Secretary Cohen describes the mistake as tragic. I read the transcript of the pilot's description of events. It is on tampabayonline.com (AP Breaking News). This is my opinion only:

1. The Albanians were setting fire to their homes as they were leaving the region to keep the Serbs from getting anything useful

and/or

2. The Albanians were setting fire to their homes so that the Serbs would get the blame and NATO would keep bombing the crap out of them.

This is the only thing that makes sense when you read the pilot's transcript. If this is being discussed on another thread, please forgive me.

-- Sharon (sking@drought-ridden.com), April 15, 1999

Answers

Shit happens. Start a war, innocent people die. Don't want to kill people, don't start a war. So, you know, it was inevitable.

The official military response to this should have been simply:

Whoops!

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 15, 1999.

WH officials originally denied that NATO did it, and that it was a Serbian MIG that killed the refugees, in order to EMBARRASS NATO.

Lots of folks started wondering about that because didn't Clinton announce last week that we crippled their air force? And even if Milo was able to get a MIG in the air, where the hell was our fighter umbrella to clear the skies??? No reports of any air-to-air engagements yesterday, so it had to be a bogus story if you follow the logic.

Now they admit the fact they DID do it because the folk weren't buying it, and the pilot gave an account of the "accident".

Just heard there's another "collateral damage" incident in a town outside of Pristina.

Just wait until China and the Russkies start wasting our forces over there.

We haven't seen anything yet.

-- INVAR (gundark@sw.net), April 15, 1999.

What does this shit have to do with Y2K? You people that have posted here since the beginning of the year are zulus. I would assume that those aware of Y2K are also aware of the fiasco in Kosovo. Go watch the news and don't post this blather here.

What makes you think anything out of Clintons administration is reliable.

-- onlooker (onlooker@view.com), April 15, 1999.

Onlooker--

Not directly related to y2k, but still significant:

1. Every day we dick around playing John Wayne in the Balkans is one less day the Pentagon can focus on fixing their technology systems.

2. y2k is likely to be a very de-stabilizing situation. If the int'l scene is less stable than usual because of this Balkan bullshit, it compounds the y2k effect.

3. Most folks on this forum are smart, opininated and passionate. How can they keep from commenting on something so serious?

-- rick blaine (y2kazoo@hotmail.com), April 15, 1999.

Onlooker--

P.S. Cool special effects

-- rick blaine (y2kazoo@hotmail.com), April 15, 1999.

Onlooker,

Blather, blather, blather. Skip the thread if you don't like the topic.

That said...I think it is important for folks to recognize media spin and damage control when they see it.

INVAR,

You are so right! I read today that the Russians are sending 9 more ships to the Mediterranean. Not a good sign.

-- Sharon (sking@drought-ridden.com), April 15, 1999.

rick,

You are so courteous! Here you are giving a logical, non- confrontational explanation and it is all I can do not to not to respond to onlooker by saying "Bite me." I know you must get tired of explaining to folks why some of these threads exist on this forum, but you never let it show. Thank you for being so mature and reasonable on a day when I don't feel like it. LOL :-)

-- Sharon (sking@drought-ridden.com), April 15, 1999.

Dang it,...can't remember how to turn off font color....anybody?

Seeing red,... :-)

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 15, 1999.

cool...there's still a few brain cells left in the old girl's noggin for HTML... LOL

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 15, 1999.

Sharon,

Why didn't you post this on an appropriate forum such as The Government of the United States at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=The%20Government%20o f%20the%20United%20States ?

As for skipping the thread if I don't like it: Do you drive on the left side of two-way streets, saying to the other drivers, "If you don't like it, just go around me"?

-- No Spam Please (No_Spam_Please@anon_ymous.com), April 15, 1999.

Because, Mr. Please, I'm less interested in the opinions of people I don't know, however intelligent or credible, than I am those of the contributors to THIS forum.

Call them a family, club, clique or Granfalloon, it's the people HERE that I've grown to trust regardless of whether I agree with their opinions.

Hallyx

"A friend is not a fellow who is taken in by sham. A friend is one who knows your faults and doesn't give a damn."---G W Dery

-- Hallyx (Hallyx@aol.com), April 15, 1999.