-Caveat Lector-
"NATO Brig. Gen. Giuseppe Marani said he produced the tape as "an
example'' of how a pilot might react and because the tape "was available.''
Confusion in NATO Account of Attack
By PAUL AMES
.c The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Confusion over a deadly attack on a Kosovo refugee
convoy deepened Sunday after NATO said a tape of a pilot it presented after
the attack may not be the pilot who attacked the convoy.
Washington has said the pilot on the tape described a strike against military
targets -- without hitting civilians. However, NATO Brig. Gen. Giuseppe
Marani said the pilot may indeed have struck civilians, adding that NATO is
awaiting the results of an inquiry.
Marani said he produced the tape as ``an example'' of how a pilot reacts
during a ground attack over Kosovo and because ``that tape was clear, was
available.''
On Wednesday, Yugoslav authorities said NATO planes had killed more than 60
Kosovo Albanians in an attack on a refugee column. A road strewn with refugee
bodies was shown on Serbian television and foreign journalists were escorted
to the site to film the carnage.
NATO acknowledged Thursday that at least one of its planes had mistakenly hit
at least one civilian vehicle with fatal results.
``NATO deeply regrets the loss of life from this tragic accident,'' NATO
spokesman Jamie Shea said Thursday at the alliance's daily media briefing.
After Shea's introductory comments, Marani played a tape of what he said
``may be this incident.'' The F-16 pilot, who was not identified, described
an attack on a three-vehicle convoy he believed to be military vehicles
involved in burning villages.
Since then, NATO has faced mounting criticism of its refusal to explain
discrepancies between the mistaken strike it acknowledged and remains seen by
journalists.
NATO acknowledged hitting just one civilian vehicle, possibly a tractor on a
road north of the Kosovo town Djakovica. The Serbs showed several vehicles
hit on a road south of the town.
In Washington, Navy Capt. Steve Pietropaoli said Saturday that the pilot
heard on the tape ``is not thought to be responsible in any way for anything
other than the attack that he described on a military vehicle.''
However, Pietropaoli said he did not mean there was not an accidental attack
on civilians in the area. ``It appears to be that that may be the case,'' he
said.
NATO's military command is refusing to offer any further details of the
refugee attack pending results of an investigation.
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