For 78 days NATO planes bombed cities across Yugoslavia

October 14, 1999
Web posted at: 8:02 p.m. EDT (0002 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Pentagon post-war analysis of the military campaign against Yugoslavia concludes that air strikes alone did not cause President Slobodan Milosevic to capitulate, although they had a "major impact."

The report, unveiled at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, concludes that other factors -- including Russian diplomacy, the threat of a ground invasion and the success of ethnic Albanian rebels -- also played a role in Yugoslavia's decision to withdraw from Kosovo.

"Because many pressures were brought to bear, we can never be certain about what caused Milosevic to accept NATO's conditions," said a joint statement from Defense Secretary William Cohen and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton.

Criteria for selecting targets to be reviewed

Milosevic, left, and Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov meet during the bombing campaign, hoping to solve the situation through diplomacy

In their comments to senators, Cohen and Shelton also said America's NATO allies need to modernize their forces to make them more compatible with U.S. forces. They also said that NATO needs to have better procedures for deciding which targets can be selected by military commanders and which targets require approval from political leaders.

"I think we have learned a lesson in terms of the need to act more quickly in setting the ground rules, as such, and what targets should be subject to review (by politicians)," Cohen said.

"Following such an approach from the start and identifying as early as possible the criteria for those targets that required review by higher authorities -- these are important lessons for the alliance for future operations," he said.

NATO has been criticized for allowing political officials to micromanage the Kosovo bombing campaign, tying the hands of military commanders.

Report: NATO needed plan for invasion option

The Pentagon review also faults NATO for failing to plan for all options, including a possible ground invasion, but nevertheless concludes that the public discussion of a possible invasion "undoubtedly contributed to Milosevic's calculations that NATO would prevail at all costs."

The report also say the United States ran short of critical assets such as refueling planes, jamming aircraft and satellite-guided bombs. And while concluding the air campaign was a success, the report said NATO had difficulty targeting Yugoslav air defenses and that locating mobile targets also proved "problematic."

"Our limitations in being able to locate enemy forces under cover is being assessed," the report said.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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