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September
11, 2003
The
Lost Terror War
In The Balkans
by Nebojsa Malic
The
much-ballyhooed "War on Terror" that followed the
horrors of Black Tuesday fizzled in the blood of thousands.
Afghanistan was reduced to even more rubble, yet the Taliban
are back and the Bearded One is still at large. Iraqis are
so happy about their "liberation" they kill American
soldiers on a daily basis. The worldwide sympathy for Americans
after September 11 soon evaporated, to be replaced by anger
at Washington's Imperial arrogance. From a victim of unspeakable
terror, the US came to be seen as "an aggressor that
starts wars on the basis of lies and disinformation."
(Roberts,
The Washington Times)
George
Bush's claim that America was after terrorists everywhere
was seriously undermined from the very beginning by its continued
support for terrorists in the Balkans, for example. Those
familiar with events in Kosovo and Macedonia, and certain
personalities in Bosnia, were forced to conclude that terrorism
was considered "evil" only when it targeted Americans.
Others were fair game, especially when the terrorists were
American "allies."
Human
Rights?
Two
years after signing a humiliating
surrender to banditry, under enormous EU and US pressure,
Macedonia is experiencing at least one bomb attack, missile
attack or shooting per week, sometimes more. Western
media routinely claim that Albanians (all of them?)
"revolted" in 2001 to demand "greater rights."
But rights can't be greater or lesser; they are by definition
absolute: life, liberty and property. Everything else is an
entitlement. It has to come out of someone else's pocket,
by force.
The
UCK bandits could not have extorted entitlements from the
Macedonian people (since they will be paying for them), without
the wholehearted
support of Brussels and Washington. This support came
with full awareness that the UCK were engaging in clearly
terrorist behavior, and after George Robertson, NATO's
Secretary-General, called
them "murderous thugs." Robertson got the job
by championing the cause of UCK bandits in Kosovo, so he knows
who he's talking about.
Liberation?
Macedonia's
predicament would not have been possible without a 1999
NATO intervention on behalf of the Albanian "liberation
movement" in Kosovo, also called the UCK. Originally
a band of terrorists who murdered postmen, police officers,
teachers and farmers, with foreign funding and diplomatic
support, through the miracle of modern propaganda they became
a "liberation army" that successfully "liberated"
hundreds of people of their lives and property most of them
Albanians, actually. Twice they were crushed and sent scurrying
across the border into Albania by Serbian security services.
Twice the US came to their rescue. If subsequent generations
of Americans ever re-examine the shameful
policies of aiding terrorists in the interests of Imperial
power, names like Richard Holbrooke, William Walker and Madeleine
Albright will certainly live in infamy.
It
was on behalf of this organization that the US scrapped the
NATO charter and violated international law by committing
naked aggression against a sovereign state, and occupying
one portion thereof. That occupation has gone on for over
four years now, and has resulted in over 200,000 ethnically
cleansed non-Albanians, at least 112
destroyed churches and monuments of culture, and constant
terror against the remaining non-Albanian population. This
happened because of, not in spite of, some 60,000 NATO troops
who occupied Kosovo. That's half the troops occupying a much-bigger
Iraq. The UCK-led violence was not only not prevented, but
legitimized by holding elections
for a "president," and "parliament" of
Kosovo. The UCK itself was re-organized into the "Kosovo
Protection Corps," paid by the UN/NATO to deal with
"disaster relief." But the only disaster in Kosovo
was of NATO's own making.
When
confronted with the consequences of their actions, the seneschals
of "international community" always react the same
way: lie
and deny. To confess would be political suicide.
A
United Front
Let's
recall that the "Albanian National Army" (AKSh),
who even the shamelessly pro-Albanian Kosovo viceroy Michael
Steiner had to declare
a terrorist organization, first appeared in Macedonia
after the 2001 "rebellion." They were allegedly
remnants of the UCK. But when two of the AKSh members tried
to mine
a railway bridge in Kosovo earlier this year (but blew
themselves up instead) one was identified as a member of the
"Kosovo Protection Corps." It is no secret
that many if not most "Macedonian" UCK came
from the original, Kosovo UCK ("KLA"). Their uniforms
and weapons were identical. So, for that matter, were those
of the "Presevo Liberation Army" (UCPMB) in southern
Serbia, which was bought
off in a manner similar to Macedonia again, to
no avail.
Clearly,
these "national liberation movements" are one single
organization, changing names to appear local and legitimate.
It uses means clearly classified as terrorist by any government
in the world, even the US. It aims to seize and ethnically
cleanse a territory on which to establish an ethnically pure,
Greater Albanian state.
And because this charge has been baselessly leveled against
the Serbs by the US government and PR
agencies hired by Croatia, Bosnian Muslims, and yes, the
Kosovo Albanians, they seem to have an alibi. Even today,
reputable news services continue to dismiss Albanian terrorism
as such, and even advocate
appeasement as policy for best dealing with it.
The
Islamic Manifesto
Northwest
of Kosovo is NATO's first Balkans protectorate, still occupied
by thousands troops and ruled by an international viceroy.
Bosnia's problems are roundly blamed on its Serb population,
from the 1992-95 war to the present poverty, corruption and
despair. Yet the role
of Bosnian Muslim leadership in the tragedy or the
story of its connections with Islamic
militants worldwide is deliberately suppressed.
