings. Late in 2002
the ICTY charged Bobetko with "command responsibility" for the attack.
In his autobiography All My Battles Bobetko boasts of his role in the
Medak Pocket as proof of his military ingenuity.
The indictment points, however, that the most intense killing and
destruction took place after a ceasefire had been agreed.
The ICTY has also charged another Croatian general, Ante Gotovina,
with "command responsibility" for war crimes committed during the
August 1995 Croatian offensive code-named Operation Oluja (Storm)
which recaptured the Krajina and led to the biggest single act of
ethnic cleansing in the Yugoslav civil war. Between 150,000-200,000
Krajina Serbs were displaced, about 150 murdered and hundreds more
disappeared.
The indictments have caused a political crisis in Croatia because they
question the claim that the Homeland War was a progressive war of
liberation and undermine the Western powers' claim that the Balkan
conflict was entirely the product of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic's drive for a Greater Serbia. The atrocities
detailed in the indictments show that the upper echelons of the
Croatian military promoted a brand of nationalism every bit as
reactionary as Milosevic's Serbian nationalism; one that glorifies the
Nazi puppet regime in Croatia during the 1940s and speaks of
regaining Western Bosnia.
The crimes committed during the Homeland War were never investigated
during the ten years that President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) governed Croatia after its separation from
Yugoslavia. Following threats to stop an International Monetary Fund
loan, the HDZ did pass a law on cooperation with the ICTY and handed
over ten Bosnian Croats accused of war crimes in Bosnia in 1997.
However the HDZ regarded those involved in the Homeland War as
untouchable heroes.
When HDZ rule collapsed in January 2000, the Western powers claimed
the new coalition government led by Ivica Racan's Social Democratic
Party (a successor to the former Communist Party) heralded a break
with the extreme nationalism of the Tudjman era and that it would
agree to Croatian war crimes investigations. These investigations were
particularly necessary to bolster the new and fragile pro-Western
Serbian government that was faced with a crisis over its decision to
hand over Milosevic to the ICTY.
After meeting Croatian officials, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del
Ponte declared, "The whole tone is different... Finally
we have a partner in the Balkans and not just another problem."
However, the indictments caused severe difficulties in Croatia. In
2000, the HDZ organised massive demonstrations and blockaded the
Zagreb-Split highway after the indictment of General Mirko Norac for
war crimes committed in 1991. Twelve generals, including Bobetko,
signed an open letter criticising Racan's attempts to "devalue" the
Homeland War, sparking off rumours of a coup. In July 2001, four
ministers in Racan's government belonging to the Social Liberal Party
resigned after Gotovina and Ademi were indicted causing a vote of no
confidence to be taken in the Croatian Assembly.
By the time of her appearance at the UN Security Council last year,
del Ponte appeared exasperated. "In June 2001 ... as an expression of
trust, I gave the Croatian Government advanced notice of a sealed
indictment against General Ante Gotovina, a commander of forces who
was accused of crimes against humanity. My trust was misplaced-he was
allowed to evade arrest and according to various reliable sources he
is now enjoying a safe haven in the territory of Croatia," she said.
Del Ponte continued, "In May this year I again provided the Croatian
authorities with advanced notice of an imminent indictment against
General Bobetko, former Chief of Staff of the Croatian Army....
Instead of compliance with the Tribunal's order, the Croatian
Government has taken upon itself to seek to challenge the warrant
and the indictment itself. We next heard that the General's health
does not permit his travel to The Hague. More delay and obstruction.
The attitude of Croatia is unacceptable."
With unemployment in Croatia over 20 percent and public expenditure
more than 50 percent of GDP-the highest in Europe-the government has
speeded up the HDZ programme of privatisations, layoffs and reductions
in welfare.
Croatia's has joined the World Trade Organisation and applied for
membership of NATO and the European Union.
To head off the widespread strike action these policies are provoking
the government is playing the nationalist card. In June 2001 Racan
announced plans to erect a huge monument to the Homeland War saying
"At this time of difficult decisions and self-sacrifice ... we should
remember and be inspired by the strong unity of the Homeland War ...
[when] ... there was no left, no right, there were no political,
social, cultural or other differences."
Racan is no stranger to the use of nationalism to divert the working
class. A former Stalinist bureaucrat like Milosevic, he was elected
president of the ruling Croatian Communist Party in 1989 and played a
key role in the break up of the Yugoslav federation. In 1990 he
clashed with Milosevic, declaring that Croatia would no longer
"provide bread to Serbia" and organised the first multi-party
elections specifically to approve his separatist line.
