I do not think that there will ever be an armed conflict involving so many people against such a ruthless opponent which will not involve mistakes. NATO, which certainly is the greatest military alliance in the world, is made up of 19 democratic countries. That is, on the one hand, its greatest strength, and on the other—at the moment—one of its key weaknesses. Another of its key weaknesses is also its towering strength: it acts according to international law. We take care. Mistakes will be made, but however tragic, they are small in comparison to the systematic genocidal violence being perpetrated by Milosevic against the civil population of Kosovo.

We chose air strikes as the best means in the circumstances of disrupting the violence and weakening the killing machine. We still believe that they are the best means, but following the summit in Washington, NATO is re-examining all the options in the light of the past six weeks' military activity.