Little
if anything is known in the West about a pamphlet published
in 1970 by Alija Izetbegovic. Titled "The
Islamic Declaration: A program for the Islamization of
the Muslims and the Muslim Peoples," it was a manifesto
for revolution in the Muslim world and a philosophical
blueprint for the creation of Islamic states. Izetbegovic
was convicted of "nationalism" by the Communist
government and spent several years in prison just as he
had in 1946, for his involvement with a militant Muslim organization
during World War Two.
In
1990, he rose to the leadership of the Bosnian Muslims and
became the chair of Bosnia's governing committee. That same
year, the "Islamic Declaration" was reprinted, without
changes. Izetbegovic insisted on an independent, Muslim-dominated
Bosnia, while hiding behind the rhetoric of multi-ethnicity,
tolerance and democracy that seemed to fool everyone except
those who experienced it first-hand. When Bosnian Serbs and
Croats refused to go along, he labeled them as "aggressors"
in their own country, styled himself "President of Bosnia"
even though such a post did not exist, and claimed to defend
his people from "genocide" even as he sacrificed
thousands of them in a war he
had hoped for.
In
the carnage that followed Izetbegovic's repudiation of a constitutional
compromise and unilateral declaration of independence, no
one was blameless. But thanks to relentless
propaganda and US government support, Izetbegovic and
his cabal of militant Islamists got away with many a murder,
while the Serbs were declared collectively genocidal.
The
Hidden Bosnia
Nearly
eight years after the Peace
of Dayton, Izetbegovic is officially retired, but in fact
the svengali behind Bosnian Muslim politics. Bosnia's occupiers
are well aware of this; every incoming or departing Ambassador,
viceroy, envoy or dignitary checks in with Izetbegovic upon
their arrival to, or departure from, Bosnia. If Bosnia's Sunni
Muslims had the institution of ayatollah, he would
be it.
Far
from being limited to the Balkans or considered outlandish,
Izetbegovic's ideas on Islamic revolution have earned him
praise from institutions
of Islam and Muslim
governments. There is even a Muslim award
named after him.
Yet
under his rule, Bosnia became a haven for terrorists, including
Al-Qaeda.
In 1999, one of Bin Laden's lieutenants was caught
with a passport issued by Izetbegovic's government. Several
suspected Al-Qaeda members arrested since have had Bosnian
papers as well. In 1999, one
Sarajevo weekly alleged that Osama bin Laden himself was
issued a Bosnian passport in 1993 something official Sarajevo
hastily denied only after September 11. And in 1996,
NATO raided a terrorist
training camp near Sarajevo.
On
Black Tuesday, Izetbegovic's militants were temporarily out
of power, replaced by a shaky social-democrat coalition in
which they maintained a Trojan horse (Haris Silajdzic's "Party
for Bosnia"). A complete lack of interest on part of
the US in cracking down on Bosnia's Al-Qaeda connections,
and the insistence on hunting
Serb "war criminals" instead, undermined the
coalition's ability to fight Islamic militants. Last fall,
it lost the elections to Izetbegovic's followers, who promptly
re-launched their drive for hegemony.
Izetbegovic
and his followers will not stop until all of Bosnia is under
their control. This insane idea, which the Bosnian Croats
and Serbs will never accept willingly, enjoys the support
of NATO occupiers, the viceroy, and Washington. It is unclear
whether they simply believe Izetbegovic's propaganda about
multi-ethnicity and tolerance, or want to "unify"
Bosnia despite knowing that Muslim politicians are only interested
in "unification" if
they get to rule.
Deja
Vu
In
the immediate aftermath of September 11, when people clamored
for blood and vengeance, few were prepared to listen to reason.
So as US troops descended onto Afghanistan and later Iraq,
no one remembered Bosnia, Kosovo, or Macedonia. By late 2002,
the "War on terror" had morphed into a "War
of terror":
"How
can anyone, in face of
prima facie evidence that the US
is backing Balkans factions whose actions are undeniably terrorist
in both methods and aims argue that the US is fighting a 'War
on Terror' and 'evil' all over the world?
[
]
Now the paladins of 'humanitarian bombing' are using what
they got away with in Bosnia and Kosovo to further
new bloodshed, all under the guise of 'fighting terrorism.'
Yet what is 'regime change' other than an effort to replace
a government through use of force: a textbook
definition of terrorism?"
-
The
Day Nothing Changed, September 12, 2002
Road
to Perdition
The
US persists in supporting certain terrorists and not just
in the Balkans, by the way while claiming to wage a war
on the idea itself. In the case of the Balkans, the Washington
policymakers' Serbophobia seems strong enough to blot out
the images of the burning Towers, the smoldering Pentagon,
and a dozen other lethal attacks.
How
can a man like Joseph Lieberman, who praised
the UCK as fighting for "American values," have
the face to run for President and on a belligerent platform,
natch? For that matter, how can the Bomber of Belgrade, the
mad General Wesley
Clark? That is up to Americans to decide, along with where
their country will go from here: to a new dawn of liberty,
or the long night of Empire.
Americans
desperately need to decide whether to support a policy that
aims to create a
global Balkans, where US power and hypocrisy rule supreme.
They should know that in the real Balkans, where US power
is unchallenged, terrorism thrives:
"
events
in the Balkans clearly show that the war on terrorism is anything
but, and that the only benefactor of Black Tuesday will be
the apocalyptic vision of American Empire, now finally able
to assert itself in a war without end."
War
Without End, September 27, 2001
It
was supposed to be The Day Everything Changed. But nothing
did, really.
–
Nebojsa Malic
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