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NATO Forces Attack Yugoslavia
By Robert H. Reid Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 24, 1999; 6:37 p.m. EST
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Wave after wave of NATO warplanes and missiles struck
Yugoslavia on Wednesday, pummeling army barracks, power plants and air defense batteries
in an effort to force the country's defiant leader to cease his onslaught against Kosovo
Albanians.
The NATO attack came after months of diplomacy failed to end a year of fighting between
Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian separatists that has killed more than 2,000 people and
left over 400,000 homeless in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province.
``Only firmness now can prevent greater catastrophe later,'' President Clinton said from
the White House shortly after the bombing began. ``Kosovo's crisis is now full-blown and
if we do not act clearly it will get even worse.''
Yugoslavia declared a state of war shortly after the first attacks, a move that would
allow them to call up more troops and seal its borders. The Yugoslav army said more than
20 targets were hit in the first hour but claimed that no air defense units were damaged
-- reportedly a major target of the NATO strikes.
Explosions resounded in Kosovo's capital of Pristina starting at 7:55 p.m. (1:55 p.m.
EST), and the city of 280,000 was plunged into darkness when the electricity failed. The
official Tanjug news agency reported four heavy blasts in the city, including three from
the area of Slatina airport.
More than a dozen explosions were heard around Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, including
some near Batajnica military airport and one near a power plant.
In neighboring Montenegro, which with Serbia forms Yugoslavia, an army military barracks
in Danilovgrad was in flames after being hit. One soldier was reported killed and three
others were wounded, officials said.
Reporters were not immediately able to get to the targets to see what effect the attacks
had. The center of Belgrade was quiet and unhit, and early Thursday, and state-media
reported that the air alert had been called off.
Targets were spread throughout the country. In Kosovo, targets appeared to be at least 15
miles from Pristina, in areas where it is dangerous to travel at night.
During the bombardment, about 25 foreign journalists who were on the roof of the Hyatt
Hotel in Belgrade were detained by police. Some were later released.
Explosions also were heard in the area of Novi Sad in northern Serbia, northwest of
Belgrade.
Scores of cruise missiles and one-ton bombs were fired at Yugoslav targets. Dozens of
warplanes were used, including six U.S. B-52 bombers and two B-2 stealth bombers,
appearing in combat for the first time.
Belgrade TV reported that one NATO plane was shot down in the Cicavica Mountains,
northwest of Kosovo's capital Pristina, according to Yugoslav military forces.
Defense Secretary William Cohen in Washington said he could not immediately confirm the
report, but added that ``our aircraft have safely returned'' after the first wave.
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least one Yugoslav MiG
fighter was shot down.
Reporters in Yugoslavia Threatened
By David Bauder AP Television Writer Wednesday, March 24, 1999; 4:58 p.m. EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Television networks were hampered from showing initial NATO airstrikes in
Yugoslavia Wednesday after officials cut off their satellite access and reporters were
forced to flee Kosovo because of safety concerns.
ABC, CBS and NBC broke into regular programming shortly before 2 p.m. EST to report that
the attack had begun. Together with the cable news networks, they covered President
Clinton's brief announcement of military action.
Initial visual evidence of the attack was limited to CNN's almost indistinguishable
night-vision footage of a flash of light on Pristina's skyline in Kosovo. Later, CNN
broadcast pictures from Serbian TV that showed fires burning.
More than six hours before the attack, Yugoslav security officials entered a TV
transmission facility at a Belgrade hotel. They ordered personnel to stand against a wall
as they confiscated equipment used to send TV pictures via satellite, said Eason Jordan,
president of newsgathering and international networks for CNN.
The facility was operated by the European Broadcasting Union and used by CNN and other
U.S. television networks, including ABC, CBS and NBC.
The networks were forced to turn to the Yugoslav-run television network to send reports
that were vulnerable to censorship. CNN's Christiane Amanpour delivered one report from
the Yugoslav facility.
But shortly thereafter, even that option was eliminated.
``The leadership is hunkering down and, frankly, doesn't see outside journalists as
helpful right now,'' Jordan said.
Although several networks were barred from sending pictures through state-run television,
authorities permitted transmissions from Associated Press Television News and Reuters
television, said the AP's Melissa Eddy.
``We've all had to resort to good, old-fashioned journalism -- you get a reporter on the
telephone and have him look out the window and tell what he's seeing,'' said Steve Capus,
an executive producer at MSNBC.
NBC's Ron Allen and ABC's Jim Wooten and Mike Lee were among reporters ordered out of
Kosovo by their employers because of safety concerns. CBS considered pulling Allen Pizzey,
but he remained in Pristina as night fell.
While NBC beat its two broadcast rivals to the air Wednesday with news that the
bombardment had begun, both CBS and ABC were able to bring telephone reports with
on-ground descriptions of Pristina ahead of NBC.
CNN's Brent Sadler reported being threatened by officials when he and some colleagues
transmitted a pre-attack report from Pristina. One of the gun-toting men held two bullets
in his hand, pointed at CNN personnel and said, ``these bullets are for you,'' Jordan
said.
Sadler finished his report anyway and when he emerged from the facility, all four tires on
his vehicle had been slashed.
After the bombing began and Sadler transmitted the first night-vision pictures, he said
his transmitter was shut off by armed police.
