For the first time since the Nuremburg trials of Nazis in 1946,the former leadership of a Western country was forced to attend court today to defend accusations that their country had committed war crimes. Under the gaze of a fading portrait of Queen Beatrix of Holland, ex-prime minister Wim Kok and former foreign affairs chief Jozias van Aartsen claimed on oath that while the top ministers of the Dutch cabinet had agreed in general to the strategy of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, they had not been aware of the decisions to bomb specific targets which would result in heavy civilian casualties until after the attacks had taken place. Outside in the cold, relatives of the dead and injured waited, among the wooden crosses and photographs which they had placed on the steps of the District Court in The Hague.
For once, western politicians faced with difficult questions were almost certainly telling the truth. The Supreme Allied Commander of that war, US General Wesley K. Clarke, has revealed in his recently published book 'Winning Modern Wars' that the decisions on selection of particular targets for missiles, cluster bombs and other NATO munitions were taken by NATO officials and military men in concert with the political leadership of the USA - under Clinton at that time - without reference to the ministers of the other NATO countries who were supposedly equal partners in the alliance.
Wim Kok, a corporate board member of Shell and the Dutch Telecoms company Telfort who had been a trade union firebrand before his elevation to Prime Minister of the Netherlands, avoided giving a view on whether the NATO attack on the Belgrade RTS TV Studio was justified, saying he had only found out after the bombing that 150 civilians had been inside the building at that time. Ex Foreign Minister van Aartsen on the other hand, appeared enthusiastic about the attack. When the advocate for the victims families, Nico Steijnen, asked him about the Amnesty International report which concluded that the TV studio was a purely civilian site, the former cabinet member claimed that the studio was in fact a 'dual use' installation which also had a function for the Yugoslavian armed forces. Van Aartsen also argued that the Dutch govenment had written to Amnesty International on several occasions before this bombing stating that communications centres in general could be considered legitimate targets, and this could be considered sufficient warning to the civilians inside the RTS TV building in Belgrade.
Sixteen people, all civilians, died in the attack, which put the television station out of action for three hours before transmission was resumed.
When asked about the NATO cluster bomb attack on Nis, a Serbian town near a military airfield, Wim Kok stated, "It's even more sad, seeing that a market and a hospital were hit, that the actual target was missed." Following the 15 deaths and 70 injured in Nis, the Dutch government decided that its own F16 warplanes would cease dropping cluster bombs on Yugoslavia; the other components of the NATO forces did not change their policy of using cluster bombs.
The packed courtroom heard an account of the NATO strategy of gradually increasing the range of sites which it was permissible for US and West European forces to attack, moving from strictly military targets in phase one of the war, to phase two, phase two-plus, and phase three, in which communications, transport and other infrastructure would be destroyed. The transition from phase two to three was considered "sensitive within NATO" by the Dutch leadership. One could conclude that only a country with no real possiblity of hitting back at its opponents could be coldly, systematically brought to its knees in the 78 days of this bombardment, the first war in Europe since 1945.
The court appearance was part of a preliminary hearing in an action for compensation from the Dutch state on behalf of victims of the NATO attacks on Nis and the RTS TV Studio. The former defence minister Frank de Grave has yet to to give evidence, and ex-leader of parliament Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven is refusing to attend the court.
After today's proceedings, Meindert Stelling, is a leading member of the campaign for the bombing victims and a founder member of Lawyers for Peace, was optimistic about the outcome. "We have established that the Dutch government was involved all the way, in the decision-making process about what kind of targets would be attacked in which phases of the war. Also, our former foreign minister made it clear that NATO forces needed to operate within the protocol of international law, meaning that a target can only be selected for attack if destroying it or putting it out of action will create a definite military advantage for the attacking party, according to plans and in the circumstances of the time. The government will have to prove that the RTS TV studio was actually in use by the Yugoslavian military. They will also need to show that it was reasonable to drop cluster bombs at Nis, so close to a civilian inhabited area."
Stelling, himself a former Dutch Air Force pilot, commented further on the day's evidence. "Our former prime minister showed that he was not in control in Holland's relationship with the NATO military apparatus. He was not in control of whether the war was conducted within international law. This amounts to neglect." Stelling concurs that it might have been convenient for the Dutch leadership and some other European NATO top politicians not to know which specific sites were to be targetted, in case they were illegal.
