Harsh Allegations: NATO Denies It Committed War Crimes in Kosovo Conflict [Free Republic]

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Harsh Allegations: NATO Denies It Committed War Crimes in Kosovo Conflict: News/Current Events News
Source: ABCNEWS.com
Published: 06/07/00
Posted on 06/07/2000 23:07:41 PDT by JohnHuang2

Harsh Allegations
NATO Denies It Committed War
Crimes in Kosovo Conflict

U.N. War Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte says there is no basis for an investigation into alleged NATO war crimes in the bombing of Yugoslavia. However, Amnesty International says the alliance violated international law. (Fred Ernst/AP Photo)

By Lucrezia Cuen

L O N D O N, June 7 — NATO today vehemently denied Amnesty International’s allegations that it violated international law and committed war crimes by targeting and killing civilians during the Kosovo conflict.
     Citing nine incidents during the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, the London-based human rights organization said NATO — the world’s most powerful military alliance — must be held accountable to the highest standards and called for a full investigation.
     The Amnesty International report, released today (see related story), alleges NATO failed to properly select methods and targets to avoid civilian deaths. It wants someone from the Western alliance to stand trial for violating the rules of war.
     Direct targeting of civilians and non-military buildings is a breach of the Geneva Convention.
     “NATO set itself up as upholding humanitarian standards, which it has not done,” said Brendan Paddy of Amnesty International. “I think they need to answer for that.”

War Crime or Simple Mistake?

1. NATO Target
On April 12, 1999, a NATO plane sited the Grdelica Bridge. A passenger train was visible in the lower left of the pilot's viewfinder.

2. Train Caught
As the bombs home in, the train is dead center in the targeting area of the viewfinder.

3. Moment of Impact
The Grdelica railroad bridge is consumed in smoke as the NATO bombs hit their target.

4. Aftermath
The burned-out shell of the passenger train remains. NATO called it a tragic accident. Amnesty International calls this a war crime because, according to the human rights organization, civilians were targeted.

NATO Denial
NATO admits mistakes during the war, which was aimed at ending the brutal Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, but denies committing war crimes.
     “We were attacking purely military targets. Where accidents occurred they occurred as a result of tragedies, failure of technology, of human error that always accompany military operations,” said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea, “But not because NATO failed to take due precautions.
     Among Amnesty’s accusations:
     During the height of the crisis in Kosovo, NATO bombed Serbian TV headquarters, killing 16 civilians.
     NATO bombed a bridge over which a passenger train was passing, hitting the train and killing people aboard.
     NATO attacked convoys that included displaced civilians.
     NATO did not suspend bombing of targets even after it was evident that civilians were struck.
     NATO, by bombing from 15,000 feet and above, did not fly low enough to the ground to ensure its pilots did not kill civilians needlessly.
     The group said the civilian death toll among Serbs could have been “significantly reduced if NATO forces had fully adhered to the laws of war.”
     “No proper investigation appears to have been conducted by NATO or its member states into these incidents,” the report says. “No measures were taken against anyone responsible except in the case of the attack against the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.”
‘No Deliberate Targeting of Civilians’
Still, Amnesty’s hopes for a probe have already been all but dashed.
     Last week, Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal, told the Security Council there was no basis for opening an investigation into allegations of NATO violations.
     Del Ponte said that although “mistakes were made by NATO,” she was “very satisfied that there was no deliberate targeting of civilians or unlawful military targets.”
     NATO flew 38,000 combat missions in its two ½-month air campaign against Serbia last year. While NATO has never released figures on civilian deaths, the Yugoslav government says as many as 600 civilians were killed.

Book of the Missing
P R I S T I N A, Yugoslavia, June 7 — The International Red Cross today published a book listing 3,368 people still missing after the past 2 ½ years of fighting and turmoil in Kosovo.
     The 200-page list confirms that the mass slaughter of ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav forces during the 1999 war with NATO was overstated, but nonetheless reveals a chain of tragedies that has struck thousands of families across the province.
     The youngest names on the list were those of two babies born in 1997, while the oldest was a 96-year-old woman. Also among the missing were a mother, father and their six children.
     The total, which includes 300 people, mostly Serbs, who disappeared after the end of fighting between Serb and ethnic Albanian forces, is up from 2,987 missing reported by the Swiss-run humanitarian agency in February.
     During the height of NATO’s bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which ended almost exactly one year ago, speculation abounded that up to 100,000 people had been killed by the Serbs.
     By the end of 1999, forensic experts had recovered 2,108 bodies from mass graves around the region. The teams have just re-started their work and have so far excavated 92 sites out of a total 440 known graves.
     Of the bodies discovered, between 60 and 80 percent have been identified.
     Families of missing ethnic Albanians are clinging to hopes that their relatives are being held in secret, illegal Serb prisons, but officials dealing with the missing say it is likely that the majority of those on the list are dead.
     The Book of the Missing is being distributed around the Balkans and is also available on the ICRC Web site www.familylinks.icrc.org.
     — Reuters

For Education And Discussion Only. Not For Commercial Use.

1 Posted on 06/07/2000 23:07:41 PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2

What a crock! "No deliberate targeting of civilians" when clear statements made on television were used to JUSTIFY that very goal!

Well - no matter what the idiot frontlings of NATO say, the world has already condemned NATO, but more specifically the United States and Clinton, and the UK and Blair. No court needs to issue the conviction or the punishment - that has already been done long ago by a majority of the worlds decent people who don't have to be told what crimes were committed. They already know, and the penalty will be eternal condemnation.

2 Posted on 06/07/2000 23:20:13 PDT by Ron C.
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To: Ron C.

Brilliantly stated, Ron.
They already know, and the penalty will be eternal condemnation.
If they only knew that Kosovo was really a Wag-The-Juanita operation.
3 Posted on 06/07/2000 23:28:56 PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2

fixed?

4 Posted on 06/07/2000 23:29:36 PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: Ron C. JohnHuang2

I wish someone would start bombing our TV stations :o)... now thank you Clinton/Blair journalists are military targets. Which is not a bad thing in some cases..... hhmmmmm

I have (had?) the video of the train being bombed.... sad.

5 Posted on 06/07/2000 23:55:22 PDT by GeronL
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War Crime or Simple Mistake?
	1. NATO Target On April 12, 1999, a NATO plane sited the Grdelica Bridge. A passenger train was visible in the lower left of the pilot's viewfinder.
	2. Train Caught As the bombs home in, the train is dead center in the targeting area of the viewfinder.
	3. Moment of Impact The Grdelica railroad bridge is consumed in smoke as the NATO bombs hit their target.
	4. Aftermath The burned-out shell of the passenger train remains. NATO called it a tragic accident. Amnesty International calls this a war crime because, according to the human rights organization, civilians were targeted.

	Harsh Allegations NATO Denies It Committed War Crimes in Kosovo Conflict
	U.N. War Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte says there is no basis for an investigation into alleged NATO war crimes in the bombing of Yugoslavia. However, Amnesty International says the alliance violated international law. (Fred Ernst/AP Photo)