Posted on 10/07/2006 2:14:14 PM PDT by Bokababe
The Conference on Kosovo was held at Capitol Hill Club (Eisenhower Lounge) in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, September 28, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM. The conference was organized by The American Council for Kosovo, Christian Solidarity International, and Religious Freedom Coalition.
Good morning and thank you all for attending this important conference, “Reconsidering Kosovo.” As the archpastor of the Orthodox Christian Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, I have visited the United States this week and met with executive and legislative branch officials and policy makers to describe the agony that has befallen the Christian people of Kosovo and to warn against the path that lies before us.
As the title of this conference indicates, and as I conveyed to these officials during my meetings, it is hoped that the United States reconsiders the current direction of its policy toward Kosovo. For far too long, America has supported Kosovo’s path toward independence without realizing, perhaps, that it would condemn my people to extinction. And, of great concern to the international community, Kosovo independence would ultimately lead to the creation of a new rogue state. Can Europe afford to have a Muslim-led rogue state within its borders during this ongoing, US-led global war against Islamo-Fascism?
How can the United States and its European allies consider support for an independent Kosovo, when, under the nose of the United Nations and NATO, Kosovo has become a black hole of corruption and organized crime? Is it to be expected that an independent Kosovo will suddenly end the trafficking of drugs, weapons and slaves – including women and children – when the international community has been unable to end these atrocities for seven years?
A European black hole of corruption and organized crime will only enlarge itself if Kosovo is forcibly detached from Serbia. Kosovo’s failed and corrupt provisional institutions are already led by Muslim Albanian former members of the terrorist organization, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). KLA terrorists have close ties to the Albanian mafia and these ties will only tighten should independence occur.
America’s leadership must ask itself if it really wants a new rogue “state” led by jihad terrorists and criminals. Kosovo’s current so-called “prime minister” is a man who bears command responsibility for the murders by KLA terrorists of 669 Serbs and 18 members of other ethnic groups, 518 counts of inflicting serious bodily harm – including torture and wounding – and 584 counts of abduction, many of the victims of which are presumed dead. This same man who would lead a forcibly detached Kosovo recently met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and posed for pictures with her. Why is this man welcomed in Washington and treated as a legitimate statesman when he has yet to face justice for his war crimes? Is it wise for the United States to meet with a terrorist leader during this war against Islamo-Fascism?
Among the characteristic jihad terror practices of the KLA terrorists is the beheading of victims, as seen in other countries with active jihad terror movements. In 1999, soon after the beginning of the international administration in Kosovo, KLA terrorists kidnapped Hieromonk Hariton of the Holy Archangels monastery. His body, showing signs of torture, was found, but not his head. Why are jihad beheadings an outrage in the rest of the world, but not in Kosovo? When photos exist of KLA terrorists – whose identities are known but who have not been to justice – with heads of their Christian Serb victims, why does the international community not push Kosovo’s leadership for their arrest as war criminals?
The jihad in Kosovo was launched in 1995 at a meeting in Tirana, Albania between Osama Bin Laden and two leaders of the KLA. These two terrorists now regularly meet with Kosovo’s so-called “prime minister” to manage criminal rackets. I have come to America to ask for an end to this policy of dealing with KLA terrorists – a policy inherited from the past Administration. As my country Serbia is faced with increasing pressure from these violent terrorists, is it fair to expect the Serbian government to hand over part of its territory to this violent Islamic movement?
This Islamic movement within Kosovo is responsible for an intifada against Christians, which has resulted in 220,000 Serbs and non-Albanians being forced to leave Kosovo since 1999 – AFTER the end of the war. In addition, centuries-old churches and monasteries – more than 150 of them – have been destroyed.
Every day a violent crime happens in Kosovo and Metohija. Although some would like to turn their back and ignore this unpleasant truth, I bear witness to this violence every day. The Muslim Albanians use violence to eradicate the remaining Serbs and non-Albanians in the hope of creating an Islamic rogue “state”.
