‘It Is Nonsensical to Accuse the Wrong Side’

Here are quotes from former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s more than four-hour statement Thursday before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague:

“This show, which is supposed to take place under the guise of a trial, is actually a crime against a sovereign state, against the Serb people, against me. You wish to try me for things carried out in the capacity of the head of the state in defense of our state and to defend our people from terrorism and from the greatest military machinery the world ever had.”

“There’s not a single element of a fair trial. There’s an enormous apparatus on one side. A vast media structure on that same side. All kinds of services . . . everything’s at your disposal. What’s on my side? I only have a public telephone booth in the prison.”

“Your bosses broke up Yugoslavia. They pushed Bosnia into a civil war. The Serbs did not start the war. It is nonsensical to accuse the wrong side.”

“How do you dare say Kosovo borders with Serbia? Kosovo is Serbia. The Hague does not ‘border’ the Netherlands. If you do not know that, someone can tell you.”

“The Americans go to the other side of the globe to fight terrorism, and that is considered logical and normal. Whereas our struggle against terrorism in the heart of our own country is considered a crime.”