Saying 'goodbye' to the 'Butcher of Belgrade"

Toxicologists who examined Slobodan Milosevic's blood tests say the former Yugoslav president was not poisoned, says the head of the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Tribunal president Judge Fausto Pocar also said Friday that the preliminary tests showed no sign that Milosevic had received "toxic concentrations" of any medication with the power to kill him. Preliminary results from a Dutch autopsy had earlier suggested Milosevic died of a heart attack in his cell last weekend.

This lays to rest the accusations from Milosevic's family and supporters who have been accusing UN authorities of killing the 64-year-old former Serb leader by administering poison. They also say he failed to receive proper medical care for his heart condition and high blood pressure while in custody. Shortly after the former Serb leader's death, a toxicologist who had examined earlier blood test results said they showed the presence of an antibiotic drug called rifampicin, which could have diminished the effectiveness of Milosevic's heart medications.

I remember the shock I felt when the first pictures of the effect of Milosevic's war of genocide had on this jewl of the Balkins. I remember the stories of his army using the ski jump platform that was home to many great triumps from the Olympic games a few short years earlier, as a cowards roost. A place to terrorize the citizens of Sarajevo with sniper fire. No, I can not fathom the horror these innocent people trying to go about their daly lives, in the midst of choas. But what I can understand is the real need for the worlds 'Democratic' societies to band together and head off these madmen before we descend any further into the depths of hell.

A group of Milosevic's opponents published what they called a "memorial" in the daily newspaper Politika, placed next to several traditional death notices lauding the former Socialist Party leader.

"Thank you for the deceit and theft, for every drop of blood shed by thousands, for the fear and uncertainty, for the failed lives and generations, the unfulfilled dreams, for the horrors and wars you waged in our name, without asking us, for all the burdens you've placed on our shoulders," the anti-Milosevic notice said.

"We remember tanks on Belgrade streets and blood on the pavements. We remember Vukovar. We remember Dubrovnik. We remember Knin and Krajina. We remember Sarajevo. We remember Srebrenica. We remember the air strikes. We remember Kosovo.

"We'll be remembering that one for a while. And dreaming of it."

To the people scared by this man, I applaud you. You have shown the world how to wade into the darkness and grasp for the beakon of light that evil so shuns. Rise high your head and set forth your arm and allow your torches to set ablaze the evil that plagues us. In time we can clean the world of its evil in a wave of democracy. Here, I offer my drop to get the tide flowing.

Later,
Kenaz