Albania tells Washington of willingness to send more troops to Iraq

AP | 4/19/04

[MarMema]

or see post 78 here. Your choice. :-)

[Nennsy]

Here's what Brits have to say...

WE BUY BAG OF SEMTEX FROM TERRORISTS

Dec 7 2003




By Graham Johnson Investigations Editor


A TERRIFYING threat to Britain's security can today be revealed by the Sunday Mirror.

With the country on its highest-ever state of alert amid fears of a Christmas terror strike our investigators infiltrated a cell of Muslim extremists - and bought enough Semtex to blow up Oxford Street and the Houses of Parliament or down 40 Lockerbie jets.





OUR HORRIFYING HAUL: Graham and Donal (left) bury the semtex for safety

Last night one of the men we dealt with was under arrest. The other was believed to have been assassinated by his own terror masters for blowing their cover.

Our 13.5kg haul of Semtex - in 108 sticks - is one of the biggest ever seized from terrorists and could have potentially armed 30 suicide bombers.

And chillingly the explosive, which we bought for £10,000, was of a form that doesn't show up on metal detectors, making it much easier to smuggle into Britain.

A small amount of the explosive was allegedly found here last week as police arrested more than 20 terror suspects.

Posing as members of the Real IRA, we were also offered three shoulder-held missile launchers, an anti-aircraft gun, and enough machine guns, hand grenades and landmines to equip a small army.

We made our deal in Kosovo, a breeding ground for fanatics with al-Qaeda links.

Our contact was the deputy commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Niam Behljulji, known as Hulji. The group were trained by Bin Laden's men.

Astonishingly, we met him under the noses of the British Army and UN forces - who remain as peacekeepers following Kosovo's bloody war with Serbia.

Hulji, is said to supply terrorists across Europe and has been accused of massacring Serbian women and children during the war.

He even posed grinning for a photograph, holding the severed head of one his victims.

But we won him over by playing on one of his weaknesses...he is a huge fan of Irish rock band U2.

He couldn't wait to deal with us when we promised him one of the band's CDs - which we had signed with a fake message from lead singer Bono.

He told us: "I can give you enough Semtex for a small war. Do you need it for terrorism?"

Our investigation, carried out with Channel 5 sleuth Donal MacIntyre for his series MacIntyre's Millions, began when we arrived in Kosovo posing as members of the Real IRA.

Our first contact was with a Mafia arms dealer called Sinbad Sadkutz, who acts as a middleman for Hulji.

Sadkutz arranged a meeting with Hulji in a KLA-run cafe which was surrounded by armed guards and had been swept for "bugs".

Hulji said: "The plastics (Semtex) is the old type. No metal strips inside. It cannot be detected at airports. It is untraceable - no chemical markers."

He then offered us an anti-aircraft gun similar to one used by Iraqi dissidents last week to hit a US DHL cargo plane as it landed in Baghdad.

We next met Sadkutz in a Mafia-run brothel called The Massage Club, and agreed to buy 15kg of Semtex for £10,000.

To make sure the deal went through smoothly, Hulji insisted that we hand over a "human deposit" hostage and £7,500 in euros.

Our "deposit" was my fellow investigator Dominic Hipkins. He was to be held in a terrorist-owned bungalow - opposite the British ambassador's residence in Pristina - while the deal was sorted out.

Four days later Sadkutz took our man to collect the Semtex from his nearby home and the pair returned to the bungalow, the explosives packed into a sports holdall.

The grey-brown Semtex, wrapped in brown grease-proof paper marked "explosive", looked and felt like child's play dough.

But when burnt with a lighter it produced an intense blue flame - proving it was Semtex. As a Sunday Mirror investigator tested the explosive, Sadkutz grinned as he said: "15kgs can blow up all this neighbourhood."

After Sadkutz had left, we found the KLA had hidden 1.5kg of lead in the lining of the bag so that the actual Semtex weighed 13.5kg, instead of the 15kg we had negotiated for.

For safekeeping, our investigators buried the Semtex on a hill overlooking the British Army base in Kosovo and took a satellite reading of the exact position.

