Hundreds of other civilians on other occasions were killed as a direct result of improper NATO targeting. But it is impossible to read Amnesty's exhaustive analysis without reaching other equally troubling conclusions. By keeping war planes above 15,000 feet to avoid antiaircraft fire, for example, the likelihood of collateral damage was significantly increased. Avoiding risk to pilots multiplied the risk to civilians exponentially. In effect, NATO promulgated a new principle of the ethics of war making.
Force protection means that military forces are protected by civilians who die in their stead.
While the war was going on, NATO was extravagant in claiming high levels of military success that later turned out to be seriously overblown. More than 300 tanks, for example, were declared destroyed. Belgrade later put the figure at 13, other analysis put it not much higher, and even NATO now admits it was less than 100. Despite the much-ballyhooed precision bombing, it seems clear today that destroying Yugoslavia's military force was not actually NATO's purpose at all. Rather, the point of the air war was to break the spirit of Yugoslavia's population.