SORRY VIRGINIA BUT THEY ARE NATO TROOPS, NOT 'REBELS'

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Team Spirit
From the left, counter clockwise: KLA terrorist leader Hacim Thaci; former head of UN operations in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner; Kosovo NATO Commander, Gen. Michael Jackson; notorious war criminal and Kosovo Protection Corps leader, Agim Ceku; and Wesley Clark, formerly in charge of NATO's attack on Yugoslavia, now one of the directors of the National Endowment for Democracy where he joins former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke...

SORRY VIRGINIA BUT THEY ARE NATO TROOPS, NOT 'REBELS'
by Jared Israel with research by Rick Rozoff, George Thompson and Max Sinclair. [11 June 2001]

The Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists in Macedonia (Oops! I'm supposed to say, 'The National Liberation Army or NLA;' plus I'm supposed to call them 'rebels,' not 'terrorists') are now directly threatening Skopje, capital of Macedonia.

The Western media pictures these people as indigenous rebels although some of them are mujahideen terrorists from around the world and most of the rest are Kosovo Liberation Army members fresh from training camps in Northern Albania. (1)

As an article in the Sunday London 'Times' notes:

"Intelligence agents have pinpointed 16 illegal border crossings from Kosovo used by the NLA..." (My emphasis. Sunday London 'Times,' 10 June 2001)

If they really are Macedonian ethnic Albanians rebelling against unbearable discrimination, etc., then why are they coming in via "16 illegal border crossing from Kosovo?"

The London 'Times' article, called "Macedonia on Brink of War," unwittingly supports the accusation that despite the media-created image of 'indigenous rebels,' the people attacking Macedonia are a terrorist arm of NATO in general and the U.S. military in particular.

You can read the 'Times' piece at http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/06/10/stifgneeu01001.html?

Or read the following comments first.

TERRORISTS: ORGANIZED BY THE UN

The 'Times' reports that:

"Hundreds of KPC reservists were called up by their Albanian commander, Agim Ceku, in March. They subsequently disappeared to former KLA training camps in Albania and are now re-emerging in Macedonia."

The KPC was created by the United Nations, or UNMIK as it is called in Kosovo. In doing so, the UN simply adorned the Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists with new uniforms and equipment and a new name. Of course, their nature did not change:

"Murder, torture and extortion: these are the extraordinary charges made against the UN's own Kosovo Protection Corps in a confidential United Nations report written for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The KPC stands accused in the document, drawn up on 29 February, of 'criminal activities - killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and hate-speech'.

"The 5,000-strong corps, funded by UN members including Britain, has a £30 million aid budget for Kosovo. It was set up to provide 'disaster response services'; instead, says the UN, it has been murdering and torturing people. " (London 'Observor,' March 12, 2000)

Kofi Annan has not denied the existence of the UN report. Nor has he denied the truth of the charges.

But he has also not ordered the KPC dissolved. And perhaps most damning, he has not punished the UN officials who gave these "murderers, torturers and extortionists" official UN status and put them on the UN payroll, thus criminalizing the United Nations.

Now the KLA/KPC thugs have invaded Macedonia.

Even if the UN hadn't officially organized the KPC, it is the sworn duty of UN officials to uphold the UN charter and try to prevent aggressive wars rather than hiring terrorists and giving them nice new uniforms in which to launch them.

Moreover, UN Security Council Resolution 1244, under which the UN and NATO occupy Kosovo, calls on the occupation forces, that is, the UN and NATO, to protect the sovereignty of Macedonia:

* "The KLA and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups [must] end immediately all offensive actions and comply with the requirements for demilitarization...

* "[The United Nations Security Council] condemns all terrorist acts by any party [and reaffirms] the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other States of the region, as set out in the Helsinki Final Act...

* "[The UN and the security forces operating under its jurisdiction in Kosovo will see to the] demilitarizing the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups." http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm

CALLING UP THE RESERVISTS...IS THAT LIKE 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD?'

