Humanitarian bombing
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| The Kosovo War |
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| Prior to the NATO intervention |
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Kosovo Liberation Army insurgency |
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Humanitarian bombing is a phrase first appearing in 1999, referring to the NATO bombing campaign during the Kosovo War (24 March - 10 June 1999). This oxymoronic phrase was used both by the proponents of the war to stress the claimed goal of NATO to protect Kosovo Albanians and in ironic or negative sense by the opponents of the campaign. The closely related phrase humanitarian war has appeared at the same time.
It is supposed [1] that the phrase was coined (or publicly expressed for the first time by a high level politician) by Václav Havel, then President of the Czech Republic in his interview for the French newspaper Le Monde published on April 29, 1999 [2], where he, among others, said:
- French: DANS l'intervention de l'OTAN au Kosovo, je pense qu'il y a un élément que nul ne peut contester : les raids, les bombes, ne sont pas provoqués par un intéret matériel. Leur caractere est exclusivement humanitaire ... [3]
- English: I believe that during intervention of NATO in Kosovo exists one consideration no one doubts: the reason for the air attacks, the bombing is not a material interest. The reason is purely humanitarian ...
- Czech: Domnívám se, že během zásahu NATO na Kosovu existuje jeden činitel, o kterém nikdo nemůže pochybovat: nálety, bomby, nejsou vyvolány hmotným zájmem. Jejich povaha je výlučně humanitární ...
The phrases "humanitarian bombing" and "humanitarian war" quickly found their way into media. Opponents of the war criticised them as a war propaganda [4] [5] or employed them as an irony. In ironical sense they are occasionally used by the media when referring later war campaigns.
[edit] References
- ^ Nous sommes tous des Jimmy Carter, 2002 (French). Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
- ^ Archived version of the article (accessible after payment) (French). Le Monde. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
- ^ Statement by Richard Falbr in newspaper Mladá fronta DNES, May 24, 2004 (Czech). Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
- ^ Kosovo and doublespeak, 1999. Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
- ^ CNN interview with Vojislav Koštunica, 2000. Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