Although Sadler was staying in Kosovo, CNN reporter Christopher Burns left Yugoslavia
after authorities told CNN that his life may be in danger. Officials have been denouncing
CNN on Yugoslavian television as ``a factory of lies'' and ran a picture of Burns, Jordan
said.
``It's just a dreadful situation,'' he said. CNN is particularly susceptible to trouble
because its reports are telecast in Yugoslavia, he said.
APTN reporters have elected to stay in Kosovo, concerned that trying to leave at night
would be too dangerous.
14 Houses Burned, 200 Vandalized and Looted in Barileva
Village of Prishtina
PRISHTINA, March 24 (KIC) - The Serbian forces' crackdown in the Barileva village,
municipality of Prishtina, in the past few days has resulted in 14 Albanian houses burned
and some 200 looted and vandalized, local sources told the KIC. Most of the population of
the village, excepting family heads, have fled their homes.
Serbian forces have been stationed in neighboring Lebanė village, hugely restricting the
movement of the population of the surrounding villages along the Prishtina-Podujeva area.
Serbian Forces Building up, Vushtrri Villages Shelled
PRISHTINA, March 24 (KIC) - From their positions in Mihaliq and Druar, Serbian forces
shelled last night the Drenica region's village. A number of houses in Mihaliq were set on
fire at the same time.
Huge Serbian reinforcements were sent to the Vushtrri area last night and today, local
sources said.
A Serb convoy of troops and armor headed to Pasomė village today morning.
At 7:40 CET today, Serbian forces started shelling the village of Pasomė and the Shalė e
Bajgorės region, an UĒK stronghold.
A Serbian convoy headed to Karaēė village today.
Albanian people from the villages have been streaming towards the town of Vushtrri and
relatively safer villages.
B-2 Bomber Makes Combat Debut
By John Diamond Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 24, 1999; 6:16 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The B-2 stealth bomber made its combat debut Wednesday, dropping
2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs on targets in Yugoslavia. The missions came more than a
decade after the $2 billion bat-winged plane first rolled out into public view.
Built to unleash nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union, the B-2 instead participated as a
small part of a conventional attack on one of Moscow's longtime allies.
Flying nonstop across an ocean and two continents, a pair of B-2s each carrying 16
precision-guided weapons attacked multiple ``hardened'' targets, including command bunkers
and air-defense systems, according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
In a strike that consisted mainly of $1 million cruise missiles that could be launched
without endangering U.S. and allied pilots, the B-2s slipped inside Yugoslavia's
formidable air defense system, dropped their weapons and escaped unscathed, defense
officials said.
``The air defense system in Yugoslavia is very capable and it poses a considerable
threat,'' said Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Added
Defense Secretary William Cohen: ``The aircraft performed according to its capabilities.''
Use of the B-2 marked a culmination of sorts for a weapon system that became a lightning
rod for debate over defense spending since the Reagan presidency.
Total cost for a fleet of 21 B-2s is expected to be $44 billion. The plane is built by
Northrop Grumman Corp. near Los Angeles.
The plane first was seen by the public in November 1988 in a much-ballyhooed roll-out
ceremony. Since then, technical problems have plagued the bomber: a radar system had
difficulty distinguishing mountain ranges from clouds; radar-absorbent paint wore off too
quickly; wing skins developed holes; and ejection seats failed to work properly.
Congressional boosters of the B-2 failed repeatedly to expand the program beyond the
planned 21 aircraft.
The radar-evading planes took off in the early morning hours Wednesday from Whiteman Air
Force Base, Mo., flew 11 hours with several midair refuelings, spent several hours
loitering over and then attacking multiple targets and then flew directly back to
Whiteman.
They were still en route home Wednesday afternoon.
The senior defense official said the B-2 was selected because of its heavy payload -- by
comparison, the F-117 Stealth bomber, also used Wednesday, can carry only two bombs -- its
ability to attack multiple targets, and its ability to drop weapons precisely at night and
in all weather conditions.
The satellite-guidance system on the B-2's conventional bombs can direct the explosive to
a target without any visible contact or laser-designator.
With only a pilot and co-pilot aboard, the B-2 also puts fewer crewmen at risk than the
B-52, which unleashed cruise missiles from launch points outside Yugoslavia.
B-2s can be shot down -- if they are seen by enemy ground crews or fighter aircraft. Such
a development would be seen as a full-blown calamity for the military: the pair of B-2
bombers used Wednesday cost almost as much as a Navy aircraft carrier.
The Air Force has been anxious to prove the weapon's worth but leery of the consequences
of a loss.
In 1996, explaining how the B-2 would be used in conventional combat, the then-Air Force
chief praised the plane's ability to attack multiple targets.
``Instead of talking about how many sorties are required to bring down a given target set,
we look at how many target sets can you engage with one sortie,'' Gen. Ronald Fogleman
said.
But the use of the B-2 Wednesday as only a small part of a strike that involved scores of
expensive cruise missiles undercut an argument made by B-2 proponents that its $15,000
bombs would represent a low-cost substitute for cruise missiles.
Conceived in the 1970s, the B-2 only became operational in 1997 after the Air Force and
Northrop dealt with spiraling budgets and emerging technical problems. The conversion of
the plane from a nuclear bomb-dropper to one with conventional capability further delayed
the program.
