"We Are Not Here to Reminisce" - Queen Visits Ground Zero Site

Via: NYT

Queen Addresses UN, Places Wreath at Ground Zero
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 7, 2010

Filed at 12:07 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Queen Elizabeth II challenged the United Nations to fight global dangers by ''waging'' peace, then entered ground zero on Tuesday for the first time to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Back in New York after more than three decades, the 84-year-old British monarch turned her eyes toward the future of the World Trade Center: new skyscrapers rising over what was once smoldering debris that had buried loved ones forever.

''We are not here to reminisce,'' she told the world body earlier Tuesday. ''In tomorrow's world, we must all work together as hard as ever if we are truly to be United Nations.''

Not even a record high temperature of 102 degrees, accompanied by a heat advisory, kept the monarch from New York's hallowed ground.

She arrived at the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan late Tuesday afternoon with her husband, Prince Philip. They walked slowly across a wooden walkway that reaches deep over the construction site. Huge cranes hovering overhead were stopped and workers took a break during the queen's visit.

In silence, Elizabeth laid a wreath of flowers on an iron pedestal near the footprint of the trade center's south tower. Bowing her head, she gently brushed her gloved hand against the locally grown red peonies, roses, lilies, black-eyed Susans and other summer blossoms.

Then the queen met dozens of family members and first responders who had lost loved ones as the twin towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.

''The queen just was asking me about that day, and how awful it must've been,'' said Debbie Palmer, whose husband, battalion Fire Chief Orio Palmer, was killed. ''She said, `I don't think I've ever seen anything in my life as bad as that. And I said, `Let's hope we never do again.'''

Palmer said of the monarch: ''She's beautiful. She looks like she could be anybody's grandmother.''

The queen wore a two-piece white, blue and beige print dress with long sleeves and a matching brimmed champagne-colored silk hat with flowers.

While there were ''waterfalls coming down my body, there was not a drop of sweat on her face; I don't think royalty sweats,'' joked Nile Berry, 17, son of securities analyst David S. Berry, who died in the south tower, leaving behind three children.

''I think she understood'' the significance of meeting victims' relatives, Nile told The Associated Press, adding that it would take him a while to ''digest'' that he had met the queen.

Elizabeth left the site in a motorcade to tour the British Garden of Remembrance, built to honor the 67 Britons killed in the attack. She met their families there, joining them for a ceremony.

Tim Rosen, who called himself a ''fan of the queen,'' was angling for a glimpse of her at the corner of ground zero. ''She's been through a lot,'' said the 30-year-old attorney. ''She has a certain sense of duty that I like. A very elegant woman.''

''There she is!'' Patricia Farmer, a real estate project manager, shouted when she spotted her near the garden. ''The one in the blue!''

Farmer, who said she was born in Northern Ireland, called Elizabeth ''my queen.''

But not everyone was so enthused. Roman Shusterman held a sign near ground zero that read, ''Queen of British Petroleum,'' the British company whose rig explosion in Louisiana created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

''The queen hasn't said anything about it because she thinks she's too good for us,'' said Shusterman, 28.

Earlier Tuesday, Elizabeth's familiar formality graced the lectern at the United Nations, where she urged the world body to spearhead an international response to global dangers, while promoting prosperity and dignity for the world's inhabitants.

''It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all,'' she said, while praising the U.N. for promoting peace and justice.

Speaking as queen of 16 U.N. member states and head of a commonwealth of 54 countries with a population of nearly 2 billion people, Elizabeth recalled the dramatic changes in the world since she last visited the United Nations in 1957, especially in science, technology and social attitudes.

''In my lifetime, the United Nations has moved from being a high-minded aspiration to being a real force for common good,'' Elizabeth told diplomats from the 192 U.N. member states. ''That of itself has been a signal achievement.''

But she also praised the U.N.'s aims and values -- promoting peace, security and justice; fighting hunger, poverty and disease; and protecting the rights and liberties of every citizen -- which have endured.

''For over six decades the United Nations has helped to shape the international response to global dangers,'' the queen said. ''The challenge now is to continue to show this clear ... leadership while not losing sight of your ongoing work to secure the security, prosperity and dignity of our fellow human beings.''

Elizabeth and Prince Philip flew to New York from Canada for the five-hour visit and departed for London from John F. Kennedy International Airport at around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations and Marc Beja in New York City contributed to this report.

Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia

From: The New York Times

May 10, 2010
Mass Grave of Kosovo Victims Found in Serbia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:26 a.m. ET

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Acting on tips from witnesses, Serbian war crimes prosecutors have discovered a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of 250 Albanians who were killed in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war there, then transported to Serbia and secretly buried to hide the atrocities, officials said Monday.

The burial site -- hidden beneath a small building and a newly built parking lot -- is the fourth mass grave of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo that has been found in Serbia since 2001. Two others were discovered in Kosovo. In each case, most of the bodies were those of civilians, including women and children.

