Ex-Army chiefs seek answers on Nato bombing

BY ANDREW PIERCE

TWO former Chiefs of the Defence Staff and two senior British commanders involved in the Bosnia conflict are supporting calls for an independent inquiry into the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia.

Field Marshal Lord Bramall, Chief of Staff 1982-85, and Lord Craig of Radley, Chief of Staff 1988-91, have backed the Conservative Party in seeking a review of the effectiveness of the military operation.

Colonel Bob Stewart, Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment in Bosnia 1991-93, and Lieutenant-General Sir Roderick Cordy-Simpson, the United Nations Chief of Staff in Bosnia 1992-93, have also supported the demand for an investigation.

The bombing raids, which involved some of the most sophisticated precision weapons, damaged only 13 of the Serbs' 300 battle tanks, despite alliance claims of large-scale destruction of Belgrade's heavy armour.

The Ministry of Defence, in a written answer yesterday to Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory Defence spokesman, admitted it had not conducted an assessment of the biggest military offensive in Europe since 1945. The military operation was suspended on June 10.

General Cordy-Simpson said last night: "You cannot possibly conduct an operation like this, of such dramatic importance, without mounting an examination to see how we can do it better next time.

"This is not about laying blame. But we need to examine the political process which led us into the war situation, right through to the military outcome. I think the inquiry should be held in public."

The general said that the Serb forces still posed a threat to Montenegro and surrounding countries. "We were told by Nato they had inflicted massive damage on the Serbian military capability. But that simply was not the case," he added.

The influential military backing for a public inquiry will intensify pressure on the Ministry of Defence to act.

The leaders of Nato were embarrassed by the disclosure that the Serbs had used Russian camouflage techniques. They placed dummy vehicles around the countryside, with strips of black plastic sheeting running across fields masquerading as roads to delude the bombers into thinking that they were prime targets.

Lord Bramall and the other military leaders contacted the Tory Defence team to pledge their public support for the demand for a public investigation.

After the Falklands conflict the Government set up the Franks inquiry into the intelligence failure that led to the Argentine capture of the islands.

Mr Duncan Smith said: "I am not criticising the operation, but it failed to destroy the Yugoslav military machine.

"We urgently need an inquiry so that any mistakes which were made can be put right, particularly as the security situation in the Balkans remains so volatile.

"We need to know what effect the public announcement of ruling out the use of ground troops had on Serb military strategy and tactics. The effectiveness of air power alone as a military tool to halt ethnic cleansing also needs to be scrutinised."

Tony Blair and George Robertson, the Defence Secretary, argued that one of the purposes of the airstrikes was to reduce President Milosevic's "capability for attacking". General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, went further and said that the airstrikes would "destroy his [Milosevic's] forces and their facilities and their support".

Mr Duncan Smith said: "It now appears the Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo virtually unscathed with the vast majority of their weapons intact. The Nato military action fell short of its objectives."

Nato flew more than 34,000 sorties, of which 10,000 were strike missions against more than 500 fixed and tactical targets.

Coming home

Britain is bringing home about 700 troops from Kosovo, George Robertson, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday.

Mr Robertson said, in a written answer to a question in Parliament, that the troops being withdrawn were no longer necessary, with British forces "fully settled". Also leaving are seven helicopters, two field ambulances and a high-velocity missile battery. Britain will remain the biggest contributor to the 29,000-strong Nato peacekeeping force, with 10,000 troops in the province.

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