The law's delay: the insolence of office: Milosevic leaves everything unresolved for Serbia's victims and for many Serbs too

Steve Janke refers to National Post on the death of Milosevic in the Hague, the Netherlands, where his trial for war crimes, particularly genocide, was creaking along. So many will feel robbed of justice that the matter was never concluded, and no verdict resounded: Guilty! Janke then turns to these thawts, and I can't help feeling they are almost perfect a meditation on the enormity of what happened in the former Yugoslavia at the Serbian dictator's behest:

Maybe we need to remain in the realm of political expediency and ideological purity instead of shifting into the world of judicial minutiae in a situation in which we have captured a dictator like Milosevic or Sadaam.

* Were war crimes committed? Yes.
* Were they widespread, over a large area, over a long period of time, and involving an overwhelmingly large organized group of government employees, military and civilian? Yes.
* Did the dictator give speeches, both those aimed at a domestic audience and those presented to the world community, in which he encouraged those crimes against a particular and identifiable group? Yes.
* Did the retinue of cabinet ministers and hand-picked security people surrounding the dictator exclude those in the targeted groups? Yes.
* Is there reason to doubt that free and fair elections were held in this country? Yes.

Answer yes to these questions, provide and evaluate the evidence, and the dictator is found guilty. Over in less than a month.

Thanks to you, Mr Janke, for these wise words that go to the heart of a human disaster and a failure of justice. - Politicarp