In testimony before the House Committee on Intelligence July 22, Hamre said a review of the circumstances leading up to the bombing shows that the accident occurred because of a small but important failure in targeting procedures. This review has led me to conclude that we could have avoided this accident knowing what we now know. But when the accident was made, it is clear that no one thought it was the Chinese embassy or wanted to hit the Chinese embassy. Hamre pledged those targeting procedures would be changed. I am also pleased to appear with Director George Tenet, whose service to America I have admired for years.
War is a painful subject.
War is about the intentional destruction of things in order to impose a change of policy of an enemy. We intended to bring destruction to the infrastructure of violence and coercion inside Yugoslavia in order to force the government of Yugoslavia to suspend its genocide against the citizens of Kosovo. We never intended to destroy anything that was not tied to Yugoslavia's war effort. Unfortunately, but not uncommon in the conduct of hostilities, we made mistakes. Director Tenet has testified before you earlier, and has restated today, that the mistake that led to the unintended bombing of the Chinese Embassy was an intelligence error.