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War Crimes Trial: Gen. Clark Testifies at Milosevic Trial
Aired December 15, 2003 - 05:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the Netherlands, presidential candidate and former NATO commander Wesley Clark testifies in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers live in The Hague this morning with details for us.
Boy, this has been going on a long time -- Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed it has, and it is going to go on much longer, Carol. The reasons being are that the rules of the war crimes tribunal are such that it -- if the trial -- if the prosecution has had two years so far, that means Slobodan Milosevic has equal time under the rules of the tribunal. And Milosevic himself can conduct a two-year-long defense. If that's what the prosecution gets, that's what Mr. Milosevic gets -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know in speaking about you know Wesley Clark is going to take the stand there, can you get into more about what he will say in his testimony -- Walter?
RODGERS: Well yes, it's fairly easy and then again it's fairly hard. He is obviously a prime witness for the prosecution against Mr. Milosevic. Here is a man who spent over a hundred hours negotiating with Milosevic. Mr. General Wesley Clark the Democratic -- one of the Democratic presidential candidates was, of course, Supreme NATO Commander. He and Milosevic met and met, and of course General Clark tried to get Milosevic to back down during the Balkan War of the previous decade. And so they know each other very, very well.
What we can't tell you is what General Clark is going to say. The reason being of the very unusual step and very controversial step the Bush administration has taken by gagging General Clark's live testimony. He is testifying in camera, in secret. And you have decide for yourself to what extent the Bush administration decided to get the general to testify or require that the general testify in secret to deprive him of a political stage here and undercut his presidential candidacy. Or to what extent, if you will, giving the White House the benefit of the doubt, that perhaps the general had something secret to say that the White House didn't want out in open testimony. Still, it doesn't add a lot of transparency to these proceedings, at least not today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. A question for you about Saddam Hussein, everybody is trying to figure out where this guy will be tried. Is it possible that he could be tried at The Hague? RODGERS: It is indeed possible, but it -- but we can't make the prediction that is going to happen. Let me give you why, it's the Milosevic precedent. The United Nations passed a resolution, 827, in 1993. That approved the prosecution of Mr. Milosevic here in The Hague. You would need a similar United Nations resolution to bring the trial of Saddam Hussein here to The Hague, the International War Crimes Tribunal. Certainly he qualifies because of the allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions and so forth.
But the problem there, of course, is that there already exists a war crimes tribunal in Iraq. It was established by the United States' appointed governing council last week, so they have equal claim to him. This is going to be a very, very difficult legal balancing act. Saddam could come to The Hague, but it's going to require a U.N. resolution and the Iraqis want him first -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers, reporting live from The Hague this morning, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 15, 2003 - 05:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the Netherlands, presidential candidate and former NATO commander Wesley Clark testifies in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers live in The Hague this morning with details for us.
Boy, this has been going on a long time -- Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed it has, and it is going to go on much longer, Carol. The reasons being are that the rules of the war crimes tribunal are such that it -- if the trial -- if the prosecution has had two years so far, that means Slobodan Milosevic has equal time under the rules of the tribunal. And Milosevic himself can conduct a two-year-long defense. If that's what the prosecution gets, that's what Mr. Milosevic gets -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know in speaking about you know Wesley Clark is going to take the stand there, can you get into more about what he will say in his testimony -- Walter?
RODGERS: Well yes, it's fairly easy and then again it's fairly hard. He is obviously a prime witness for the prosecution against Mr. Milosevic. Here is a man who spent over a hundred hours negotiating with Milosevic. Mr. General Wesley Clark the Democratic -- one of the Democratic presidential candidates was, of course, Supreme NATO Commander. He and Milosevic met and met, and of course General Clark tried to get Milosevic to back down during the Balkan War of the previous decade. And so they know each other very, very well.
What we can't tell you is what General Clark is going to say. The reason being of the very unusual step and very controversial step the Bush administration has taken by gagging General Clark's live testimony. He is testifying in camera, in secret. And you have decide for yourself to what extent the Bush administration decided to get the general to testify or require that the general testify in secret to deprive him of a political stage here and undercut his presidential candidacy. Or to what extent, if you will, giving the White House the benefit of the doubt, that perhaps the general had something secret to say that the White House didn't want out in open testimony. Still, it doesn't add a lot of transparency to these proceedings, at least not today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. A question for you about Saddam Hussein, everybody is trying to figure out where this guy will be tried. Is it possible that he could be tried at The Hague? RODGERS: It is indeed possible, but it -- but we can't make the prediction that is going to happen. Let me give you why, it's the Milosevic precedent. The United Nations passed a resolution, 827, in 1993. That approved the prosecution of Mr. Milosevic here in The Hague. You would need a similar United Nations resolution to bring the trial of Saddam Hussein here to The Hague, the International War Crimes Tribunal. Certainly he qualifies because of the allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions and so forth.
But the problem there, of course, is that there already exists a war crimes tribunal in Iraq. It was established by the United States' appointed governing council last week, so they have equal claim to him. This is going to be a very, very difficult legal balancing act. Saddam could come to The Hague, but it's going to require a U.N. resolution and the Iraqis want him first -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers, reporting live from The Hague this morning, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