Symbols of Christianity are targeted by Muslim Albanians for destruction with particular zeal. When churches are attacked, particular targets for demonic rage are the crosses on top of the church, and images of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother. In Kosovo, not even the Christian dead may rest peacefully – Muslim Albanian desecration of Christian cemeteries is, sadly, an all-too-common occurrence in Kosovo and Metohija. How can the international community ignore religious freedom and the eradication of Christianity when considering the forcible detachment of Kosovo from Serbia?
Detaching Kosovo from democratic Serbia, of which it is an integral part, would mean a virtual sentence of extinction for my people in the province and create a rogue state in which the terrorists are the government. At a time when America is leading the free world in a global struggle against jihad terror, Kosovo must not continue to be an exception, where, for reasons I do not understand, American officials have taken the side of the criminals and jihadists.
As America has discovered in the past, appeasing jihadists cannot buy protection from jihad. Neither will sacrificing our land and our blood.
In closing, let me note what I respectfully suggest is your responsibility as Americans. This catastrophe will not happen unless your government insists upon it. It is well known that among the countries in the Contact Group, the United States -- or more more properly the State Department -- is pushing for the illegal and forcible detachment of Kosovo from democratic Serbia. So today I ask you, as Americans, please think how we can convince your government to stop and consider the consequences of what they're doing and change course before it is too late for us, -- and maybe for you as well. Thank you.
Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren (Kosovo and Metohija), spiritual leader of Kosovo’s Christian Serbian community
"One of the individuals accompanying the delegation was an Albanian photographer whose husband was Serbian. This individual confided to us that her husband could not leave their home unless accompanied by her, for fear of attack. It is virtually impossible for a Serbian Christian to obtain emergency services in Kosovo. Serbs die mysteriously when they are taken to any of the Albanian run hospitals. Christians have no freedom of movement and therefore no freedom to practice their faith."............The medical supplies which included very expensive antibiotics, were delivered to a clinic in the village of Osojanje in Kosovo. Although the clinic had an ambulance, the doctor informed me that he could not send any patients to Albanian controlled hospitals, particularly pregnant women, because male Serbian children do not survive birth there."
Wait...I thought Clinton fixed all the problems there!?
susie
Of course he did. He cancelled evrythin Christianic...
Hi Susie:)
Like everything else Clinton touched, he made it far worse for all concerned. And unfortunately, Bush just wants to sweep it under the rug and ignore the consequences -- but if Bush does that, it will come back to bite us with a new Balkan war that we will not be able to stay out of and we just might end up on the wrong side of. And for what? To defend the Christian-hating Clinton legacy?
Yes, and when I published this article to SerbBlog, guess what showed up? Someone with a really off-the-wall joke post and who is recruiting for Islam-http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19468172&postID=116025475100609513
Here is the page dedicated to Father Hariton who was decapitated in Kosovo by jihadists: http://www.kosovo.net/hariton.html
Well, I went over and added something in Arabic.
Disclaimer: I neither speak, understand, nor read Arabic. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.
Well, since after everything that has been done there neither the Serbs can live under the Albanians, nor the Albanians under the Serbs, the only way to sort this mess with minimal dislocation [of that there has already been more than enough] is the partition. Take Vaclav Havel as an example in his managing the split of Czechoslovakia.
Hi, how have you been? Yeah, I had big misgivings when the whole thing was happening, altho I knew very little about that area of the world. It is a tragedy.
susie
Indeed. I hope you knew I was being sarcastic. I knew very little about that area of the world when it was going on, but I had big doubts about it. Very disturbing to hear what's going on.
susie
everything clinton touched died or turned to shi-ite....he backed the wrong side of the war...the poor muzzies were being ethnicly cleansed ...it was just another of clinton's and the lib/dem msm lies...just like the massacre at jenin in the west bank...that wasn't...
were the troops supposed to be out of kosovo and bosnia around Christmas...clinton just didn't state what century....how come that war sage murtha..doesn't state that this is a quagmire and that US troops should be redeployed out of there???
Kronos77,
Please put me on the Serbia Ping List.
Thanks.
Of course Bill did. He attacked the Christians because he knew that they wouldn't strap on explosives and try to give him a hug.
I do remember wondering why we were not siding with the Christians in that fight.
susie
I added a response, Bokababe.
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