Racan defends the Medak Pocket attack as a "legitimate military
operation" and states that Bobetko performed his "constitutional duty
to liberate Croatian territory" and so cannot be considered guilty of
"command responsibility". However, he is happy to accuse Milosevic of
"command responsibility" for Serbian atrocities and sanctioned
Croatian President Stipe Mesic's appearance as a witness for the
prosecution at Milosevic's trial. For his part, Milosevic claims
the atrocities were also individual acts of violence that occurred
whilst he was trying to preserve the Yugoslav federation
and its constitution.
The case has highlighted divisions between Europe and the United
States. Recently US Ambassador for War Crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper,
told the ICTY it should focus on the arrest of four remaining key
suspects and then halt its investigations and hand over existing cases
to local courts. Prosper said that during a visit to the Balkans he
would aim to "press" the governments in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia to
arrest all remaining fugitives, but he cancelled his visit to Croatia
at the last minute as a slap in the face to del Ponte and her efforts
to indict the Croatian generals.
The US has reason to be concerned at a high profile trial of the
generals. The Croatian army acted as Washington's proxy army against
Milosevic and there is plenty of evidence that the Clinton
administration provided vital support to Croatia during Operation
Storm. In his book To End A War, Clinton's special envoy Richard
Holbrooke described the Croat forces as his "junkyard dogs" and
recounts his conversation with the Croatian defence minister during
the battle, saying, "We can't say this publicly but please take Sanski
Most, Prijedor and Bosanki Novi. And do it quickly before the Serbs
regroup."
The US government endorsed a contract between the Croatian army and
the US military consultancy firm Military Professional Resource
Incorporated to provide military training.
Franjo Tudjman's son Miro, who was head of Croatian intelligence at
the time, claims the relationship went further-with the Croatian and
US governments enjoying a "de facto partnership". He says the US
provided $10 million worth of listening and intercept equipment and
all "intelligence in Croatia went on line in real time to the National
Security Agency in Washington."
Gotovina seemed especially close to US officials, which may explain
his ability to evade capture for so long. It is alleged that US drone
aircraft operated out of his headquarters in order to spy on Yugoslav
army movements. Photographs show Gotovina with US military personnel
in front of a computer screen showing "Battle Staff Training Program"
and "Welcome to Training Center Fort Irwin". According to Nenad
Ivankovic, former army commander and Gotovina's biographer, Gotovina
"feels betrayed by the silence of the US today and by the people he
knew. The CIA saw everything that happened during Operation Storm and
never objected then." Washington has refused all requests from the
ICTY for documents and satellite photographs relating to this period.
Another concern of US officials is to prevent the concept of "command
responsibility" becoming a definition for war crimes. Lawyers for the
Croat generals have pointed out that Clinton, Holbrooke and other US
officials could also be charged with command responsibility for
Operation Storm because "they knew the attack was coming and gave it
the green light."
This threat is taken seriously. In 2002 Henry Hyde chairman of the
House Committee on International Relations warned that the ICTY could
investigate officials who were "formulating and carrying out US
government policy" for command responsibility in connection with
Operation Storm. Gotovina's indictment was the "best example of the
ICTY's politicised and inaccurate prosecution," a Senate inquiry was
told.
In a series of articles in September 2002, journalists in the
Washington Times repeated Hyde's warning and attacked the concept of
command responsibility as "a threat to US national interests". In
effect, the Times pronounced, the concept made "war itself a crime"
and illegalised the use of "overwhelming force", that is, the
foundation of US military strategy.
The Times pointed out that Operation Storm was the model for Operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where the Northern Alliance acted as
a US proxy army. If command responsibility is made a definition of a
war crime then "the United States can be made accountable for the
actions of its allies around the world. There will be nothing
preventing the International Criminal Court from making US officials
responsible for isolated criminal acts that have been committed by
Northern Alliance troops."
The Operation Storm indictment, the Times concluded, "threatens to
limit Washington's ability to project its power around the world."
Copyright 1998-2003
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkans
War crimes tribunal drops charges against Croatian general
By Keith Lee and Paul Mitchell
26 February 2003
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
has dropped war crime charges against the former Chief of the Croatian
Army, General Janko Bobetko. Medical experts appointed by the tribunal
have declared the 83-year-old Bobetko too ill to stand trial.
Bobetko was the most recent of a number of top ranking Croatian
military officers to be accused of war crimes during the Homeland War.
This conflict erupted soon after Croatia declared independence from
Yugoslavia in June 1991 and the Serb majority in the Croatian Krajina
region responded by establishing an independent Serb Republic.
