BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- For months, many Chinese citizens and conspiracy theorists -- and even some mainstream journalists -- have alleged that the supposedly accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy on May 7 was intentional. But William M. Arkin, a senior U.S. defense expert who has studied the bombing sites, says he has concluded that the British Observer newspaper reports are wrong, and the bombing was indeed accidental.
In November, the Observer cited sources who alleged that the Chinese Embassy was deliberately targeted because the Chinese were providing communications support to the Yugoslav Army and possibly to the paramilitary group known as the Tigers, formerly led by Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan," who was assassinated in a Belgrade hotel last month.
Arkin, a former Army Intelligence officer and currently a consultant to the arms division of Human Rights Watch, strongly criticized NATO for its bombing campaign in a Human Rights Watch report released this week. But despite his misgivings about aspects of the NATO air campaign, he says his sources have convinced him that the bombing of the Chinese Embassy was a highly embarrassing mistake.
"What happened was this:" Arkin said, "The CIA nominated a target, the Federal Directorate of Procurement and Supply [FDPS], otherwise known as Yugoimport, which they knew was located at the address Bulevar Umetnosti No. 2 ... Then some bonehead at the CIA says, 'Where the hell is Bulevar Umetnosti No. 2?' And looking at a map, probably upside down, finds some building four buildings away," which happens to be the Chinese Embassy.
The building NATO says it meant to target when it bombed the Chinese Embassy -- the FDPS -- is within 330 yards of the Chinese Embassy and the Hotel Yugoslavia, which housed a casino owned by Arkan. The three buildings are in a new Belgrade neighborhood of wide avenues and modern buildings. The Chinese Embassy and the Hotel Yugoslavia, where Arkan's generals were believed to be commanding his paramilitary Tigers, are right across the street from each other, and in fact both were bombed the same night, around midnight May 7.
"This is what I really believe," Arkin continues. "I think there is nothing of substance that identified the Chinese Embassy as a target. However, I think there were communications emanating from the Hotel Yugoslavia across the street. And I think that stupid people who are leaking rumors to the Observer have made that mistake."
What is interesting is that the CIA's reportedly intended target, the FDPS, was granted approval by the United Nations last month to sell $100 million worth of wheat to Iraq under the U.N.-run Oil for Food program. In fact, Arkin says, the reason the CIA knew about the FDPS at all was because it had won several previous contracts to sell grain to Iraq, and the CIA was notified whenever those contracts were granted. In other words, the CIA knew that the FDPS was an extremely valuable source of hard currency for Milosevic; though it was eventually bombed by NATO, according to Arkin, it remains so.
Saw VI: Jigsaw is a Metaphor for Osama Bin Laden
CIA Physicians and Research on Torture
Best Blog Comment Ever?
The Smoking Gun of Watergate