Wednesday, February 13, 2002


War crimes trial against Milosevic begins
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Slobodan Milosevic orchestrated the murders of thousands of people in a campaign of “savagery” with the sole goal of satisfying his all-consuming thirst for power, a prosecutor said Tuesday, opening the former Yugoslav president’s trial for war crimes.

Milosevic, the first head of state to face an international tribunal, listened impassively, occasionally jotting notes, as United Nations attorneys sketched a complex case spanning nearly a decade of horror in three Balkan countries.

The prosecution gave a first glimpse of a litany of agony — rape, torture, looting, expulsion and almost gleeful killing — that survivors will recount during a trial expected to last two years.

The trial is the biggest war crimes case since Hitler’s henchmen were brought before a military tribunal after World War II.

Milosevic, 60, faces a total of 66 counts of genocide and other war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo that killed thousands of people and displaced more than a million others. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Milosevic is expected to give a spirited response Wednesday to the prosecution’s six-hour statement. He has refused to recognize the tribunal or appoint a lawyer, and has launched separate proceedings to fight his detention.

In previous court appearances, he refused to wear headphones providing him with the translation of proceedings into his native Serbian language. On Tuesday, a loudspeaker set up in front of his desk gave him no choice but to listen.

Outside the court, about 25 people held an anti-Milosevic protest behind police barricades. His supporters were even fewer.

Meanwhile at a district court elsewhere in The Hague, Milosevic’s legal team sought an injunction to force the tribunal to allow them to have unmonitored meetings with their client to prepare a case in the European Court of Human Rights.

A lawyer for the state said the Dutch court had no jurisdiction over the tribunal. The judge promised a ruling in two weeks.

Peace plan outlined for Palestinians, Israelis
JERUSALEM (AP) — Foreign Minister Shimon Peres outlined a peace plan Tuesday negotiated with a senior Palestinian lawmaker that calls for a cease-fire followed quickly
by the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Long on optimism but short on supporters, the plan was reached between Peres and Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia, known as Abu Ala, over several months of unannounced meetings in which they strove to move beyond the daily violence and heated rhetoric.

In their peace efforts, Peres and Qureia appeared to have reached broad agreement on several important points, but it remained far from clear how much support their plan would generate among Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Peres suggested the plan was also backed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“There is a proposal, which is acceptable to Abu Ala and his senders,” Peres said on Israel radio, adding that he has shown the plan to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and expects his comments.

Peres may face a tough battle persuading Sharon, who has shot down several of his initiatives. Other members of Sharon’s coalition government — including members of Peres’ own Labor Party — also are skeptical.

Qureia endorsed the plan Monday, although he gave few details and the Palestinian Authority has been vague about its position.

The proposal has been discussed in the media for weeks, but the two negotiators have mostly kept mum. In his first detailed description, Peres said it contains three stages, beginning with a cease-fire — a goal which has proven difficult over the 16 months of bloodshed.

Shortly after a cease-fire is achieved, the plan envisions a mutual recognition of Israeli and Palestinian states.

The two sides would then have one year to negotiate final borders and other terms for the Palestinian state, and another year to implement any agreement.

Peres said the new Palestinian state would initially be on territory already ruled by the Palestinian Authority — about two-thirds of the Gaza Strip and 40 percent of the West Bank.

Palestinians are seeking all of Gaza and the West Bank for a future state, along with a capital in east Jerusalem.

Pentagon to investigate mistreatment of Afghans
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. military insisted Tuesday that Afghans mistakenly captured in a special forces raid last month were not abused and, in fact,
were in better shape when freed than when captured.

Nevertheless, the Pentagon will investigate allegations that U.S. soldiers beat and mistreated captives from the Jan. 23 raid, one of the most controversial incidents in the four-month U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.

Several of the 27 captives later released told The Washington Post that U.S. troops treated them so badly that some lost consciousness and suffered fractured ribs, loosened teeth and swollen noses. Other newspapers carried similar reports.

The prisoners were kept at the U.S.-commandeered air base in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Lt. Col. Keith Warman said from there Tuesday that the abuse claims were without foundation.

Base commander Col. Frank. Wiercinski said Red Cross investigators found no evidence that any detainees, believed to include fighters from the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida terrorist network, have been mistreated.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered an investigation into the alleged mistreatment, although Victoria Clarke said the military “has nothing to indicate that anything like that happened.”

The Pentagon first said U.S. special forces attacked an al Qaida weapons dump in Khas Uruzgan, a town north of Kandahar, and killed about 15 people.

But after Afghans complained they were wrongly targeted and that innocents were killed, the U.S. military acknowledged that the 27 captives were not al Qaida or Taliban fighters and released them.

Patriotic colors added to Mardi Gras celebrations
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mardi Gras revelers who filled the streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter added a patriotic twist to the debauchery Tuesday, mixing red, white and blue with the traditional purple, green and gold of Carnival.

On Bourbon Street, strings of beads — including new red, white and blue necklaces — rained down on young women who bared their breasts.

“I got the really good beads,” bragged Joe Chin, 23, of Miami. “I know it’s cold, but girls are still happy to show them for these babies.”

National Guardsmen patrolled Mardi Gras for the first time, but police said the only direct response to the terrorism alert issued by the FBI on Monday was the posting of the suspected terrorists’ photos at police stations.

“Why would terrorists want to break up such a good party?” said Tommy Mitchell, 31, of San Francisco, who wore only a grass skirt and American flag pasties despite the chill.

“This is a friendly group. Very friendly.”

Temperatures in the 30s thinned the crowds that usually line the Fat Tuesday parade route through the city’s Garden District.


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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002


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