Clark Says Milosevic Handover Vindicates NATO War June 28, 2001 5:54 pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former NATO commander who led the war over Kosovo on Thursday said the handover of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the international criminal tribunal vindicated the 1999 air war. U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, who retired a year ago, also said he was not surprised by the action. "There was no doubt the stakes in the Kosovo operation were Milosevic himself, even though that wasn't a formal objective," he said in a telephone interview. "The NATO actions were the essential first steps which enabled the fledgling democratic forces to bring about Milosevic's downfall in the election," Clark told Reuters. "Without the NATO action to discredit Milosevic's policies and leadership, I don't believe that democratic victory would have been possible in the election," he said. Clark said the handover of Milosevic to the U.N. tribunal at The Hague was a major step, but still only a beginning. "Obviously this is a big step for the government and the people of Serbia, but it's only the first step. Much more remains to be done to break the cycle of ethnic hatreds in the Balkans," he said.5 > "The next step should be the detention and removal to The Hague of the other Serbian war criminal indictees," Clark said. To the critics of the NATO air strikes, Clark said: "It's regrettable that force must sometimes be used to back up diplomacy. When it is, the use of force should be as minimal as possible. In the case of NATO's operation it was, and it was successful." Clark heard about the Milosevic handover while having lunch at the Pentagon. "My immediate reaction was intense satisfaction, and happiness that the government of Serbia had been able to make this decision," Clark said. http://www.iwon.com/home/news/news_article/0,11746,140120|politics|06-28-200 1::18:07|reuters,00.html Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