The latest discovery is another example of the mass atrocities that were committed during the bloody Serb crackdown on the Kosovo separatists that killed at least 10,000 people and left nearly a million displaced.

Hundreds of bodies of slain ethnic Albanians have been exhumed in Serbia and returned to Kosovo since Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power in a popular revolt in 2000. The previously discovered mass graves in Serbia represented the bulk of genocide charges filed against Milosevic at a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Netherlands, where he died of a heart attack during his trial in 2006.

Serbia has since tried to deal with its wartime past as it seeks European Union membership, which requires the prosecution of those who committed atrocities during the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s. Milosevic's policies still have strong support among ultranationalists in Serbia.

''According to witness testimonies, there are 250 bodies of Kosovo Albanians inside'' the newly discovered grave, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said at a news conference Monday in Belgrade, Serbia's capital.

He said exhumations would begin soon at the site, which was discovered based on witness accounts and in cooperation with a European Union mission in Kosovo.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office said the grave is located in a hilly, rural area of Rudnica, near the town of Raska, 180 kilometers (108 miles) south of Belgrade.

Aerial photos of the site showed a house and a small parking lot near a road nestled between the hills. Vukcevic's deputy, Bruno Vekaric, said the mass grave is believed to be located beneath the building and the parking lot.

Officials did not say when the grave was discovered.

During the Kosovo war, the bodies of Kosovo victims were brought to Serbia by Milosevic's regime in an attempt to cover up the atrocities against civilians.

Some 1,860 ethnic Albanians are still missing from the Kosovo war, many believed to have been buried by Serb forces in similar mass graves in Serbia.

''Serbia has the democratic capacity to face what happened,'' Vukcevic said. ''It is our obligation to the victims who have the right to bury the dead.''

The brutality of Serbia's crackdown in Kosovo prompted NATO to bomb the country in 1999, forcing Milosevic to pull out his troops. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade refuses to recognize it.

In Kosovo on Monday, officials urged Serbia to face up to its past and overcome its troubled relations with Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo deputy Prime Minister, Rame Manaj, claimed the discovery was a result of pressure from the EU.

''This comes too late, but this pressure from the international community is welcome as it is the only force that can move things from point zero,'' Manaj said of the discovery of the bodies.

''It is painful news,'' said Xhavit Beqiri, the spokesman for Kosovo's president.

''We suspect there are more Kosovo victims in other such mass graves around Serbia which Belgrade has always known about, but has selectively unearthed them to reduce the scope of the crimes committed in Kosovo,'' Beqiri said.

Vukcevic urged Kosovo's authorities to investigate the fate of about 500 Kosovo Serbs who he said remain unaccounted for since the 1998-99 war after revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians.

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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade and Nebi Qena in Pristina contributed to this report.

Eds: CORRECTS that 4 of the mass graves were found in Serbia, 2 in Kosovo.

From: BBC News

New Serbian mass grave discovered

A new mass grave thought to hold the bodies of about 250 Kosovo Albanians has been found in Serbia, the country's war crimes prosecutor has told the BBC.

It said the information had come from Eulex, the EU police mission in Kosovo, and Serbia was sending investigators.

The victims are believed to have been killed during the 1998-99 conflict, when Serbian forces fought ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The grave is near the town of Raska, close to the border with Kosovo.

There had been rumours two years ago that the grave existed, but searches at that time found nothing.

'Beneath building'

The war crimes prosecutor's office said it would be several days before exhumations could begin at the site in Rudnica, about 180km (110 miles) south of Serbia's capital, Belgrade.

Officials said the remains were buried beneath a building whose foundations had been deliberately constructed to hide the site, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade.

The prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said the discovery was a sign that Serbia was committed to coming to terms with its history.

"This is more proof that Serbia does not shy away from its dark past and is ready to bring to justice all those who have committed crimes," Mr Vukcevic was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Our correspondent says identifying the victims through DNA analysis is likely to take several more years - and prolong the painful period of reconciliation.

It is not the first time mass graves from the conflict have been found in Serbia. The bodies of more than 800 Kosovo Albanians were found in several locations in Serbia in 2001, including police compounds.

The bodies were moved out of Kosovo before a Nato bombing campaign forced Serbian security forces out of the region.

Other, smaller mass graves have been found containing Serbian victims of ethnic Albanians.

Researchers in Serbia and Kosovo say more than 11,000 people died in the Kosovo conflict, most of them ethnic Albanian, but at least 2,300 Serbs.

Hundreds missing

A further 1,800 people are classified as missing, according to Eulex figures, but are presumed to be dead.

A former top Serbian police official, Vlastimir Djordjevic, is currently on trial at the UN's Hague-based war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslovia.

He was allegedly involved in the murders of hundreds of ethnic Albanians and the deportation of 800,000 others from Kosovo during the conflict, when he was in charge of police forces in Serbia.

He denies charges of deportation, murder and persecution.

He was a close aide to the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in tribunal custody in 2006 before a verdict was reached in his trial for war crimes.

Belgrade withdrew forces from the Serbian province of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign, and the area was put under UN control.

Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 has been recognised by more than 50 countries, including the US and most EU states, but not recognised by more than 100, including Serbia and Russia.

Recent Serbian governments have been pro-Western and last year the country submitted a formal application to join the EU.

But membership negotiations cannot begin in earnest until two war crimes suspects - including the former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic - have been captured.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8671783.stm

Published: 2010/05/10 12:36:48 GMT

© BBC MMX

Support for Judge Baltasar Garzón

The Spanish-language blog and association La Memoria Viva was first to post information on the following "Manifiesto por la Justicia de Garzón," which I have included in the original Spanish below, along with my English translation in italics, following each paragraph. If you are so inclined, please consider signing the document here as a show of support for Judge Garzón. I would think that the more international support offered, the better.

Manifiesto por la Justicia de Garzón

El juez Baltasar Garzón ha ejercido una justicia de forma continuada y valiente durante veinte años en la Audiencia Nacional, comprometida con la defensa de los derechos humanos en España y en el mundo contra dictadores, terroristas, corruptos y enemigos de la democracia. Judge Baltasar Garzón has pursued justice in a brave, consistent manner for twenty years in the Audiencia Nacional, which is committed to the defense of human rights against dictators, terrorists, corrupt persons and enemies of democracy in Spain and the world.

El juez Baltasar Garzón ha sido uno de los principales promotores del desarrollo en España del principio de Justicia Universal. Judge Baltasar Garzón has been one of the primary proponents in Spain of the principle of Universal Jurisdiction.

El juez Baltasar Garzón es víctima de una campaña promovida por sectores de extrema derecha, Falange Española y Manos Limpias, con una sorprendente connivencia de algunos sectores progresistas. Judge Baltasar Garzón is the victim of a campaign put forth by factions of the extreme right, Spanish Phalangist Party and Manos Limpias [an ultra-right "sindicato," whose name translates as "Clean Hands"], with a surprising complicity among some progressive sectors.

El proceso contra el juez Baltasar Garzón es en realidad un juicio sumario contra los defensores de la Democracia, la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos y a favor de la impunidad de crímenes muy graves de carácter internacional. The action taken against Judge Baltasar Garzón is in actuality a summary judgment against the defenders of Democracy, Justice and Human Rights, one that encourages the impunity of serious international crimes.*

El juez Baltasar Garzón está siendo juzgado por una sala del Tribunal Supremo en la que la mayoría de sus miembros juraron lealtad al Movimiento Nacional del franquismo. Judge Baltasar Garzón is being judged by a tribunal of the Supreme Court, the majority of whose members made an oath of loyalty to the National Movement of Francoism.

Una sentencia adversa al juez Baltasar Garzón, tras agotar las instancias judiciales españolas, acabaría probablemente con una superior sentencia condenatoria del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos contra el Estado español. A sentence in opposition to Judge Baltasar Garzón, upon exhausting all appeals of the Spanish courts, would most likely end with Spain being censured by the European Tribunal of Human Rights.

El juez Baltasar Garzón representa el modelo de justicia basado en la defensa de los Derechos Humanos conforme con su Derecho Internacional que millones de ciudadanos y víctimas reclaman en todo el mundo. Judge Baltasar Garzón represents a justice model based on the defense of Human Rights in accordance with International Law that millions of citizens and victims demand the world over.

Ya en 2008 el Comité de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas recomendó al Estado español la derogación de la preconstitucional Ley de Amnistía de 1977. In 2008, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights recommended that Spain repeal its preconstitutional Amnesty Law of 1977.

Este caso vuelve a demostrar la necesidad de la Justicia Internacional. Incluso España, el país que intentó procesar al dictador Pinochet, es incapaz de juzgar su propia dictadura. Y quien lo intenta, es juzgado por ello. This case again demonstrates the need for Universal Jurisdiction. Even Spain, the country that sought to prosecute dictator Pinochet, is incapable of judging its own dictatorship. He who attempts to do so, is in turn judged for it.

FIRMA EN LA PESTAÑA COMENTARIOS. Deja tu nombre y profesión y/o el nombre de la organización a la que representas. PLEASE SIGN IN THE "COMMENTS" BLANK. Leave your name, profession and/or the name of the organization you represent.

No se publicaran textos que no sean adhesiones al manifiesto. Comments that do not support the manifesto will not be published.

*the phrase "juicio sumario" brings with it for me the notion of a "kangaroo court"

For more on this story in English, please see the following:

"Spain's Super-Judge Closer to Being Charged" (NYT, via AP)