Well, wonder why Serbia was never given THIS option. Guess it's because they were never the "victims," only the "perpetrators"....if this tactic works, it will further reinforce the double-standard the Hague has used in prosecuting acts that occurred during the wars.
Croatia seeks to defend itself at Hague tribunal
3 September 2006 14:10 Source: Reuters
ZAGREB -- Croatia has asked to be a "friend of the court" at the United Nations war crimes tribunal.Croatia wants to combat what it says are unacceptable allegations about its military operations in the 1990s, state radio said on Friday.The government of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has asked for the 'amicus curiae' status in a letter sent to the tribunal, the radio reported after a cabinet session. "We shall thus try to refute the unacceptable allegations in the indictments, in cooperation with the tribunal," Sanader said, referring to the trials of three Croatian generals and six Bosnian Croats, all of whom are in the tribunal's custody. The friend of the court is not a party in the trial but seeks to take part in the proceedings, believing the trial and its outcome may affect its interests. The indictments against the three generals allege that top Croatian state and army leaders engaged in a "joint criminal enterprise" to drive out for good rebel minority Serbs in a 1995 offensive codenamed Operation Storm. Some 150,000 Serbs fled the Croatian army's advance. Croatia says the offensive was its legitimate right, to retake land captured by Serb rebels at the outset of the war in 1991 when Zagreb declared independence from communist Yugoslavia. The six former Bosnian Croat leaders are accused of leading another joint criminal enterprise aimed at ethnically cleansing Muslims from parts of southern Bosnia in 1993 and proclaiming a separate Croat state. Their indictment says Bosnian Croat forces had acted under supervision or in coordination with Croatian army, police and intelligence. Croatia says its troops were never engaged in Bosnia. Croatia has significantly improved cooperation with the tribunal since Sanader took office in late 2003. The last remaining Croatian fugitive, general Ante Gotovina, was arrested in Spain last December. His trial is due to start in 2008.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/globe-article.php?yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=03&nav_category=123&nav_id=36473
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Before there was Iraq II (its own little piece of history), there were the conflicts in the countries of the "ex-Yugoslavia." Now Kosovo is exploding again, and it seems as if all the media and the pundits can do is rehash the old stories while new bodies pile up. Here is a place where we will attempt to give you a sense of the bigger picture.
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