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| Bosnia: Karadzic Made Secret Deal With U.S. To Spare Him From Prosecution |
| 2007-03-23 |
| (AKI) - Former Bosnian Serb leader and top war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic, made a secret deal with the United States in May 1996 to spare him from prosecution in return for abandoning politics and withdrawing from public life, Banjaluka weekly Fokus alleges in its latest issue. Karadic and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladic are the two top fugitives wanted for trial at the United Nations Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Fokus published what it claimed is a copy of the alleged pact signed by Karadzic and the chief US mediator in the Balkan conflicts, Richard Holbrooke (who later became US secretary of state). The pact states that Karadzic would be spared from prosecution by the UN tribunal if he resigned from the post of president of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS), withdrew from politics and refrained from making public statements. Contacted in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, Vladimir Nadezdin, former aid of Serbian foreign minister Milan Milutinovic on Thursday confirmed the existence of the document. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” he told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Thursday. Karadzic disappeared in 1996, but Holbrooke has repeatedly denied the existence of a document such as that published by Fokus - rumours of which have been circulating for some time. Karadzic has been accused of genocide against Bosnian Muslims and is one of the six indictees accused by UN tribunal who are still at large. According to Fokus, the document provided for a secure hideaway for Karadzic and a sum of 600,000 dollars to ensure his protection and "decent living conditions." The existence of a secret deal has been confirmed by Karadzic’s elder brother Luka. "I appeal to the honour, dignity and the office held by Richard Holbrooke to make public the details of the gentleman's agreement which he had signed with my brother Radovan,” Luka Karadzic told Fokus. He said that several former Bosnian Serb officials and Nadezdin, could vouch for the existence of the alleged agreement between Karadic and Holbrooke. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Yep, the genocide thing that never happened. |
| Posted by: Shosh Peacock4067 2007-03-23 16:29 |
| #3 The reasoning at the time was that instability in the Balkans could spread to Greece; that in turn would make NATO unstable. Further, the Russians, in supporting their traditional ally Serbia, would get more deeply involved. Plus there was the whole genocide thing. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-03-23 10:34 |
| #2 Richard Holbrooke was/is a Clintonesta, and was hip deep in the Balkin affair. It's never been quite clear to me as to why our national strategic interest was at stake over there in the hind-end of Y'urp-pe, and/or why we should have been the main lead force running the show instead of the Y'urp-peons. [allot of good it did us to "halp out" heh, ungrateful bastids] Richard Holbrooke, the "guy" gave/gives me the creeps. Even though I've read some of his work and listened to his recollections on C-span I'll have to defer to other Rantburgers as to the soundness and validity of our whole Balkin adventure. There is more spin and disinformation than fact as far as I can tell. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-03-23 08:11 |
| #1 Yep, better to have him out of the picture completely rather on trial in the Hague, with zero evidence against him, and telling inconvenient truths about how NATO sided with extremist Muslims against secular Serbs for no apparent reason. |
| Posted by: Unineling Hatfield2031 2007-03-23 06:12 |