ZGram - 3/7/2002 - "The case of the invisible trial"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

>>
>>
>>Copyright (c) 2002 - Ingrid A. Rimland
>>
>>ZGrams - Where Truth is Destiny
>>
>>March 7, 2002
>>
>>Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
>>
>>Two pregnant-with-meaning opinion pieces below on a political show 
>>trial - but first, let us set up a clip, as they say in movie land:
>>
>>It is a truism that politics makes for strange bedfellows.  The 
>>same can be said for Revisionism.
>>
>>Take the case of Slobodan Milosevic!  Who would have ever imagined 
>>that he, of all people, would become the "fall guy" for those 
>>sinister forces hell-bent on bringing about their "New World Order" 
>>- come hell or high water?  This aging, hard-line Bolshevik who, 
>>on his way up the steep incline to power, undoubtedly oversaw with 
>>gusto the orchestration of many an unfair trial against dissidents 
>>and political opponents , now finds himself caught in a karmic 
>>spectacle come full circle!
>>
>>One might wonder if the man at least reflects on the cosmic aspects 
>>and forces at play!  And one must wonders if those who sit in 
>>judgment of him today might sooner or later find themselves exactly 
>>in his place?
>>
>>We Revisionists, many of whom have been at the receiving end of the 
>>same kind of crooked, diabolical show trials, cannot help but see 
>>the parallels - turned-off microphones, haughty and arrogant 
>>judges, politically motivated prosecutors, selective use of hearsay 
>>and outright concocted "evidence", false charges - and, of course, 
>>ideologically motivated and even bought witnesses!
>>
>>We can all relate to the illegal proceedings behind closed doors, 
>>to "secret witnesses" who have their own axes to grind or whose 
>>lives are so empty that they need to grovel or impress.
>>
>>All this to help establish a World Criminal Court?
>>
>>The Hague International War Crimes Tribunal or "court" is victors' 
>>justice designed to hide the crimes of those "victors" by blaming 
>>their victims. If such a "court" comes about as a permanent 
>>feature, it will be an institution just like Nuremberg - spawned by 
>>hatred, deception and greed for power, imbued with a spirit of 
>>vengeance against all those deemed "enemies" by those shadowy 
>>forces seeking world domination.
>>
>>The shameful Kangaroo Court in Nuremberg did not prevent war, 
>>violence, mass murder and ethnic cleansing - Milosevic's 
>>prosecution will not either.  As long as the Sharons, Clintons, 
>>Albrights and Tony Blairs continue to roam the earth - untouched, 
>>untried, never to be convicted, there will be no peace and no 
>>justice on this planet.
>>
>>With this as a backdrop, read on:
>>
>>[START]
>>
>>The Case of the Invisible Trial, or
>>'Where's the Beef?'
>>by Stella L. Jatras
>>3/7/02
>>
>>It's called the most important trial since Nuremberg; yet, of the 
>>over 100 TV channels at my disposal, not one carries it. Curious, 
>>since for the past ten years the media and the major TV channels 
>>couldn't wait to spin all the sordid details of mutilations, 
>>murders, torture and charges of genocide that the accused, former 
>>Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, faces at The Hague's 
>>Stalinist show trial. However, this trial is not just about 
>>Slobodan Milosevic; it is also about the Serbian people. Why then 
>>has the media ignored it? Can it be because of the inept 
>>prosecution of the trial? Can it be that the "heinous criminal, 
>>Milosevic," with only the use of a public pay phone and acting as 
>>his own lawyer from his 9 by 15 foot jail cell, is making fools of 
>>the international tribunal? Can it be that, since his guilt is a 
>>foregone conclusion, it wouldn't do for the public to see how weak 
>>the case is against him?
>>
>>Ironically, it was a report co-authored by Daniel Pearl that broke 
>>the story in a 1999 article in The Wall Street Journal titled, 
>>"Body Count," that enabled Slobodan Milosevic to discredit one of 
>>Chief Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte's star witness against Milosevic, 
>>Halit Barani, former actor turned reporter. The article was 
>>subtitled, "War in Kosovo Was Cruel, Bitter, Savage: Genocide It 
>>Wasn't," and "Tales of Mass Atrocity Arose And Were Passed Along, 
>>Often With Little Proof." One of the most gruesome charges was that 
>>the Serb paramilitary had dumped 700 [some reports were as high as 
>>1,500] bodies into the furnace at the Trepca mine, after having 
>>been ground up into little pieces. As Pearl writes,
>>
>>"By late summer, stories about a Nazi-like body-disposal facility 
>>were so widespread that investigators sent a three-man French 
>>Gendarmerie team spelunking half a mile down the mind to search for 
>>bodies. They found none. Another team analyzed ashes in the 
>>furnace. They found no teeth or other signs of burnt bodies."
>>
>>Of Mr. Barani, Pearl writes,
>>
>>"Mr. Barani doesn't completely stand by his story. 'I told 
>>everybody it was supposition, it was not confirmed information, he 
>>says.'"
>>
>>The Pearl article also referred to Barani's use of a KLA satellite 
>>phone to call in his stories, although Barani testified at the 
>>Milosevic trial that he had no contact with the KLA. Mrs. Pearl 
>>characterized her husband as a journalist who sought the truth. It 
>>would be interesting to know if Daniel Pearl were alive today, 
>>would he be called as a witness for the defense?
