Posted on 06/06/2019 7:38:28 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The bombing campaign against Yugoslavia that began on March 24 1999 was the first time NATO went to war. The 78-day campaign, known as Operation Allied Force, was officially conducted to protect civilians. They had been caught in the middle of the conflict between the secessionist insurgents of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Yugoslavian security forces. The conflict had dramatically escalated in 1998, when the KLA began an armed campaign to end the Yugoslavian (or, more specifically, Serbian) rule over Kosovo.
Even now, 20 years after the intervention, and despite the military, diplomatic and financial investments of Western powers in Kosovo, a political agreement on the status of Kosovo is nowhere to be seen. Quite to the contrary, tensions between the unilaterally declared Republic of Kosovo and Serbia – the state it seceded from back in February 2008 – are running high.
In military terms, Operation Allied Force was a clear success. It achieved its major objectives. Perhaps the most important aim was, through the Kumanovo agreement, the withdrawal of the Yugoslav/Serbian security forces from Kosovo. NATO troops were subsequently deployed on the ground and remain there to this day.
It should be noted, however, that the bombing was illegal. It was done without the authorisation of the UN Security Council. An international commission convened to investigate the intervention later came up with a fascinating semantic formula to explain this away – the bombing had been “illegal but legitimate”.
There were hundreds of civilian victims. I’ve found that between 80% and 87.5% of the victims of the Kosovo conflict died during or in the aftermath of Operation Allied Force. The KLA took advantage of the power vacuum created by the NATO intervention to carry out revenge killings and abductions against Serbs, Bosniaks, Roma and other minorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at theconversation.com ...
A little footnote to that pre 9/11 bombing of Kosovo. When American bombers were destroying bridges in Kosovo, there was a fear that Serbians living in the US, donning uniforms and acting as “special forces” might retaliate. There were concerns that if they hijacked a fuel truck, parked it under towers of the George Washington Bridge on the lower level and detonated it, the bridge might collapse into the Hudson river. As a result all trucks were banned from using the lower level. That ban continues to this day. The Port Authority managed to protect the iconic George Washington Bridge but not the Twin Towers from equally enraged Muslims. American foreign entanglements have consequences even when they are not well publicized or acknowledged.
Kosovo is Serbia.
Yes...but that’s kind of like saying Dearborn is America! Is it really?
I believe we just bombed Belgrade. The UN only wants to kill white people!
In order to establish a Muslim beachhead in the heart of Europe.
I will say to protect the Muslim beachhead. The zipperheads (Albanians) invaded Serbia (Kosovo) like the Old Mexicans are invading New Mexico etc. When the Serbs started to evict them for “ethnic cleansing” they turned it around on them. That could not be tolerated!
The vile bombing of Serbia is what led me to find Free Republic 20 years ago. One day in the future Kosovo will be a part of Serbia again. Memories are long in this part of the world. For the muzzies of Kosovo, a Balkan payback is coming.
And we supported the WRONG side
Yes, Bill Clinton supported the wrong side.
blow job klintoon, bombed the Christians and protected the mooselimbs.
The muzzies raped and pillaged and when the Serbs fought back in kind, they were 'war criminals'. BS!
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