BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia

Subject: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 May 11 - 04:39 PM

From Al Jazeera: click here for full story

"Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general arrested for alleged war crimes, has appeared at a closed session in a Belgrade court.

Mladic is wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges of genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.

He was indicted in 1995 over the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, in which around 10,000 people died.

The UN indictment against Mladic says he was the operational mastermind behind the massacre, and also cites the establishment of camps and detention centres for Bosnian Muslims as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing."

Another war criminal finally tracked down.

Anyone want to defend him?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 26 May 11 - 06:32 PM

"Anyone want to defend him?"

I should know better, because from several years I know that Charley Noble is a decent and balanced man. However, if this were my first day at Mudcat, that would sound to me like a summons for the lynch mob. Suffice it to say that I am glad to hear that the unpleasant Mr. Mladic will be asked to account for his actions.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Seayaker
Date: 26 May 11 - 07:15 PM

The Serbs of course defended him for 16 years.

He was only given up because they want to join the EU.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 May 11 - 08:55 PM

I'm still perplexed that NATO actually intervened militarily in this uncivil war and it was a successful military intervention. And they were intervening primarily to protect Muslims from further ethnic cleansing and genocide. As far as I can determine there was no economic incentive to intervene.

I still fail to understand how after living together for over 40 years in peace as citizens of "Yugoslavia" ethnic or religious groups could decide to kill one another again. Insult one another, refuse to intermarry, that I can understand. But to kill one another after all that time is very disturbing.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 26 May 11 - 08:56 PM

I blame the parents - fancy calling your kid Ratko.

I bet the other kids at school said - is that Ratko dot com?

I tell you folks, life ain't easy for a boy called Ratko.

Theres an English branch to the family - the Youngfellow-M'ladics of High Wycombe.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: number 6
Date: 26 May 11 - 09:05 PM

"He was only given up because they want to join the EU."

Excellent point Seayaker

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 May 11 - 11:26 PM

Regardless of the geopolitical juxtapositions, it is nice, within the pace of a month to have done with both Bin Laden and Mladic.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 May 11 - 09:23 AM

I note that the arresting party did not find it necessary to shoot him on the spot, but to take him for trial at the Hague. How old-fashioned of them...

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Silas
Date: 27 May 11 - 09:24 AM

Well said.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 May 11 - 09:33 AM

Clearly Ratko has been under stress for the last few years. He's only 69 and yet he looks like a physical wreck. Maybe his conscience did bother him. Or he's faking.

I don't think there would be much left of him if the judgment were "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." But it's something to consider.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 27 May 11 - 09:49 AM

As evil as Ratso is .... I agree with McGrath.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 27 May 11 - 11:08 AM

McGrath, you are forgetting that Ratso is a European and does not wear funny, Arab clothes!

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 27 May 11 - 12:04 PM

As I understand it, commandoes didn't have to shoot him because

A. he was a private citizen no longer in charge of a goon organization actively plotting extranational death and destruction, and

B. the Serbian government found him, put him under arrest, and sent him to the Hague.

Quite unlike the Bin Laden case and the Pakistani government.

All the evidence showed Bin Laden to be a continuing, active threat to be stopped ASAP.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Silas
Date: 27 May 11 - 12:20 PM

Bollocks

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 27 May 11 - 12:52 PM

"He was indicted in 1995 over the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, in which around 10,000 people died."

So that's your definition of "unpleasant" is it 'alanabit'? Either you were being heavily ironic or you subscribe to the contemporary philosophy that evil mass murderers should be appeased and excused for their actions - which is it?

If it was up to me I would hand him over to the survivors of Srebrenica to deal with.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 May 11 - 01:33 PM

I saw a report that,unlike Bin Laden, Mladic was armed, with two guns on him at the time he was arrested.

Incidentally Mladic's body count of victims appears to have been significantly higher than Bin Laden's. The only relevance of that is that it rather undercuts the suggestion that Bin Laden's execution was justified because he was was uniquely evil.

