The war in Kosovo is an unfolding tragedy. We all condemn the Yugoslav dictator Milosevic and his brutal regime. The West simply could not stand by and watch the brutal civil war and bloodshed in the Balkans. And we all applaud the bravery of our troops including the soldiers doing vital humanitarian work in Macedonia.

But the bombing poses a number of problems.

Diane Abbott MP: "America and Britain are making themselves very unpopular"

First of all it is illegal. United Nations officials are publicly obliged to support the Nato campaign. But privately they are emphatic that there is no basis in international law for the bombing.

Furthermore, the bombing has not achieved its purpose. The British public was told that we were bombing the Serbs to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Kosovo. But the crisis happened anyway.

If anything Milosevic simply stepped up the ethnic cleansing in response to the bombing. And the bombing has had the inevitable effect of uniting the Yugoslav people behind him.

Nato insists that bombing along can bring Milosevic to heel. But there is no evidence that this is happening. And, more worrying, there is no evidence that Nato considered what it would do if the bombing did not work.

Bombing was Plan A. Nato has no plan B.

Terrible damage has been done to Yugoslavia. Someone will have to pay to rebuild the bridges, roads and factories.

It will take years and cost millions to put the Yugoslav economy back on its feet. And British taxpayers through the European Union will end up paying that bill.

And the bombing is making Britain and America very unpopular. Not just with ordinary Serbs. Although the politicians of the region support the bombing, it is extremely unpopular with ordinary people in Greece.

A Greek demonstration, led by communists, against the Nato offensive

The government claims to be bombing Yugoslavia to help the Kosovan refugees. It is extraordinary then that the government is putting through Parliament a bill that will make it harder for asylum-seekers to gain entry to this country; remove asylum-seeker children from the protection of the 1989 Children's Act; force asylum-seekers to be dispersed around the country against their will and take away all benefits from them (including benefits like disability and children's benefit).

Instead, asylum-seekers will get accommodation, food vouchers, a pound a day cash if they are adults and fifty pence a day for their children.

Why is it the government is happy to spend millions bombing the Serbs but can give the children of asylum-seekers fifty pence a day?

Everyone supports the government's aims in bombing Serbia. But there is an urgent need to examine the strategy and see if it can achieve its stated aims. The government could start by allowing Parliament to debate and vote on this war.