Posted on 03/24/2008 8:44:46 AM PDT by kronos77
Really? You see, while it's normal to arrive at a more accurate assesment over time in the West in these matters, as indeed has been the case in Bosnia and Kosovo, the Serbs have managed to go in the opposite direction.
The civilian casualty count was 503 in 2000, and now, 8 years later, it's 1,200 to 2,500.
Feel free to explain how that's not disingenuous.
That’s easy for anyone with a brain that actually works.
First, collateral damage (i.e., those who died because of destroyed infrastructure) are not immediately counted during the chaos of a foreign invasion.
Second, the increased figures are about 2-2.5X increase and are not justified to do anything.
Third, you implied that no responsible government would BS figure to do something. You are supporting the actions of the Klintons, who did exactly what you are condemning.
Finally, HOLY FREAKING CRAP! 500,000 vs. 2,000. YOU CAN’T SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE INFLATION RATIOS?
You’re not that bright, man.
HRW published their number in February of 2000, and the Serbs were quoting a similar number in September of 2000. Are you attempting to argue that 15 months isn't long enough to arrive at an accurate count?
Second, the increased figures are about 2-2.5X increase and are not justified to do anything.
This sentence doesn't make sense in English. However, if your intent was to argue that an increase of 2 to 2.5 5 times the initial count (utilized 15 months after hostilities ended) is acceptable, well, great. Now all you have to do is back it up with some actual data to support that 2 to 5 fold increase. If you can find that data, present it. If you can't, then you've got a problem.
The number's certainly in the thousands, and even NATO admits that the number could easily be at least 1,500. With 36,000 sorties, in which 23,000 bombs and missiles were dropped over a period of 78 days, including on the city of Belgrade and other populstion centers, if the USAF didn't hit anything besides the dummy tanks and decoy mobile missile launchers made out of old cars and plywood, the American taxpayers sure weren't getting their money's worth. And of course the airstrike in early May in which a NATO aircraft attacked an Albanian refugee convoy was not one of the USAF's sterling moments, as was not the Grdelica gorge train bombing of Serbian Easter worshipers en route to religious services in which a dozen or so were killed.
Per Wikipedia:
Civilians killed by NATO airstrikes
Main article: Targeting of civilian areas during Operation Allied Force
Yugoslavia claimed that NATO attacks caused between 1,200 and 5,700 civilian casualties. NATO acknowledged killing at most 1,500 civilians. Human Rights Watch counted a minimum of 488 civilian deaths (90 to 150 of them killed from cluster bomb use) in 90 separate incidents. Attacks in Kosovo overall were more deadly - a third of the incidents account for more than half of the deaths.[
Per the Army War College article *here*
If our objectives in Kosovo were not worth the life of a single American soldier or aviator, why were they worth the lives of so many Albanian Kosovars, indeed so many Serbs? Professional soldiers know that what makes soldiers unique is their intimate relationship with human life--and with human death. In the Star Wars movies, it is the Evil Empire that obliterates its enemies while acting from the safety of the Death Star. That is not a model to be emulated. A nation that is all too willing to kill in support of its interests and ideals but not willing to suffer may be feared, but it also will be held in contempt by adversaries and friends alike.Sounds a bit like someone with a guilty conscience regretting the blood on his hands.... And there's one more telling observation:
In a Thanksgiving 1999 speech to American troops in Kosovo, Clinton proclaimed, “Thanks to you, we have reversed ethnic cleansing.”
How many of them were Albanians, inadvertently hit (trains, etc)? It was collateral casualties, but nonetheless.
Hope McCain aids the Chechen’s and Kosovo people to the same level the KGB has aided the Iranians.
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