BBC News Online: UK

Nato campaign 'not going to plan'

Hundreds of miles from the battle front amid the long corridors of Nato's military headquarters, General Wesley Clarke is in charge of a campaign which is not exactly going to plan.

This operation may have the best technology, but there is a feeling at Nato HQ - conveyed only privately - that it is not Nato which is making the running, but Mr Milosevic.

In public of course, the line remains upbeat.

"We never thought we could fight a ground war from the air," said Allied Supreme Commander Wesley Clarke.

"But we do know that we're making them pay a heck of a price for the terrible things that are going on, and we intend to continue and intensify that.

"I think very clearly from the air side we have the initiative".

But nothing is quite that simple, as the RAF Harrier pilots are finding out.

Armed with cluster bombs, they have been sent to attack the Serbs tanks in Kosovo - the central part of the Nato campaign.

The weather is clear for bombing now, but the Serbs have suddenly become elusive.

They have spread their forces out over Kosovo, and are hiding them in and amongst buildings and also under camouflage, where the tanks are kept static. In this way they save the fuel which Nato is trying to deny them by bombing supplies.

Nato frustration

They maintain radio silence so they are harder to track, and not using their engines means there is no heat signal for Nato's infra-red cameras to track.

At the Nato news briefing, Air Commodore David Wilby admitted that he faced frustrating problems.

"Despite the good weather, we did have problems actually seeing the targets and being able to get them on the ground," he said.

"It is a very cunning enemy out there", he said.

It was in the heart of Nato's military headquarters that the original war plan was drawn up, but it is clear that has now been overtaken by events on the ground.

Nato is suddenly having to operate on two fronts - the military and the humanitarian. It is having to come up with a new plan, but that is far from easy.

As one senior official put it, there is a vacuum of thinking about the next stage in this crisis.

In this section

Next steps for peace
Blairs' surprise over baby
Bowled over by Lord's
Beef row 'compromise' under fire
Hamilton 'would sell mother'
Industry misses new trains target
Quins fightback shocks Cardiff (From Sport)
Vodafone takeover battle heats up (From Business)
IRA ceasefire challenge rejected
Thousands celebrate Asian culture
Christie could get two-year ban (From Sport)
Colleagues remember Compo (From Entertainment)
Mother pleads for baby's return
Toys withdrawn in E.coli health scare
Nurses role set to expand (From Health)
Israeli PM's plane in accident
More lottery cash for grassroots
Pro-lifers plan shock launch
Double killer gets life
Cold 'cure' comes one step closer (From Health)
Straw on trial over jury reform (From UK Politics)
Tatchell calls for rights probe into Mugabe
Ex-spy stays out in the cold
Blair warns Livingstone (From UK Politics)
Smear equipment `misses cancers' (From Health)
Boyzone star gets in Christmas spirit (From Entertainment)
Fake bubbly warning
Murder jury hears dead girl's diary
Germ warfare fiasco revealed (From UK Politics)
Blair babe triggers tabloid frenzy
Tourists shot by mistake
A new look for News Online