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[Excerpted from an address before the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies and the Centre for Peace in the Balkans (Toronto) 10/31/99]
I am speaking today in my capacity as President of the International Ethical Alliance (IEA) -- which denounces NATO's bombings of Yugoslavia. IEA is a United States non-profit organization committed to enhancing ethics in government
On July 8, 1999 IEA filed a formal indictment with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia charging President Clinton and others with War Crimes against the people of Serbia. The indictment was drafted by the Chairman of our Board of Directors, Jerome M. Zeifman.
"Jerry" (of whom I am a quasi-father confessor) is a life-long Democrat. (I am not.) At the time of the Nixon impeachment inquiry he served as Chief Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. As was first reported by Insight Magazine, and then by Matt Drudge on Fox TV, the indictment IEA filed with the ICTY has five prongs.
First, it charges defendants Clinton, Cohen, and other leaders of NATO countries with "non-defensive aggressive military attacks on Yugoslavia, which have not been necessary to defend the national security of the United States ... and are proscribed inter alia in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Aug. 8, 1945, and the 1947 Charter of the United Nations.
Second, it relies on specified evidence and expert testimony from witnesses whom IEA wants the Tribunal to summon, "including but not limited to: former U.S. President Jimmy Carter; former Nuremberg prosecutor for the United States, Walter Rockler; Bishop Artemious of Kosovo; journalist Alexander Cockburn; and playwright Harold Pinter."
Third, it charges, "There is substantial evidence of conduct by [then] prosecutor Louise Arbour that warrants her disqualification, including but not limited to: (i) the engaging in selective prosecution by intentionally failing to consider and act on evidence which incriminates defendants Clinton and Cohen, and other as yet unindicted officials of NATO countries; (ii) conflicts of interest, or the appearance thereof, in receiving compensation from funds contributed to the Tribunal in whole or in part by governments of NATO; and (iii) bias in favor of the attacks by NATO on former Yugoslavia."
Fourth, it calls for, "The appointment of an independent prosecutor who: (i) is not a citizen or permanent resident of a NATO country; (ii) is compensated only from funds specifically contributed by non-NATO countries; and (iii) has an independent staff that is not compensated directly or indirectly from funds contributed by NATO countries.
Fifth, of the Tribunal's fourteen justices, it calls for the disqualification for conflicts of interest of five justices representing NATO countries, including chief justice Gabrielle Kirk McDonald of the United States
I am pleased today to inform you that (as was also first reported by Insight Magazine) IEA's indictment has already had a modicum of success. Of the five Tribunal members for whose disqualification IEA had petitioned, by now three have resigned before the expiration of their terms.
On September 6, 1999, Justice Antonio Cassese of Italy (whose term was not up until 17 November 2001) announced his retirement and plans to resume an academic career at Florence University.
On September 15, Louise Arbour resigned. She has been appointed to the Canadian Supreme Court. Many Canadian critics of Prime Minister Chretien have opposed her appointment -- and consider it as a reward for suppressing evidence of Chretien's and Clinton's war crimes in the bombing of Yugoslavia
As Arbour's replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed Carla Del Ponte, a former Attorney General of Switzerland. Based on her prior record for professional integrity and traditional Swiss neutrality in military affairs she appears to Mr. Zeifman to be qualified.
As of November 17 the Tribunal's Chief Justice McDonald will be also vacating her unexpired term. As her replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed Patricia Wald, currently a Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Jerry Zeifman is particularly pleased by Kofi Annan's appointment of Justice Wald -- of whose prior career he has some personal knowledge. She had served as Assistant Attorney General during the Carter administration. Carter eventually appointed her to a federal Judgeship.