Slobodan Milosevic is dead. In referring to the longevity of some evil people, I so often remark that "the Devil takes care of his own." Sometimes, the devil calls them home. On behalf of all the survivors of Srebrenica and Gorazde: rot in hell. I am sorry he was not convicted before he died. I doubt he was killed while in the Hague. Far more likely is some form of suicide. His father committed suicide when Slobodan was 15.
This also is a time for a bit of personal reflection. We saw, I saw, genocide happening right in front of us on television. The UN soldiers stood by while Serb forces surrounded Gorazde and massacred the people... then Srebrenica. The USA should have done more - a lot more. Sadly, Bush was committed to doing nothing when war broke out in Bosnia in April 1992, and Clinton inherited a do-nothing policy, and did no better. Republicans took over Congress in 1994 and opposed intervening in Bosnia. We were told repeatedly that there was "no national interest" in this region.
When Clinton intervened in 1995 to produce the Dayton accords that stopped that war, Republicans scoffed about nation-building. When Clinton stopped the genocide in Kosovo in 1999, the response of the Republicans was to brutally question the war effort and accuse Clinton of lying. And again, they scoffed at nation-building. Again, we were told there was no national interest there. The greatest scandal of the Clinton presidency was not doing anything about Bosnia for three years. The greatest moment was when he visited Rwanda in 1998 and apologized for not having done anything. If we have values as a people, these are the concerns we ought to have. Today, Republicans call any wartime dissent, or even questioning, "unpatriotic" and "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." They call it "irresponsible talk." Bush will never apologize for anything. He thinks Jesus is commanding him, and has no humility at all.
I am reminded of a cartoon I saw in 1992, a drawing of a girl dying on the streets of Sarajevo. The caption: "If only your veins were filled with oil, my child, the world would rush to stop your bleeding." Contrast the real need to stop Serbia with the phony necessity of attacking Iraq, and you can also see what Republican "values" amount to. There is no oil in Darfur either.
I thought I would feel good that Milosevic is dead. I don't.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Dead Rat
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 4:24 PM
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6 comments:
Slobodan cheated the hangman! He pulled a Goering on us. Good riddance. If Saddam follows suit I'll shed no tears.
I agree with LTG's comments entirely.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
I just learned that there is, in fact, oil in Darfur.
Here's one article detailing the situation.
// posted by Bell Curve
Milosevic showed Saddam how to handle a tribunal. You stall. You stonewall, you act nuts, you file complaints. Let's remember that Saddam is facing an Iraqi court, not an international court. But the tatics are still similar. In the end, you still feed propganda to your supports through your actions and you run out the clock on your life. YOu leave the Court looking weak in inefficient. Milosevic was known to be ill. So what did he have to loose by running out the clock? Justice is never really served. At least Caucescou got his just deserts.
// posted by UNWest
Can we have T-shirts printed up that say that, "There's no oil in Darfur."
That would be amazing.
dr
// posted by Dileep
USWest - we call that... lawyering. =)
// posted by LTG
Yes, thus the saying, LTG, "First let's kill all the lawyers." ;-)
// posted by USWest
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