The Embassy Bombing: Small Steps to a Big Disaster

The last time the U.S. mistakenly bombed a foreign mission was in 1986 in Tripoli, as an Air Force F-111 screamed over the darkened Libyan capital. The fiery bomb blasts of another F-111 just ahead forced the second plane's crew off its attack path and sent three 2,000-lb. bombs into the French embassy. When the U.S. bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7, there once again were two pilots aboard a single plane. It was a B-2 this time. Once again, a trio of 2,000-pounders went astray. But this time the error wasn't made in the heat of battle...

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