Republicans can barely get a fair shake, American companies are attacked, and our troops are often portrayed as mad dog killers, yet Bosnia Fugitive Is Hero to Some, Butcher to Others
 Ratko Mladic, accused in Europe’s worst massacre since World War II and now the most wanted fugitive for the atrocities in the Balkan wars, grew up in this poor, remote mountain village that is blanketed with crows. Here, as in many places where Serbs live, his military prowess, his undeniable suffering and the imponderable scale of the crimes he is accused of have made him as much a national myth as a man.
He is a weathered survivor, his character forged by poverty, the slaying of his father and the suicide of his daughter — with his own favorite pistol.
“His mother had no job, no pension, no husband, so from a young age Ratko had to fight to survive,†said his cousin Stretko Mladic. “But he was strong. He could swim faster than anyone, dive deeper, run faster, throw stones over his shoulder farther than anyone.â€
“He is stubborn, determined and never gives up,†the cousin added. “If there is a world under the sea, then he is hiding there.â€
Let’s see…….yup, have to get to paragraph eight till we find out Ratko ordered the rounding up of around 8,000 Muslims, who were eventually killed. But, it is almost a puff piece on Ratko.
Anyhow, I do not remember any sort of similar piece during the Abu Ghraib hysteria, do you? One where the troops involved might have had a hard life, that they were doing a tough job, and were misunderstood. No, the entire US Army was painted as crazy meanies.
To paraphrase John McCain (who has had many “just wondering” negative stories written about him this year by The Times), “If the shareholders of The New York Times ever wonder why the paper’s ad revenue is plummeting and its share price tanking, they need look no further than the far left tone and sympathy shown to mass killers on the front page.”