As I left the courtroom, an hour after the end of proceedings for the day, the little shrine of crosses and photographs outside the building was being dismantled.
Noah Tucker
26/1/04
For once, western politicians faced with difficult questions were almost certainly telling the truth. The Supreme Allied Commander of that war, US General Wesley K. Clarke, has revealed in his recently published book 'Winning Modern Wars' that the decisions on selection of particular targets for missiles, cluster bombs and other NATO munitions were taken by NATO officials and military men in concert with the political leadership of the USA - under Clinton at that time - without reference to the ministers of the other NATO countries who were supposedly equal partners in the alliance.
Wim Kok, a corporate board member of Shell and the Dutch Telecoms company Telfort who had been a trade union firebrand before his elevation to Prime Minister of the Netherlands, avoided giving a view on whether the NATO attack on the Belgrade RTS TV Studio was justified, saying he had only found out after the bombing that 150 civilians had been inside the building at that time. Ex Foreign Minister van Aartsen on the other hand, appeared enthusiastic about the attack. When the advocate for the victims families, Nico Steijnen, asked him about the Amnesty International report which concluded that the TV studio was a purely civilian site, the former cabinet member claimed that the studio was in fact a 'dual use' installation which also had a function for the Yugoslavian armed forces. Van Aartsen also argued that the Dutch govenment had written to Amnesty International on several occasions before this bombing stating that communications centres in general could be considered legitimate targets, and this could be considered sufficient warning to the civilians inside the RTS TV building in Belgrade.
Sixteen people, all civilians, died in the attack, which put the television station out of action for three hours before transmission was resumed.
When asked about the NATO cluster bomb attack on Nis, a Serbian town near a military airfield, Wim Kok stated, "It's even more sad, seeing that a market and a hospital were hit, that the actual target was missed." Following the 15 deaths and 70 injured in Nis, the Dutch government decided that its own F16 warplanes would cease dropping cluster bombs on Yugoslavia; the other components of the NATO forces did not change their policy of using cluster bombs.
The packed courtroom heard an account of the NATO strategy of gradually increasing the range of sites which it was permissible for US and West European forces to attack, moving from strictly military targets in phase one of the war, to phase two, phase two-plus, and phase three, in which communications, transport and other infrastructure would be destroyed. The transition from phase two to three was considered "sensitive within NATO" by the Dutch leadership. One could conclude that only a country with no real possiblity of hitting back at its opponents could be coldly, systematically brought to its knees in the 78 days of this bombardment, the first war in Europe since 1945.
The court appearance was part of a preliminary hearing in an action for compensation from the Dutch state on behalf of victims of the NATO attacks on Nis and the RTS TV Studio. The former defence minister Frank de Grave has yet to to give evidence, and ex-leader of parliament Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven is refusing to attend the court.
After today's proceedings, Meindert Stelling, is a leading member of the campaign for the bombing victims and a founder member of Lawyers for Peace, was optimistic about the outcome. "We have established that the Dutch government was involved all the way, in the decision-making process about what kind of targets would be attacked in which phases of the war. Also, our former foreign minister made it clear that NATO forces needed to operate within the protocol of international law, meaning that a target can only be selected for attack if destroying it or putting it out of action will create a definite military advantage for the attacking party, according to plans and in the circumstances of the time. The government will have to prove that the RTS TV studio was actually in use by the Yugoslavian military. They will also need to show that it was reasonable to drop cluster bombs at Nis, so close to a civilian inhabited area."
Stelling, himself a former Dutch Air Force pilot, commented further on the day's evidence. "Our former prime minister showed that he was not in control in Holland's relationship with the NATO military apparatus. He was not in control of whether the war was conducted within international law. This amounts to neglect." Stelling concurs that it might have been convenient for the Dutch leadership and some other European NATO top politicians not to know which specific sites were to be targetted, in case they were illegal.
As I left the courtroom, an hour after the end of proceedings for the day, the little shrine of crosses and photographs outside the building was being dismantled.
Noah Tucker
26/1/04
