http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010702/pl/yugoslavia_milosevic_clark_dc_2.html

Monday July 2 10:56 AM ET

Ex-U.S. Attorney General Says Would Help Milosevic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Former U.S. attorney-general Ramsey Clark said on Monday he was willing to help defend former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites), who faces trial in a United Nations (news - web sites) court on war crimes charges.

But Clark, now a human rights activist and supporter of unfashionable causes, said he felt it more proper for a fellow Yugoslav to act on Milosevic's behalf.

``I would do anything that I can and I would join the team if it became desirable or meaningful,'' Clark told a news conference in the Yugoslav capital.

``If he (Milosevic) followed my sense of it he would have proud and effective Yugoslav lawyers stand up before that court and say to the world 'we are capable of defending ourselves'.''

Clark said he had not been in touch with Milosevic but felt he had some experience to offer having acted for Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, who is on the run on war crimes charges, in a U.S. suit brought by Bosnian war victims.

Two Serb lawyers have arrived in The Hague (news - web sites) to prepare for Milosevic's initial appearance at the United Nations war crimes tribunal on Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity. It is not clear who will represent him at his trial at a later date.

Clark has defended a Saudi bomber of a U.S. embassy and an elderly Rwandan clergyman fighting extradition from the U.S. to face genocide charges. He has also been a vocal critic of U.N. sanctions against Iraq and frequently visited Baghdad.