>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >For Immediate Release >Attention: Assignment Editor >May 10, 2000 > >NEW REVELATIONS ARE FURTHER PROOF OF U.S. WAR >CRIMES > >New revelations that NATO�s high-altitude bombing of Yugoslavia >was far less successful than claimed at the time, are �further proof of >U.S. war crimes against Yugoslavia,� said Sara Flounders, national >co-director of the International Action Center on May 10. > >�This will provide additional evidence for the International War >Crimes Tribunal we will hold in New York June 9-10 to try U.S. >and NATO political and military leaders for war crimes, crimes >against humanity and crimes against peace,� Flounders said. > >Newsweek magazine had gotten hold of an internal U.S. Air Force >report showing that only 58 of NATO�s so-called high-precision >strikes hit their targets. This compares with 744 NATO claimed at >the end of the bombing campaign. > >�The claims of high accuracy with little harm to civilians,� said >Flounders, �was just another in the long line of lies NATO >spokespeople used to justify massive attacks on civilian targets in >Yugoslavia.� > >A special investigation team from the U.S. and other NATO air >forces searched Kosovo on foot and by helicopter. U.S. top >officers boasted that NATO forces had disabled "around 120 >tanks", "about 220 armored personnel carriers" and "up to 450 >artillery and mortar pieces" in 78 days of bombing. > >The investigators reported instead that NATO hit just 14 tanks, 18 >APCs and 20 artillery and mortar pieces, less than one tenth of >NATO claims. These figures are quite close to the losses Yugoslav >forces reported at the end of the war. NATO dismissed the >Yugoslav report as "disinformation" at the time. > >The investigators found out that U.S. and NATO high-altitude air >power was effective chiefly against civilian targets. It was the >bombing of cities and power stations that most damaged Serbia. > >Flounders noted that the report, made last summer, had never been >made public. A second report, which reported hits closer to NATO >and the Pentagon�s boasts, was then used. > >�The Newsweek article avoided the implications that the U.S. and >NATO commanders violated the rules of war by striking civilian >targets,� said Flounders. �Instead, it pointed to the efficacy of >striking the civilian infrastructure of a country, which in the case of >Yugoslavia includes hundreds of schools, dozens of hospitals and >almost every major industry. In effect it advocates new war crimes.� > >Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark had drawn up the original >charge sheet against NATO leaders, which added up to 19 charges. >Charge number 9, said Flounders, was �Attacking Objects >Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia,� >including depriving the population of Yugoslavia of food, water, >electric power, food production, medicines, medical care and other >essentials to their survival, [by engaging] in the systematic >destruction and damage by missiles and aerial bombardment of food >production and storage facilities, drinking water and irrigation works >for agriculture, fertilizer, insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and >health care facilities, among other objects essential to human survival. > >�The NATO commanders, fearing the complete failure of their >campaign against the Yugoslav military, concentrated on hitting >civilian targets,� said Flounders. �This is clearly a war crime, and we >will prove this before the world on June 10.� > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
