US Ambassador John Bolton
December 9, 2005
Honorable John Bolton
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Via Email: usunpublicaffairs@state.gov
Dear Ambassador Bolton,
On behalf of the Croatian Worldwide Association, we are deeply saddened and infuriated by the arrest of Croatian General Ante Gotovina. We write requesting your help to secure his Hague indictment be dropped and he be released immediately.
The original purpose of the ICTY established in 1993 was to pursue high-level war criminals in the hopes of securing meaningful justice and reconciliation in the region—its mandate was never to abuse its power to jail independent journalists critical of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
First, the journalist indictments. These indictments are absurd for several reasons: 1) They are an assault on basic press freedoms and Croatia’s democratic institutions; 2) Other reporters who are pro-ICTY, pro-Del Ponte—such as those at the “Institute for War and Peace Reporting” or at the leftist Croatian daily, “Novi List”—who revealed the exact same testimony and the identity of the “secret witness” in the Tihomir Blaskic case are not being prosecuted. Hence, this is a case of selective prosecutorial abuse of authority, where Del Ponte’s enemies are being silenced and her supporters are left alone. Why is Del Ponte pursuing these journalists, all of whom have been critics of the ICTY and her conduct as chief prosecutor, while other pro-ICTY, pro-Del Ponte journalists are left alone? Does this not raise the public perception of a double standard and abuse of power emanating from the Chief Prosecutor’s office?
Croatia’s President Stipe Mesic, the primary “secret witness” that the Tribunal is allegedly trying to “protect,” has himself publicly admitted that he was the secret witness. Mr. Mesic has also publicly revealed on numerous occasions the exact content of his testimony. Therefore, Del Ponte is not “protecting” her “secret” witness because Mr. Mesic has already gone public with his revelations. This begs the question: why is Del Ponte insisting on indicting Croatian journalists for revealing information that is already in the public domain? Moreover, who can she possibly be “protecting” when the primary person—Mr. Mesic—she is supposedly shielding is exposing his identity and the nature of his entire testimony to the media?
This brings us to the ultimate question: why are tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to support an unaccountable and anti-democratic tribunal, whose goal was to prosecute mass murderers, but under Del Ponte has become a vehicle to pursue her political and personal agenda? Why is U.S. taxpayer money being used to throw independent reporters in jail for the “crime” of simply doing their job?
In the wake of the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food scandal, where we now know tens of billions of dollars were misused at the highest levels of the world body, and considering the fact that the ICTY is a U.N. court, why is the State Department so reluctant to investigate the allegations against Del Ponte? The Oil-for-Food scandal reveals the pervasive corruption, incompetence and abuse of power at the U.N. There has been a congressional investigation of the U.N. scandals. As a branch of the U.N., is it not time that the ICTY also be investigated and held accountable for the same kind of incompetence, abuse of power and corruption?
The State Department has recently discouraged Congress from investigating the very serious allegations against Del Ponte. In addition, the State Department is opening itself up to the charges of being involved in a cover-up. When the media and Congress begin to shed more light into Del Ponte’s abuse of power and prosecutorial negligence, it will be asked why officials in the State Department did nothing when presented with this kind of overwhelming evidence. That is the question that needs to be answered.
Our second and emergency issue deals with Croatian General Ante Gotovina who was indicted by Del Ponte in 2001. On November 10th, Undersecretary Nicholas Burns, during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called General Gotovina a “despicable war criminal.”
It is deeply disturbing--and frankly, scandalous--that the United States State Department would continue to support such a blatant judicial witch hunt and miscarriage of justice – the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The world knows Karadzic and Mladic are guilty of heinous atrocities and mass murder; Gotovina is a hero whose actions helped to stop Milosevic's genocidal project of a Greater Serbia. That is why Mladic and Karadzic should go to The Hague, while all charges against Gotovina should be dropped.
Yet the Gotovina indictment is not simply about defending an innocent man who is falsely accused. Again, as the media publications mentioned above all stress: it seeks to rewrite the history of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, equalizing guilt on all sides instead of placing the proper blame where it belongs--Slobodan Milosevic and his rampaging Serb marauders led by Karadzic and Mladic. General Gotovina's leadership of Operation Storm, the 1995 Croatian lightening military offensive, not only restored Croatia's territorial integrity and recaptured territory that had been conquered and ethnically cleansed by rebel Serbs, it also saved tens of thousands of besieged Bosnian Muslim refugees in the enclave of Bihac in northwestern Bosnia. Operation Storm brought about the decisive defeat of Slobodan Milosevic's forces and paved the way for the Dayton Peace accords.
Hence, the man who brought about the defeat of Milosevic's campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing--General Gotovina--is being compared and linked by the ICTY to the principal perpetrators of genocide in the region--Karadzic and Mladic. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is trying to turn white into black.
More importantly, by seeking to equalize guilt, the Gotovina indictment threatens the future stability of the Balkans. For by trying to convict General Gotovina for "command responsibility" over Operation Storm, Del Ponte's actions are calling into question the moral and legal legitimacy of the Croatian state within its current borders. The Gotovina indictment, by falsely claiming that Operation Storm sought to deliberately ethnically cleanse 150,000 ethnic Serbs from Croatia, provides Serbian revanchists with the moral and legal basis to reclaim large swaths of Croatian territory in the future. In short, the Gotovina indictment lays the groundwork for the resurgence of a Greater Serbia. If General Gotovina is sent to The Hague, where he will be certainly found guilty under the trumped up and bogus charges of "command responsibility," it will result in a great victory for Milosevic's allies and the supporters of a Great Serb empire from the Danube to the Adriatic. Serbia's parliament in Belgrade has already passed a binding resolution that claims the ICTY's indictment of Gotovina gives the Serbs the "political, legal and ethical" basis to "reclaim" one-third of Croatia's territories. In other words, Del Ponte's indictment of Gotovina is sheer madness. It threatens the long-term security and stability not only of Croatia, but of the Balkans in general.
Finally and most importantly, the Gotovina indictment also threatens the long-term national interests of the United States. It has been well-documented and established that Operation Storm was an American-backed offensive. The United States gave its full political, military and intelligence support for the operation. If General Gotovina is found guilty of "command responsibility" over the operation, it will inevitably lead to the ICTY investigating and indicting senior U.S. military officials for having provided crucial military and logistical assistance. Americans may find themselves in the dock as well. Several years ago, The Washington Times revealed in a front-page story that Del Ponte actually was seeking to indict Former President Bill Clinton for his role in supporting Operation Storm.
Del Ponte's office is full of anti-American ideologues who have been seeking to curtail and undercut U.S. foreign policy in Europe. Moreover, we urge the United States Congress recognize the solider who led that operation, Croatian General Ante Gotovina, is pronounced innocent.
The Gotovina indictment is bad no matter how you look at it--morally, legally, geopolitically. It's bad for Croatia, the Balkans and ultimately, the United States. That's why we are hoping you will take this matter up and do whatever you can to demand that the Gotovina indictment be dropped.
PLEASE RELEASE GENERAL GOTOVINA FROM THE WRATH OF THE ICTY AND CARLA DEL PONTE.
Thank you for your attention and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.
Warm regards,
Jackie Prkic
President