Bill Clinton

====Kosovo====

[[File:President Clinton is briefed on Kosovo - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|left|Clinton during a briefing on Kosovo, March 31, 1999]]

In the midst of a brutal crackdown on [[Kosovo Liberation Army|ethnic Albanian separatists]] in the province of [[Kosovo]] by the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], Clinton authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces in a NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, named [[Operation Allied Force]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clines |first1=Francis X. |title=NATO Opens Broad Barrage Against Serbs as Clinton Denounces 'Brutal Repression' |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/032599kosovo-rdp.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 25, 1999}}</ref> The stated reasoning behind the intervention was to stop the [[ethnic cleansing]] (and what the Clinton administration labeled [[genocide]])<ref>{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=William |date=April 7, 1999 |url=https://archive.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=582 |title=Secretary Cohen's Press Conference at NATO Headquarters |access-date=February 22, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604215218/https://archive.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=582 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Clinton |first=Bill |date=August 30, 2011 |url=http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/06/1999-06-25-press-conference-by-the-president.html |title=Press Conference by the President |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006054609/http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/06/1999-06-25-press-conference-by-the-president.html |archive-date=October 6, 2006 }}</ref> of Albanians by Yugoslav anti-guerilla military units. General [[Wesley Clark]] was [[Supreme Allied Commander Europe|Supreme Allied Commander of NATO]] and oversaw the mission. With [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244]], the bombing campaign ended on June 10, 1999. The resolution placed Kosovo under UN administration and authorized a [[Kosovo Force|peacekeeping force]] to be deployed to the region.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm | title=Resolution 1244 (1999) | date=June 10, 1999 | publisher=NATO | access-date=August 17, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135857/http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm| archive-date= June 29, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> NATO announced its soldiers all survived combat,<ref name="roblect">{{cite web | first=Adam | last=Roberts | url=https://lisd.princeton.edu/sites/lisd2017/files/Roberts_Lecture.pdf | title=The Impact of the Laws of War in Contemporary Conflicts (PDF) | date=April 10, 2003 | publisher=Princeton University | access-date=February 22, 2020 | archive-date=February 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223022737/https://lisd.princeton.edu/sites/lisd2017/files/Roberts_Lecture.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> though two died in an [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|Apache helicopter]] crash.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/335709.stm | title=Two die in Apache crash | work=BBC News | date=May 5, 1999 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> Journalists in the popular press criticized genocide statements by the Clinton administration as false and greatly exaggerated.<ref>{{cite web | last=Pilger | first=John | date=September 4, 2000 | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/151946 | title=US and British officials told us that at least 100,000 were murdered in Kosovo. A year later, fewer than 3,000 bodies have been found | work=[[New Statesman]] | access-date=August 28, 2019 | archive-date=May 4, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504061509/https://www.newstatesman.com/node/151946 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first1=Daniel | last1=Pearl |first2=Robert | last2=Block | date=December 31, 1999 | url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB946593838546941319 | title=Despite Tales, the War in Kosovo Was Savage, but Wasn't Genocide | work=The Wall Street Journal | page= A1}}</ref> Prior to the bombing campaign on March 24, 1999, estimates showed that the number of civilians killed in the over year long [[Kosovo war|conflict in Kosovo]] had been approximately 1,800, with critics asserting that little or no evidence existed of genocide.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Layne |first1=Christopher |last2=Schwarz |first2=Benjamin |title=Was It A Mistake? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-03/26/081r-032600-idx.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 26, 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cockburn |first1=Alexander |title=Where's the Evidence of Genocide of Kosovar Albanians? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-29-me-27493-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 29, 1999}}</ref> In a post-war inquiry, the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] noted "the patterns of the expulsions and the vast increase in lootings, killings, rape, kidnappings and pillage once the NATO air war began on March 24."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |title=Monitors' Reports Provide Chronicle of Kosovo Terror |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/05/world/monitors-reports-provide-chronicle-of-kosovo-terror.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 22, 2020 |orig-date=December 5, 1999}}</ref> In 2001, the [[United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo|UN-supervised]] [[Judiciary of Kosovo|Supreme Court of Kosovo]] ruled that genocide (the [[genocidal intent|intent to destroy]] a people) did not take place, but recognized "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments" with the intention being the forceful departure of the Albanian population.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1530781.stm | title=Kosovo assault 'was not genocide' | work=BBC News | date=September 7, 2001 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> The term "ethnic cleansing" was used as an alternative to "genocide" to denote not just ethnically motivated murder but also displacement, though critics charge there is little difference.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | author=George J. Andreopoulos | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ethnic-cleansing | title=Ethnic Cleansing | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> [[Slobodan Milošević]], the president of Yugoslavia at the time of the atrocities, was [[Trial of Slobodan Milošević|eventually brought to trial]] before the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] in [[the Hague]] on charges including [[crimes against humanity]] and war crimes for his role in the war.<ref name="Milosevic Charges">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1402790.stm#kosovo | title=The charges against Milosevic | work=BBC News | date=March 11, 2006 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> He died in 2006, before the completion of the trial.<ref name="Milosevic Charges" /><ref>{{cite news | title=Milosevic's war crimes trial a 4-year marathon | work=CNN | date=March 11, 2006 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/11/milosevic.trial/ | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref>