Editing Kosovo War (section)

===Criticism of the case for war===
The NATO intervention has been seen as a political diversionary tactic, coming as it did on the heels of the [[Monica Lewinsky scandal]], pointing to the fact that coverage of the bombing directly replaced coverage of the scandal in US news cycles.<ref name="Foerstel">[https://archive.org/details/fromwatergatetom00foer/page/132 From Watergate to Monicagate: ten controversies in modern journalism and media] By Herbert N. Foerstel, pp. 131–135.</ref> [[Herbert Foerstel]] points out that before the bombing, rather than there being an unusually bloody conflict, the KLA was not engaged in a widespread war against Yugoslav forces and the death toll among all concerned (including ethnic Albanians) skyrocketed following NATO intervention.<ref name="Foerstel" /> In a post-war report released by the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]], the organization also noted "the pattern of the expulsions and the vast increase in lootings, killings, rape, kidnappings and pillage once the NATO air war began on March 24".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bancroft |first1=Ian |title=Serbia's anniversary is a timely reminder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/24/serbia-kosovo |work=The Guardian |date=24 March 2009}}</ref>

[[Noam Chomsky]] argues that the bombing was "not undertaken in “response” to ethnic cleansing and to “reverse” it, as leaders alleged", but rather that "with full awareness of the likely consequences, Clinton and Blair decided in favor of a war that led to a radical escalation of ethnic cleansing along with other deleterious effects."<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo |first=Noam |last=Chomsky |author-link=Noam Chomsky |year=1999 |publisher=Common Courage Press |location=Monroe, ME |isbn=1-56751-176-7 |page=16}}</ref> Chomsky also notes, similarly to Foerstel, that the number of casualties in the war before the bombing constituted a small number. He concludes that it is impossible to justify the bombing, as there "could be no reasonable expectation of massive ethnic cleansing and violence".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Kosovo War: Causes and Justification |author-link= John A. Vasquez |first=John A. |last=Vasquez |journal=The International History Review |year=2002 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=103–112 |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |doi= 10.1080/07075332.2002.9640959 |jstor= 40110035 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40110035}}</ref> According to Chomsky, the [[Račak massacre]] that was considered a turning point for NATO amounted to 45 deaths, a very low number compared to the atrocities committed from both sides after the bombing. According to the [[International Herald Tribune]], "U.S. intelligence reported ... that the Kosovo rebels intended to draw NATO into its fight for independence by provoking Serbian forces into further atrocities."<ref name="oconnell">{{cite journal |title=Responsibility to Peace: A Critique of R2P |first=Mary Ellen |last=O'Connell |year=2010 |journal=Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=39–52 |doi=10.1080/17502970903541671 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17502970903541671}}</ref>

U.S. President Clinton, his administration and NATO governments were accused of inflating the number of Kosovo Albanians killed by state forces.<ref>{{cite news|first=Phyllis|last=Schlafly|date=1999-10-19|title=Numbers Game in Kosovo|work=[[The Washington Times]]}}</ref> During the NATO bombing campaign, the then Secretary of Defense, [[William Cohen]] claimed that 100,000 Kosovo Albanian men of military age were missing, possibly murdered.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Steele |first1=Jonathan |title=Serb killings 'exaggerated' by west |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/aug/18/balkans3 |work=The Guardian |date=18 August 2000}}</ref>  The conservative<ref>* "Follow-Up: Interview With Accuracy in Media Editor Cliff Kincaid", ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'', [[Fox News Channel]], 8 February 2005. (Transcript available via [http://www.lexisnexis.com LexisNexis])
* Stephen Miller, "Reed Irvine, 82, Founded Accuracy in Media", ''[[New York Sun]]'', 18 November 2004.
* Douglas Martin, "Murray Baron, 94, Labor Lawyer And Head of Accuracy in Media", ''The New York Times'', 26 September 2002.
* "Defining Bias Downward", ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'', January/February 2005.
* Steve Rendall. [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2053 The Fairness Doctrine] ''[[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]]'' January/February 2005</ref> media watchdog group [[Accuracy in Media]] charged the alliance with distorting the situation in Kosovo and lying about the number of civilian deaths in order to justify U.S. involvement in the conflict.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Irvine |first1=Reed |last2=Kincaid |first2=Cliff |title=Deceit And Lies Over Kosovo |url=https://www.aim.org/media-monitor/deceit-and-lies-over-kosovo/ |website=aim.org |publisher=Accuracy in Media |date=24 November 1999 |access-date=13 September 2019 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329010712/https://www.aim.org/media-monitor/deceit-and-lies-over-kosovo/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Chinese President [[Jiang Zemin]] said that the US was using its economic and military superiority to aggressively expand its influence and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Chinese leaders called the NATO campaign a dangerous precedent of naked aggression, a new form of colonialism, and an aggressive war groundless in morality or law. It was seen as part of a plot by the US to destroy Yugoslavia, expand eastward and control all of Europe.<ref name="Frederking2007">{{cite book|last=Frederking|first=Brian|title=The United States and the Security Council: Collective Security Since the Cold War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzNFT_7HcR4C&pg=PA148|access-date=17 February 2014|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-77076-7|page=148}}</ref>

The [[Charter of the United Nations|United Nations Charter]] does not allow military interventions in other sovereign countries with few exceptions which, in general, need to be decided upon by the United Nations Security Council; this legal enjoinment has proved controversial with many<ref name=CAForces /><ref name=KosovoReport /><ref name=UMich /> legal scholars who argue that though the Kosovo War was illegal, it was still legitimate. The issue was brought before the UN Security Council by Russia, in a draft resolution which, ''inter alia'', would affirm "that such unilateral use of force constitutes a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter". China, Namibia, and Russia voted for the resolution, the other members against, thus it failed to pass.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19990326.sc6659.html|date=1999-03-26|publisher=United Nations|title=Security Council Rejects Demand for Cessation of Use of Force Against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia}}</ref>

The war inflicted many casualties. Already by March 1999, an estimated 1,500–2,000 civilians and combatants were dead.<ref name="HRW1">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-03.htm|title=Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref> However, estimates showed that prior to the bombing campaign on 24 March 1999, approximately 1,800 civilians had been killed in the Kosovo war, mostly Albanians but also Serbs and that there had been no evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Layne |first1=Christopher |last2=Schwarz |first2=Benjamin |title=Was It A Mistake? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-03/26/081r-032600-idx.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=26 March 2000}}</ref> By November 1999, 2,108 victims had been exhumed from the province with a total approaching 3,000 expected, but it was unclear how many were civilians and combatants, while the number was also far from the 10,000 minimum civilian death figure cited by Western officials.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pearl |first1=Daniel |title=U.N. Has Found 2,108 Bodies So Far in Kosovo Mass Graves |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB942277175333820400 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=11 November 1999}}</ref> Final estimates of the casualties are still unavailable for either side.

Perhaps the most controversial deliberate attack of the war was that made against the headquarters of [[Radio Television of Serbia|RTS]], Serbian public radio and television, on 23 April 1999, which killed at least fourteen people.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/08/world/rights-group-says-nato-bombing-in-yugoslavia-violated-law.html | title=Rights Group Says NATO Bombing in Yugoslavia Violated Law | newspaper=The New York Times | date=8 June 2000 | access-date=20 September 2015}}</ref>

Privately, NATO European members were divided about the aims and necessity of the war.<ref name="Norris9"/> Most European allies did not trust the motives of Kosovan Albanians and according to NATO General Wesley Clark, "There was a sense among some that NATO was fighting on the wrong side" in a war between Christians and Muslims.<ref name="Norris9"/>