We then told the British Police in Kosovo, part of the UN presence there, exactly were it was.

It was later retrieved by a our investigators and a Finnish bomb disposal squad - who told us the hill had been mined during the war.

Following our investigation, with the whole country on red alert, 12 local policemen were arrested on terrorist charges.

The officers, said to be members of a secret cell aiding Kosovan extremists, are suspected of plotting to blow up a bridge and a power station.

Sadkutz was arrested on Thursday by British police operating in Kosovo. And there were strong rumours last night that Hulji had been assassinated for compromising the KLA's terror operations.

But the KLA were not the only group interested in selling terrorist weapons. While we were in the Balkans word had quickly spread that the Real IRA wanted to buy weapons. In neighbouring Croatia we bought a machine gun and a Walther PPK pistol.

In Belgrade, the capital of nearby Serbia, the local Mafia emailed us to offer a cache of anti-tank missiles, Kalashnikovs, a mortar and illegal landmines for £50,000.

And in neighbouring Montenegro, on the Adriatic coast's version of the Costa Del Crime, another war criminal was selling death on an industrial scale.

The man, known as Vesko - a former bodyguard of Serbian warlord Arkan - offered to supply us with 20 rocket-propelled grenades, 20 shoulder-fired missiles and 20 Spider machine guns used by the SAS.

To return to Britain, our investigators followed the route used by gun-runners out of the Balkans. We drove the short distance into Montenegro then sailed by car ferry from Bar to the Italian port of Ancona, blending in with holiday makers.

Once there they flew home - but could have easily taken a coach through Italy and France to Calais or hidden among thousands of asylum seekers hitching rides on fruit lorries and train carriages.

Last night a spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Britain is on a high state of alert, only one below the highest level.

"That means we know the terrorists are planning to attack targets in the UK."

MacIntyre's Millions: Semtex For Sale, Channel Five, 9pm, December 17.



http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/content_objectid=13700443_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-WE-BUY-BAG-OF-SEMTEX-FROM-TERRORISTS-name_page.html

[FormerLib]

Two things that I couldn't help but notice in this story.

First, they actually bought explosives from the KLA but, to balance the story, they have to mention that Serbs offered to sell them weapons as well. Perhaps it is just me, but it seems that actually delivering 15 kg of explosives is a lot more serious than sending a e-mail.

Second, it's it odd how the pro-Muhammedan hate-mongers have gotten so quiet on this thread since you posted that article? Ah, truth must indeed hurt.

[Nennsy]

I am not surprised that Serbs and Croatians contacted them for weapons. These people on these two sides do not have any role in Government, or any other institution, nor they are on the payroll of the UN. They are criminals to Brits, as they are to Serbs or Croatians.
In such respect, I cannot say the same thing for UCK. Serbia was severely bombed, because of the "repression" on Albanians as international community says, although we were fighting the same people who sold explosives to this journalists. In Kosovo, when this happened, UNMIK tried to cover this up, but thanks to this article everybody knew what really happened. 12 KLA officers (on UN payroll) were suspended with pay, and nothing came out in the press after this action was taken. Today nobody knows if they were arrested or not, and honestly I doubt that we'll find out.
I got many more things to post, including speech of British parliamentarian in House of Commons when she called the things by proper name.
Now I want to introduce you to following article


British minister says Kosovo president should apologize (B92)

PRISTINA -- Wednesday – Britain’s Minister for Europe has called on Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova to “kneel down” and apologize for last month’s wave of attacks against the province’s Serb minority and Orthodox churches, media in Pristina reported today.

"I hope I will soon see Rugova kneeling down and apologizing to Europe for the crimes committed against European culture," Denis MacShane was quoted saying in comments translated into Albanian.

Rugova has yet to publicly condemn the violence, in which more than 600 Serb homes were razed and 29 Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed.

"What happened in 1999 is shameful, but you cannot take vengeance on churches," MacShane said, referring to attacks five years ago on ethnic Albanians by Serb security forces of the Milosevic regime.

He urged Serb and Albanian leaders to condemn such violence.

