By Ellen Catalinotto (New York) and Nancy Mitchell (San Francisco)

According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the 78 days of air strikes against Yugoslavia cost the United States from $2.3 to $4 billion. (1)    By all accounts, the military technology used by the US in the air war so far outmatched the capabilities of the Yugoslav military that the question raised over the war by the US media was never "will we win?" but rather "how quickly will we win?"

The United States Government has the largest military in the world, larger than the next 16 countries combined. The Pentagon budget is larger than the military budgets of the rest of the UN Security Council members combined, nearly 10 times the military spending of China. After a period of minimal cuts in the 1990s, the Pentagon budget is currently climbing again past $250 billion, far beyond the spending at the height of World War II. (2)  The US now has bases in over 100 countries, with Yugoslavia the last country in Europe without a US military base.

The level of military dominance of the US around the globe has reached an historic level. Under current Pentagon policy, the US is able to conduct two major wars, while simultaneously being prepared to carry out "multiple concurrent" contingency missions on a smaller scale, such as the continued air attacks on Iraq. (3)  The latest military budget increases, as well as the emergency funding allocated for the war against Yugoslavia (which will be further discussed below), cannot reasonably be justified as necessary allotments for the defense of the United States or for legitimate military to military combat. At such levels, these expenditures can only be understood as the maintenance and growth of a military industrial machine serving the purpose of world domination, and profiting giant military contractors.

We therefore charge the United States Government with launching wars of aggression, a crime against peace under Principle VI of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

During the same period as the above mentioned military spending increases, the cuts in domestic spending by the United States Government, in particular the slashing of social programs considered to be the "safety net," have reached unprecedented levels, with $53 billion in cuts to domestic spending since 1994. (4)  While more than half of the US domestic budget is already spent on the military, and much of the funds for social programs have been directly diverted to pay for the war against Yugoslavia (see below).

We therefore charge the United States Government with acting against the interests of the people of the United States, with a special disregard for the poor and working communities and communities of color who will suffer the most from the detriment of these budgetary decisions.

U.S. MILITARY SPENDING

The United States Government spent between $40 and $100 million each day on the bombing of Yugoslavia. (5)  Over 725 aircraft flew 2,300 missions. The U.S. used artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems and 5,500 troops in the intervention. U.S. Navy ships fired approximately 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles, costing $1 million each. B-52 bombers launched 52 air-to-surface missiles, costing $2 million each. (6)  Equipment such as the B-2 Stealth bombers cost $2.1 million; F-117A Nighthawk fighters cost up to $122 million; AGM-130 guided air-to-ground missiles cost $885,000 each.

After the Senate approved, with support from both major parties, a 10-year $62 billion package for military spending in February, (7)  an emergency bill of $12.9 billion was approved in May in response to the air war in Kosovo. The bill included approximately $1.1 billion to build military installations in NATO nations and in the Persian Gulf, and $50 million for a new US Embassy in Albania at $36 million. (8)  The emergency spending also included the financing of Gulf Stream executive business jets to carry high officials, at a cost of $500 million over a decade.(9)   To help convince legislators to pass the $12.9 billion emergency funding bill, House Majority Whip Tom Delay, R-Texas, mobilized defense contractors and lobbyists to coax legislators with promises that the spending would benefit their districts.(10) 

The above figures refer to the immediate costs of the operation in Kosovo, and do not include the larger long-term costs of the military infrastructure that is maintained over a period of years, such as pilots' training and satellite surveillance.(11) 

In addition to the increases in military spending, the Pentagon recently acknowledged illegally diverting $800 million in funds to unapproved military projects, claiming to have made an "honest mistake." (12) 

The follow-up peacekeeping operation in Kosovo is expected to cost the U.S. $1.5 to $2 billion a year, with 7,000 troops to patrol a sector of Kosovo and 7,700 troops stationed in Albania and Macedonia. (13)  Currently there are also 5,916 US troops included in the NATO occupation of Bosnia, an operation which has cost $9.43 billion since 1991. This is in addition to $7.08 billion spent on the U.S. operations in Iraq (not including Desert Fox), $1.52 billion spent on the intervention in Somalia, $1.04 billion spent on the intervention in Haiti.(14) 

CONTRACTORS PROFIT

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the rate of interventions by the US military, with the collaboration of the US-dominated United Nations and NATO, has reached an unprecedented level. Several US military contractors have earned huge profits from the increase in activity this decade. Raytheon, which makes the Tomahawk cruise missile, has been the industry's biggest gainer in the war against Yugoslavia. Its stock went up 17% in the first two weeks of air strikes. The stocks of military equipment manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Boeing also went up 8% and 12% respectively.(15) 

Regarding stock prices, defense industry analyst Shawn Naracich of D.A. Davidson & Co. said, "This is not just a flash in the pan...Kosovo is just the catalyst. We're going to keep seeing money flowing into defense stocks." (16)  Indeed, all of the weapons used during the war will now be considered in need of replenishment. Ratheon, for example, may receive as much as $420 million to upgrade the 626 cruise missiles in government inventory.