Kosovapress
Appeal to stop the
humanitarian catastrophe in the region of Drenica
Drenica,March 23 (Kosovapress) The human tragedy that the world is
calling 'humanitarian crisis' in these moments has reached its most dramatic moment in the
village of Qirez. The population of dozens of villages from the four municipalities of
Skenderaj (Srbica), Gllogoc (Gllovovac), Mitrovice (Kosovska Mitrovica) and Vushtrri
(Vucitern), are gathered in the village Qirez. During the last few days, about twenty
thousand women,children, elder people and the sick are living in extreme conditions
without any food, shelter or the minimal living conditions. until this very moment, not a
single humanitarian NGO has come to their rescue. There has been no food or clothes sent
there. Qirez is surrounded from all sides by the Serb forces. The tragedy that is
happening there before the eyes of the world is caused by the same people that perpetrated
the war crimes and the genocide in Croatia and Bosnia.
The world must act to help the civil population now, because tomorrow is going to be too
late. What is happening now in Kosova, is not just a second Bosnia; it is its replay in a
much larger scale.
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Brief News
March 23 (Kosovapress) Prishtinė: Based on initial information,
there were three wounded, in the last nights explosion, at around 19.30, in café
"Koha". Arianit Kelmendi (1969) died later on in hospital, while Jasmin Jaha and
Agim Balaj are critically wounded.
Prishtinė: Last night at around 20.00, in café "Magjik",
Adriana Abdullahu, Drama student, was killed and Leonora Lutolli (1977) and Fadil Dragaj
were wounded, in the machine gun attack.
Prishtinė: Prishtina quarters, Matiēani and "Hospital
Quarter" were under siege by Serbian police/military forces. Reason for these acts
were the latest cases of explosions in shops of Prishtinė.
Suahrekė: According to human rights council in Prishtinė, five
Albanian civilians were killed yesterday, by Serb police in Suharekė. These are: Naser
Bytyqi (33) from Suharekė, Xhemajl Morina(45) and Ramadan Morinafrom Reshtan, Emėrllah
Hoxha and his son Mehmet, from Reēan.
Vushtrri: Human rights sources in Prishtinė have informed that,
serb forces positioned in the yard of "Drenica" company, in "Zallinat e
Gllobarit" and Dvorani quarter, have fired occasionally at UĒK positions in
Tėrstenik. UĒK Units are, however, successfully resisting these attacks and guarding
their Positions.
Gllogoc: Last night, a Serb military convoy of 29 military/police
vehicles, APC, Jeeps and Armoured vehicles came to Gllogoc from the direction of
Prishtina. Concentration of Serb forces in the Entry/exits of this town are increased and
so is the roaming and patrolling. Lipjan: A large number of military vehicles came to this
town with train today. 30 tanks and 100 serb soldiers were unloaded from the train. Some
of the tanks were stationed in the High School, while the rest have gone in the direction
of Suhadoll. A convoy of military vehicles have gone towards Shtime.
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Communiqué of Command of Dukagjini
Operative Zone
Dukagjin, March 23 (Kosovapress) UĒK (Kosova Liberation Army), in
the Dukagjini Operative Zone, is hitting hard on enemy and Albanian speaking
collaborators. Who ever serves the enemy will be hit mercilessly. Thus, in the region of
133rd Brigade, two enemy collaborators were eliminated. Last year, they have killed UĒK
soldier Nexhat Adem Elshani and wounded Avdi Elashani. Our Fast Action Units, while trying
to arrest them, have killed these two collaborators: Rrahman Morinėn (15/10/1960), from
Baicė of Pejė, and Shaban Ramēaj form Baja e Pejės. UĒK will not allow anybody to
damage the fight for the freedom of Kosova , ends the Communiqué of Command of Dukagjini
Operative Zone, signed by Commander Ramush Haadinaj.
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A military convoy paraded through Ferizaj
Ferizaj, 23 March (kosovapress) At around 10.00 a serb military
convoy, of 20 tanks, 4 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 5 trucks and a mobile Bridge, paraded
through Ferizaj. We are informed that this convoy have left for Kaēanik. Shootings in
Malishev Malishevė, March 23 (Kosovapress) There is a tense atmosphere in the town of
Malishevė today. During the day fire arm shootings were heard more than once. Serb police
burned down Albanian houses yesterday and today. More serb forces arrived from Arllat
today. After the fighting in Sferkė and Dush in the municipality of Klinė, in this
municipality (of Malishevė) have been displaced in excess of 15 000 residents. Human
right groups CDHRF has called Humanitarian organisations for emergency help in food and
medicaments.
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More than 100 (one hundred) killed in
Skėnderaj, suspected
Skėnderaj, March 23 (Kosovapress) Drenica is engulfed in smoke and
flames today also. The centre of Skėnderaj is in flames, and so are Klina e Epėrme,
Klina e Poshtme, Klina e Mesme, Prekazi, Polaci etc. while in Lubovec, Mikushnicė and
Galicė there is nothing left to be looted or burned anymore. According to eyewitnesses
there are information about massacres of Albanians within Skenderaj itself. Number of
victims is said to be over 100. The dead can be seen lying on the road while others are
fleeing. There is a plea for help from international associations, to enter this town and
retrieve the dead bodies. It is supposed that there are killings in the villages also, but
because it is impossible to confirm these, the exact number of dead is not known. Civilian
population, that has fled Skenderaj is wondering about in the mountains trying to find a
safe refuge. Since the early hours of this morning Serbs are shelling many villages of
this region. Because of the heroically resistance of UĒK units in the village Tėrnavc,
serb enemy suffered high human and machinery casualties. Serb police have set ablaze Mill
of Bellanėve of Klina. This was high capacity mill and was used by 20 surrounding
villages. While we are reporting, the smoke trail is extended from Klina e Eperme until
Skenderaj and its unclear weather anything to be burned has been left.