The British MP is due in Belgrade today, where he is expected to urge the new Serbian government to implement the reforms launched after the fall of the Milosevic regime in October 2000.

[getgoing]

I've seen several reports of UN staff accusing politicians of involvement the the plans for riots in March...any idea who?

[Nennsy]

Ibrahim Rugova President of Kosovo, Agim Qeku Head of KLA (today KPC-Kosovo Protection Corpus). Read the following:

Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax) (Lab): I, too, will try to cut my speech down and keep it brief.

We had to deploy an extra 750 troops to Kosovo last week. The entire violent episode exposed the character of the Albanian separatists, some with terrorist and criminal links, who are now in leading positions of power in that province. The Kosovo Liberation Army never disbanded. It simply became the Kosovo Protection Corps. Agim Ceku—I name him again—the man who ethnically cleansed the Krajina, is in charge of the Kosovo Protection Corps.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) that what we saw last week was a flagrant example of ethnic cleansing: 3,500 Serbs were burned out of their homes by well organised gangs and joined the 200,000 who have been expelled from the province during the past five years. Those people are scattered all around Serbia and Montenegro in camps. The hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Randall) and I, as officers of the joint group on Yugoslavia, visited some of those camps. I wish other hon. Members would take the trouble to do so. I am pleased that the spotlight is again on those forgotten ethnically cleansed people. Maybe now note will be taken of them.

The violent attacks against the Serbs and other minorities have gone on under the UN, KFOR and so-called protection force administration since the military campaign ended. It is inconceivable to me and many others in the House that thousands of troops from 30 countries are unable to protect the Serbs and other minorities living in the province. Between June 1999 and last week there were 6,923 attacks on the minorities by the Albanian separatists. I make a distinction between them, and people like Dr. Rugova and the men and women of peace in the Albanian community, but the separatists are in charge and they want an ethnically pure state and a greater Albania. Why else would they destroy 154 churches and monasteries? Why else would they want to wipe out a whole culture and eliminate diversity? Their aim is a greater Albania. I am old enough to remember another regime in Europe that sought to eliminate other races and cultures. The consequences for Europe and the world were disastrous.

The latest outbreak of ethnic cleansing was well organised. The Secretary General of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, accused the Kosovo Albanians and said:




"What happened last week, orchestrated and organised by the extremist factions in the Albanian community, is unacceptable—it should be condemned and it's a shame."

25 Mar 2004 : Column 1129


The UN spokesman said that more than 50,000 people took part in the violence. Only 163 have been arrested. The mob also turned against KFOR and the UN. We know, too, of the tragic killing of two UN policemen.
KFOR must take immediate steps to provide effective protection for the minority communities living under siege. The war criminals such as Agim Ceku and Hashim Thaci who give the Albanian community such a bad name should be arrested and taken to The Hague. UNMIK, which on several occasions has tried to overturn warrants and criminal proceedings against Ceku, should stop doing that.

Let me say something about the links between the separatists and other extremist Islamic groups. On 15 October 2003, a GIS/Defence and Foreign Affairs report—there have been regular reports since the 1970s—indicated that Ceku was directly engaged in support of Albanian-trained Islamic terrorists, and noted:




"During the first half of August 2003 300 Albanian-trained guerrillas including approximately 10 mujahedin (non-Balkan Muslims) were infiltrated across the Albanian border into Kosovo, where many have subsequently been seen in the company (and homes) of members of the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps. The guerrillas were trained in three camps inside the Albanian border at the towns Bajram Curi, Tropoja and Kuks where camps have been in operation since 1997".

