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World - Europe

Focus on Kosovo
Peace Plan Highlights | Photo Gallery | Strike Assessment | News Video Archive | Strike at a Glance | Who's Who | Roots of the Conflict | Story Archive | Links | Discussion

Pentagon: Factors besides bombing forced Milosevic's hand

graphic
 

October 14, 1999
Web posted at: 11:26 a.m. EDT (1526 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Air power alone did not win NATO's war on Yugoslavia, according to a new report released Thursday at a U.S. Senate committee hearing in Washington.

The 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Operation Allied Force, ended in June when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic gave in to NATO demands.

But U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton said that other factors -- including Russian diplomacy, the threat of a ground invasion, and the success of ethnic Albanian rebels -- also played an important role.

"Because many pressures were brought to bear, we can never be certain about what caused Milosevic to accept NATO's conditions," the United States' top armed forces officials said in a written statement summarizing the Pentagon's findings on the war.

  ALSO
 
  MESSAGE BOARD
Rebuilding Kosovo

 

The "after-action review" faulted NATO for failing to plan for all options, including a possible ground invasion. But Cohen and Shelton concluded that the public discussion of a ground war's possibility "undoubtedly contributed to Milosevic's calculations that NATO would prevail at all costs."

During the war, the United States was short of critical assets such as refueling planes, jamming aircraft, and satellite guided bombs, according to the 18-page statement. It also noted a number of disparities between the military capabilities of the United States and its lesser-equipped NATO allies.

While concluding the air campaign was "an overwhelming success," Cohen and Shelton said in the report that NATO had difficulty targeting Serb air defenses, and that locating mobile targets proved "problematic."

"Our limitations in being able to locate enemy forces under cover is being assessed," the statement said.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



RELATED STORIES:
Annan meets with Kosovar Serbs, Albanians
October 13, 1999
Milosevic lashes out at Yugoslav opposition
October 12, 1999
U.N. staffer in Kosovo was killed for 'speaking wrong language'
October 12, 1999
German general takes over NATO peacekeeping force
October 8, 1999
Ethnic Albanians urged to stop threatening Serbs in Kosovo
October 7, 1999
Yugoslav opposition leader: 'Behead' Milosevic's 'empire of evil'
October 6, 1999
Kosovo Albanians hurl stones, gasoline bombs at Serb convoy
October 5, 1999

RELATED SITES:
Yugoslavia:
  • War against Yugoslavia
  • Free Serbia Net!
  • Serbian Renewal Movement
  • CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Serbia and Montenegro
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis


Resettlement Agencies Helping Kosovars in U.S.:
  • The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
  • Church World Service
  • Episcopal Migration Ministries
  • Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
  • Iowa Department of Human Services
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Immigration and Refugee Services of America
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
  • United States Catholic Conference

Relief:
  • UNICEF: Kosovo
  • CARE
  • AmeriCares
  • World Relief
  • Doctors without borders
  • U.S. Agency for International Development (Kosovo aid)
  • Doctors of the World
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page
  • The Jewish Agency for Israel
  • Mercy International
  • UNHCR


Media:
  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • EducWeb.com - Kosovo
  • An online educators' conference on Kosovo
  • Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
  • 1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage
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