Anyway, it's good news about Mladic's capture. And I'd suggest that in some ways capture, trial and imprisonment for the rest of his life might be a worse punishment form him than shooting would have been. Good.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,999
Date: 27 May 11 - 01:35 PM

`If it was up to me I would hand him over to the survivors of Srebrenica to deal with.`

Be nice if he could have a brief trial first.

I hope too that other `leaders` who committed war crimes, whoever they be are brought to something like justice.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Stu
Date: 27 May 11 - 02:18 PM

Perhaps a trial will salve the consciences of those spineless, witless politicians who refused to save the boys and men at the time. Mladic is a foul and evil man, but let's not forget he wasn't challenged in Srebrenica militarily (the peacekeepers let themselves become hostages) and the Tory government of the time was adamant it would't arm the Bosnian Muslims so they could defend themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Greg F.
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:17 PM

it is nice, within the pace of a month to have done with both Bin Laden and Mladic

Now, if we could move on to Henry Kissinger, whose body count exceeded both of theirs, combined....

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:27 PM

If the official report(s) are true Mladic was/is uniquely unpleasant sending away the women and children of these men, telling them they 'would be cared for' and then slaughtering them with their hands tied behind their backs is bothersome to me. (I would not like to overstate the case.) Even the Nazis couldn't top that.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:43 PM

I do not think the word "unpleasant" is inappropriate in any way Shimrod. For what it is worth, I agree completely with the final paragraphs of McGrath's second post. I am just very happy that he will be brought to account in a proper court of law. If he is convicted and punished that will be a credible act of justice.

As an aside, I would like to mention that my friend, the very brave TV cameraman Stefan Nowak, was among the first to send back pictures from the Srebrenice massacre and other horrors of the Bosnian war. He believes firmly that had the UN troops been given a proper mandate, they would have been able to save thousands of lives. The very brave Félipe Morillon was ordered to stand by and allow a massacre, and this was not the only political dithering which cost lives. Whatever we think of the thugs, it was our politicians who gave them the licence to get away with their actions.

I can also only speculate whether it would have taken so long to bring Mladic to justice had his victims numbered that many US citizens.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:44 PM

Ebbie-

Oh, the Nazis topped Ratko by several million. But Ratko was cut from the same cloth.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: goatfell
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:45 PM

Aye and he says that he is ill what about those boys who never grow up and be ille eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Seayaker
Date: 27 May 11 - 06:02 PM

The question was "Anyone want to defend him?" The answer has to be no but looking at the history of the area you can see how the situation developed.
It has always been a hot spot of ethnic and religious confict exploited by much larger surrounding powers. The First World War was triggered by the assasination in Sarajevo of the Austrio-Hungarian arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
In the lead up to and during WW2 under the direction of the Nazis the Croatian Ustase millitias set up concentration camps like Jasenovac where up to 700,000 (numbers estimated) Serbs were murdered with unbelievable savagery.
When Tito came to power the whole situation was locked down with no atempt at reconciliation because of the Cold War.
That's a very brief and simplistic summary but hopefully with Milosevic dead and Karadzic and Mladic in custody, things can start to mend in a different Europe

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 May 11 - 11:07 PM

"...the Nazis topped Ratko by several million. But Ratko was cut from the same cloth."

Charley, I was speaking of that individual atrocity. (Most likely, the Nazis would have also slaughtered the women and children- it was a twist to send them away, imo.)

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 28 May 11 - 04:35 AM

"I do not think the word "unpleasant" is inappropriate in any way Shimrod."

Words fail me - as they obviously do you, 'alanabit'!!

As for blaming "our politicians" - yes, their role was disgusting and contemptible - but it was Mladic and his thugs who did the crime! It's possible (if the 'bleeding hearts don't let him off) that Mladic will spend the rest of his life in a comfy cell in the Hague. Meanwhile the relatives of the brutally slaughtered continue to have to live with their grief and pain. Still they're 'only' victims aren't they - we don't care about them, do we? We only care about the 'rights' of criminals.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: David C. Carter
Date: 28 May 11 - 05:21 AM

"Anyone want to defend him?".
I'd put money on French Lawer...Jacques Vergés.