The top 50 Pentagon contractors for fiscal year 1998 were as follows:

1. Lockheed/Martin $12.3 billion

2. Boeing $10.9 billion

3. Raytheon/Hughes $5.7 billion

4. General Dynamics $3.7 billion

5. Northrop/Grumman $2.7 billion

Aside from the direct profits made from the vast restocking of the US weapons arsenal, the demonstration of the latest military technology in the air war against Yugoslavia, such as the satellite-guided smart bombs, will mean increased interest in US military equipment by third nations. According to John Pike, defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists: "Other countries are going to be dropping these in a few years." (17) 

Pentagon policy has recently moved toward accepting mergers between U.S. and European defense contractors. In early July, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Jacques Gansler admitted being in talks not only with European governments such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy, but also with leading defense companies including British Aerospace (BAe), France's Aerospatiale Matra SA and Germany's Dasa. The recent European mergers, (BAe with GEC's Marconi unit, Aerospatiale and Matra, Dasa and Spain's CASA) and the intent of the UK, Germany and France to establish a pan-European defense and aerospace company, has motivated US contractors to move into merger negotiations with European contractors to preempt being locked out of the competition.(18) 

CUTS IN DOMESTIC SPENDING

At the same moment as the bipartisan support for the substantial defense spending increases this Spring, severe cuts in U.S. domestic spending were planned. The Republican plan to slash domestic spending by 11% focused on the following programs for cutbacks: education, job training, housing, health and human services, environmental protection, medical and technological research, diplomacy and foreign aid. Specifically, the proposed budget contained an $11 billion cut in labor, education and health programs and a $5.8 billion cut in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Department.(19) 

The Defense Department receives approximately $270 billion annually, more than half of the $538 billion budget. The emergency spending bill passed by the Senate to finance the operations in Yugoslavia was funded by $13 billion from Social Security. After passing a budget resolution not to touch the Social Security funds just 2 months before, this decision was also approved with bipartisan support. (20)  The rest of the funds for the operations came from food stamp and low-income housing funds.

There is a direct relationship between the bloated Pentagon budget and the failure of the US Government to provide for the basic human needs of many of its people -- such as housing, health care and jobs. The crimes committed against innocent Yugoslav civilians go hand in hand with the crimes committed against the American people in their own name.

Notes

 

1. Raum, Tom. "War Against Yugoslavia, cleanup will cost billions." San Francisco Examiner, 6/28/99. (The above estimate cannot be further clarified as the Pentagon has withheld details about munitions spending.)

2. War Resisters League leaflet on Fiscal Year 1999 US Federal Budget.

3. Becker, Elizabeth. "Needed on Several Fronts, US Jet Force is Strained." New York Times, 4/6/99.

4. Weiner, Tim. "G.O.P. in Congress to Cut Domestic Spending by $26 Billion." New York Times, 5/19/99.

5. Entous, Adam. "Pentagon will Request Billions for Yugoslav Raids." Reuters, 4/13/99.

6. Raum, Tom, Ibid.

7. Stevenson, Richard W. "Doubts Surface Over Raise Being Planned for Military." New York Times, 5/6/99.

8. Weiner, Tim. "Lawmakers, Backing Bill For Kosovo, Adds Billionz" The New York Times, 5/17/99.

9. Weiner, Tim. "NATO Spending Bill Includes Executive Jets for 9 Generals" New York Times, 5/11/99.

10. McDonald, Greg. "Balkans military funds likely as GOP doubles Clinton’s request." San Francisco Examiner, 5/6/99.

11. Graham, Bradley. "Cost of Air War Could Add To Political Battle On Hill." The Washington Post, 4/3/99.

12. Weiner, Tim. "Secret Spending On Weapons By Pentagon." New York Times, 6/22/99.

13. Myers, Steven Lee. "Peace Strains the Army." New York Times, 7/11/99.

14. Raum, Tom. Ibid.

15. Khan, Salina. "Kosovo crisis boosts stocks of U.S. defense contractors." USA Today, 4/15/99.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. http://defence-data.com/current/page4752.htm

19. Weiner, Tim. "G.O.P. in Congress to Cut Domestic Spending by $26 Billion." New York Times, 5/19/99.

20. Lochhead, Carolyn. "Social Security Funds Tapped to Pay for Kosovo." San Francisco Chronicle, 5/6/99.

 

Commission of Inquiry
c/o International Action Center
39 West 14^th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889

war crimes

Table of Contents: Selected Research Findings