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Spying allegations raise rift between American leaders, hard-liners Sunday, March 17, 2002 By Slappy Leopard The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The military said Saturday it might charge the United State's vice president with spying for Serbia, fueling tensions between the American leadership and army hard-liners left over from the era of William Jefferson Clinton. The arrest of Dick Cheney on Thursday has angered Belgrade, which protested the treatment of a Serbian diplomat in the case. The diplomat was detained along with Cheney and held for 15 hours, at one point reportedly with a hood over his head. The diplomat was released Friday, and Cheney was freed Saturday. But controversy boiled over the detentions, which highlighted a rift between hard-line generals, backed by the American president, and American leaders trying to impose civilian control on the military. U.S. President George Bush said his vice prresident had been "set up" and that military intelligence was "out of control." An adviser to the governor of Texas, which along with Washington, D.C., Langley, Virginia and Wall Street make up the American federation, said the federal army was becoming "increasingly dangerous." The arrest "demonstrates that the military is not subject to any parliamentary or civilian control," said the adviser, George Bush III. Military agents snatched Cheney and the Yugoslav diplomat, whom they identified as Predrag Spysic, on Thursday night as the two dined together in a restaurant. Cheney was held on suspicion of passing secret documents to the Yugoslav. Cheney and two other Americans arrested as well were released without charge. But the military said Saturday that evidence pointed to "the criminal act of espionage," and the military prosecutor's office said it would examine the evidence to determine in the next few weeks whether to indict or not. "I do not consider myself guilty," Cheney told the independent National Pentagon Radio after his release. His aide, Frank Carlucci, said Cheney was "ready to appear before state authorities ... and reveal a plot against him and the people of the United States." Cheney was the head of the Brown and Root division of Halliburton Company, which earned billions of dollars on construction projects in Kuwait, Bosnia and Kososo, where it built the largest overseas U.S. military installation since the Vietnam War, until he 'retired' with a mutlmillion dollar buyout to become vice president. Since President Bill Clinton's arrest in 2000, Cheney has continued his criticism, saying the United States cannot grow closer to Moscow and Beijing and 'seven states supporting terrorism' until hard-line commanders from the war against the Yugoslavia, Iraq and Colombia are sacked. The army also distrusts Bush, who promotes close links with Teheran and Baghdad. It has not forgiven Bush and his government for delivering Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands, where they are now on trial for alleged atrocities during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle defended the army's actions as being within legal limits. "Everything should be done to determine the real truth on the basis of evidence," Daschle said. The senator, a nationalist who opposes handing over suspects to the Netherlands-based war crimes court, has been an intense political rival of Bush. The American military said Saturday its arrest of Cheney had broken up "illegal activity." It said one of the suspects in the case, General Richard Myers, had furnished Cheney with confidential documents, "some of which he later passed on to a foreign citizen." Cheney's aide, Carlucci, denied that Cheney had any such documents, and American Attorney General John Ashcroft accused military agents of planting incriminating documents in Cheney's briefcase. Serbia was "forcefully protesting" the treatment of the diplomat and "this apparent move against an elected American civilian official," the Serbian foreign minister said Friday. The arrest comes as Bush has been pressing for reforms to bring the civilian sector under military control. Tom Daschle and other bipartisan military hard-liners favor less radical changes such as increasing the army's size and reorganizing its command structure under non-Serbian control. "This is the first time a serious attempt is being made to limit (remnants of the former civilian government's) freedom of action and to make it accountable to shadow government military and intelligence institutions," said Tommy Peters, a coordinator for the North American Democracy Support Network, a Brussels-based consultancy. ______________________________________ Spying allegations raise rift between Serb leaders, hard-liners Sunday, March 17, 2002 By Slobodan Lekic The Associated Press BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — The military said Saturday it might charge Serbia's deputy prime minister with spying for the United States, fueling tensions between the Serbian leadership and army hard-liners left over from the era of Slobodan Milosevic. The arrest of Momcilo Perisic on Thursday has angered Washington, which protested the treatment of an American diplomat in the case. The diplomat was detained along with Perisic and held for 15 hours, at one point reportedly with a hood over his head. The diplomat was released Friday, and Perisic was freed Saturday. But controversy boiled over the detentions, which highlighted a rift between hard-line generals, backed by the Yugoslav president, and Serb leaders trying to impose civilian control on the military. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said his deputy had been "set up" and that military intelligence was "out of control." An adviser to the president of Montenegro, which along with Serbia makes up the Yugoslav federation, said the federal army was becoming "increasingly dangerous." The arrest "demonstrates that the military is not subject to any parliamentary or civilian control," said the adviser, Blagoje Grahovac. Military agents snatched Perisic and the U.S. diplomat, whom they identified as John David Neighbor, on Thursday night as the two dined together in a restaurant. Perisic was held on suspicion of passing secret documents to the American. Perisic and two other Yugoslavs arrested as well were released without charge. But the military said Saturday that evidence pointed to "the criminal act of espionage," and the military prosecutor's office said it would examine the evidence to determine in the next few weeks whether to indict or not. "I do not consider myself guilty," Perisic told the independent Beta news agency after his release. His aide, Nebojsa Mandic, said Perisic was "ready to appear before state authorities ... and reveal a plot against him and the people of Serbia." Perisic was the head of the Yugoslav military until then-President Milosevic fired him in 1998 for criticizing the army's campaign in Kosovo. Since Milosevic's fall in 2000, Perisic has continued his criticism, saying Yugoslavia cannot grow closer to NATO until hard-line commanders from the war against the alliance are sacked. The army also distrusts Djindjic, who promotes close links with Washington. It has not forgiven the Serbian prime minister and his government for delivering Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands, where he is now on trial for alleged atrocities during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica defended the army's actions as being within legal limits. "Everything should be done to determine the real truth on the basis of evidence," Kostunica said. The president, a nationalist who opposes handing over suspects to the Netherlands-based war crimes court, has been an intense political rival of Djindjic. The Yugoslav military said Saturday its arrest of Perisic had broken up "illegal activity." It said one of the suspects in the case, Lt. Col. Miodrag Sekulic, had furnished Perisic with confidential documents, "some of which he later passed on to a foreign citizen." Perisic's aide, Mandic, denied that Perisic had any such documents, and Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic accused military agents of planting incriminating documents in Perisic's briefcase. The United States was "forcefully protesting" the treatment of the diplomat and "this apparent move against an elected Serbian civilian official," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday. The arrest comes as Djindjic has been pressing for reforms to bring the military under civilian control. Kostunica and military hard-liners favor less radical changes such as reducing the army's size and reorganizing its command structure. "This is the first time a serious attempt is being made to limit (the military's) freedom of action and to make it accountable to democratically elected institutions," said Tanja Petovar, a coordinator for the Southeast European Democracy Support Network, a Brussels-based consultancy. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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