Serbians this week protested the 20th anniversary of NATO’s bombing campaign against the Yugoslavian government.
I recognize why people would be angry about being bombed, especially given the hundreds of Serbian civilians who were killed as a result. Still, the anger is misplaced. It should be directed at the men who caused NATO’s action, not NATO itself.
The primary villain here is Slobodan Milosevic. It was Milosevic who refused repeated demands to enter in peace talks and cease his brutal subjugation of Kosovo Albanians. And it was Milosevic who decided not to yield once the United States and NATO had committed to his defeat. His was a stupid decision that cost his people dearly.
This, while NATO could have employed ground forces (beyond special forces) to effect more accurate air strikes and Milosevic’s more rapid collapse, the alliance’s action was clearly moral. We must remember that it came in response to a coordinated and capricious Serbian-nationalist campaign of ethnic cleansing, murder, rape, and subjugation against innocent civilians. The allied response was also the last resort after diplomacy had failed. And in repeated massacres such as the Račak Incident just two months before the start of NATO’s action, Milosevic proved he would have to be compelled to yield.
And so he was. At the margin of history, that’s all there is to it.