He defended Klaus Barbie,Carlos the Jackal and last but not least....er...Milosovic!

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,alan Whittle
Date: 28 May 11 - 05:53 AM

As Lenny Bruce said about the trial in Israel of Adolf Eichman:-

Fair trial.....! They were shaving his leg on the witness stand!

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Arnie
Date: 28 May 11 - 06:46 AM

His mother lived in the next bungalow to where Mladic was found. She denied ever seeing him there and said that he must have just arrived before being arrested. His wife is similarly in denial and said that she hadn't seen him for at least 10 years. This beats the Pakistan military denying that they knew Bin Laden was living half a mile from their military academy. Lets hope his trial does not drag on for years - a swift trial and life sentence then get Mugabe into the dock.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 28 May 11 - 07:43 AM

Shimrod, if we compare our views on Mr.Mladic, I believe we are substantially in agreement. I have used the word "unpleasant" to describe him - and believe me, I do not apply that adjective lightly to anyone. You would have to do a bit more than accidentally step on my toe to draw that description from me. I have no wish to get into a bidding war with you or anyone else to show the degree of my dislike of Mr.Mladic's actions.
Several times a week I teach the children of refugees from Bosnia and Kosovo. They are smashing people and I have the greatest respect for them. I care very much for the fate of the victims in Bosnia - as I do for those of all victims of thugs, who have attained too much power. It would not surprise me if there were people in my street, who given the power, would be capable of crimes on the scale of Mladic, Franco, Mugabe, Bokassa, Pinochet or any one of a long line of over empowered thugs. The point I wish to make is that these are not uniquely evil men - however heinous their actions. They are in fact mediocrities, whom the rest of us have allowed to become over mighty. Shutting up Mladic in a prison cell for the rest of his days will show the rest of the world what a small, mediocre creature he really is. I am sorry if I have offended you, but I find that thought quite gratifying. Much as I feel for the victims, I believe it is beyond our ability to devise satisfactory retribution for the crimes. I should also hate to be the sort of person who would enact it.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Doc John
Date: 28 May 11 - 05:54 PM

Seayaker, I'm glad you gave a quick recent history of the area to show that nothing is black and white.
How did Marshal Tito manage to hold Yugoslavia togther for so long?
When will we see Bush and Blaire - not in hiding but raking it in and still ruling over us - indicted for war crimes?

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 May 11 - 07:49 PM

I think that when a person with state power in his hands indulges in such scandalous public incitements as speeches about "ethnic cleansing", he convicts himself, and no trial should be necessary. Some court, somewhere, should be empowered to declare him an outlaw, and it should be perfectly legal for anyone in the world to shoot him on sight. The same with Khomeini after he put out the fatwa against Rushdie.
--
--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]
||: Fool me once -- shame on you. Fool me twice -- shame on me. :||

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Arnie
Date: 29 May 11 - 06:10 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 May 11 - 07:54 AM

You mean there should be a fatwa on such people, Joe F...

(NB It is best not to put your email address on an open thread. It's a way of inviting spam and suchlike.)

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Joe_F
Date: 29 May 11 - 08:05 PM

McG.:
l. Essentially, yes.
2. So they say, but I have posted my email address on newsgroups for >20 years, and I receive very little spam (much less than in my snailmailbox or on my telephone). Maybe there is something special about me. I have now geared up to treat Web sites like newsgroups (write in my own Emacs & then post, rather than put up with the perversities of those little windows), so I can sign off in my time-honored way, with a .sig.
--
--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]
||: When in danger or in doubt,       :||
||: Run in circles, scream and shout. :||

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 May 11 - 09:06 PM

Joe-

"When in danger or in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout."

One of my favorite quotes from MR. ROBERTS or was it from somewhere else?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 29 May 11 - 09:29 PM

I believe it's from "The Caine Mutiny," by Herman Wouk.