The "KPC reservists were called up by their Albanian commander, Agim Ceku, in March." (London 'Times')

Mr. Ceku was and still is one of the two top leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The other is Hacim Thaci.

The U.S. made Ceku military commander of the KLA in 1999. His obvious qualification: he had been artillery chief during the U.S.-led Croatian Army war of terror against Serbian farmers in the Krajina region of Yugoslavia. 250,000 Serbs were driven from their ancestral homes. Many were brutally murdered.

Once Ceku had Washington's blessing, the UN put him in charge of the Kosovo Protection Corps.

The KPC was officially set up to respond to natural disasters. If that were true, the UN might have hired an engineer or public health specialist to run the group.

But if the KPC's real purpose was to wage a terrorist war for 'Greater Albania,' thus crushing ethnic groups and nations the U.S. considers politically dangerous, a racist-terrorist military expert would be a better choice.

Enter Mr. Ceku, the man who 'called up' 'KPC reservists' in March.

Called them up? For what purpose?

The 'reservists' are paid out of UN/NATO funds, so presumably the UN and NATO noticed they had been 'called up.' Isn't it reasonable to think they would ask Mr. Ceku, "Why are you mobilizing hundreds of men?" Especially since Ceku is the military commander of the KLA and everyone knows the KLA has invaded Macedonia and needs terrorist reinforcements.

ODD MAPS

Next, consider the matter of maps. Maps of Macedonia, that is. Military maps, I presume.

The London 'Times' reports that:

"Embarrassingly for the alliance, they [the KPC reservists] are making use of maps issued by Nato for the Kosovo Protection Corps."

Isn't it charming how the 'Times' employs the term, "embarrassingly," as if NATO had committed some breech of etiquette. Let's see. Would that be "embarrassingly" as in you order the wrong wine to go with your date's grilled shark? Or would that be "embarrassingly" as in you get nabbed driving the getaway car at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre?

Since NATO issued them and the KLA is using them for an invasion, it is reasonable to assume these are detailed maps, including roads, he location of various facilities and topographical features such as hills, etc.

Macedonia is a sovereign state. It is not under NATO or UN control. The Kosovo Protection Corps has no valid reason to set foot on Macedonian territory.

The KPC is officially not a military entity.

Putting all this together, for what purpose did NATO provide the KPC with military maps of Macedonia?

SLIPPING OFF TO NORTHERN ALBANIA

The article states that after being 'called up,' the KPC members "subsequently disappeared to former KLA training camps" in Northern Albania.

One would assume that the UN and NATO, which are supposedly in charge of the KPC, noticed this mass disappearance.

Why did these UN employees "disappear" to training camps in Albania? To be trained to attack Macedonia.

One would assume the existence of such camps violates Albanian sovereignty. And training UN employees to attack Macedonia violates the Helsinki Final Act not to mention the UN/NATO mandate for being in Kosovo, namely to protect the:

"...sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other States of the region..." (Security Council Resolution 1244)

Why wasn't NATO dispatched to destroy the camps and arrest the hundreds of KPC criminals and their trainers?

NATO could have found the camps easily. They just had to ask the NATO officers who according to reports are continuing to train the KLA, just as they did in the past:

"The news report out of Krume, in northern Albania says this is why negotiations for a long-term training deal are going on with the one- time U.S. military officers who operate reportedly with semi-official Pentagon approval. The mercenary company is identified as Military and Professional Resources International. The article also asserts a British special forces SAS unit is using two camps near Tirana, the Albanian capital, and another on the Kosovar border to teach KLA officers how to conduct intelligence-gathering operations on Serbian positions. According to the Telegraph. The KLA and SAS -- within Kosovo and from reconnaissance missions staged from Albania -- are using satellite and cellular telephones to provide NATO with details on Serbian targets." ('UPI' April 18, 1999)

And:

"Embarrassingly for Kfor, it emerged that two of the Kosovo-based commanders leading the Albanian push were trained by former British SAS and Parachute Regiment officers in the days when Nato was more comfortable with the fledgling Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). [MY NOTE: If they got any more comfortable they'd fall asleep.]

