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All brasscheck.com dispatches on the US-led
attack on Yugoslavia are available, complete
with index, at http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia
Please inform your friends, colleagues, and
others who you think might care.
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May 26, 1999

"What we are seeing, then, are military actions being launched against
often spurious targets for the sake of US domestic political
considerations. Once again, this is nothing new and certainly nothing
invented by the Clinton Administration. Former US Central Intelligence
Agency intelligence professional and writer Miles Copeland many years
ago said that US foreign policy is merely domestic policy carried out
abroad."

Gregory Copley -  'The Impact of US Domestic Issues on The US and
Global Strategic Posture'  from "Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic
Policy", 9-10, 1998

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Gen. Clark's military "trimumphs": the real story

"A Pentagon official said that despite the problems
caused to civilians, focusing on the electrical
system was a legitimate objective because President
Slobadan Milosevic's military operations depend
on electricity." - New York Times May 25, 1999 A-16

By that line of reasoning, the next logical step would
be to starve the country and, if possible, remove the
oxygen from its air. NATO is working in it.

In an urban environment, taking away electricity
takes away safe drinking water; hot water; the
ability to prepare and refrigerate food, operate
food processing plants like flour mills, light
streets, operate traffic signals, use the telephone,
run elevators, run air raid signals, etc.
The most acute suffering will be seen in hospitals
where there will be insufficient water to bathe
bed-ridden patients and sterilize instruments.

But, according to NATO, this is not a war against
civilians and the deaths, injuries and widespread
suffering of the 26 ethnic groups that reside in
Yugoslavia are unintended.

Accepting this statement at face value, what
then exactly has NATO accomplished militarily in
its 60+ day bombing campaign? Getting a straight
answer to this simple questions is difficult if
you're watching CNN or reading the Times or the
Post because the answer is embarrassing to the
Pentagon and therefore they don't spoon feed it
to US reporters.

Here are the numbers:

* Yugoslavia's forces

Source: Jane's 1997 report on Yugoslavian forces:

1,025 MBT's, (tanks)
850 ACVs, (armored combat vehicles)
3,750 artillery pieces,
155 combat aircraft,
53 attack helicopters

* NATO's claims of military achievement

Source: AP

Destroyed or damaged:

70 tanks (out of 1,025)
130 ACVs (out of 850)
130 artillery (out of 3,750)
80 planes (out of 155)

* About the first month's bombing:

Source: CounterPunch  http://www.counterpunch.com

"During the first month of the war on Yugoslavia, the
NATO planes and cruise missile made over 10,000 attacks.
More than 2500 cruise missiles were launched and over
7,000 tons of explosives were dropped."

Note: To calculate NATO's total expenditure in 60 days,
double above amounts

Isn't it odd that such simple, easy to find numbers
are never presented in the flood of US war news?
Aren't these number, in fact, *the* war news.

Why such an abysmal performance by NATO?
Because tanks, artillery, and ACV's are the easiest
things in the world to hide. They can be put in
caves, barns, warehouses, truck trailers, underground
parking lots, covered with camouflage and
stashed in the woods, or just put under tarps.
Hiding equipment is basic military procedure.
NATO knew this going into this "war"

What is also basic military procedure is
to not return to base with a plane load
full of undropped bombs. Why? It's
hazardous to land with them onboard.

So what are the intrepid NATO pilots
doing when then can't find legitimate
targets to hit? Dumping them anywhere they
can as they head back to base. Recently,
an Italian fisherman was seriously wounded
when his net picked up a freshly dumped
US-manufactured munition.
Source: SF Bay Guardian

Nicolas von Hoffman of the New York Observer
hit the nail on the head when he called this
the Coward's War.

However, it may be even worse than that.
Counter Punch reports that General Wesley
Clark was commander of the Cavalry Division
of the III Corps at Fort Hood. That's
the Army base that provided the equipment
and personnel for the incineration of
the Branch Davidian compound at Waco Texas.
http://www.counterpunch.org/waco.html

The CounterPunch story is especially chilling
when one considers the evidence that's
come out since that shows the US military
had a strong presence at Waco by day two, and
possibly as early as day one, if not sooner.

"Even before the raid, members of the US Armed
Forces, many of them in civilian dress, were
around the compound."  (ibid)