But it was known in the Navy in WWII.

The earlier version was "When in danger or in doubt,/ Always keep a sharp lookout."

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 May 11 - 01:00 AM

snd I quote...
(ABC News 5/30/2011) Clashes between Serbian police and protesters broke out in downtown Belgrade as up to 10,000 ultra nationalists protested against the arrest and proposed extradition of Ratko Mladic on charges of genocide.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 30 May 11 - 07:00 AM

From the size of the crowds, it sounds like he's a bigger "martyr" than Bin Laden.

Surely *somebody* can find a way to "link" Washington to this....

Let's start: Three presidents criminally failed to send in commandoes to get this guy years ago because he's not a Muslim. They're complicit in his crimes.

Or!

Obama pressured Serbia to cough up a European criminal to counterbalance Bin Laden. Now Ratko's a martyr and Europe is worse off.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 May 11 - 07:14 AM

If he'd been shot while being captured Ratko would be a much better martyr. As it is people are likely to see him trying to wriggle out of accepting responsibility for the people he killed.

"I was only the man in command. I had no control over what the men I was commanding actually did." I paraphrase - Ratko Mladic denies ordering Srebrenica massacre

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: bobad
Date: 30 May 11 - 07:59 AM

"....far from being a bin Laden-style lightning raid, Mladic's arrest was an entirely staged event - the result not of police work but of negotiations by diplomats, who spent a whole year hammering out a deal to get him to surrender.

The deal, which suggests Serb intelligence at least had lines of contact to Mladic's protectors, was sealed by appealing to the Serb hardman's one known soft spot - his family. Told that they would be looked after properly if he give himself up, the prospect of ensuring the safe future for his wife, Bosiljka, and son, Darko, proved key in changing his mind.

"The negotiations about his surrender lasted slightly more than a year, with mainly French, British and German officials involved," said one Western diplomat, who asked not to be named. "The Serbs took responsibility to work things out with him, and guaranteed that his family would be taken care of, and that he would get a pension and eventually a decent burial."

Daily Telegraph

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 30 May 11 - 08:02 AM

A Serbian bloke called Ratko
Man! you shoulda seen that cat go
To the judge with pride
He said, first offence mate, genocide
I hope you don't give me an ASBO.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 30 May 11 - 08:34 AM

Rightly or wrongly, the defense of "I couldn't control my men" didn't work for Gen. Yamashita at his trial.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 May 11 - 08:44 AM

It probably won't help Ratko that he was recorded on film at the time saying "We will now take revenge upon the Muslims". As included in the documentary A Cry from the Grave, about what happened at Srebenica, broadcast again by the BBC last night.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Joe_F
Date: 30 May 11 - 07:20 PM

Charley Noble: I think it is fair to say that "When in danger..." is due to Anon. It is at any rate very widely known.

McGrath: That's the kind of thing. If you or I said I wished the Moslems would drop dead, rot, and go to hell, that would be stupid and rude, but it would be within the bounds of free speech. Persons with state power, IMO, because their ability to do harm is so greatly magnified, can reasonably be held to a stricter standard. For such persons to call publicly for people to rob & kill each other and put the police power of the state behind that call is IMO too flagrant to require a trial.
--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]
||: To do good is virtuous, and to wish good to be done is    :||
||: amiable, but to wish to do good is as vain as it is vain. :||

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 May 11 - 10:08 PM

How long does it *take* to blindfold, handcuff, and shoot 8500 people?

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 31 May 11 - 07:31 AM

> ...too flagrant to require a trial.

Of course I see your point, Joe. But once summary justice becomes the norm, it gets hard to draw the line.

Unlike Bin Laden, Mladic was found and peaceably arrested by his own government. By surrendering, he's earned his day in court.

It may or may not help him.

At Nuremburg, not all the convicted war criminals were sentenced to death (though the ones like Hess and Speer, who went to prison, weren't mass murderers, IIRC.)

