THE GENERAL IS SCAPEGOAT FOR UN POLITICS

[Ivo Skoric]

and another important thing - just out of curiosity how is that they 
are certain about their intelligence on Gotovina - obtained on the 
territory of a supposedly sovereign country, yet they have no clue 
about Karadzic whereabouts, although they should have it easier 
operating under Lord Ashdown running the show in Bosnia-Hrecegovina? 
are they bluffing, hoping that Croatian government will blink? and if 
they are not, they better get into more details - after all, it 
should be in the interest of justice. could Gotovina hide in Croatia 
without Racan knowing? of course he could, he obviously has a lot of 
friends and supporters, if his freaking picture is at the entrance to 
Zadar, and if graffiti "long live our general" are all over the dozen 
small townships around Zadar.
ivo


On 26 Sep 2003 at 10:36, jkraljic at gwtlaw.com wrote:

i agree with your questioning about the ICTY as I was thinking about
this last night - I always hear about how they are short of cash, and
now they have intelligence?!

John Kraljic

-----Original Message-----
From: ivo at reporters.net [mailto:ivo at reporters.net]
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 10:20 AM
To: SUTRAMAGAZINE at peoplepc.com; hmfgsf at juno.com
Cc: kdedor at hotmail.com
Subject: Re: THE GENERAL IS SCAPEGOAT FOR UN POLITICS


This looks like yet another example of bad intelligence. Croatian
government has intelligence that says that Gotovina is not in 
Croatia,
shile ICTY has intelligence that says that Gotovina is in Croatia. It
would be nice that both of them disclose the sources of their
intelligence. I mean, we do live in the world in which British
intelligence claimed existence of weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq,
a claim that so far proved entirely wrong. Granic probably uses
Croatian police and military intelligence. What type of intelligence
does The Hague use? I was not aware that they have an intelligence
service affiliated with the tribunal?!

There is indeed hearsay that circles the NGO world for quite some
time, saying that Gotovina is indeed in Croatia, in his home-area
around Zadar (where his larger-than-life picture adores the entrance
to the old walled city), perhaps in Pakostane. I was there this 
summer
and haven't seen him, though. He probably hid well, knowing that I
would make a citizens arrest, if I saw him. Like anybody that I know,
I also just love getting in fights with French Legion war
mercenaries...

Of course, Granic may be lying. Maybe it is true that Gotovina is in
Croatia, and that this is hidden even from the government. But ICTY
then needs to be more specific about the sources of its intelligence
amd possibly guide Croatian government with that intelligence, 
because
maybe the government is intentionally deceived by their own
intelligence apparatus. To just show up and say "we know he is here" -

 is not really helpful to anybody - because it will not bring the
general to the trial, and it will just build mistrust between Croatia
and Europe.

ivo




On 26 Sep 2003 at 0:32, Josip Remenar wrote:

The New York Times Today

UN Court, Croatia at Odds Over Runaway General
By REUTERS

Published: September 25, 2003


Filed at 5:01 p.m. ET

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Croatia and prosecutors at The Hague war crimes
tribunal were at odds on Thursday over the whereabouts of indicted
general Ante Gotovina, the U.N. court's third most wanted fugitive.

Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic -- speaking after a meeting with
chief tribunal prosecutor Carla del Ponte -- insisted Croatia was
unable to apprehend Gotovina as he was not in the country.

     Advertisement


``We still claim that Gotovina is not under our jurisdiction,''
Granic, who is in charge of liasing with the tribunal, told
journalists. ``The problem is not solved, but we will continue to do
our best to resolve it with the cooperation of other countries.''

A French Foreign Legion veteran with vast combat experience, Gotovina
disappeared in July 2001, a day before the tribunal made public his
indictment, and has not been seen since.

Regarded by many in Croatia as a war hero, he is indicted for 
killings
and widespread destruction during and after Zagreb's final offensive
against rebel Serbs in August 1995.

The tribunal's prosecution spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, said the
U.N. court had intelligence that Granic was in Croatia and called 
upon
officials there to arrest him.

``We have completely different information than Zagreb. Our
information confirms that Gotovina is in Croatia,'' she said. ``This
problem is not solved and will not be solved until after he is
arrested.''

The meeting between del Ponte and Granic comes ahead of a trip to
Croatia del Ponte is set to make on October 6.

Del Ponte is due to inform the U.N. Security Council in a few weeks
about the extent of cooperation offered by each former Yugoslav
republic involved in the bloody 1991-95 conflict.

A negative report could seriously undermine Croatia's plans to start
accession talks with the European Union next year.

Zagreb applied for full EU membership in February.



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Ivo Skoric
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