The crowning achievement of multinationalism - snatching acquittal from the jaws of victory...

The Hague, Netherlands (AP) - When U.N. prosecutors opened their case against Slobodan Milosevic (search) two years ago, they set out to get him convicted of genocide. The consensus today is, they failed.

Legal experts say prosecutors at the U.N. war crimes tribunal have assembled solid evidence on lesser charges against the former Yugoslav president. But acquittal on the genocide charge - the crime of all crimes, experts say - would have far-reaching implications.

Many Serbs would cheer it as vindicating their view that Serbia stands wrongly accused. Others likely will see it as a distortion of Europe's darkest chapter since World War II. And it may provide important lessons for those planning a trial for Saddam Hussein.