Karadzic Extradited To War Crimes Tribunal

Accused Mastermind Of Bosnian Genocide Taken Into Custody At The Hague To Face Tribunal Justice

(CBS/AP)  A U.N. spokesman said Wednesday that ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was in the custody of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.

Spokesman Liam McDowall confirmed Karadzic was at the U.N. detention center near The Hague, where he will stand trial for genocide.

The confirmation came shortly after a helicopter landed behind the high wall of the jail while another helicopter hovered overhead. Two black minivans drove through the prison gates moments earlier.

Karadzic faces 11 counts including genocide, extermination and persecution in the 1992-1995 Bosnian wars. Prosecutors allege he masterminded atrocities including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and the deadly siege of Sarajevo.

A business jet with Serbian government markings delivered Karadzic to the Netherlands earlier Wednesday morning.

The Serbian government said in a statement issued early Wednesday that it had issued a decree that allowed his handover.

Officials say the war crimes suspect was captured July 21 in Belgrade, where he lived under the assumed identity of a health guru, with long white beard and hair, and large glasses.

"The speedy transfer of Karadzic to the war crimes tribunal underscores the resolve of the government of President Boris Tadic to bring Serbia into the European community and to cap the rise of Serbian radical nationalism," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

"The trial itself, which will be lengthy, will strengthen the rule of law in these international tribunals because the prosecutor in this U.N.-authorized court will have to prove Karadzic's direct command responsibility for the eleven counts of genocide and war crimes," added Falk, "and the next step for Serbia will be to deliver Karadzic's military chief, General Ratko Mladic to the court."

Mladic has been successfully evading capture. Many believe he is still in Serbia, being hidden by supporters in the nationalist movement.

"They need Mladic," Col. Bob Stewart, a former NATO commander in the Balkan wars and an analyst on the region, told the British Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday.

He said without Mladic, the tribunal would have difficulty in convicting the fallen politician, "because Karadzic is going to say, 'I wasn't there, I wasn't at Srebrenica, so don't charge me with genocide.'"

Karadzic's extradition came after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-hurling extremists in downtown Belgrade Tuesday night as ultranationalists protested the government's plans to extradite Karadzic.

In anticipation of clashes, riot police had deployed across the capital and heavily armed anti-terrorist troops guarded the U.S. Embassy as busloads of ultranationalists arrived from all over Serbia and Bosnia for the anti-government rally dubbed "Freedom for Serbia."

While about 15,000 Serb extremists attended the rally in a main square, several hundred hooligans separated from the group and began hurling stones and burning flares at riot police.

Later, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at large groups of demonstrators, trying to push them away from the square as the rally ended. Police blocked off streets in several areas of Belgrade, stopping traffic and not allowing demonstrators to pass.

Belgrade's emergency clinic reported that 46 people were injured, including 25 policemen and 21 civilians. Most were lightly injured, doctors said, adding that only one civilian and one policeman were hospitalized. A Spanish TV journalist was among the injured.

The downtown area was strewn with debris after the clashes, littered with glass from smashed-up shop windows and garbage from overturned cans. Ambulance sirens blared as paramedics raced to help the injured.

Three people were arrested Tuesday night after they smashed windows of a McDonald's restaurant during the protest, police said.

Karadzic, considered one of Europe's most wanted suspects, is accused by the U.N. court of masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica and the more than three-year siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 people dead.

[whiskyrokkr]

Hang em'' high

[guadalcanal3]

rickstas...Bush, Cheny and Rice NEVER raped anybody nor did they commit genocide...nor did they have mass executions of innocents and bury them in mass graves of 2,000 or more...there is no comparison.

[rickstas]

Bush, Rumsfeld and Rice should be tried for their crimes as well!!!

[obama441]

TERRORSALAMI:What''''s with the endless citations and listing of ip addresses?! Don''''t you know what you want to say?! Can''''t you just say it?! Posted by stn_sage..he,he terrorsalami hates jews, hates,mexicans,hates blacks,and and probably hates his neighbors too!! sheesh what a friggin loser!

[boatdocster]

To start an illegal war under false pretenses does qualify as a war crime, and has been recognized as such since the Nuremberg trials.

[boatdocster]

Bush Cheney Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld should be next

[questionnews]

Send him company! Impeach and try Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Powell; convict them or extradict them to the Hague for trial there!

Then, they''''d have enough players for a poker game, and Karadzic wouldn''''t be lonely anymore!

It would be a nice act of kindness, and useful, too!

Posted by stn_sage at 10:03 AM : Jul 30, 2008

That''s right! Just as Kennedy & Johnson should have been dragged to the Hague for the fiasco called Vietnam that killed far more people than in Iraq. Kennedy & Johnson are just as guilty of war crimes as Bush is!

