-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4375480,00.html
> The peer, a former marine, repeatedly confronted Mr Milosevic with
> his alleged crimes. "The British government has never used tanks,
> artillery, looting and burning to drive people out of their homes,
> and if we did we would be before this court," he said.
}}}>Begin
Tearful Ashdown in court skirmish with Milosevic
Andrew Osborn in the Hague
Saturday March 16, 2002
The Guardian
It was not the House of Commons, but the cross-examination of Lord Ashdown by
Slobodan Milosevic at the former Yugoslav president's trial yesterday generated
enough sarcasm and mocking laughter to fill 100 prime minister's question times.
Giving evidence for the second day, Lord Ashdown, who made two fact-finding trips
to Kosovo in 1998, repeatedly clashed with Mr Milosevic on the issue of ethnic
cleansing.
At one point Lord Ashdown, who has recently been appointed the UN's high
representative to Bosnia, fought back tears as he described coming across a column
of Kosovan Albanian refugees who, he claimed, were fleeing the Yugoslav armed
forces after they had been savagely shelled and had their homes burned to the
ground.
As the court watched a video of Lord Ashdown listening to the refugees' stories, the
former Liberal Democrat leader provided an emotional commentary as he struggled
to keep his composure.
"I found it very difficult to cope with at the time," he said. "They were desperately
frightened and I found it a deeply terrible sight. [They were] on the back of tractors
sheltering from the rain under plastic sheets. There were old men, women, children
and babes in arms. They were frightened out of their skins."
This is not the first time the two men have met. In September 1998, Lord Ashdown
had an hour-long meeting with Mr Milosevic in Belgrade, at which he handed over a
letter from Tony Blair warning the former Yugoslav president that he risked being
indicted for war crimes, an irony not lost on the peer yesterday.
"I said that you would end up in this court [if you failed to stop ethnic cleansing]
and
here you are," he said in a "told you so" manner.
To the amusement of the public gallery, Mr Milosevic, who the presiding judge has
repeatedly accused of making irrelevant speeches, complained that Lord Ashdown
was too long-winded. "Could the witness please answer my questions and not make
speeches," he told a glowering Lord Ashdown. "Could you please save us some
time."
But Lord Ashdown insisted on relentlessly using Mr Milosevic's questions to
denounce ethnic cleansing, reiterating that nothing could justify "the excessive force"
and "scorched earth policy" of the Yugoslav army against the Kosovan Albanians, a
tactic which visibly irked Mr Milosevic, who is conducting his own defence.
"You have repeated that several times. There's no need to repeat it in every
question," the detainee moaned.
A statement from Lord Ashdown that the Kosovo Liberation Army was a terrorist
organisation delighted the former dictator, however, and elicited a wry smile. "You
are the first person sitting in this chair who does not deny that the KLA is a
terrorist
organisation," he crowed.
And that, he said, meant that Lord Ashdown was, in effect, agreeing that the
behaviour of the Yugoslav forces was entirely legitimate. "So where's the problem?"
Mr Milosevic asked, causing the public gallery to collapse in laughter.
The peer, a former marine, repeatedly confronted Mr Milosevic with his alleged
crimes. "The British government has never used tanks, artillery, looting and burning
to drive people out of their homes, and if we did we would be before this court," he
said.
Seeing his chance, Mr Milosevic tried to confront Lord Ashdown over the behaviour
of the British army in Northern Ireland, until he was silenced by an increasingly
impatient judge.
Lord Ashdown laughed incredulously when faced with questions from Mr Milosevic
which he clearly considered ludicrous. Mr Milosevic in turn did his best to belittle
Lord
Ashdown.
"Is it customary", he asked "for the leader of a small opposition party to visit a
region
where there is a war on 10 times a year?"
Mr Milosevic claimed that the west had wanted to aggravate the Kosovo crisis in
order to pave the way for the occupation of Yugoslavia "by foreign powers".
That, said Lord Ashdown, was nonsense. "I've heard some fantastic conspiracy
theories, but this takes the biscuit," he said. "It's so far-fetched I can't even
believe
you brought it up."
Meanwhile Momcilo Perisic, Serbia's deputy prime minister, was yesterday being
held by Yugoslav military police on suspicion of passing documents to the US which
could help to convict Mr Milosevic.
The former general, who served in the Balkan wars, faces possible charges of
espionage after being arrested on Thursday night in a Belgrade restaurant. A US
diplomat was held for 15 hours, then released. The US embassy said it would
formally protest.
Mr Perisic was chief of staff of the Yugoslav army in the early stages of the wars in
Croatia and Bosnia and a serving general when Serb troops rampaged through
Kosovo in 1998. Mr Milosevic sacked him on the eve of Nato air strikes.
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
