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September 12, 2002
The Day Nothing
Changed
Balkans
and September 11
"The
world has changed. Nothing is the same any more." Those
were the two most common sentiments last year, in the shell-shocked
aftermath of Black Tuesday, as the horrors of war stopped
being something that happened elsewhere.
A
year later, those phrases ring hollow – along with the pledges
to fight "terrorism" and "evil."
On
September 13, 2001, this column warned:
"One
cannot fight terrorism and use it at the same time. Understanding
this would be a giant leap forward in the struggle against
all those who treat human beings as 'collateral damage,' and
who see nothing wrong with mass murder, as long as it serves
their purpose."
Such
understanding never happened. Instead, there was plenty of
"collateral
damage," duplicity, occupation, hypocrisy,
stupidity,
and malice.
Within two weeks, lofty pronouncements had fallen
flat in the mud of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.
'Our'
Terrorists And Theirs
The
first real test in the aftermath of Black Tuesday was not
Afghanistan, but the Balkans – specifically, the relationship
the U.S. had with Islamic fundamentalists among the Bosnian
Muslims, and the Albanian separatist movements in and around
Kosovo. Both have had connections
with Osama Bin Laden and his associates. The time was right
to re-examine America's Balkans policies of the past decade,
and possibly even extricate itself from an Imperial commitment
in the peninsula that seemed irrelevant and wasteful in the
light of the new "War on Terror."
Was
this done? No. Quite to the contrary, Washington has accepted
the predictable
whitewash of Balkans terrorists by the infamous International
Crisis Group, and chose to continue all its Balkans policies.
Results have been predictable: the continued growth of militant
Islam in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the escalating violence of
Albanians in Kosovo and Macedonia. These developments have
not only been tolerated, they've been helped by Imperial
actions, especially the ongoing vilification of Serbs
and Macedonians.
Viper
in the Bosom
As
late as last
October, six Algerians given Bosnian citizenship by the
Izetbegovic regime were arrested on suspicion of plotting
terrorist attacks on U.S. installations.
Yet
thanks to massive amounts of propaganda, there has been an
entrenched belief in the West that the Bosnian Muslims had
fought for a multi-ethnic, democratic Bosnia and peaceful
coexistence with all, and were innocent victims of aggression
and genocide by vicious, nationalist Serbs and Croats.
Asked
why these scions of multi-ethnic democracy and religious tolerance
tend to erupt
into rage after losing soccer games, while chanting "Allah-u-akbar"
and waving the green banners of Jihad; or why their
children join Wahhabi cults and go off to fight "holy
wars" in distant foreign lands, apologists usually retort
that all that has to be a reaction to the West's indifference
to atrocities they have suffered.
Yet
there is a mountain of evidence contradicting the explanation
that militant Islam in Bosnia is a recent, reactive phenomenon.
One could find it in Bosnia's Ottoman past, as the bulwark
of Dar-al-Islam
against the Western infidels. It was certainly present during
World War Two, when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed
Hajj Amin al-Husseini helped organize a Waffen
SS Division made up of Bosnian Muslims.
Alija
Izetbegovic has certainly always been an Islamic militant,
ever since his youthful days in the Nazi-sponsored "Young
Muslims." In 1970, he wrote and published "The Islamic
Declaration," a blueprint for creating Islamic states
out of secular societies. In 1990, he manipulated his way
into leading Bosnia's collective presidency, undermined all
attempts to negotiate an inter-ethnic settlement, and eagerly
pushed Bosnia into internecine warfare by insisting on its
international recognition as a unitary state.
Though
he retired
from public office in 2000, reportedly at U.S. request,
Izetbegovic has continued to pull the strings of Bosnian Muslim
politics. Even if his party does not regain power in the upcoming
election, an allegedly "moderate" splinter party
heavily influenced by his ideology looks likely to make gains.
Almost every Bosnian Muslim politician has been in Izetbegovic's
orbit at one time or another.
So
while militants are a minority in Bosnian Muslim ranks, their
ideology dominates Muslim politics. And thanks to the myth
of multi-ethnic victimhood, it enjoys American and European
support.
Reign
of Terror….
Murder;
arson; assassination of political opponents; ethnic cleansing;
regular acts of violence against civilians; killing of law
enforcement and other government officials; destruction of
holy places: had anyone done this in the United States, they
would have been instantly labeled terrorists.