[stn_sage]

terrorislamv:

You are without doubt one of the most annoying persons on these boards!

Anyone who believes half the stuff you espouse, should probably be considered mad!

What''s with the endless citations and listing of ip addresses?! Don''t you know what you want to say?! Can''t you just say it?!

How many people do you think even take you seriously at this point?! Not many, I''d guess!

I recommend you change your writing style, but that''s up to you! Just don''t whine and complain when someone points these things out to you from time to time!

[stn_sage]

I hate the idea of Karadzic getting lonely in his cell all by himself! It would be nice if he had company! Here''s where the U.S.Congress could help out, since they do so little for the American public!

Send him company! Impeach and try Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Powell; convict them or extradict them to the Hague for trial there!

Then, they''d have enough players for a poker game, and Karadzic wouldn''t be lonely anymore!

It would be a nice act of kindness, and useful, too!

[obama441]

Donald Rumsfeld: There are known knowns,these are the things we know that we know..but there are also unknown unknowns,there are things we don''t know... "Shock and AWE" ji,ji..frigenn old b.astard!! take his arss to The Hague To Face Tribunal Justice..

[marshall_nee]

I hope the Hague can get him tried and sentenced by 1/20/09 so they have a clear docket by then....

Posted by formrusmcsgt at 05:57 AM : Jul 30, 2008

Na, this will drag on for years, most likely deliberately.

[shoebox119]

STUPID SILLY EUROPEANS,

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PUT FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM ON TRIAL???

Posted by terrorislamv

_______


When are you going to put Fascist, Nazi, terroramericans on trial for their illegal Crusade in the Middle East? Namely, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the inner circle of this administration?

[bluestardad]

WHEN IS THE HAGUE GOING TO TRY BUSH CHENEY?

[formrusmcsgt]

I hope the Hague can get him tried and sentenced by 1/20/09 so they have a clear docket by then....

[notfooled]

While they''re at it, we''ve got about a dozen mass murderers responsible for more than a half-million deaths - many innocent women and children.

Please add George W. Bush, *** Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, etc, to the list of folks to be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Please come and arrest and shackle them at your earliest convenience. They''ve already condoned torture if it''s needed to make them talk.

[juwboy]

Aunty Zion:

Gentile-Americans outnumber Jewish-Americans by about 50-to-1.

Gentile-Americans outnumber Jews by about 20-to-1.

Gentiles outnumber Jews by about 400-to-1.

So, if Jews control Congress, as you claim, then an infinitesimal fraction of a Jew must be more than a match for a schickerer Yock like yourself.

What a HUMILIATING admission for you to make!!!

[n8yvn29]

It is easily imaginable that the American people will one day also experience rock throwing as disgruntled neocons try to prevent Junior Bush from being frog-walked to an airplane waiting to take him to The Hague to be tried for the deaths of over one million Iraqis.

[antizion]

What about Bush Cheney and our Zionist controlled congress? Our war criminals are far more deserving of a firing squad.

[alphaa10-2009]

ETHNIC HATREDS IN THE BALKANS

Most Americans have difficulty understanding the deep-seated fears and hatreds of the Balkans. In this historically turbulent area, where empires collided constantly, there was always a score to settle with somebody-- no matter how many decades or even centuries separated the actual event.

The Ottoman empire expanded rapidly after the fall of Constantinople, and eventually most of the people under its control were Christian. The Ottoman rulers considered themselves a rival to European monarchies, not a Middle Eastern empire, and accomodated captured peoples as a matter of convenience. Some historians attribute even a degree of tolerance to Istanbul, but there were pronounced limits to how much religious freedom existed for Christians.

(see Ethnic Hatreds in the Balkans--2)

[alphaa10-2009]

ETHNIC HATREDS IN THE BALKANS-- 2

One of the favorite administrative devices of the Ottoman rulers was to place Muslim populations in previously all-Christian areas. This assured the Sultanate of early warning of Christian insurrection, and physically divided the local peoples in a pattern aptly termed "balkanization".

While suspicion and discord did not always rule local interactions between Muslim and Christian peoples, it was almost inevitable there would be reprisals against rebellious Christian areas.

Today, this accounts for a fierce hatred of things Islamic, and Turkish, in particular. The story of Count Dracula takes huge liberties with the historic figure Vlad III Dracula ("son of Dracul") of Wallachia, who fiercely resisted Ottoman rule.

These hatreds, in and out of legend, account for much of the Serbian effort to drive out all remaining Muslim people from the area.