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THE Nato air war against Yugoslavia was illegal, unnecessary and a failure, according to a pamphlet published yesterday by the Centre for Policy Studies.
Referring to the Charter of the United Nations, its author, Mark Littman, says it is generally agreed that the use of force is prohibited unless in self-defence or under the authority of the UN Security Council. Neither reason was cited by the alliance; military action between March and June was justified on humanitarian grounds.
Mr Littman, a barrister, accuses the British Government of using a legal technicality to brush aside proceedings brought against several members of Nato by Yugoslavia at the International Court of Justice in April.
His pamphlet for the Right-wing think tank argues that alliance members prematurely abandoned diplomacy at Rambouillet in March for non-negotiable demands which Yugoslavia could not possibly have accepted. It quotes Henry Kissinger, the former American Secretary of State as saying: "The Rambouillet text . . . was a provocation, an excuse to start bombing."
Mr Littman points to uncertainty about Kosovo's ultimate constitutional status, and draws attention to the cost of the war, which he puts at £61 billion, or "the equivalent of $50,000 [£32,000] for every man, woman or child in Kosovo".