> Note the section "Kosovan casualties." If you add up the figures for
> those massacres, you get a total of 547 to 1,347 dead.
>
> A few observations:
>
> (1) The 547 estimate is almost identical to the official Yugoslav
> estimate of Serb civilians killed by NATO bombs. The official estimate
> of Serb combatants killed is upward of 4,000.
> (2) The wide range is a result of the Meja massacre, whose estimate is
> given as 200 to 1,000 dead. From what I've read about that incident,
> this is way high. "Up to 100 people" is commonly given.
> (3) There have surely been other unreported atrocities, but are likely
> smaller-scale, since the biggest ones are the most reported and
> best-documented.
> (4) These numbers are cobbled from refugee accounts, which are no
> doubt upwardly biased, if biased.
> (5) A relatively high proportion of these dead are almost certainly
> KLA fighters. They should properly be counted as combatants.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Henwood [SMTP:dhenwood at panix.com]
> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 10:52 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: war so far
>
> Times (London) - May 2, 1999
>
> THE WAR SO FAR
>
> Duration: 39 days.
>
> Attacks: More than 4,400 strikes on 500 target areas. Over 1,000
> aircraft
> deployed, 11,000 sorties flown (320/day), with 600 sorties on Friday
> alone.
> 2,000 sorties flown in first 10 days (rising from 200/day to 390/day).
> 10
> American B-52 bombers left this weekend for UK bases. 'Bunker busting'
> GBU-28 bomb, weighing 5,000 lbs, used for first time last week, in
> raid on
> Pristina airfield
>
> NATO losses: 1 F117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, 1 Hunter pilotless
> reconnaissance drone, 2 German reconnaissance drones. Three Americans
> taken
> prisoner.
>
> Serbian losses: Seven of Serbia's 15 MiG 29s destroyed, 12 MiG 21s,
> nine
> MI9 helicopters, and several ground-attack Super Galebs, hit during
> last
> week's attacks on Montenegro airbase. Military hangars, petroleum
> storage
> facilities, air-defence radar hit. Nato claims 30% of Yugoslavia's
> surface-to-air missile capability destroyed, and 10-20% of its tanks
> and
> armoured vehicles (30-60 tanks). Rail and road routes to Kosovo
> damaged.
> Railway station hit in Pozarevac.
>
> Serbian casualties: Yugoslavs say more than 500 dead; about 150
> civilians
> have been killed by Nato missiles veering off-target. At least 23
> passengers in a bus killed in a Nato air raid on a bridge at Luzane,
> north
> of Pristina. Last week three people died in raid on Yugoslav army
> headquarters. In Montenegro, four killed and six injured in two air
> raids
> on bridge across river Lim. In Surdulica, 20 dead. Nato confirms
> attacks
> but has no casualty figures.
>
> Kosovan casualties: Between 200 to1,000 Ethnic Albanian men were
> massacred
> in Meja last week. Reports of 150 killed in Izbica, 60 killed in
> Celina, 50
> in Pec, 53 in Orahovac and 34 in Veliska. Nato bombs are thought to
> have
> killed at least 13 Albanians in Pristina and Yugoslav government
> sources
> say 65 people died in Nato's attack on civilian convoys last week.
>
> NATO Forces Deployed: Peacekeeping force of 13,000 in Macedonia, set
> to
> rise to16,000. 5,300 Nato troops in Albania for humanitarian
> operations,
> plus 5,500 American troops as part of Task Force Hawk to guard up to
> 48
> Apache ground-attack helicopters.
>
> Naval Forces include: US battle group of one cruiser, three
> destroyers and
> an escort; carrier battle group of USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier, two
> cruisers a frigate; amphibious landing ships and submarines. British
> ships
> include carrier HMS Invincible and the nuclear submarine HMS Splendid.
>
> Total: Estimated cost has reached £3billion, with UK spending £40m a
> day.