Britain's contribution to the NATO bombing campaign of Kosovo was "disappointing", had "limited military value" and its legitimacy was "questionable", according to a report published by the Defence Select Committee at Westminster yesterday.
The all-party committee urged politicians to face up to the less palatable lessons of military conflict and criticised NATO for ruling out the use of ground forces early in the campaign, saying the decision enabled former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to protect his military equipment by hiding it underground.
In its report the committee said the 2 per cent of 1,000lb unguided bombs hitting their targets in Kosovo was "distressingly low" while the British contribution to the air campaign, which made up less than 5 per cent of all NATO sorties, was disappointing. There were few British aircraft compared to the contribution provided by other European countries and the aircraft were not well equipped.
The report criticised the use of unguided cluster bombs, describing Britain's major contribution to the air campaign as "of limited value and questionable legitimacy" and said the "confusion of purpose" concerning military objectives at the beginning of the NATO campaign persisted.
There was recognition, however, of the success in containing some Serbian forces, but the report said air strikes against field forces in Kosovo failed in their declared primary objective of avoiding humanitarian disaster.
The reactions to the report were predictably mixed. The Armed Forces Minister, Mr John Spellar, avoided direct comment on the more critical elements and welcomed the committee's acknowledgement that NATO's objectives were ultimately achieved.
However, the shadow defence secretary, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, said the report was a "damning indictment of Labour's past, current and future defence policy".