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Pounding of Llap villages started at 15.00
Llap, March 23 (Kosovapress) At around 15.00 today, from their
position in Dumosh serb occupying forces pounded the villages pf Llap OZ. UĒK units are
holding firmly to their positions.
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Dobroshec, Gllanasellė, Likoshan,…
are burning
Gllogoc, March 23 (Kosovapress) Serb terrorist forces are continuing
to burn the villages of Dobroshec, municipality of Gllogoc. Dobroshec, Gllanasellė,
Likoshan,… are burning. Pounding of Polluzhė, Tėrstenik and Baicė is continuing.
UĒK Units of Drenica OZ are confronting these attacks with success.
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NATO orders strikes on
Yugoslavia; Serbs brace for attack (CNN)
March 24, 1999
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Alerted by an "imminent threat of
war," Serb forces searched the skies over Yugoslavia early Wednesday, bracing for an
attack NATO has promised will come.
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana authorized military strikes
late Tuesday after being briefed by U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, who failed in a
last-minute diplomatic mission to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to agree
to a U.S.-drafted Kosovo peace plan.
Solana said he had directed NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe
Gen. Wesley Clark to "initiate operations" against Serb targets, but he did not
specify when they would begin.
"All efforts to achieve a negotiated, political solution to the
Kosovo crisis have failed, and no alternative is open but to take military action,"
Solana told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Pentagon sources told CNN late Tuesday that a punishing wave of
cruise missile and bomb attacks would probably begin within 24 hours. More than 400 NATO
aircraft and half a dozen warships are in position around the Balkans.
U.S. President Bill Clinton spent the afternoon meeting with his top
national security advisers and spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
"Everyone is now on board," a senior administration
official told CNN.
Also, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday evening 58-41 in favor of a
resolution supporting U.S. participation in NATO military operations in Kosovo, just hours
after Solana gave the go-ahead for air raids in Yugoslavia.
The brief resolution states that "the president of the United
States is authorized to conduct military air operations and missile strikes in cooperation
with our NATO allies against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)."
Yugoslav army on high state of alert
In Belgrade, Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic announced a
state of an immediate threat of war, a declaration that mobilizes troops and puts the army
on a high state of alert.
The United States and several European nations closed their
embassies in the Yugoslav capital, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered U.N.
staff in Kosovo to leave the region. Major European airlines suspended flights into
Belgrade.
Halfway across the Atlantic for a visit to the United States,
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov abruptly turned his plane around when U.S. Vice
President Al Gore refused to promise that airstrikes would not take place. Primakov
reiterated Moscow's opposition to the use of force, saying, "We are categorically
against this, categorically."
Russia's defense minister said Russia would step up its combat
readiness if NATO attacks, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. And Russia's U.N. envoy
said he would call for a U.N. Security Council meeting in the event of airstrikes.
Holbrooke: Situation 'bleakest' since peace effort began
Holbrooke spent two rounds of intense talks with Milosevic Monday
and Tuesday, but he was unable to win the Yugoslav president's endorsement of a proposed
Kosovo accord that would grant ethnic Albanians local autonomy but not independence.
Speaking with CNN shortly before he left Belgrade, Holbrooke said
the situation was now "the bleakest since we began this (peace effort)" almost
four years ago.
He said Milosevic rejected international demands for an immediate
cease-fire in Kosovo and a NATO-led peace force.
Asked if Milosevic understands the consequences that may result from
his actions, Holbrooke said, "Yes." Holbrooke said his delegation stayed over an
extra day to make sure Milosevic understood what the consequences might be.
Milosevic "has chosen a path he fully understands by rejecting
our reasonable, rational requests and suggestions," he said.
Milosevic's rejection of Holbrooke's mission was delivered formally
during an emergency session of the Serbian parliament.
The parliament unanimously adopted two resolutions, one rejecting
NATO troops and the other expressing willingness to review the "range and character
of an international presence" in Kosovo after a political agreement on the province
was signed.
The general-secretary of Milosevic's Socialist Party, Gorica
Gajevic, told the session, "We are not accepting foreign military troops on our
territory under any excuse and at any price, even at the price of bombing.
"In case war is imposed on us, we will defend from the
aggressors with all available means," she said. "And everybody must know
that."
Serbs continue offensive against KLA
Neighboring Macedonia closed its border with Kosovo, stranding
hundreds of ethnic Albanian families in the snowy hills near the border.
Serb sources reported fighting Tuesday in the Podujevo area of
Kosovo and in the rebel stronghold region of Drenica. The northern areas have been the
focus of a powerful offensive against the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
More smoke rose on the horizon from the town of Srbica, seized by
Serb forces on Saturday and closed to reporters since.
Shells slamming into hills near the village of Rezala and small-arms
and machine-gun fire sent Kosovo Albanian rebels scurrying.