A former member of a European special forces unit who accompanied the KLA during the Kosovo conflict said that a commander with the nom de guerre of Bilal was organizing the flow of arms and men into Macedonia, and that the veteran KLA commander Adem Bajrami was helping to co-ordinate the assault on Tetovo. Both were taught by British soldiers in the secretive training camps that operated above Bajram Curri in northern Albania during 1998 and 1999." (My emphasis, 'Sunday Times' (London), March 18, 2001)

Did you notice? They used that word, "embarrassingly," again. Nothing as "embarrassingly" as supporting terrorists:

"Western special forces were still training the guerrillas, as a result of decisions taken before the change of government in Yugoslavia. " (BBC, 29 January 2001)

If it's such an embarrassment, why don't they stop?

"WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE? SOLDIERS?"

The 'Times' reports that:

"Intelligence agents have pinpointed 16 illegal border crossings from Kosovo used by the NLA..."

Ain't that swell.

But: if intelligence agents can pinpoint these border crossings, why doesn't NATO close them? Better yet, why doesn't NATO do its duty under Resolution 1244 and the rules of war as they affect occupying armies and set up ambushes and arrest these terrorists before they cross into Macedonia?

"A military commander is responsible not only for criminal acts committed in pursuance of his orders, but is 'also responsible if he has actual knowledge, or should have knowledge....that troops or other persons subject to his control are about to commit or have committed a war crime and he fails to take the necessary and reasonable steps to insure compliance with the law of war to punish violations thereof.'" ( From 'Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy,' by Telford Taylor, US Chief Counsel at Nuremberg, page 58, © The New York Times Company, 1970. Taylor is citing US Army FM 27-10, 'The Law of Land Warfare,' (1956) page 178.)

The NATO leadership is scandalized by suggestions that it should engage in any such authoritarian behavior.

Anyway, even if NATO did arrest a few terrorists, we know from past experience they would just turn them lose.

And isn't the notion of NATO ambushing the KPC terrorists as they enter Macedonia a bit absurd since NATO has been training the KLA for several years; since the UN gave the KLA official KPC status, uniforms, pay, and an experienced ethnic cleanser for a leader. And since NATO has even given them military maps. To paraphrase Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, "What's the point of having this great terrorist army if we don't use them?"

NOW LET'S NOT GET ALL HOT UNDER THE COLLAR, BOYS; SOMEBODY COULD GET HURT

The London 'Times' reports that:

"Macedonia's coalition government came close to declaring war after five Macedonian soldiers died in an ambush last Tuesday, but President Boris Trajkovski has heeded European Union calls for calm."

You know, after the U.S. 'diplomat' and OSCE big wig Robert Frowick got caught a few weeks ago arranging strategy meetings between Macedonian ethnic Albanian leaders and Kosovo Albanian secessionists, including the terrorist leaders, Thaci and Haradinaj - after that happened, some people said European leaders were very upset with the U.S. They said the U.S. was way out of step, that it was floundering. Some said the U.S. was sinking into a quagmire. Or that its policy was heading for an imminent split with the Europeans, and so on.

First of all, if the U.S. is floundering, how come it always flounders in the same direction?

Or if it is sinking into a quagmire, which suggests loss of control, being taken over by events, and so on, how come it sinks with consistency and energy?

The same critics of U.S. policy who now say the U.S. is sinking into a quagmire used to say U.S. policy in the Balkans was a function of President Clinton, that if we just elected Bush things would change. And indeed they have changed, folks. They have gotten worse, just as they used to get worse month by month during the Clinton years. Doesn't that suggest the existence of a strategy with a basis more substantial than party politics?

Some analysts cite as evidence of Washington's supposed confusion that U.S. officials say one thing publicly and do another covertly. But that is not a result of confusion; it is a normal feature of U.S. government deception. It shows that Washington's policy includes publicly criticizing the KLA while privately unleashing it on Macedonia.

