John Duncan: I don't think Thaci was chief KLA commander

In the late 1990s, Duncan was political adviser to former NATO Allied Supreme Commander Wesley Clark, who led NATO's air campaign against Serbian military targets in 1999.

At the beginning of the testimony, the defence asked him if he has even covered the work of the Kosovo Liberation Army during his event, in which he responded with épopo.

He said the KLA, whose political leader was Thaci, had heterogenous composition, “with people with different experiences and motives”.

We called it the army of those who had nothing. Their aspirations were not the same. Their motive was not the same”.

When ethnic cleansing began to escalate, the composition of key members was very diverse: there were former Yugoslav Army soldiers, lawyers, doctors, journalists and other people, some with abused families. The reason they took the guns was different from the person in person”, Duncan confessed.

He underlined that the KLA had no hierarchy and that its real power had the commanders of the zones.

This was the difficulty we were facing there”, Duncan said, because “had no hierarchical structure.

According to him, the KLA political leadership, including Thaci, was often unable to convince soldiers of important decisions such as the disarming.

He said Thaci's role did not reflect the political reality and that there was no complete legitimacy in society.

There were several political forces like the LDK, Mr Rugova and others”, Duncan said.

Asked by Defence if You Think Thaci Was Commander General KLA, or chief commander, he said no.

“ ... because the way [the commanders] dealt with him during the negotiations was such that they treated him as a political arm, which had some kind of influence, but not as someone who had military competence”.

I've never seen [Thaci] give directions or orders”, Duncan said.