Again!?

Serbian criminal Strbac would be a “liberator,” HDZ’s PM Ivo Sanader a porno correspondent?

June 13, 2006

The truth about the participation of Serb Savo Strbac in criminal enterprise of Greater Serbia is well known to Croatian and international public. He was nothing less than the secretary of the so-called government of “Republika Srpska Krajina” on the occupied Croatian territory from 1991-1995 (until Operation Storm).

Strbac’s political views, now furled into “justice” at The Hague, are on a par with those of Serbian Radical Party which still monstrously aspire to the territory of Croatia.

For someone who played an official role in Milosevic’s war against Croatia, he didn’t have to tell Croatian public, as he did still in 2005, that he felt welcome in Serbia. This criminal has also been welcome to Croatian media, and to The Hague: as an agent provocateur in the first case, and as a recognized ally in the latter.

In Croatian Globus’s Easter issue of March 25, 2005, Strbac was affected with nostalgia. When asked about the desired outcome of Milosevic’s trial, he replied: “May God’s will be done. And that of the tribunal in The Hague. I live in, and enjoy the hospitality of Serbia. He [Milosevic] gave me that hospitality. I’m the man who doesn’t forget it.” Yet he would try to remain politically correct in the eyes of The Hague: Milosevic “deserved to be tried because of the role he played. The command responsibility is something new, which we’re just facing.”

On the other side, Strbac was very clear about Croatian “responsibility.” Asked in the same interview by Globus for “the indictment of which Croatian general he was collecting the evidence for the longest time,” no, he wouldn’t say:

 “I haven’t accused anyone. Neither did I name anyone. I have nothing against Gotovina….”

Yet he named Croatian General Ante Gotovina for he had defeated the entire Milosevic’s death squad, of which Strbac was an important part. He certainly expressed his “satisfaction that Gotovina was indicted.” “I would love that he be found guilty,” he said. Naturally, it’s been Strbac’s “case” from the outset.

Asked by Globus what he thought about Gotovina as warrior, Strbac replied.

“I don’t know. I have no opinion about it. If he was in Foreign Legion, as he really was, he was obviously trained to engage in war, and trained to kill. I was recently asked if I had the witnesses who would confirm that Gotovina killed someone. I have none. But he was a commander and the command responsibility…. He either ordered, or didn’t prevent [the crimes], or didn’t punish [those who were responsible for the crimes], that’s his responsibility.”

Savo Strbac also said he “believes Gotovina would appear [before the ICTY] – unless he encounters a tragic accident.”

(Strbac also stated in this interview that he wanted to bring Croatian president Mesic to The Hague, but how this can be more than a cover up to protect Mesic’s position of power, which is a typical communist way of confusing naïve public: They’ve been both in the same business of bringing persecution of, or tragic accidents upon, Croatian patriots ever since they entered political arena on Croatian soil.)

Now the worst part. Not the worst as yet.

In the same interview, Strbac admitted that he had “met with Carla [Del Ponte] and Louise Arbour three to four times. … Our meetings were never one to one, but there was her [Carla Del Ponte’s] entire gang – deputies, advisors, and me and my collaborators on the other side. We were meeting in 2000 and 2001, when we worked the hardest.…. Very correct woman [Carla Del Ponte]. When she first came [to Belgrade], I had a feeling she had no real picture of what was going on. I remember the last meeting and I think she won’t forget it either. Belgrade, September 2001. During that summer, the indictments were raised against Croatian generals.”

While Strbac can’t forget Milosevic’s hospitality and Carla Del Ponte (whom he conveniently calls ‘Carla’ – as they obviously had a rapacious summer in their blind pursuit of “criminals”), they did away with a third party, Florence Hartmann, the then spokeswomen for Carla Del Ponte.

Strbac’s confession, again. At seeing him in Belgrade, Hartmann greeted him as follows:

“Oh, Mr. Strbac. You’re alive. You were very active this summer [2001]. You impressed us with all your reports.”

Although, Mr. Strbac had no proof about a single murder (not even in early 2005 when he gave this interview to Globus!), he “impressed” them. But let us see what happened next. Strbac:

“Without anticipating the conflict, I reply: ‘You know what, I will no longer be a gratis spokesman for The Hague’s tribunal. I want you to pay me for this seriously.’ As she took it seriously, we clashed badly. She attacked me verbally in such a way that Carla was uncomfortable. We had to pull her to the car as she was going berserk. Before, we were kindly speaking in fun. She used to say: ‘You Serbs are crazy. For attacking me. Do you know that I’m a Belgrade’s bride? My husband is from Belgrade. Instead of being happy that you have your man [she means woman or there are more of them] there in The Hague… I can help, I won’t harm, while you’re attacking me in media.’”

Now the worst indeed.

Even after this interview of March 2005, which clearly demonstrated the enemy’s role and bias in writing the indictments against Croatians,  Croatian government continued its “full and unconditional cooperation with The ICTY” as well as their hunt for Croatian hero, General Ante Gotovina. The International community was “impressed” by Croatian Government (and they were proud of this!) as much as was Carla Del Ponte by Savo Strbac. Because, as a Serbian unjust aggressor Strbac decided, General Gotovina was going to be guilty, or a tragic accident would be his fate.

Strbac couldn’t do differently but go back to his old bloody business against innocent people. Nowadays (in another – Croatian – newspaper, Vecernji List), he claims to have the support of international lobbyist organizations for Serbian objectives.  The international peace-plans for the settlement of the war once rejected by Milosevic (who had preserved his blind faith in Greater Serbia until Operation Storm), appear now feasible in Strbac's mind. In 2005, it appeared to Strbac that such plans were the missed opportunity for the Serbs, the past. (Although, these peace-plans, such as Z-4 and so on, were especially unfavourable to Croatia rather than to Serbia). Do they hope to compensate for losing Montenegro (and with this all maritime exits) at the expense of Croatia and thus find an Adriatic exit, again? Will Strbac, in 2007, appear in Croatian media as a “liberator”?

Croatian government and Croatian Prime Minister (most of Croatia's "diplomatic elites" in fact) would then go back to their old pornography business they used to run under the patronage of communist Yugoslav/Serbian newspapers, confined to them by communist undercover agents, prior to Croatia’s independence.  Would then Croatian newspapers be sold in Serbia as Croatians have no more patience to read any of this. Starting “secret” pornography websites in an old communist spy-genre, adding unrelated names into mad pictures, seems, unfortunately, to be their only “know-how” and the only “justice” they can do to Croatia. 

Ivana Arapovic

Links to Strbac’s Inerview in Globus of March 25, 2005

http://www.globus.com.hr/Clanak.aspx?BrojID=98&ClanakID=2290&Stranica=1#2661

http://www.globus.com.hr/Clanak.aspx?BrojID=98&ClanakID=2290&Stranica=2#2663