After all, these leaders can't very well tell the American people, "We support terrorists," can they?

As for the imminent split between Washington and the Europeans, it has been imminent for at least two years. What is the concrete manifestation of the dissatisfaction of European leaders? It is: that while the U.S. sends in the KLA to terrorize Macedonia, which includes terrorizing local Albanians to get them to join the KLA (or NLA or KPC or whatever you wish), Europeans "call for calm."

Far be it from me to denigrate calm. Calm is a wonderful thing. But what does it mean to call for "calm" when terrorists have invaded Macedonia?

Since the KLA is trying to convince ethnic Albanians in Macedonia that they are much stronger than the Macedonian Army, that any Albanians who are loyal to Macedonia will be killed, telling Macedonia to show restraint means telling them to lose.

This advice also helps the U.S./KLA strategy regarding world public opinion. Here is how the pro-NATO magazine, "Jane's Defense Review," described KLA public opinion strategy during the fighting in Kosovo from February 1998 to February 1999:

"[The KLA engages in] harassment and assassination of Serb officials and civilians from Kosovo's Serb minority. This has included sniper attacks, Serbs dragged from their vehicles and beaten, together with pressure on them to leave their homes. The killing of a Serb policeman, Milan Jovic in Podujevo, a mainly Albanian town 40km north of Pristina, by men with automatic weapons on 21 December was one such incident. This UCK tactic has the double benefit of forcing Serbs to quit the province and provoking Serb police into retaliation and subsequent censure by OSCE observers." (My emphasis, Jane's, 2/1/99)

In other words, this is political theater. The goal is to label the victim 'abusive.' But for this strategy to work, the OSCE, or the European Union leaders, have to cooperate, have to tell the Macedonians to show restraint and "hold talks to settle legitimate grievances." Thus the Europeans lend credibility to the lie that the terrorists are responding to oppression.

One of the signers of the Petition to Free Slobodan Milosevic commented that he was:

"...sign[ing] the petition because Mr. Milosevic did just that what a head of state is supposed to do."
(Petition at: http://globalresistance.com/petition/petition.htm * Signers' comments at: http://globalresistance.com/petition/states.htm)

What is the head of state supposed to do when his or her country is invaded by a terrorist army sponsored by a Great Power that wishes to pulverize his or her country? According to the 'Times,' there are now almost 2000 terrorists in Macedonia, a country of about two million. That's a ratio of one terrorist for every thousand Macedonians.

What would France do if a terrorist Army invaded. What would Germany do if eighty two thousand terrorists invaded?

There are about 273 million people in the U.S. Using the ratio of one terrorist to every thousand inhabitants, what would the U.S. do if a terrorist army of 273,000 invaded the U.S.? Would Washington show restraint?

A good doctor must use medical technology to destroy an invading deadly disease or he is guilty of criminal malpractice. In the same way, a head of state must use security forces to destroy an invading terrorist force or he or she is a traitor.

By urging Macedonia not to destroy the disease, the Europeans play a treacherous role: the "good cop." The bad cop, the U.S.A., commands its attack-dog, the KLA, to lunge for Macedonia's throat. The good cop, the Europeans, tells Macedonia, "stay calm. Talk things over. You've been cruel to that dog. Make concessions. He might bite."

Thus they try to demoralize members of the Army and police and ordinary people, make them feel the whole world is against them, that resistance is futile. This magnifies the effect of the attack dog.

And what about President Boris Trajkovski, who is correctly described by the 'Times' as heeding European calls for "calm" and who acts is if there is justice on both sides?

In a dance of subservience, President Trajkovski and his government stay in step with the Europeans while talking out of both sides of the mouth.

