Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
So what is it about those to whom we mere mortals look up to in the assurance that all will be set straight, that those responsible for war carnage will be brought to justice, with the full determining force of the combined United Nations' intent? What is it, come to think of it, that compels the forthrightly intelligent, moralistic international elite to behave on behalf of the rest of us with punctilious observation of the law and justice? To the extent that sympathetic consideration appears to be lavished upon specific individuals whose rule of law has been so egregiously at odds with that of a civilized society that we consider them brutally indefensible.Thus it is that a clever psychopath who has attained the highest civil position in his country and uses that position to kindle a deep-seated and incendiary hatred of those of another ethnic group on the basis of an ancient humiliation of defeat can still be treated with a tender deference by those whom we depend upon to restore order to a world gone wrong.
In the Balkans, as elsewhere in Eastern Europe, ethnic, tribal hostilities seem to hover close to the surface, in any event. In the former Yugoslavia the Serbs, Croats and Albanians managed to live together in some kind of workable harmony under an overseeing dictator. Once those constraints to enmity were removed with the dissolution of the countries' alliance under the Tito umbrella, each group was ripe for revenge. There in particular the veneer of civilization appears to have been trowelled particularly stingily.
Slobodan Milosevic became a heroic leader to his people, encouraging them to relive past grievances and to restore the former glory of Serbia. And how to achieve that end? Simple: go on a murderous rampage. His challenge to his people was warmly embraced and they attacked their Albanian neighbours, along with Croats and Bosnian Muslims, all in the name of their ancient besmirched honour. And didn't they do themselves proud as blood ran in the streets? And wasn't Milosevic the darling of the West, wooing them with his civilized behaviour, until his adventures became too much for anyone to stomach?
Milosevic was an indicted war criminal. The newly-instituted War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, yet another ineffectual creature of the United Nations lodged him in a prison as they set about prosecuting him for war crimes, crimes against humanity. Some prison. This murderous monster was given his own office complete with fax, computer and telephone. Other amenities included use of a "comfort room" for conjugal visits with his estimable wife. He was permitted guests, as well as his legal representatives. Please to remember, he never accepted the "legality" of this court, protesting they had no right to try him for anything.
Why is it that those in the West bend over backwards, upside-down and topsy-turvey to accommodate the unspeakable? Why is it that highly regarded members of the legal community in Western countries go out of their way to personally represent the "interests" in due process under the law on behalf of some of the world's most detested mass murderers? These are people who did not so much as blink an eye let alone have a moment of compassion for those whose lives they summarily extinguished.
Yet every courtesy of civilized discourse and protection is offered such offenders of humanity. What kind of universal justice is seen to be done on behalf of the victims of their mad reigns? Milosevic and his equally brutal henchmen killed without compunction in the name of their vision of a greater Serbia, a country restored to its full honour. Honour gained at the expense of countless lives. How the language suffers.
This man was cosseted by a judicial system said to be representative of the wishes of the world community under the auspices of that august body, the United Nations. Apart from his savagely undetected mental illness, his physical ailments were scrupulously treated by medical doctors in the Hague. But he managed to evade justice, dying well before a verdict could be brought in and the trial brought to a long-awaited conclusion. His death was a fairly kind one, something he denied his countless victims.
Isn't life something? The families of his victims are twice victimized as they know that justice was not achieved on behalf of their loved ones. The incredulous world community looks on at the absurd spectacle of a trial five years in the making, costing millions upon millions of dollars to prosecute, with nothing at all to show for it.
And Serbian nationals are rending their garments in sorrow at the sad end of their one-time leader.
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, March 15, 2006
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