Yet the "Kosovo Liberation Army" has done it for
five years, the last three on
UN's payroll.
Kosovo
is an international aberration: a piece of one country's sovereign
territory occupied by the UN and NATO after an illegal aggression,
it has been used as a launching pad for aggression against
inner
Serbia and the neighboring Macedonia.
Yet both have been dismissed as "human rights" issues,
and their perpetrators given amnesty and lucrative political
appointments.
Two
weeks ago, a group of "unidentified gunmen" attacked
several remaining Serbs as they gathered wood near the Kosovo
village of Gorazdevac. They then shot at the UN police that
attempted to intervene, and even attacked the Italian
occupation troops that were called to help. One assailant
was captured and, unsurprisingly, turned out to be Albanian.
It
might be understandable that the UN and NATO have chosen to
ignore the Albanian militants' incessant attacks on Serbs,
which have so far killed several thousand and forced over
300,000 out of the province. But one would think they would
go ballistic when their own come under fire. It has happened
before, in Mitrovica
and along the demarcation line with inner Serbia, and both
times the NATO response has been subdued but firm.
Now,
however, the UN is choosing to blame
the Serbs for the terrorist attack in Gorazdevac.
Adding insult to injury, a UN spokesman is blaming "lack
of funds" for the UN's inability to let the expelled
Kosovo Serbs return to the charred ruins of their homes. And
this after they'd spent millions building four-story homes
for immigrant Albanians, or funding the "Kosovo Protection
Corps"!
…
In Guise of 'Human Rights'
One
could possibly find some justification for Albanian militants'
terrorism in Kosovo, if it stayed in Kosovo. But it continues
to plague the neighboring Macedonia, where the "peace"
forced upon the Macedonians as a result of the KLA's "human
rights" struggle in 2001, is claiming new victims almost
every day.
Two
police officers gunned
down at a traffic stop; five civilians abducted, one tortured,
as a reaction to arrests of the perpetrators. Yet the militant
Albanians who claimed responsibility (a terrorist trademark)
were allowed
to escape, after US
and European pressure on Macedonian authorities.
Even
if Macedonians were allowed to suppress terrorism in their
own country, and they aren't, what chance of success do they
have when the terrorists can simply retreat into the safe
haven of NATO-occupied Kosovo? Discoveries of Albanian weapons
caches along the border with Macedonia have become routine,
and no one has been held responsible – certainly not the UN
and NATO, ostensibly in charge of keeping the "peace".
Malicious
Manipulations
What
other conclusion is one to draw from all this, than that "terrorism"
is labeled as such only when directed against Americans and
regimes Washington supports?
How
can anyone, in face of this prima facie evidence that
the U.S. is backing Balkans factions whose actions are undeniably
terrorist in both methods and aims, argue that the U.S. is
fighting a "War on Terror" and "evil"
all over the world?
But
it gets worse. 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?
A
few months back, when the International Criminal Court formally
came into being – based on the US-created ad hoc "tribunals"
for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia – Washington insisted
on immunity for its "peacekeepers" across the world,
using
Bosnia as a hostage. Then it set out to bully Bosnia,
Croatia, Yugoslavia and other states into signing bilateral
immunity agreements.
Empire,
Forever?
As
flags,
ribbons and mellow speeches commemorated the anniversary
of that cruel Tuesday morning a year ago, did anyone wonder
about the widening gap between American leaders' rhetoric
and deeds? Did anyone ask how it was possible to bomb
one country in support of terrorists, yet bomb another
in a war against them?
Fifty
years ago, Garet
Garrett wrote, "We have crossed the boundary that
lies between Republic and Empire. […] And now, not far ahead,
is a sign that reads: 'No U-turns'."
The
aftermath of Black Tuesday was a golden opportunity to redefine
America as a Republic, not an Empire. It was missed. Instead,
September 11 seems to have become a "bloody shirt,"
bestowing instant approval onto anyone who invokes it in defense
of any action. In an act of supreme
cynicism, an Oscar-winning Bosnian director recently attempted
to link it with the 1995 events in Srebrenica.
Surely,
the victims of September 11 deserve better.
–
Nebojsa Malic
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