Aid workers say the fighting has driven 40,000 people, most of them
ethnic Albanians, from their homes over the past week since international monitors left
the province in anticipation of possible NATO bombing
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U.S. Senate Supports NATO Air Strikes In
Kosovo (Reuters)
By John Whitesides
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the United States poised to take part in
military action in Kosovo, a deeply divided Senate Tuesday backed President Clinton and
supported impending NATO air strikes on Serb targets.
The Senate authorized U.S. participation in the strikes aimed at
forcing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt an offensive against ethnic
Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo and sign a peace deal.
After two days of sometimes heated debate in which lawmakers
expressed grave concern about the NATO action, senators voted 58-41 in favor of a
resolution authorizing the United States to conduct ``military air operations and missile
strikes'' in cooperation with NATO.
``History will judge us harshly if we do not take action to stop
this rolling genocide,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, one of 14 Republicans to
support the resolution.
The vote followed a morning meeting at the White House in which
Clinton pushed about 40 lawmakers for support from Congress before U.S. pilots were sent
into harm's way. He later sent congressional leaders a letter seeking backing.
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana directed NATO Tuesday night to
begin air operations against military targets in Yugoslavia, but did not give a time for
the attacks.
The move followed U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke's failed last-ditch
bid to persuade Milosevic to call off his army and accept a peace plan for Kosovo that
would include a 28,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force.
``We're coming close to starting World War III,'' Alaska Sen. Ted
Stevens, a Republican, said shortly before the Senate vote.
Several Republicans took to the Senate floor during the day to
support the strikes, arguing a failure to act in Kosovo would result in further genocide,
the spread of unrest into neighboring countries and the splintering of NATO.
``America's and NATO's credibility are on the line here,'' Hagel
said. ``If we are the only NATO member not to be part of this effort, it surely will be
the beginning of the unraveling of NATO.''
But Republican opponents said it was foolish to think NATO could
bomb the Serbs into accepting the peace agreement, or force them to end centuries of
ethnic strife.
``I think we're making a mistake,'' said Sen. Don Nickles, an
Oklahoma Republican and outspoken critic of the Kosovo operation. ``Instead of bringing
about civility, it may be that Serbian forces will move more aggressively.''
Even some senators who supported the air strikes criticized
Clinton's Kosovo policies and questioned whether pressing national interests were at stake
in another country's civil war.
``Typically, the administration has not convincingly explained to us
or to the public what is at stake in Kosovo; what we intend to do about it; and what we
will do if the level of force anticipated fails to persuade the Serbs,'' noted Sen. John
McCain, an Arizona Republican.
``Congress and the American people have good reason to fear that we
are heading toward another permanent garrison of Americans in a Balkan country where our
mission is confused and our exit strategy a complete mystery,'' McCain said.
Senators complained that Clinton had failed to consult Congress as
he prepared to join forces with NATO in the Kosovo operation.
``I say shame on the president,'' Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico
Republican, said. ``If this is such an important matter, why couldn't he trust the United
States Senate and United States House and ask us whether we concur?''
Senators said the resolution did not authorize the future use of
ground troops in Kosovo, and called on Clinton to consult Congress fully before making any
decision on troop deployments.
Lawmakers made clear that the strikes against the heavily fortified
air defenses of the Serbs were likely to result in U.S. casualties.
``This act will result in the deaths of American servicemen,''
Republican Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire said of the bombing plans. ``This is a
certainty.''
The House of Representatives earlier this month narrowly supported
the use of U.S. ground forces in a NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, but that was
before the collapse of the pending peace agreement and plans for the air strikes.
House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas told reporters he didn't
anticipate any more House floor action on Kosovo.
Back to top |
 City
of Skenderaj in flames (BBC) |
 Albanian
children fleeing in Terstenik |
| More pictures in the BBC site (Kosova in Pictures) Bombing of Yugoslavia to start
Wednesday: London (AFP)
LONDON, March 23 (AFP) - NATO will launch air strikes against
Yugoslavia on Wednesday unless Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepts the Kosovo
peace plan, British Defence Secretary George Robertson said late Tuesday. "They still
have some time left where they can accept the agreement at Rambouillet which even some of
their closest allies tell them makes sense," Robertson said in a BBC television
interview.
"If we have to take military action tomorrow (Wednesday) we do
so with a heavy heart but because there is no alternative and it is the only way in which
we can stop violence that will not stop in Kosovo," he added.
NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said earlier Tuesday that he
had given the order to start bombing in agreement with the 19 members of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
He said that all attempts to find a negotiated political solution to
the Kosovo crisis had failed and "there is no alternative but to take military
action."
In Belgrade, the Yugoslav government proclaimed a state of danger of
imminent war, Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic said on television.
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Clinton Says NATO Ready To Limit Serb War
Ability (Reuters)
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton said Tuesday NATO was ready
to carry out air strikes against Serb targets after the failure of a last-gasp Kosovo
peace mission.
Amid signs of imminent NATO military attacks, Russian Prime Minister
Yevgeny Primakov canceled a visit to Washington in protest, turning his plane around in
mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean to return to Moscow.
Clinton said U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke ``got nowhere''
with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in two meetings Monday night and Tuesday
morning in Belgrade.
