Belgrade burning after NATO air raid
Campaign of bombing civilian buildings, hospitals, bridges and residental quarters
was carried out without permission of the UN Security Council and is one of the major
crimes at the end of the XX century. Belgrade was bombed tree times more during the same century: in 1914 by Austrians and Germans, in 1941 by Hitler and in 1944 by the British Royal Air Force (on Easter day) - Serbia forgives but will never forget.

NATO BOMBING OF SERBIA

IN MEMORIAM
March 24, 1999

Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant
(They make a solitude and call it peace,Tacitus, 98 A.D.:
The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Chapter, 30)

This page is devoted to the memory of all those who died or suffered during the tragic three months NATO bombing aggression in 1999. Exactly four years ago NATO launched massive air raids against Serbia without the approval of the UN Security Council and without all possibilities for the peaceful settlement of the crisis first being fully exhausted by the international community. Although NATO claimed that the air attacks were directed against Yugoslav military targets and the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, thousands of civilians of all ethnicities suffered and died as "collateral damage". This is a moment to remember all these innocent victims who were killed in the name of "freedom and humanity" and to pray for the repose of their souls. The lives that were lost will never be forgotten; they will always be in our hearts and memory.

Did the military intervention bring full peace to Kosovo as it had been planned? Definitely not for all. Four years after the NATO aggression Kosovo is still not a safe place for all its citizens, severe ethnic discrimination continues and more than 250,000 citizens of the Province (primarily Serbs) are not allowed to return to their homes despite the NATO and UN presence. More than Serbian Orthodox 100 churches were turned into ashes before the eyes of the international representatives and their powerful military. Kosovo has never been more monoethnic in its history. A peace mission has never been more a caricature of justice.

Did the NATO intervention bring Milosevic's rule to the end? No, because it was only one year later that Serbia managed to overthrow the dictator's regime without outside assistance and trace its own way toward the future. The bombs which fell on Serbian cities, bridges and hospitals will never be considered by its people to have contributed to their freedom. On the contrary, they will remain a painful reminder that friendly assistance and democracy can never arrive on the wings of bomber aircraft and cruise missiles.

While the International Court in The Hague is prosecuting those who have been indicted for committing crimes against Kosovo Albanian civilians, no one yet has assumed responsibility for at least 2,000 civilian victims of the NATO bombing campaign. As well, no one has been brought to justice for the 847 non-Albanian civilians killed and 1,154 kidnapped after the arrival of NATO-led peacekeepers to Kosovo and Metohija and the beginning of the UN Mission. Are these not crimes? If they are not, who in the world can justify the systematic violence where almost 2,000 innocent civilians perished in the time of peace and how? Today we also remember these innocent victims and pray for their eternal peace.

Praying to the Lord of Peace, the Lord of true Peace and Love, we cannot but lament the tragic path which some of the world's most powerful leaders took four years ago. The depth of their deception was as profound as the conceit of their temporary power and righteousness. Unfortunately they are making a similar mistake today. Yet the only consolation in this moment of sorrow is that the Lord of Peace will be the ultimate Judge and that His Judgment will not be based on shallow principles of human "justice" and hypocrisy. Everything not built on the firm foundation of God's justice will not prevail.

Praying for the innocent victims of the NATO bombing in 1999, we ask the Lord Christ to grant them eternal peace in His Heavenly Kingdom. VYECHNAYA PAMYAT - MEMORY ETERNAL!

NEW HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT
Civilian Deaths in the NATO Air Campaign
NEW FIGURES ON CIVILIAN DEATHS IN KOSOVO WAR
(Washington, February 7, 2000) -- About five hundred civilians died in
ninety separate incidents as a result of NATO bombing in Yugoslavia last
year, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
NYT, Rights Group Says NATO Killed 500 Civilians in Kosovo War, Feb 7

NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA

YU Reports on Civilian Casualties
during the NATO Intervention

The Crimes Against the Civilian Population
The original link on the site of Belgrade Ministry of Foreign Affairs
has been deleted on the request of NATO so we are providing a link to a
Russian site which has preserved the copy of original files of the White Book

NATO missiles target a Serbian bridge at Grdelicka Gorge, and hit
a civilian train killing dozens of innocent civilians


"We are just little crosses on their computer displays
We are just a part of their video-game..."

Verses by contemporary Serbian poet Matija Beckovic

DOCUMENTARY
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Available Online
Six months after NATO ended its air war against Yugoslavia, two of
Washington's new breed of hands-on policy analysts, Gary Dempsey and Aaron Lukas, flew to the Balkans to document the "unintended consequences" of NATO's bombing campaign. Equipped with the latest in mini-digital camera technology, they traveled through the region, filming patrols in Kosovo cities where NATO troops are stationed, inspecting bombed-out industrial complexes in Serbia, and interviewing Macedonians, Romanians and Bulgarians who have suffered
because of the war. "Collateral Damage: The Balkans After NATO's Air War"
is a record of their findings.

"Collateral Damage or Massacre - NATO Bombing of Serbia"
A girl who lost her legs in the bombing campaign, Kraljevo, May 03, 1999

LINKS RELATED TO THE NATO BOMBING CAMPAIGN OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
24 March - 10 June, 1999

DESTRUCTION OF YUGOSLAVIA - PHOTO EXIBITION
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/destruction_exhibition/index.html

WHITE BOOK - NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA - PART 1 (March 24- April 24)
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/destruction/white_book/

WHITE BOOK - NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA - PART 2 (April 25 - June 10)
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/destruction/white_book2/
(detailed evidence of crimes against civilians and civilian facilities)

Bombing of Residental Houses in Towns and Villages
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/destruction/white_book2/02.htm

Human Rights Watch Report - CIVILIAN DEATHS IN THE NATO AIR CAMPAIGN
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/nato/

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - NATO violations of the laws of war during Operation Allied Force must be investigated
http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/EUR700252000

CNN (New York Times) Rights Group says NATO killed 500 civilians in Yugoslavia
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/07/nato.civilian.deaths/

Destruction and "Collateral damage"
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/destruction/

NATO BOMBING IN THE EYES OF SERBIAN CHILDREN
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/hope/Belgrade/

Reaction of Artists, Children and Church to the Bombing
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/hope/

DESTRUCTION OF KOSOVO'S PEOPLE AND HERITAGE
http://news.serbianunity.net/documents/heritage_destruction/

***

Tears for victims of - regrettable mistake - Scott Taylor, THE TORONTO SUN, Thursday, June 3, 1999
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/html/0603-1_tsun.html

Spanish pilot admits NATO attacked civilians, Jose Luis Morales, Articulo 20, June 14, 1999
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/Jun_16/5.html

(Washington, February 7, 2000) -- About five hundred civilians died in ninety separate incidents as a result of NATO bombing in Yugoslavia last year, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The Human Rights Watch estimate of the number of incidents is far higher than what the U.S. Defense Department and other NATO governments have admitted. But the Human Rights Watch figures for civilian deaths is much lower than what the Yugoslav government has claimed.

"Once it made the decision to attack Yugoslavia, NATO should have done
more to protect civilians," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of
Human Rights Watch, an international monitoring organization based in
New York. "All too often, NATO targeting subjected the civilian
population to unacceptable risks." Roth urged NATO governments to make a serious evaluation of the war's effects on civilians.

Human Rights Watch conducted a detailed investigation of civilian deaths
in the Yugoslav war, visiting ninety-one cities, towns, and villages in
the former Yugoslavia over a three-week period in August 1999, and
inspecting forty-two of the sites where civilian deaths occurred.

The investigation concluded that NATO committed violations of
international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch called on NATO
governments to establish an independent and impartial commission to
investigate these violations and issue its findings publicly. NATO
governments should also alter targeting and bombing doctrine to ensure
compliance with international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.

The 79-page Human Rights Watch report reveals for the first time that
U.S. commanders issued a secret executive order in May 1999 for U.S.
forces to cease using cluster bombs, whose use had been documented in a
Human Rights Watch report on May 11. As many as 150 civilians died in
various incidents involving the use of cluster bombs until May 13.
British forces continued using cluster bombs even after U.S. forces
discontinued their use.

"For a war with the reputation of being the smartest in history, there
is an unfortunate pattern of NATO ignoring many important lessons from
previous conflicts," said William M. Arkin, military consultant to Human
Rights Watch and the team leader of the Yugoslav bomb damage assessment.

He said that restrictions on daylight attacks, prohibitions on the use
of cluster bombs, greater care in attacking mobile targets, and more
care in identifying military targets could all have reduced the level of
civilian casualties during Operation Allied Force, as the NATO bombing
campaign was known.

The Human Rights Watch report concludes that a third of all the
incidents and more than half the deaths occurred as a result of attacks
on illegitimate or questionable targets. Nine incidents were a result of
attacks on targets that Human Rights Watch concludes were non-military
in function. This includes the headquarters of Serb Radio and
Television in Belgrade, the New Belgrade heating plant, and seven
bridges that were neither major transportation routes nor had other
military functions.

Other cases of illegitimate targeting include seven confirmed and five
possible incidents where civilians
died as a result of the use of cluster bombs, seven attacks on convoys,
and a number of cases where the target was poorly identified or mistaken
(such as the Surdulica sanitorium and the Palic weather station).

The report also reveals that after several daylight strikes on urban
bridges resulted in civilian casualties, U.S. military commanders issued
an order restricting attacks to periods when civilians would be less at
risk.

Human Rights Watch concludes that about one-third of the incidents in
which civilians died occurred in Kosovo, many of them attacks on mobile
targets or military forces in the field. Attacks on convoys were some
of the deadliest incidents of the war, and also resulted in NATO
tightening rules of engagement so that pilots had to visually identify
military vehicles before mounting attacks.

Thirty-three incidents that resulted in civilian deaths occurred as a
result of attacks on targets in densely populated urban areas (including
six in Belgrade). Despite the exclusive use of precision guided weapons
in attacks on the capital, Belgrade experienced as many incidents of
civilian death as any other city.

The Pentagon has suggested that only twenty to thirty incidents resulted
in civilian deaths during Operation Allied Force. The Yugoslav
government has claimed that NATO was responsible for at least 1,200 and
as many as 5,000 civilian deaths.

Human Rights Watch is preparing further studies of NATO conduct during
the war in Yugoslavia, including an assessment of NATO's bombing of
civilian infrastructure.