As the war escalated the United Nations sent peacekeeping troops into
the Krajina in February 1992. The following year Croatian Army units
attacked an area close to the UN patrolled area called the Medak
Pocket. Canadian UN troops reported how the Croatian Army laid waste
to the area killing unarmed Serb civilians.
In May 2001 the ICTY indicted General Rahim Ademi, commander of the
Medak Pocket troops, with unlawful killing of at least 38 Serb
civilians and the destruction of hundreds of buildings. Late in 2002
the ICTY charged Bobetko with "command responsibility" for the attack.
In his autobiography All My Battles Bobetko boasts of his role in the
Medak Pocket as proof of his military ingenuity.
The indictment points, however, that the most intense killing and
destruction took place after a ceasefire had been agreed.
The ICTY has also charged another Croatian general, Ante Gotovina,
with "command responsibility" for war crimes committed during the
August 1995 Croatian offensive code-named Operation Oluja (Storm)
which recaptured the Krajina and led to the biggest single act of
ethnic cleansing in the Yugoslav civil war. Between 150,000-200,000
Krajina Serbs were displaced, about 150 murdered and hundreds more
disappeared.
The indictments have caused a political crisis in Croatia because they
question the claim that the Homeland War was a progressive war of
liberation and undermine the Western powers' claim that the Balkan
conflict was entirely the product of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic's drive for a Greater Serbia. The atrocities
detailed in the indictments show that the upper echelons of the
Croatian military promoted a brand of nationalism every bit as
reactionary as Milosevic's Serbian nationalism; one that glorifies the
Nazi puppet regime in Croatia during the 1940s and speaks of
regaining Western Bosnia.
The crimes committed during the Homeland War were never investigated
during the ten years that President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) governed Croatia after its separation from
Yugoslavia. Following threats to stop an International Monetary Fund
loan, the HDZ did pass a law on cooperation with the ICTY and handed
over ten Bosnian Croats accused of war crimes in Bosnia in 1997.
However the HDZ regarded those involved in the Homeland War as
untouchable heroes.
When HDZ rule collapsed in January 2000, the Western powers claimed
the new coalition government led by Ivica Racan's Social Democratic
Party (a successor to the former Communist Party) heralded a break
with the extreme nationalism of the Tudjman era and that it would
agree to Croatian war crimes investigations. These investigations were
particularly necessary to bolster the new and fragile pro-Western
Serbian government that was faced with a crisis over its decision to
hand over Milosevic to the ICTY.
After meeting Croatian officials, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del
Ponte declared, "The whole tone is different... Finally
we have a partner in the Balkans and not just another problem."
However, the indictments caused severe difficulties in Croatia. In
2000, the HDZ organised massive demonstrations and blockaded the
Zagreb-Split highway after the indictment of General Mirko Norac for
war crimes committed in 1991. Twelve generals, including Bobetko,
signed an open letter criticising Racan's attempts to "devalue" the
Homeland War, sparking off rumours of a coup. In July 2001, four
ministers in Racan's government belonging to the Social Liberal Party
resigned after Gotovina and Ademi were indicted causing a vote of no
confidence to be taken in the Croatian Assembly.
By the time of her appearance at the UN Security Council last year,
del Ponte appeared exasperated. "In June 2001 ... as an expression of
trust, I gave the Croatian Government advanced notice of a sealed
indictment against General Ante Gotovina, a commander of forces who
was accused of crimes against humanity. My trust was misplaced-he was
allowed to evade arrest and according to various reliable sources he
is now enjoying a safe haven in the territory of Croatia," she said.
Del Ponte continued, "In May this year I again provided the Croatian
authorities with advanced notice of an imminent indictment against
General Bobetko, former Chief of Staff of the Croatian Army....
Instead of compliance with the Tribunal's order, the Croatian
Government has taken upon itself to seek to challenge the warrant
and the indictment itself. We next heard that the General's health
does not permit his travel to The Hague. More delay and obstruction.
The attitude of Croatia is unacceptable."
With unemployment in Croatia over 20 percent and public expenditure
more than 50 percent of GDP-the highest in Europe-the government has
speeded up the HDZ programme of privatisations, layoffs and reductions
in welfare.
Croatia's has joined the World Trade Organisation and applied for
membership of NATO and the European Union.
To head off the widespread strike action these policies are provoking
the government is playing the nationalist card. In June 2001 Racan
announced plans to erect a huge monument to the Homeland War saying
"At this time of difficult decisions and self-sacrifice ... we should
remember and be inspired by the strong unity of the Homeland War ...
