Slobodan Milosevic

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal. Hundreds of thousands of people have died horribly at his direction. Millions more were driven from their homes. In Kosovo the body count continues.

He is a killer of the worst sort. He orders death from a distance. He doesn’t know the victims or care, except that they are civilians--weak, unorganized, defenseless but for a few guns, no match against well-armed soldiers backed by artillery, helicopters and jets. He orders death for power, for self-aggrandizement. Death for him is a tool. As it was for Hitler. Do we call Hitler an “alleged” war criminal? Of course not.

Neighborhoods rise up in alarm when a child molester is revealed within their midst. Milosevic has killed, mutilated and damaged forever tens of thousands of children. Where is the outcry as leaders meet with him, shake hands, dine? Do the too-smug mechanics of realpolitik require such smiling complicity?

Milosevic and his henchmen are war criminals. Indict them. Arrest them. Put them on trial. Serbia can handle it. Justice demands it. His victims deserve no less.

DREW RENNER

Laguna Beach