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 31 May 11 - 10:50 AM

I guess that my posting about Mladic's 10,000 vocal supporters was meant to point out that it's not just a case of one homicidal maniac in a position of power

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:33 PM

It hardly ever seems to be "just a case of one homicidal maniac in a position of power". There always seem to be plenty of people who will admire and support people who fit that description.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:06 PM

Yep. They're the same all over.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 May 11 - 08:45 PM

They flew Ratko to Geneva today. He's got his own room with full internet connections. Maybe he'll post an update on this thread.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 05:58 AM

I note that Ratko's son and spokesman is called Darko. You couldn't make it up...

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 09:08 AM

So true...

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,999
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 10:55 AM

This saga reminds me of an old saw: When you owe the bank $20,000, they own you. When you owe the bank $20,000,000, you own them.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:05 AM

When will the international courts be seeking to prosecute the UN for its failure to protect the civilians of the Srebrenica 'safe haven'??

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:05 AM

When will the international courts be seeking to prosecute the UN for its failure to protect the civilians of the Srebrenica 'safe haven'??

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:07 AM

????

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:28 AM

McGrath of Harlow,

I'm puzzled by your ???s

Aren't you aware of the background to the Srebrenica massacre?

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: bobad
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:34 AM

You can add Rwanda and Darfur to the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:55 AM

Indeed, not far removed from the allies' procrastination during the holocaust in WW2

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 12:20 PM

He'll never get to be head of FIFA now. Or will he?

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Silas
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 12:22 PM

Not quite the same thing Mr H, though you do have a point, at the time of the holocaust, the allies had quite a lot of other things to be thinking about and the treatment of the Jews and others was considered by many to be nothing more than exaggerated roumor.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 12:25 PM

Ratko, they say, ordered mass killings.

Mr. Happy's suggested defendants did not.

Taking the world's nations to court for failing to prevent somebody else's atrocities would make for exciting TV coverage.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 01:02 PM

My ??? related to the previous thread to yours, Mr Happy.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 01:11 PM

My ??? related to the previous post to yours, Mr Happy.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: Teribus
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 05:42 AM

His trial will be a bit of a joke. If ever there was a case of the Clerk of the Court to shout out - "Wheel the Guilty Bastard in!" - This is it.

Considering the weight of evidence that will be brought against him, a great deal of it coming from his own lips in recorded statements I wonder if this creature will have the utter gall to plead anything other than Guilty. His trial should only be to establish how guilty he is.

At any event he is being given a fairer shake than anyone who ever fell into his hands or the hands of his minions.

Comparisons to his arrest and the operation to take bin Laden are ridiculous. As someone else said bin Laden was still an active foe, Mladic wasn't. To those who wished to see bin Laden on trial, I would say that you all would be responsible for the fates of those who would have been taken hostage or killed in attempts to secure his release, I cannot see anybody being taken hostage and having their head sawn off to win Ratko Mladic's release. What two years to put bin Laden in front of a court once all the shillyshallying had been got out of the way? Potentially seven hundred and thirty days of people being abducted and killed on video or of random bomb attacks on soft civilian targets - No far, far better that bin Laden was killed as he was.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 08:59 AM

I saw a quote from the court in which Ratko said he would sooner have been shot than brought to trial.

Good.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 09:20 AM

Couldn't agree more. Now he will have to account for his actions in public - which is the fate he probably least desires.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 07:58 AM

The only shame about the shooting of Bin Laden is that he did not stay alive long enough to learn of Ratko Mladic's capture and arrest even if only to prove a point that all evil is despised and will not be tolerated no matter who it is.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 Jun 11 - 10:38 AM

...to prove a point that all evil is despised and will not be tolerated no matter who it is.

Unless your name is Tony Blair or George Bush or Henry Kissinger... inter alia.

Subject: RE: BS: Ratko Mladic Arrested in Serbia
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Jul 11 - 11:55 AM

I have just read a report on the internet which says that Mr. Mladic was ejected from the courtroom, because he tried to shout down evidence, which was being given against him. It sounds as if he is not enjoying the experience of trying to justify his actions of the nineties.