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I asserted that Ari Fleischer was lying when he said “human rights has [sic] always been at the forefront” of the actions of the “American military and our nation.” It has been bothering me that I did not provide any justification for this accusation, so I wanted to take a moment and do just that. This also lets me share a link to the National Security Archive if you are not yet familiar with this group.
In April 2000, the U.S. State Department released, under the Freedom of Information Act, a startlingly frank interagency study of recent U.S. humanitarian interventions entitled “Interagency Review of U.S. Government Civilian Humanitarian & Transition Programs.” The National Security Archive hosts a scanned copy of this document. I cite from Annex 1, “Kosovo Case Study”:
The U.S. response [in Kosovo was] significantly shaped by the lack of a humanitarian voice in senior policy deliberations. … The first phase was a confused scramble, during which there was a disturbing perception at the highest levels of the USG [(U.S. Government)] that no one was in charge of USG civilian humanitarian programs. … It became apparent that little forward planning had been conducted, including the establishment of prior collaborative arrangements between USG civilian and military agencies. … [Later,] while humanitarian components within the USG cited the need for a more aggressive posture vis-à-vis the Macedonians in humanitarian forums, they made no effort to push for a shift in policy at more senior levels. …
The KCC [(Kosovo Coordination Council)] was established by the White House one week after the bombing to provide high-level leadership of the humanitarian aspects of the Kosovo crisis. … [It] had mixed results. … Its impact on policy formulation was largely marginal: most policy decisions were taken at the daily [video teleconference] or at [other high level] meetings … It [(the KCC)] was ad hoc and lacked continuity and follow-through.
If we grant that life, health, shelter, and nutrition (i.e., humanitarian provisions) are human rights, then Fleischer’s claim seems untenable.
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