To win, Macedonia needs to:

1) Replace President Boris Trajkovski and his cronies;

2) Throw out the Western NGOs, human rights snakes, OSCE 'helpers' and U.S. military advisers, public and private;

3) Adopt emergency measures to defend the sovereignty of the country and to ensure the human security of all citizens;

4) Jail leading traitors and saboteurs;

5) Urgently request experienced military volunteers from similarly affected states in the world (including those from the Slavic East, which is the ultimate target of the NATO assault on the Balkans).

In other words, Macedonia must act as if it is being invaded, as if its very existence as a state is at issue. Because this is exactly the case.

Now is not the time to negotiate supposed grievances. The KLA is not 'rebelling' in response to 'injustice.' It is invading on orders from the U.S. covert apparatus. But the U.S. does not want to intervene directly. That would be politically costly. So the trick is: take all measures to stop the attack dog, the KLA.

WASHINGTON KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT IT'S DOING

United States policy in the Balkans is very dangerous, but it is not mysterious. Generally speaking, it is predictable. It is not based on the whim of Presidents, whether they wear the liberal or conservative mask. It is based on a broad consensus of the powerful financial interests which run America ("Wall Street") - a consensus that now is the time to go for total world domination. The key to dominating the world is to literally pulverize the former Soviet Union, reduce it to impoverished, warring protectorates under U.S./European domination.

In this way, the American Establishment would accomplish two things. First, it could exploit the former SU's vast resources at whim. Second it would guarantee that its old Soviet enemy could not put itself back together in some new form and once again challenge U.S. tyranny.

And if the U.S. were to succeed in reducing this great area to shattered subservience, it would be easier, much easier, to do the same to: China.

Point, game, set, match.

But the people of the former Soviet Union cannot be enslaved peacefully. Ten years of Western 'help' has taught them plenty about Washington's intentions.

That is why the U.S. is trying to surround the former Soviet Union and penetrate it with military bases and hostile forces. To this end, Washington must consolidate control over a devastated Balkans in which political forces that would resist foreign domination and the U.S. "drive to the East" - especially forces among the Greek and Slavic populations - are weakened or destroyed. Then Washington's Empire would be free to pursue "low intensity warfare" against Russia and the rest of the former SU.

ALBANIAN TERRORISTS ARE A PUPPET FORCE

The movement for 'Greater Albania' is presented in the media as a powerful independent force. It is not. Rather, Washington has taken advantage of certain features of ethnic Albanian culture, attitudes and recent history to use Albanians as a proxy army and a destabilizing force to further U.S. strategy for the Balkans.

These features are: a highly authoritarian clan structure; a tradition of violent, clan-based feuding; a strong current of anti-Slav racism; and an unfortunate history of being used by Italian Fascists and German Nazis during World War II. (2)

We discussed the ways in which Washington and its Kosovo Liberation Army have used these features of ethnic Albanian culture to 'turn' the Albanians in "Why Albanians Fled Kosovo During NATO Bombing" and in shorter form in "What's Behind KLA Strategy In The Balkans?" (3 and 4, below) In the end, the Albanian people as a whole will pay a terrible price for the crimes of the KLA and those who fall for its myth of an Albanian "Third Reich."

As those articles explain, it is difficult to defeat the U.S./KLA strategy. But a posture of accommodation is definitely not the way. The KLA is telling Albanians: "Join us or we will kill you." If the Macedonian government projects a policy of weakness, it lends credibility to the KLA threat.

A PARTING THOUGHT FROM LONDON 'TIMES'

The 'Times' comments:

"There's plenty of money around and they've got good weapons," a Nato planner said [of the KLA]. "But we're hoping they've got the sense not to start shooting down Macedonian helicopters."

NATO is hoping that its creature, the KLA, will have "sense."

Ain't that encouraging?

They are "Just a-wishin' and a-hopin' and a-dreamin' and a-prayin'." Sitting on the old porch swing, enjoying a cool drink and humming an old tune while their KLA killers creep into position around Skopje.

"Please remain calm and stay in your seats, ladies and gentlemen. I repeat, please remain calm. The doctor is operating."

-- Jared Israel