General
Michael Jackson, British General Who Disobeyed U.S. Superior, Dies at 80
Labeled “the Prince of Darkness,” he refused to follow an order by NATO’s commander during the Balkans war, saying, “It’s not worth starting World War III.”
Gen. Michael Jackson, a former head of the British Army who was known as “the Prince of Darkness” for his heavy-hooded glare and gravelly voice, and who famously disobeyed an order by his American superior during the Yugoslav wars, saying it risked starting World War III, died on Oct. 15. He was 80.
His death was announced by the British Army, which did not say where he died or what the cause was.
General Jackson was Britain’s senior leader in the Balkans in June 1999 when NATO forces moved into the province of Kosovo to enforce a withdrawal of Serbian troops. Russian soldiers, who backed Serbia, made a surprise grab of the airfield outside Pristina, the capital.
Gen. Wesley K. Clark, an American and NATO’s supreme commander, ordered General Jackson to block the runways with tanks and troops to prevent more Russians from landing.
“No, I’m not going to do that,” General Jackson told him. “It’s not worth starting World War III.”
The insubordination was taken up by both men’s superiors — the American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, and General Jackson’s British commander.
They resolved the dispute in favor of General Jackson, according to testimony that General Shelton gave to Congress.
In the British press, General Jackson was nicknamed “Macho Jacko” for his rebuke of General Clark. His words to the American were quoted as being sharper than they were in U.S. accounts. “I’m not going to start the Third World War for you,” he reportedly told General Clark.
