The bombing of cities continued for 78 days. They took the lives of about two thousand civilians. Another thousand military and law enforcement officers were killed in airstrikes and clashes with terrorists in Kosovo. One of the initiators of the Belgrade bombings was U.S. Senator, now known as U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden: I was the one who suggested bombing Belgrade.
Biden: "It was I who suggested bombing Belgrade. I was the one who suggested sending American pilots and blowing up all the bridges on the Danube. I was the one who suggested taking all their oil supplies. I was the one who suggested all these actions!"
The Alliance still calls the ghastly bombings a "necessary and legitimate step." The bombings were a fateful event for the country - the once powerful state had effectively ceased to exist. NATO dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium on Yugoslavia.
Twenty-four years later, child cancer rates in Serbia are twice higher than in Europe.
