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American Morning

How Will Milosevic's Extradition Affect Yugoslavia?

Aired June 29, 2001 - 11:25   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We continue our coverage of the hand- over of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian leader. That hand-over is being hailed as a turning point in international criminal justice.

And joining us now with some special insight in this is former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark. General Clark commanded the Allied operation in Kosovo during the crisis, you may recall. He is not in uniform any more; he is in Little Rock, Arkansas this morning.

And we sure do appreciate you joining us this morning, sir, after hearing this really remarkable news of the arrest and detention of Slobodan Milosevic. Your thoughts?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, it is great news. It's great news for international law; it's also -- it also validates the policy that we have been pursuing, really, against Milosevic now for some time, which is to strengthen the forces of democracy and Westernization in Serbia. And they had the courage to take this step, and I think that's very, very good news, all through the region.

HARRIS: Does this move make it easier, or does it make it more difficult, now, to go after the others who are also being sought by the war crimes tribunal? And we just heard the chief prosecutor mention by name General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

CLARK: Well, Mladic was reported to be in Serbia. He's been known to have lived in Belgrade for some time under protection of the Milosevic regime and the armed forces there. It's time for him to be turned in.

Karadzic has been on the run in Eastern Bosnia, in and around Pale, sometimes going into Montenegro and other places like this. People know where he is, and his own people need to turn him in. I think the departure of Milosevic makes it easier for the Serbs to take matters into their own hands now and go after these men who've brought them so much grief and shame over the years.

HARRIS: Yes, but as you said, his people should turn him in, but -- speaking of Mr. Karadzic -- but they have not to this point, which would indicate there is still some support for him within the system and, perhaps, for Mr. Milosevic. Are you not concerned at all that Mr. Milosevic to those people become something of a martyr? CLARK: No, I don't think he's going to become a martyr, because I think the facts are out. They're already out on the ground in Serbia, where the truck's been pulled out of the Danube and the graves have been dug up in army training camps showing the decomposed bodies of the Albanians that were killed.

He's clearly complicit in criminal activity. And that can't bring any credit to the people of Serbia, and they'll recognize that for what it is very quickly.

You know, these people are criminals as well as murderers. I mean, they're dealing in money, and they bought a lot of support. And that money is going to evaporate as they are incarcerated, and the supporters will have to find their own ways in the world.

HARRIS: Well, you mentioned money, and some who have been watching what's happened here, and watched the way that Mr. Milosevic was extradited, even though the leader of the -- the elected leader of the country there was not necessarily for that move, and he was informed about it being -- about it after it happened, in fact. And the nation's constitutional court had also said that his extradition was going to be counter to the constitution of that particular country.

There are many who are saying that the only reason why this happened was because of the money that's being dangled over the noses of that region by the U.S. and others who are donating to the aid that's going to be used to rebuild that country.

CLARK: Well, let's look at the facts on this. First of all, look, this is the same constitutional court that ruled in October that Milosevic's loss in the election was illegal and tried to retain him in power. The court made its ruling without even having a quorum when they made the ruling, so there's not much legal grounds.

Kostunica has been a very cautious politician. He's played to the nationalists in Serbia consistently. And I think it's just common sense that before Western nations are willing to go ahead with investments in Yugoslavia, they want to see the end of this regime that's brought so much terror and pain on the region.

This was a corrupt regime that was going to use the money for its own ends. And so I think it's only normal that governments that would be investing and giving assistance would use that as leverage to see the follow-through here of Westernization in Yugoslavia.

HARRIS: Yes, but of those governments who are going to be donating, the U.S. is going to be donating a huge amount, perhaps the lion's share -- I read this morning as much as $100 million dollars coming from the U.S. You're not concerned at all about any anti-U.S. backlash because of that kind of pressure being applied to this situation?

CLARK: Well, first of all, I think that there was pressure applied from European governments, too. And I think that, when it's looked at, the people of Yugoslavia are going to recognize that they had to make this step, and they had to make it sooner rather than later.

And it had to do not only with government money, it had to do with Western investment and the basic orientation of the country. This country is part of the West; it was historically. It was a Slavic country, but it's university graduates spoke French and German and English. They weren't part of the Soviet Union or the old Communist system. These people want to come back and be part of the West again, and I think that's what we're going to see.

HARRIS: I can't let you go this morning without asking you something about the role of NATO there in that region, particularly now with Macedonia now being on the verge of a civil war there?

CLARK: Well, I called for NATO action in Macedonia. I think we've waited longer than is necessary to have taken a more proactive stance, stronger diplomatic representation from the United States in the region. We've got to go beyond mediating between the two sides. We've got to help them reach an acceptable agreement. That means putting forth our own proposals, and it means backing that up with assurances of security on the ground once those proposals are agreed. That means a NATO mission, and that can't succeed without a U.S. troop presence in it.

HARRIS: General Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme allied commander, always a pleasure to have you with us here on CNN...

CLARK: Thank you very much, Leon.

HARRIS: ... glad to see you're doing well; take care.

CLARK: Pleasure to be here. Thank you.

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