``NATO is now united and prepared to carry out its warning. If
President Milosevic is not willing to make peace, we are willing to limit his ability to
make war on the Kosovars,'' Clinton said in a speech.
Holbrooke tried to persuade Milosevic to accept a cease-fire, halt
an offensive against Kosovo rebels and sign a peace deal that would include a
28,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia.
Calling the situation the ``bleakest'' he had seen in four years of
Balkan negotiations, Holbrooke flew from Belgrade to Brussels, briefed NATO officials and
then planned to return to Washington.
Clinton held a late-afternoon meeting with top foreign policy aides
and National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said they ``reviewed the situation on
the ground and potential next steps by the NATO alliance.''
Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said NATO had plans for a ''swift and
severe air campaign'' that could start within hours. Asked if it could be called off,
Bacon said: ``I'd say the train has pretty much left the station here.''
Clinton gave no indication when any NATO air attack might take
place, but made clear the alliance's patience had run out. ''We have done everything we
could do to solve this issue peacefully,'' he said.
U.S. defense officials said NATO plans included early strikes by
satellite-guided Tomahawk cruise missiles from as many as six American warships, two of
them submarines, in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. A British submarine was also in the
area.
Clinton used a speech to the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees to outline his Kosovo policy in the face of concerns among many
Americans about sending U.S. forces into combat there.
Clinton said Holbrooke's mission failed because Milosevic ''is still
denying his responsibility for the crisis, defying the international community and
destroying'' people's lives.
Members of U.S. Congress came away from a White House meeting with
Clinton saying they believed NATO action was imminent. Many of them closed ranks behind
the president despite deep differences over his policy in order to show American unity.
``My impression is action is not too far down the road,'' said
Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman came away from the
meeting predicting NATO air strikes would be ``heavy and effective.''
Lieberman said of the talks with Clinton about Kosovo: ``In the end,
the mood was to lock arms.''
Clinton said NATO wanted to limit Milosevic's ability to massacre
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and prevent a refugee crisis in central Europe and a wider
Balkans war.
He noted at one point that if people had listened to Winston
Churchill's warnings sooner, the world might have stood up sooner to Adolf Hitler.
He urged his audience to ``say a prayer for the young men and women
in uniform who are going to be there to do what I, as their commander-in- chief, order
them to do.''
There are risks to U.S. pilots and innocents on the ground, Clinton
said, ``but the dangers of acting must be weighed against the dangers of inaction.''
Russia, upset at the idea of NATO attacks, said it might seek an end
to the year-old U.N. arms embargo against Yugoslavia, whose air defenses use Soviet-era
equipment.
Vice President Al Gore said he told Primakov in a phone call to his
plane that the situation was worsening in Kosovo and ``we agreed that we would postpone
this week's meeting.'' A Gore aide said Gore could not guarantee air strikes would not
take place during Primakov's U.S. visit.
Defense officials said NATO's early attacks against strong Serb air
defenses would include laser-guided bombs dropped at night by radar-avoiding U.S. F-117A
stealth fighters based in northern Italy. They are among more than 200 U.S. jets in a
force of some 400 NATO warplanes preparing to pound Serb targets.
Heavy U.S. B-52H bombers with air-launched cruise missiles were also
ready at a base in Britain. The defense officials said batwing B-2 stealth bombers based
in the United States could be ordered to fly non-stop to Yugoslavia for strikes with
satellite-guided 2,000-pound (910 kg) bombs to circumvent Serb air defenses.
That would be the first combat use of the B-2, the world's most
advanced warplane.
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Airstrikes would follow Iraq pattern, say
military analysts (The Dallas Morning News)
Mar. 23, 1999 | 7:51 p.m.
By Richard Whittle The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
WASHINGTON -- If NATO launches airstrikes against Yugoslavia, they
may closely resemble the attacks on Iraq that commenced the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
And allied pilots will come under fire from much the same weaponry.
Any strikes will ``undoubtedly'' start at night with ``cruise
missiles and F-117s, possibly B-2 Stealth bombers, and that will be an endeavor to take
out the air defense,'' said retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Kelly, director of operations
for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War.
``They (the Yugoslav military forces) have a similar air defense
suite to what the Iraqis had,'' said Kelly, who studied Yugoslavia when he was war plans
officer for NATO's southern region in 1979-82.
As in Iraq, the chief air defenses of the mainly Serbian forces in
Yugoslavia's military consist of Soviet-made SA-2, SA-3 and SA-6 surface-to-air missiles.
Kelly and other experts said the first task in strikes at Yugoslav
forces in Kosovo and perhaps Serbia would be to destroy surface-to-air missile batteries,
command and control facilities, communications installations and radars.
Satellite-guided, unmanned Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from any
of four U.S. Navy ships or two U.S. submarines in the Mediterranean would strike first to
clear the way for allied pilots.
As Kelly noted, the first manned aircraft likely to see action are
Air Force F-117A Nighthawk fighter-bombers, whose radar-evading stealth technology would
protect them from Yugoslav missiles.
``About the fourth day, they ought to be in position to send in the
F-15s, F-16s, F/A-18s that will be dropping laser-guided bombs'' aimed at anti-aircraft
guns, tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery, Kelly said.
U.S. officials have warned that attacks on Yugoslav targets could be
more hazardous for allied pilots than in Iraq. The terrain is hilly, the weather is
fickle, and the Serbs are better-trained and disciplined than the Iraqis were, experts
said.
