Bin Laden's Balkan bases?[ALBANIA, BOSNIA, KOSOVO]

Agence France-Presse ^ | 9/20 | Victoria Stegic

[oxi-nato]

BELGRADE - Osama bin Laden's followers are active throughout the Balkans, with bases in Bosnia, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania, Serbia's interior minister said yesterday as Belgrade offered to share information with the United States on their activities.

But in Tirana, Interior Minister Ilir Gjoni flatly denied that the tentacles of bin Laden's organization had spread to Albania, as did a spokesman for ethnic Albanian rebels in FYROM. Bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon, is living in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taleban but is said to have followers in as many as 15 countries worldwide. "Bin Laden's organization has two bases in Bosnia-Herzegovina, two in Kosovo, and is also present in Albania," Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihailovic was quoted by the independent Beta news agency as saying.

Serbia's Interior Ministry had "a good deal of information on the activities" in the Balkans "of the world's best known promoter of terrorism," Mihailovic added. "We know who is at the head of the branches of bin Laden's worldwide organization, which is also present in [the Former Yugoslav Republic of] Macedonia," he said.

Denial But officials in Tirana poured scorn on Mihailovic's claims. "Bin Laden's organization does not have bases in Albania," Gjoni told AFP. "Albania is determined to participate with all means at its disposal in the international struggle against terrorism," he said, adding that Albania was ready to offer the United States "all necessary aid in this respect."

He said that in recent years Albania had been working in conjunction with the information services of several countries, including the United States, and had "exchanged particularly useful information with them." The minister refused to confirm allegations that bin Laden had visited Albania in 1994 as the head of a delegation of Saudi businessmen. "We adopted severe measures to prevent infiltrations on our territory by people sought by other countries for alleged criminal activities," said Gjoni.

Since 1998, Albania - with assistance from American information services - has stopped and expelled around 10 Arabs suspected of terrorist activities. Gjoni said that since the US attacks, Albania had shored up its border controls. Press reports in Albania suggest border police have been given a list of 12 suspects wanted by Interpol following the attacks in the USA.

Ethnic Albanian fighters in the National Liberation Army of FYROM also denied having links with bin Laden. "An enormous distance separates us from the ideas put forward by Osama bin Laden," political representative Ali Ahmeti said in a statement sent to AFP in Tirana.

A spokesman for the Bosnian government denied allegations in the country's media that bin Laden holds a Bosnian passport. Four hundred nationals of Islamic countries carry Bosnian passports, but a spokesman for Sarajevo, Amer Kapetanovic, said categorically that "Osama bin Laden does not."

[oxi-nato]

KEEP DENYING THE TRUTH!!!

[BigOrra]

It's not too hard to believe that Osama bin Laden's ties would extend to another group of Muslims being oppressed by a regime of white Christians. While this report contains largely unconfirmed allegations, verification of its basic points would not surprse me.

[Cicero]

Bush was stuck with the shambles clinton created in the Balkans, and it's extremely difficult for him to say, flat out, that clinton was wrong and we made a horrible mistake. Yes, indeed we did make a horrible mistake. Moreover, the media are not going to want to admit that THEY made a horrible mistake and lied through their teeth in the process, so they are hardly likely to help Bush reverse course. Realistically, the only political option that Bush has is to turn things around gradually, as more and more people come to understand what kind of people the Albanian terrorists are. It's unfortunate, and it's unjust, but let's just hope NATO does change it's policies there, even if it doesn't happen as soon as we'd like.

[SKYDRIFTER]

Bush may be stuck with the politics, but Cheney's old outfit, "Brown & Root" is stuck with the lucrative profits out of Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.

[eniapmot]

I thought he was a Halliburton man. Or was it Baker Tool?

[SKYDRIFTER]

You're correct - Haliburton owns Brown & Root.