Milosevic trial sets precedent: US granted right to censor evidence

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Earlier this month the US government demanded and received the right to censor testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

A press release issued before Democratic Presidential candidate Wesley Clark gave evidence at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said Clark’s testimony would be given in closed session. The press release also said the normally simultaneous broadcast of the testimony would “be delayed for a period of 48 hours to enable the US government to review the transcript and make representations as to whether evidence given in open session should be redacted in order to protect the national interests of the US.”

Milosevic faces 66 counts of war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Clark was commander of the 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that destroyed much of Serbia’s industrial infrastructure and left thousands of civilians dead.

There have been several attempts to prosecute Clark himself for war crimes committed during the NATO bombing. In that year a group of Canadian lawyers and academics asked the ICTY to investigate and indict Clark and others for war crimes in Yugoslavia saying that there was “overwhelming evidence that the attack was unlawful and that the conduct of the attack on civilian objects.” Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark has also accused Clark and other leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity and in September 2000 a Belgrade court found Wesley Clark and other Western leaders guilty.

More: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/cens-d31.shtml

[madrchsod]

1. the transcript was released

not long ago,it seemed very little was censored. there maybe things that should be censored ,who knows. also milo got elected to the serbian parliament this week..

[Rowdyboy]

2. A Serbian court found Clark guilty?

I'm stunned. I guess they're pissed he stopped ethnic cleansing.

And I, personally, would wear an accusation of guilt from Ramsey Clark as a badge of honor!

[pinto]

3. If there is no world wide standard other than gold and self interest

no standard of compassion, equality and justice then we have not made the progress possible as the thinking ape.

[laconicsax]

4. How much longer will the US get it's way with absolutely everything

2/3's of the Iraqi Weapons Declaration gets censored before anyone else can see it, now whatever they want to cut from Clark's testimony.

This precedent means that should Saddam ever make it to the Hague instead of the US led Iraqi kangaroo court, the US could censor anything that Saddam or anyone else says along the lines of "Yeah--Rumsfeld came and personally delivered those chemical weapons that Reagan gave me."

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

5. Doesn't help Clark

It doesn't help Clark's campaign at all. The way it reads, is that he has something to hide. I guess we will just have to see if someone brings it up in the campaigns.

[bpilgrim]

7. american exceptionalism in all it's GLORY

when will americans realize we got a gun to everybodies head :shrug:



peace

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

10. Most Americans know that already.

They just don't have a problem with it.

[bpilgrim]

6. ah, ain't it GRAND to be KING

of the WORLD :bounce:

i am sure we were able to justify it due to nationa... make that GLOBAL SECURITY and the ongoing war on TERRORISM

peace

[bpilgrim]

8. .

peace

[BootinUp]

9. That article, without a doubt

was the most worthless tripe I have ever read.

[bpilgrim]

11. care to elaborate?

is it the article or the american exceptionalism that you are objecting to?

peace

[BootinUp]

15. A short response then

first, I don't mind that is was posted, I think freedom of speech is our most important right.

The article is a half hearted effort to smear the NATO effort to stop an atrocity. Yet it offers no other solution to the problem that needed to be dealt with.

While I disagree the US government on the 48 hour period for review before the release of Clark's testimony, I do not on the other hand, have too much concern over what would have been redacted. There is more than enough that was released. And it was certainly no secret in the U.S. that there was this agreement between the U.S. and the International court.

The organization that published the article represents one political viewpoint, one that most Americans would disagee with. I would advise anyone to gather information from more than one source before they form an opinion on events such as these.

[bspence]

12. um, the "World Socialist Web Site'? Real unbiased n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. The facts referred to in the piece are correct. You can confirm them

easily from AP, AFP and Reuters reports.

[bpilgrim]

14. Guardian: UN tribunal lets US edit former Nato chief's evidence

Wesley Clark testifies in secret at Milosevic trial

UN tribunal lets US edit former Nato chief's evidence for broadcast


Ian Black in Brussels
The Guardian

Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial in The Hague heard testimony behind closed doors yesterday from the former Nato commander Wesley Clark, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in next year's presidential election.

Under a laboriously negotiated agreement with the tribunal, the US has the right to edit out evidence deemed damaging to national security. State department lawyers in court may apply to the three-man bench to make such deletions.

more...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,1107886,00.html

peace