At the end of the cross-examination of James Jatras, the prosecutor tried to impeach the witness, an American of Greek origin, depicting him as some sort of "Orthodox fundamentalist" preaching that Islam is a "product of the darkness of godless Arabia" and warning that America and England will be "Islamic countries" in a few decades, and labeling another Greek American, former Democratic politician Michael Dukakis a "pagan" because he does not share the views of the Orthodox Church on abortion and because he married a "non-Christian"


By including James Jatras, former American Republican Party analyst and adviser, in his witness list, Slobodan Milosevic wanted to prove his argument on the collusion between Bill Clinton's Democrat administration and radical Islamic elements, first in Bosnia and then in Kosovo.

During the examination-in-chief, defense counsel Steven Kay tendered into evidence a voluminous report of the political subcommittee of the American Senate from 1996, entitled "Green Light for Iran", in which Clinton's administration is accused of tacitly condoning Iran's secret deliveries of weapons to Muslims and its establishing a base in Bosnia. The report, among other things, notes that the American "green light" made it possible for Iran to establish a substantial military, security and intelligence presence in Bosnia, gave it a foothold in Europe and thus "endangering American lives." Iran became, the report goes on to state, the "main provider of charity for the Bosnian government" which in turn became "less and less secular and democratic, increasingly turning towards radical Islamic views."

Confirming the allegations in the report, the witness stated that he disagreed with the assessment that the "radicalization of Bosnian Muslims" was the product of the "green light", claiming that it had been an "ideological orientation" of the SDA, and in particular of Alija Izetbegovic, right from the start of the war in Bosnia.

In the portion of his testimony that pertained to Kosovo, Jatras, quoting texts he had written in August 1998, claimed that it was clear to him that Clinton's administration had already made the decision to intervene militarily in Kosovo and that all it needed was a direct cause, which was found in January the next year in Racak. At the negotiations in Rambouillet, he claims, the Americans had "deliberately set the mark too high, so that Serbs would not be able to jump over it," and thus to foil the plans for the intervention.

In the cross-examination, prosecutor Geoffrey Nice managed to show that the report presented by Jatras contained only the views and conclusions of the Republican majority in the Senate subcommittee and that appended to it was a report by the Democratic minority with contradictory conclusions – that the American administration had not, in any way, directly or indirectly, participated in the Iranian operation to arm Bosnian forces or in any other violation of the UN embargo on the sale of weapons to states of the former Yugoslavia.

Although Presiding Judge Robinson noted that a document based on inter-party divisions "is of no help to the Chamber in the determination of the facts”, the report was admitted into evidence, with the judge remarking that the weight that will be given to it as evidence “is another matter."

Another issue that remains open is how the judges will judge the credibility of James Jatras, after the attempts by the prosecutor at the end of the cross-examination to impeach the witness, an American of Greek origin, depicting him as some sort of "Orthodox fundamentalist" preaching that Islam is a "product of the darkness of godless Arabia" and warning that America and England will be "Islamic countries" in a few decades, and labeling another Greek American, former Democratic politician Michael Dukakis, a "pagan" because he does not share the views of the Orthodox Church on abortion and because he married a "non-Christian".

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic is set to continue next Tuesday.

Sharing