``The primary difference between Yugoslavia and Iraq, or course, is
the terrain, and it is a much trickier terrain, an easier terrain in which to hide air
defense assets,'' said Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon.
Bacon added, however, that the terrain also could make it more
difficult for Serbian forces to move mobile anti-aircraft missiles.
``There is a dispersion going on now of their air defense assets,''
he said.
The Pentagon spokesman also noted that while ``the Yugoslav air
defense forces are well-trained and they are well-equipped,'' their ``equipment is
somewhat older equipment.''
U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the supreme NATO commander in Europe,
has about 400 combat aircraft at his disposal.
The NATO force includes about 200 U.S. warplanes, including F-15E
Eagle fighter-bombers, F-16 Falcon jets armed with anti-radar missiles and
precision-guided munitions for ground-attack missions and Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B
electronic warfare planes.
Gen. Clark also could order up Air Force B-2 stealth bombers --
never before used in combat -- based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. They would fly from
Missouri, drop satellite-guided bombs, then fly home.
Eight Air Force B-52 bombers based in England also could take part,
launching air-launched cruise missiles.
Bacon said the planes can move within hours of an order.
He said Yugoslav forces operating ``in Kosovo or around Kosovo''
included 40,000 soldiers, nearly 400 tanks and hundreds of armored personnel carriers and
artillery pieces.
Yugoslavia's most effective air defense weapon is the SA-6, the
missile that downed U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady's F-16 while he was flying a
daylight mission over Bosnia in June 1995. A Marine Corps team rescued Capt. O'Grady
several days later.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the Yugoslav air force, consisting mainly of old Soviet planes and only 15 newer MiG-29s,
was not a major concern.
``Our air-to-air pilots would probably love to see them come up to
fight,'' the official said.
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France to join any NATO strikes on
Yugoslavia
PARIS, March 24 - France will join in any NATO military action
against Yugoslavia because political efforts to persuade Belgrade to stop attacks on
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have been exhausted, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
"...The President of the Republic, in agreement with the
government, has decided that French forces should participate in military actions, which
have become inevitable, that are decided within the framework of the Atlantic
alliance," it said.
It issued a statement shortly after NATO Secretary-General Javier
Solana directed NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark to begin military intervention
in the Kosovo crisis with air attacks against military targets in Yugoslavia.
Solana gave no timing for the strikes.
The ministry said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic bore full
responsibility for any consequences after refusing 11th-hour entreaties for a peace
settlement in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
All political efforts for a peaceful solution have been tried, it
said. "These efforts have now been exhausted."
U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke briefed NATO officials on
Tuesday after failing to persuade Milosevic to accept a ceasefire, halt an offensive
against Kosovo rebels and sign a peace deal which would include a 28,000-strong NATO
peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
French President Jacques Chirac said on Tuesday the crisis was
coming to a head, and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said France would take part in NATO
strikes if peace efforts failed.
"If it appears that all attempts to convince Belgrade to cease
its repression and accept the political and military aspects of the Rambouillet accord are
exhausted, France is determined to take part fully in the military action which will
become inevitable," Jospin told parliament.
"The tension is increasing, violence is continuing and the
number of refugees is rising," he said.
Around 2,000 people have been killed in Kosovo in the past year, and
fighting has intensified in recent days.
France's foreign ministry said the government was convinced that the
only fair solution was the deal outlined at the Rambouillet talks in France envisaging
substantial autonomy for the majority ethnic Albanians of Kosovo and a NATO-led
peacekeeping force to implement the accord.
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Germany Backs NATO on Kosovo (AP)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)--Germany's military has a key combat role if
NATO attacks Yugoslavia over the Kosovo impasse, including the use of warplanes from the
German air force to take out Yugoslav anti-aircraft radar on the ground.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet agreed unanimously to back
NATO strikes during an emergency meeting Monday.
``We have no other choice but to deploy the means that we have
prepared. We will do that, and we will do it as long as it takes for the Yugoslav
president to return to the basis of humane conduct and international law,'' Schroeder said
Tuesday in Bonn.
As the threat of airstrikes increased, the German airline Lufthansa
suspended flights to Belgrade and Sarajevo.
The German embassy in Belgrade shut down and Ambassador Wilfried
Gruber and other diplomatic personnel decided to leave without delay, the foreign ministry
announced Tuesday evening.
Germany warned its citizens against travel to Yugoslavia and urged
those already there to leave.
Eight German Tornado jets based in Piacenza, Italy, are armed with
heat-seeking anti-radar HARM missiles. Six other Tornados at Piacenza are loaded with
special camera equipment for reconnaissance flights.
Schroeder's center-left coalition, which includes the once-pacifist
Greens party, in effect endorsed a policy begun under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl to
make German soldiers increasingly equal partners in NATO.
Helmut Lippelt, the foreign policy spokesman among Green lawmakers,
said the plight of ethnic Albanian refugees in Kosovo had reached ``a point where we can
hardly justify putting off action any further.''
While there's a wide political consensus in Germany for using
warplanes in Kosovo, the opposition warned against plans to send 2,800 German ground
troops in neighboring Macedonia into the Yugoslav province as part of a NATO force of
28,000 to police any peace deal.
