Intresting article on the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia
stealth plane reasons or military spying for the serbs.
Quote:
Amazingly, of the 900 target packages executed during the Kosovo war, it transpired that the "mistaken bombing" was the only mission developed by the CIA.
Although the air war was nominally under NATO direction, the embassy mission (as well as several others) was flown as a strictly US operation using equipment based in the United States. [4]
A European defense publication reported:
It should be noted that, in an interview with the author, NATO spokesman Lee McClenny confirmed that the targeting information did not go through JTF NOBLE ANVIL, or any other NATO structure, in contrast to Tennet's [sic] official public statements. Instead, the co-ordinates were passed directly from the CIA to Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of the 509th Bomb Wing, where it was programmed into the JDAMs. Mr McClenny asserted that the entire process had remained 'Stateside', hence the failure of NATO staff to 'scrub' the target to check its accuracy, authenticity and location.
When asked, the CIA again asserted that the story given by Tennet [sic] to the House Committee was true, but claimed that the targeting information went from the CIA to the Pentagon to be processed. The Pentagon was only prepared to say that "some of the F-117 and B-2 missions were used as 'national assets' and therefore did not pass through NATO command structures", despite the requirement under the NATO charter to clear all missions carried out under NATO auspices with the NATO general council ... [Previously reported in Venik's Aviation web site, citing a May 2000 report in Air Forces Monthly; link no longer valid.]
A joint investigation by the British newspaper The Observer and Denmark's Politiken made the explosive allegation that the Chinese Embassy had been intentionally targeted to remove a key rebroadcast station directing the military activities of Slobodan Milosevic's forces in their struggle to resist NATO forces.
Quote:
# A RAND study indicated that the only thing that kept the US from bombing the wreckage to flinders was the presence of a crowd of government officials, diplomats, journalists and gawkers at the crash site:
#
Heated arguments arose in Washington and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of the shootdown over whether USEUCOM had erred in not aggressively having sought to destroy the wreckage of the downed F 117 in order to keep its valuable stealth technology out of unfriendly hands and eliminate its propaganda value ... Said a former commander of Tactical Air Command
"I'm surprised we didn't bomb it because the standard operating procedure has always been that when you lose something of real or perceived value - in this case, real technology, stealth - you destroy it." ... Reports indicated that military officials had at first considered destroying the wreckage but opted in the end not to follow through with the attempt because they could not have located it quickly enough to attack it before it was surrounded by civilians and the media. [8]
Quote:
In a memoir published in 2006, China's ambassador to Serbia, Pan Zhanlin, rather coyly intimated something very important had been extracted from the embassy in the chaotic aftermath of the attack:
The two comrades in charge of the embassy's important assets were Little Wang and Little Zheng. One slept in the duty office on the fifth floor, one slept in the dormitory on the fourth floor. Little Wang pierced through the dust and smoke and by the light of the flames descended from the fifth floor to the fourth floor.
At this time, Little Zheng emerged from the bedroom. Little Wang grabbed hold of Little Zheng and ran back upstairs. Little Zheng had already been injured and his face was flecked with blood. People who ran into them urgently asked: "Why are you going back up?" Little Wang replied: "There is something that needs doing. This is our job."
They picked up four cases of national important assets and battled through smoke and pierced through flames to get downstairs. The stairwell was cut off, they stumbled down to the third floor. Ahead of time, the embassy had made various preparations for an emergency, so these four cases of important things had already been prepared. If any untoward event had occurred, they could be picked up and moved immediately. They knew, these things were more important than life. [9]
Quote:
Amazingly, of the 900 target packages executed during the Kosovo war, it transpired that the "mistaken bombing" was the only mission developed by the CIA.
Although the air war was nominally under NATO direction, the embassy mission (as well as several others) was flown as a strictly US operation using equipment based in the United States. [4]
A European defense publication reported:
It should be noted that, in an interview with the author, NATO spokesman Lee McClenny confirmed that the targeting information did not go through JTF NOBLE ANVIL, or any other NATO structure, in contrast to Tennet's [sic] official public statements. Instead, the co-ordinates were passed directly from the CIA to Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of the 509th Bomb Wing, where it was programmed into the JDAMs. Mr McClenny asserted that the entire process had remained 'Stateside', hence the failure of NATO staff to 'scrub' the target to check its accuracy, authenticity and location.
When asked, the CIA again asserted that the story given by Tennet [sic] to the House Committee was true, but claimed that the targeting information went from the CIA to the Pentagon to be processed. The Pentagon was only prepared to say that "some of the F-117 and B-2 missions were used as 'national assets' and therefore did not pass through NATO command structures", despite the requirement under the NATO charter to clear all missions carried out under NATO auspices with the NATO general council ... [Previously reported in Venik's Aviation web site, citing a May 2000 report in Air Forces Monthly; link no longer valid.]
A joint investigation by the British newspaper The Observer and Denmark's Politiken made the explosive allegation that the Chinese Embassy had been intentionally targeted to remove a key rebroadcast station directing the military activities of Slobodan Milosevic's forces in their struggle to resist NATO forces.
Quote:
# A RAND study indicated that the only thing that kept the US from bombing the wreckage to flinders was the presence of a crowd of government officials, diplomats, journalists and gawkers at the crash site:
#
Heated arguments arose in Washington and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of the shootdown over whether USEUCOM had erred in not aggressively having sought to destroy the wreckage of the downed F 117 in order to keep its valuable stealth technology out of unfriendly hands and eliminate its propaganda value ... Said a former commander of Tactical Air Command
"I'm surprised we didn't bomb it because the standard operating procedure has always been that when you lose something of real or perceived value - in this case, real technology, stealth - you destroy it." ... Reports indicated that military officials had at first considered destroying the wreckage but opted in the end not to follow through with the attempt because they could not have located it quickly enough to attack it before it was surrounded by civilians and the media. [8]
Quote:
In a memoir published in 2006, China's ambassador to Serbia, Pan Zhanlin, rather coyly intimated something very important had been extracted from the embassy in the chaotic aftermath of the attack:
The two comrades in charge of the embassy's important assets were Little Wang and Little Zheng. One slept in the duty office on the fifth floor, one slept in the dormitory on the fourth floor. Little Wang pierced through the dust and smoke and by the light of the flames descended from the fifth floor to the fourth floor.
At this time, Little Zheng emerged from the bedroom. Little Wang grabbed hold of Little Zheng and ran back upstairs. Little Zheng had already been injured and his face was flecked with blood. People who ran into them urgently asked: "Why are you going back up?" Little Wang replied: "There is something that needs doing. This is our job."
They picked up four cases of national important assets and battled through smoke and pierced through flames to get downstairs. The stairwell was cut off, they stumbled down to the third floor. Ahead of time, the embassy had made various preparations for an emergency, so these four cases of important things had already been prepared. If any untoward event had occurred, they could be picked up and moved immediately. They knew, these things were more important than life. [9]
86-0111 United States Air Force B-1B Lancer
Nothing like the feeling this plane gives as it pulls off the ground!
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