From visits to Interpol as a representative on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I know that some extremists in Albania and the Kosovo Liberation Army have links with al-Qaeda. Kosovo is in the hands of mafia extremists, organised crime is the main economic activity, and the sinister link to terrorism is definite. I agree with my hon. Friends, and, in particular, with my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Clare Short), that we must have a serious discussion about the final settlement in Kosovo, because the issue will not go away.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/ukparl_hl?DB=ukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=kosovo+state+mafia+ethnic+minor+live+J0mahon+alice+mahon+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/cm040325/debtext/40325-25.htm#40325-25_spnew1

[Nennsy]

sorry, Kosovo Protection Corps

[captain albala]

what is the real question now is how to make the arrangements for US administration to recognize it\s fault policy, and shift toward partnership with serbia. Ofcourse, Serbia has to realise that it has to cooperate fully with the Hague tribunal , no matter how many disuputable wuestions arise about the Hague (and, to be honest it's attitude toward serbs), and improve in many aspects. But what serbia has is potential for becoming major US allie in the balkans and SE europe. Because of it's people, traditions, not to forget traditional german agressivness toward serbs and threats to US national security if/when Germany uses EU to cover it's expansion.

What we need both in Washington and Belgrade is PEOPLE ready to acknowledge threats , the nearest one from the Islamic terrorism, and the distant one, the German expansion.

[Nennsy]

I fully agree with you on this matter.

[dj_animal_2000]

What do you think, do FREEPER'S know that Albanians in Kosovo have named Streets after "Clinton", "Albright" and "Clark"...????

-----------

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Basking in public adoration the United States can only dream of in Iraq, ex-president Bill Clinton got a hero's welcome in Kosovo on Friday, four years after NATO bombing ended Serb rule.

Thousands of Kosovo Albanians turned out to greet the man they see as their liberator from a decade of repression under then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. Schoolchildren got the day off and well-wishers waving the Star and Stripes thronged Pristina's Bill Clinton Boulevard as his motorcade drove by.

Loud applause erupted when Clinton, while also preaching ethnic reconciliation with Serbs, gave what Kosovo Albanians may be keen to interpret as implicit support for their drive for complete independence from Serbia. "I love this country," he told a packed Pristina University hall in a speech which, like much of his visit, was broadcast live on television.

"I want to see you move toward self-government...," he said after receiving an honorary doctorate. True to form, Clinton later worked the crowd waiting outside, shaking hands as NATO-led peacekeepers and U.N. police held people back.

Unlike many other predominantly Muslim places in the world, the United States is genuinely popular in this landlocked territory of two million, placed under U.N.-led administration in the summer of 1999 after NATO's 11-week air war. "There is a holiday in Kosovo today because Clinton is here," said local journalist Blerta Foniqi, 20, as she waited for him to arrive. "He's one of Kosovo's most loved people," said her colleague.

The reception contrasted starkly with the maximum security visits to Iraq recently by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, both of whom had virtually no contact with ordinary local people.

Not only are Kosovo streets named after the former president, but some proud parents have named their new-born children Clinton or Madeleine, after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

---------------

Do they know too that the two major American-Albanians organisations (NAAC and AACL) openly support Flip-flop Kerry and the RATS...???

hmmmmmmmmmm.....maybe these links here are too "Serbian propaganda":

Bosnia II: The Clinton Administration Sets Course for NATO Intervention in Kosovo

The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties?

------------------

How about this?

From Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1999, Thursday, Home Edition Part A; Page 18 "...Many Kosovo Albanians sided with the Nazis during World War II, and today, some of them do not distinguish between the past and present German armies--both of which, to their way of thinking, accomplished the same feat: freeing them from Serbian rule. "This is a second liberation," said Ali Majo, 68, a native of this city in southwestern Kosovo. "I can't describe how it felt when we saw German soldiers come to liberate us again."

"So much for moral victories in the Balkans.

"Majo was 10 years old when the German Wehrmacht rolled into Prizren in April 1941. The Nazis arrived in the hills around town on motorcycles, looked through their binoculars and opened fire on a partisan artillery position, he recalled.

'"After that, they came in and circled the town,' Majo said. 'We all shouted, Heil Hitler. We were proud of the German soldiers because they liberated us from the Serbs.'

"Naim Poloshka, 72, remembers how one of the Wehrmacht soldiers gave him a chocolate and a ride on his motorcycle. They drove him around town so he could point out houses where partisans lived.

"Like much of Prizren, Poloshka was stunned when he woke one morning to find that the Germans had hanged nine suspected partisans--five Serbs and four ethnic Albanians--in the center of town overnight.

"But it did not dampen his enthusiasm for the Nazis."

-------------------