>>
>>Not only did Daniel Pearl conclude that there was no genocide in 
>>Kosovo, but Agence France Presse of 5 April 1999, also headlined, 
>>"Kosovo is no genocide: Nobel Peace Prize winner," referring to 
>>Elie Wiesel. It's kind of hard to paint the Serbs as conducting a 
>>genocide against ethnic Albanians when over 100,000 fled to 
>>Belgrade to escape NATO's bombs in Kosovo. (...)
>>
>>=====
>>
>>Open Letter to General Michael Short
>>11/3/99
>>
>>RAPES, MURDERS AND TORTURE OF SERBS IRRELEVANT
>>
>>While rapes, murders, and torture of the Serbian population were 
>>totally ignored or discounted by the media and by human rights 
>>organizations, charges of barbarity against the Serbs were constant 
>>throughout the civil war in the Balkans, for that is exactly what 
>>it was: a civil war. In civil wars, people do terrible things to 
>>each other - but with an anti-Serb U.S. foreign policy agenda along 
>>with a willing media, only one side was Satanized. Former Canadian 
>>Major General Lewis MacKenzie, Bosnia's first UNPROFOR commander 
>>stated a simple fact, that all sides were doing bad things. For 
>>that impartial statement, the Bosnian Muslim government of Alija 
>>Izetbegovic saw to the good general's early exit from Bosnia by 
>>producing "a witness [who] had seen me [MacKenzie] come by and pick 
>>up four Muslim girls, who were taken away and presumably raped and 
>>murdered." A total fabrication.
>>
>>Among the dozens of examples of the media spinning their version of 
>>events in the Balkans, another example of the lies being used 
>>against the former Serbian president is the 1995 Markale 
>>marketplace massacre for which we dropped 6,000 tons of bombs for 
>>two weeks on the Bosnian Serbs. NATO dropped its defensive mantra 
>>and became the offensive arm of the New World Order, in violation 
>>of its treaty. It had to. The Soviet Union was gone and Clinton 
>>needed to justify NATO's existence. Yossef Bodansky, the author of 
>>Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, in his book, 
>>Offensive in the Balkans, wrote the following:
>>
>>"Phase Three started with a self-inflicted major terrorist 
>>provocation. On February 5, 1994, a major explosion rocked the 
>>Markale Sarajevo s main market place causing heavy casualties. What 
>>was immediately described as the ubiquitous 'Serb mortar shell' was 
>>actually a special charge designed and built with the help from 
>>Hizballah experts and then most likely dropped from a nearby 
>>rooftop onto the crowd of shoppers. Video cameras at the ready 
>>recorded this expertly-staged spectacle of gore, while dozens of 
>>corpses of Bosnian Muslim troops killed in action (exchanged the 
>>day before in a body swap with the Serbs) were paraded in front of 
>>cameras to raise the casualty counts. This callous self-killing was 
>>designed to shock the West, especially sentimental and gullible 
>>Washington, in order to raise the level of Western sympathy to the 
>>Bosnian Muslims and further demonize the Serbs so that Western 
>>government would be more supportive of Sarajevo s forthcoming 
>>aggressive move, and perhaps even finally intervene military."
>>
>>European newspapers also confirmed that Bosnian Muslims had 
>>committed the Markale marketplace massacre, but Clinton needed an 
>>excuse to bomb the Serbs. Consider the following. Saudi Arabia 
>>signed a letter of intent to buy $6 billion dollars worth of Boeing 
>>aircraft. The day after we bombed the Serbs on a trumped up 
>>massacre, the Saudis signed on the dotted line. Coincidence? I 
>>don't think so. Saudi Arabia wanted the first Islamic nation in the 
>>belly of Europe, and we wanted Saudi oil and money. And that's what 
>>this war was all about.
>>
>>I am not here to defend Slobodan Milosevic. I am here to defend the 
>>Serbian people who have been unjustly accused of atrocities 
>>(including cannibalism!) and who continue to suffer under our 
>>sanctions. However, you have to hand it to Slobo. He's got guts. He 
>>is brilliantly exposing these clowns for what they are, even with 
>>the disadvantage of having only one phone at his disposal, the 
>>cutting off of his mike when convenient by the chairman of the 
>>tribunal, and now faces testimonies of witnesses behind closed 
>>doors.
>>
>>As columnist Don Feder writes in his West haunted by Balkans 
>>blunder, of 3 December, 2001, "Slobodan Milosevic has been charged 
>>with complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. 
>>Before the travesty is over, he will doubtless be convicted of 
>>running the rail line to Auschwitz" [my emphasis].
>>
>>Slobodan Milosevic has already been found guilty by those clowns at 
>>The Hague so why bother to air the trial? Why confuse the American 
>>people with the facts? Without Slobodan Milosevic's conviction, 
>>there will be no permanent International War Crimes Tribunal. It's 
>>their ticket to their New World Order.
>>
>>[END]
>>
>>(Source:  http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jatras8.html)
>>
>>=====
>>
>>Thought for the Day:
>>
>>"Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."
>>
>>(Benjamin Franklin)