What Did the CIA Know: Ante Gotovina stands accused of war crimes. Now the Croat wants his former allies in U.S. intelligence to help prove him innocent.(International)(general who received CIA intelligence reports is being tried for war crimes)

At a secluded military base on Croatia's Adriatic coast, an unpiloted CIA plane rolled down the runway, then climbed slowly over tall pine trees and headed into hostile airspace. It was July 1995, and a new conflict was brewing. Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic had conquered Croatia's Krajina border zone with Bosnia in 1991, and now Croatia was preparing a lightning assault to get it back. Americans in military uniform, operating from a cream-colored trailer near the runway, directed the GNAT-750 drone to photograph Serb troop positions and weapons emplacements. The images were transmitted back to base, analyzed and then passed on to the Pentagon. According to top Croat intelligence officials, copies were also sent to the headquarters of the Croatian general in command of "Operation Storm."

The classified reconnaissance missions continued for months, until long after Croat forces had pushed the Serbs into neighboring Bosnia. And the information proved vital to the success of Operation Storm, according to the…