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Belgrade's Radio B92 banned
Belgrade -- March 24, 1999. Radio B92 was at 2:50 am this morning
banned from further broadcasts.
Two technical operatives of the Yugoslav Federal Telecommunications
Ministry, backed by about ten policemen, entered the premises of Radio B92 and instructed
its staff immediately to discontinue broadcasts.
At the moment of the execution of the ban, four police cars and two
jeeps were waiting in front of the building seating the station.
The policemen who entered the radio's studios instructed all staff
present at the moment instantly to stop working on computers, switch off and put away
their mobile phones and refrain from answering the terrestial phones.
Giving no justification, the policemen took the station's
editor-in-chief Veran Matic along with them as soon as he entered the studios.
The telecommunications officials told the B92 staff that ``the
[Yugoslav] federal inspector for telecommunications had according to Article 192 Paragraph
1 of the Law on the General Administrative Procedures and to Article 1 Paragraph 1 Point 2
of the Law on the Systems of Connections passed the decision ordering Radio B92 IMMEDIATE
cessation of the illegal radio-broadcasts of its radio diffusion station operating on the
92.5 MHz frequency.''
The official note presented to the staff said that the ``term for
the enforcement of the order was IMMEDIATE, and that according to Article 86 of the Law on
Systems of Connections Veran Matic was responsible for the order's implementation.''
``With the purpose of preventing further operation of the radio
station, the [officials] will carry out temporary seizure of radio equipment until the
decision of the competent agency. Appeal does not suspend the enforcement of the ruling,''
the note said.
The justification of the ruling said: ``On the grounds of the report
of the Measurements Control Centre in Belgrade as of March 23, 1999 on the breach of the
regulations in the domain of radio connections and data obtained in the Yugoslav
Telecommunications Ministry, as well as of the control [carried out] on the spot, it has
been established that: 1 A radio diffusion station operating on the 92.5 MHz frequency
with the identification mark of Radio B92 is set up and operated on the location of
Makedonska 22 in Belgrade. 2 The maximum deviation and breadth of the transmission exceed
the allowed levels defined in the Book of Rules on Technical and Exploitation Conditions
of Radio Diffusion Station on Frequency Modulated Broadcasts. 3 The said power exceeds the
allowed level of 300W. This constitutes misdemeanour defined in Article 141 Paragraph 1
Point 6. Appeal against this ruling can be filed to the Yugoslav Telecommunications
Minister within 8 days of its reception.''
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Last Albanian Newspaper Heavily Fined - It's
Existence In Question
(New York, March 22, 1999)-- In the midst of a large-scale military
offensive in Kosovo, the Yugoslav government has cracked down on the last remaining
Albanian-language daily newspaper in Kosovo, Koha Ditore. Human Rights Watch today
condemned the move as a mortal blow to press freedom in the region, and a continuation of
the government's systematic repression of ethnic Albanians.
On Monday afternoon, the newspaper and its editor-in-chief, Baton
Haxhiu, were convicted by the municipal court in Prishtina for publishing information that
"incited hatred between nationalities," according to article 67 of Serbia's
controversial Law on Public Information. The paper was fined 420,000 dinars (US$26,800)
and Haxhiu was fined 110,000 dinars (US$7,200). They have until Tuesday, March 23, to pay
the fines, or the state may confiscate the paper's and Haxhiu's private property.
Koha Ditore is the last Albanian-language daily newspaper publishing
in Kosovo. Last week another major daily, Kosova Sot, and a smaller paper, Gazeta
Shqiptare, were forced to shut down after being fined 1.6 million dinars (US$104,500)
each. Another daily paper, Bujku, has not published regularly since January because the
authorities have not provided a licence. According to today's Serbian press, also on March
21, the small Albanian weekly Kombi was fined 1.6 million dinars for an article it
published on December 21, 1998.
"This is a death blow to the Albanian-language media,"
said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia
Division. "If Koha Ditore is silenced, Albanians in Kosovo will be denied printed
information on the brutal campaign being waged against them by the government."
The conviction of Koha Ditore and Haxhiu, after a closed two-hour
trial this Sunday, was based on two articles published in the newspaper on March 19, 1999.
One article was on the statement of the Kosovo Albanian delegation after they signed the
Rambouillet Accord on March 18 in Paris. The offending section said: "The decision
for signing the interim agreement was not easy... Once again entire villages are being
burned to the ground. Civilians are being killed, tortured and beaten. Once again
thousands of people are being forced out of their homes."
The other article was a statement by the head of the Albanian
delegation, KLA political representative Hashim Thaci, in which Thaci labeled the
government's attacks in Kosovo "genocide" and called on Serbs to distance
themselves from the policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Thaci's statement
was taken directly from the Serbian-language new agency Beta, which was not charged with
any criminal offense. The official Serbian television station, Radio Television Serbia,
also broadcast parts of Thaci's comments.
Serbia's Law on Public Information has been criticized by human
rights groups and most western governments for falling short of international standards
that safeguard a free press. Since its introduction in October 1998, dozens of independent
and opposition newspapers -- in the Albanian and Serbian language -- have been ordered to
pay disproportionately high fines because of their articles. The government has shut down
five private radio and television stations, along with one Serbian-language newspaper, and
two newspapers have been forced to move their operations to Montenegro. Foreign broadcasts
of the BBC, VOA, RFE/RL and Deutsche Welle are banned.
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