Editing Paddy Ashdown (section)

== High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina ==
{{multiple image
 | total_width = 350
 | image1      = 2004-07-31 powell sarajevo ashdown 600.jpg
 | alt1        = Ashdown and Colin Powell
 | caption1    = Ashdown (second from right) with US secretary of state [[Colin Powell]] in 2004
 | image2      = Defense.gov News Photo 041108-D-2987S-162.jpg
 | alt2        = Ashdown and Donald Rumsfeld
 | caption2    = Ashdown accepting the [[Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service]] from US defence secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]] in 2004
}}

After leaving frontline British politics, he accepted the post of the [[High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina]] on 27 May 2002,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/05/28/wash28.xml |title=Ashdown takes over in Bosnia |first=Alex|last= Todorovic |work=The Telegraph |date=27 May 2002 |access-date=23 November 2007 |location=London}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> reflecting his long-time advocacy of international intervention in that region. He succeeded [[Wolfgang Petritsch]] in the position created under the [[Dayton Agreement]]. During his time as High Representative between 2002 and 2006,<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last=O'Reilly|first=Maria|date=2012-12-01|title=Muscular Interventionism|journal=International Feminist Journal of Politics |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=529–548 |doi=10.1080/14616742.2012.726096 |s2cid=146823558|issn=1461-6742}}</ref> he strengthened the central state institutions, brought in statewide legal bodies such as the [[State Investigation and Protection Agency]] and brought the two ethnic armies under a central civilian command, and moved Bosnia-Herzegovina toward EU integration.<ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite press release|title=High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Briefs Security Council, Noting Recent Transfer to Hague of Five Major War Crime Indictees|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2005/sc8340.doc.htm|publisher=United Nations|access-date=21 March 2017 |date=2005-03-23}}</ref> He was sometimes denigrated as "the [[Viceroy]] of Bosnia" by critics of his work as High Representative.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3578865/Message-from-America-were-independent.html|title=Message from America: we're independent |first=Mark |last=Steyn |work=The Telegraph |date=7 July 2002 |access-date=23 November 2007 |location=London|author-link=Mark Steyn }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jun/22/gordonbrown.labour |title=Team Gordon: Michael White suggests his dream team for a Brown cabinet |first=Michael |last=White |work=The Guardian |date=22 June 2007 |access-date=23 November 2007|author-link= Michael White (journalist) |location=London}}</ref>

=== Witness for the prosecution at Milošević trial ===
On 14 March 2002, Ashdown testified as a witness for the prosecution at the [[trial of Slobodan Milošević]] at the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]].<ref name="pages2262-2406">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/dragomir_milosevic/trans/en/070216IT.htm |title=Milošević trial transcript 14 March 2002 Page 2331 Line 24 |publisher=United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |date=5 March 2007|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref> He said that he was on the Kosovo–Albania border near [[Junik]] in June 1998.<ref name="pages2262-2406" /> From this location, through his binoculars, Ashdown claimed to have seen [[Serbian Army|Serbian forces]] shelling several villages.<ref name="pages2262-2406" /> In July 2005, a defence witness, General [[Božidar Delić]], claimed by demonstrating with a topographical map of the area that Ashdown could not have been able to see the areas that he claimed to be able to see as hills, mountains and thick woods would have obstructed his view.<ref>{{cite web |mode=cs2 |url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/050707IT.htm |title=Milošević trial transcript 7 July 2005 Page 42036 Line 7 |access-date=2021-03-04 |postscript=; }} {{cite web |publisher=United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |url=https://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050712ED.htm |title=12 July 2005 Page 42205 Line 1 |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419211204/http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050712ED.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the Delić claims, Ashdown supplied the Tribunal with grid coordinates and a cross-section of the ground indicating that he could see the locations concerned.<ref name="pages44650-44764">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/050928ED.htm |title=Milošević trial transcript 28 September 2005 Page 44684 Line 1 |publisher=United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |date=5 March 2007|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref> These coordinates indicated he was on the Kosovo–Albania border, which was a sealed border at the time.<ref name="pages44650-44764" /> The prosecution also used new maps and topographical cross-sections indicating Ashdown's location, but their accuracy was challenged by Delić, for the location of a village was different from that shown in other maps of the area.<ref name="pages44650-44764" />