Reuters’ presstitute Paul Gallagher writes yesterday about the trial of Yugoslav general Pavle Strugar for the alleged destruction of the medieval port of Dubrovnik.
Quite honestly, I didn’t think even the Hague Inquisition would dare to propagate positions that are so easily verifiable as lies.
Namely, the Inquisitors claim Strugar’s forces “mercilessly pounded” Dubrovnik’s Old Town, with “unprecedented ferocity,” and inflicted “heavy damage.” But that is simply not true.
“The people of the world witnessed on their television sets a sustained, senseless shelling of the Old Town of Dubrovnik,” prosecutor Philip Weiner told judges.
Ah, so if we’ve seen something on television, it must be true, no? Rubbish. Besides, the TV showed no such thing, because no such thing ever happened.
As someone who’s lived through 1326 days of siege warfare in Sarajevo, I know a bit about sustained shelling, and the kind of damage it leaves behind. I’ve been in Dubrovnik at least twice in the past decade, and I’ve seen no damage that would point to a pattern of shelling even remotely similar to Sarajevo. In fact, the only completely demolished buildings in Old Town Dubrovnik are the Serbian church and the adjacent icon museum – and they were demolished from the inside .
Now, there are other, modern areas of Dubrovnik that were shelled, and several landmark hotels and resorts have been devastated. So, why does the Inquisition not question, investigate or prosecute the shelling of possible non-military targets? Because that doesn’t sound as useful as “destruction of priceless old treasures.” Once again, propaganda takes precedence over truth – a hallmark of the Hague “Tribunal.”