Vague at the Hague: the trial of Slobodan Milosevic was manipulated, protracted, unsatisfying--and absolutely necessary.

• Author: Clark, Wesley
• Position: On political books - Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic - Book review

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Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic

by Judith Armatta

Duke University Press, 560 pp.

Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman describes in his autobiography how, prior to being examined for his doctoral degree, he sat down by himself for a few days and organized everything he knew--and we knew--about physics. It must have been wonderful. And that's just what Judith Armatta has done for the Balkans, the International Criminal Tribunal, and former Serb dictator Slobodan Milosevic, in this amazing book about Milosevic's trial in the Hague. Armatta is a lawyer, journalist, and human rights advocate who monitored the war crimes trial of Milosevic from its inception in 200l until his death during the trial in 2005. She has brought a boots-on-the-ground understanding of the Balkans from previous work in Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. In her observations, she proves to be an acute student of law, character, strategy, and history.

None of this is easy going. The Balkans is obscure geographically, marginal economically, and loaded with unpronounceable names, often missing vowels. Yet the barbarous inhumanity of some of the participants was shocking, and, at first, ignited widespread media attention. Yet the war--and it was one long war of Serb aggression--was tortuous by design, and, without American ground force casualties, easily ignored by much of the media in the end. In the U.S., efforts to mediate and, ultimately, intervene assumed a partisan character. Even the tribunal has often been publicly derided in the United States. And the trial itself received scant public attention.

Nevertheless, this is a wonderful and important book. Armatta has captured not only the sights and sounds of the court, but also of the Balkans itself, and the book emerges analyzing the biggest themes of international justice. It has enormous implications for the future. And it's these implications, drawn from the specifics of a decade-long conflict, that warrant the most consideration here.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am one of those who found in the Balkans the equivalent of a "lifetime employment opportunity." In one position I worked to help formulate U.S. policy and mediate an end to the conflict in Bosnia. In a subsequent position I was in charge of implementing the military annex of the peace agreement that I had helped author and subsequently leading NATO military efforts to prevent another round...