[when] ... there was no left, no right, there were no political,
social, cultural or other differences."
Racan is no stranger to the use of nationalism to divert the working
class. A former Stalinist bureaucrat like Milosevic, he was elected
president of the ruling Croatian Communist Party in 1989 and played a
key role in the break up of the Yugoslav federation. In 1990 he
clashed with Milosevic, declaring that Croatia would no longer
"provide bread to Serbia" and organised the first multi-party
elections specifically to approve his separatist line.
Racan defends the Medak Pocket attack as a "legitimate military
operation" and states that Bobetko performed his "constitutional duty
to liberate Croatian territory" and so cannot be considered guilty of
"command responsibility". However, he is happy to accuse Milosevic of
"command responsibility" for Serbian atrocities and sanctioned
Croatian President Stipe Mesic's appearance as a witness for the
prosecution at Milosevic's trial. For his part, Milosevic claims
the atrocities were also individual acts of violence that occurred
whilst he was trying to preserve the Yugoslav federation
and its constitution.
The case has highlighted divisions between Europe and the United
States. Recently US Ambassador for War Crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper,
told the ICTY it should focus on the arrest of four remaining key
suspects and then halt its investigations and hand over existing cases
to local courts. Prosper said that during a visit to the Balkans he
would aim to "press" the governments in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia to
arrest all remaining fugitives, but he cancelled his visit to Croatia
at the last minute as a slap in the face to del Ponte and her efforts
to indict the Croatian generals.
The US has reason to be concerned at a high profile trial of the
generals. The Croatian army acted as Washington's proxy army against
Milosevic and there is plenty of evidence that the Clinton
administration provided vital support to Croatia during Operation
Storm. In his book To End A War, Clinton's special envoy Richard
Holbrooke described the Croat forces as his "junkyard dogs" and
recounts his conversation with the Croatian defence minister during
the battle, saying, "We can't say this publicly but please take Sanski
Most, Prijedor and Bosanki Novi. And do it quickly before the Serbs
regroup."
The US government endorsed a contract between the Croatian army and
the US military consultancy firm Military Professional Resource
Incorporated to provide military training.
Franjo Tudjman's son Miro, who was head of Croatian intelligence at
the time, claims the relationship went further-with the Croatian and
US governments enjoying a "de facto partnership". He says the US
provided $10 million worth of listening and intercept equipment and
all "intelligence in Croatia went on line in real time to the National
Security Agency in Washington."
Gotovina seemed especially close to US officials, which may explain
his ability to evade capture for so long. It is alleged that US drone
aircraft operated out of his headquarters in order to spy on Yugoslav
army movements. Photographs show Gotovina with US military personnel
in front of a computer screen showing "Battle Staff Training Program"
and "Welcome to Training Center Fort Irwin". According to Nenad
Ivankovic, former army commander and Gotovina's biographer, Gotovina
"feels betrayed by the silence of the US today and by the people he
knew. The CIA saw everything that happened during Operation Storm and
never objected then." Washington has refused all requests from the
ICTY for documents and satellite photographs relating to this period.
Another concern of US officials is to prevent the concept of "command
responsibility" becoming a definition for war crimes. Lawyers for the
Croat generals have pointed out that Clinton, Holbrooke and other US
officials could also be charged with command responsibility for
Operation Storm because "they knew the attack was coming and gave it
the green light."
This threat is taken seriously. In 2002 Henry Hyde chairman of the
House Committee on International Relations warned that the ICTY could
investigate officials who were "formulating and carrying out US
government policy" for command responsibility in connection with
Operation Storm. Gotovina's indictment was the "best example of the
ICTY's politicised and inaccurate prosecution," a Senate inquiry was
told.
In a series of articles in September 2002, journalists in the
Washington Times repeated Hyde's warning and attacked the concept of
command responsibility as "a threat to US national interests". In
effect, the Times pronounced, the concept made "war itself a crime"
and illegalised the use of "overwhelming force", that is, the
foundation of US military strategy.
The Times pointed out that Operation Storm was the model for Operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where the Northern Alliance acted as
a US proxy army. If command responsibility is made a definition of a
war crime then "the United States can be made accountable for the
actions of its allies around the world. There will be nothing
preventing the International Criminal Court from making US officials
responsible for isolated criminal acts that have been committed by
Northern Alliance troops."
The Operation Storm indictment, the Times concluded, "threatens to
limit Washington's ability to project its power around the world."
Copyright 1998-2003
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved