Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, who will make his final defense before the Hague Tribunal today, declared that Kosovo and Serbia were victims of Slobodan Milosevic.
He said that the only power he had was his voice.
"This prosecutor praised me a lot, gave me ranks, but the truth is different. It was not me who transported the resistance from the West to Kosovo. But I joined it in Kosovo. It was not me who massified the KLA, but Milosevic, Madeleine Albright said it. I quote a statement of hers here; "The KLA was not a state, but a popular organization that was defending itself from the aggressors." The victory of Kosovo was more political. The West helped us because they knew who we were and what our goal was. I would not, at any price, under any circumstances, jeopardize this alliance with anything in the world. That would be jeopardizing the very freedom of Kosovo, our existence. Our goal was peace, not war. When the world decided to gather in Rambouillet, we responded to their invitation. During the process in Rambouillet and Paris, we worked as a Kosovo delegation. We accepted the peace agreement, even though it did not meet the requirements legitimate, but Kosovo chose peace and Serbia chose war and genocide. The only power I had was the power of my voice. I used my voice to promote an ethnic, tolerant society. I called on local Serbs to stay in their homes and live with us. They and we were both victims of Milosevic. When mass graves were spreading in Kosovo, thousands of citizens were being taken hostage in Serbia, what I was doing could have physical and electoral consequences. But Kosovo was more important than my personal fate. After NATO entered Kosovo, Kosovars were not fighting but celebrating,” he claimed.
