(15 Dec 2003)

1. Wide shot, exterior tribunal at Hague
2. UN flag flying
3. Demonstrators from the New Communist Party against Clark and US government and State dept restricting testimony
4. Sign: "NATO General Clark - Media Murderer"
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kaas Hilvers, President of New Communist Party
"So there is a war criminal giving evidence in a trial against Milosevic, a trial that is staged to give the reason for the war on humanitarian reasons."
6. Various, demo

7. Set up shot, Clark
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Wesley Clark, US Presidential Candidate and Former NATO Supreme Commander
"I think for the people of the region, it is a very important experience, it is the rule of law, it is closure with a man who caused the deaths, or is alleged to have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and the homelessness and refugee burden throughout Europe, some two million people driven out of their homes and so forth, a decade of war in Europe. So this is the rule of law , it is closure, it is a very important precedent for what may be happening later with another dictator from another part of the world. "

9. Wide shot, news conference
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tiphanye Dickson, Legal adviser to Slobodan Milosevic:
"This particular government is not just any government. This is the US government that refuses to adhere to the International Criminal Court which is the future of international law. Which has been ratified, which does exist here in the Hague."
11. Camera woman
12. Wide shot, news conference

STORYLINE:

US presidential candidate Wesley Clark began two days of closed-door testimony in Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial on Monday, in a confrontation between former wartime foes.

Clark, a retired four-star general who served as NATO's supreme commander, was expected to testify on his years of engagement with Milosevic, which culminated in a 78-day air campaign in 1999 against Milosevic's troops in Kosovo.

Clark arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday as US authorities in Iraq announced the capture of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

With the deposed Iraqi leader expected to be tried for war crimes like Milosevic, Clark said this trial set an important precedent.

Milosevic, a skilled speaker who is defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes, will be looking to undermine Clark's credibility as a prosecution witness.

Demonstrators waited outside the court protesting against Clark's appearance and saying he was unfit to speak at a war crimes tribunal.

The court hearing comes at an important time for Clark as he competes for the Democratic presidential nomination in primary elections starting next month.

Clark declined to discuss specifics of his testimony, but said he can offer unique insight into the tactics of the former Yugoslav leader, who was ousted in 2000 and later extradited to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Prosecutors are hoping Clark will back up their contention that Milosevic was aware of Serbian wartime atrocities, such as the massacre of thousands of Muslim civilians in Srebrenica, Bosnia, and failed to prevent the abuses or punish those responsible.

The majority of the trial has been public, but the US government was granted a request that Clark's appearance be closed for security reasons.

The tribunal will publicly broadcast Clark's testimony on Friday and post it on the Internet, though the State Department could try to have sensitive parts edited out, tribunal spokesman Jim Landale said.

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