Terrorists Threaten Europe from Balkan Safe Haven

The turning of a blind eye in certain, select cases has produced some strange anomalies in the global war on terror. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts note some striking instances.

The most recent was the case of the North Korean cargo vessel, intercepted by a Spanish warship on terrorist patrol in the Arabian Sea on December 10, and found to contain 12 dismantled Scud-type Scud missiles well concealed under 40,000 bags of cement. The vessel was boarded by US explosives experts. The communiqué reporting the incident stated that the missile cargo’s destination was “unknown” – possibly Yemen or al Qaeda, but not Iraq.

The odd thing is that, while the North Korean vessel was expected, it was not allowed to dock at its port of call and thus solve the mystery of its destination.

The likely reason for this omission is simple: Yemen is a valuable ally in the US-led coalition against international terrorism. Its government allows US special forces to hunt al Qaeda fugitives on its soil. At the same time, on the side, Yemen is also deep in arms trafficking. The Red Sea republic has grown into a key under-the-counter Middle East-East Africa center for buying, selling - but mostly smuggling, weapons of war. The North Korean freighter was stopped before it reach port - both to prevent the cargo from reaching the wrong hands and so as not to land the helpful Yemeni authorities in hot water.

Prague is another case in point. President George W. Bush, in the Czech capital last month for an important NATO conference, which was dedicated inter alia to international cooperation for the stamping out terror, was prevented by a terrorist alert from going to Radio Liberty studios for a scheduled interview. The interview took place in his hotel room. Similarly, Israeli tourists flocking to Prague were cautioned last week to be on guard against an active terrorist danger.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts stress that the threat does not come from distant lands but from next door, the Balkans. There, as in Yemen, the blinkers are on.

All Skopje has become accustomed to seeing a 45-year old man clad in a long white robe and flak jacket pushing his cart around the food shelves of the big Vero department store almost every Wednesday or Thursday of the week. Two hand grenades are stuck in the jacket’s front pockets and a Kalashnikov automatic rifle slung across his back. Most of Vero’s customers and staff know him to be one of 30 wanted top al Qaeda and Hizballah operatives hiding in the Crna Gora mountains north of the capital, near the Kosovo border. The Macedonian army and NATO forces policing the Kosovo Macedonia frontier have thrown out an extensive dragnet for their capture. Yet none of the hunters has ever waylaid the frequent shopper or followed him to his hideout.

Again, the reason is simple. Those 30 terrorists are under the protection of Ali Ahmeti, formerly a key commander of the National Liberation Army (NLA), who went into national Macedonian politics by running for election on September 15 at the head of the new Albanian Democratic Party. The European Union-brokered Ohrid peace accord, signed in 2001 to halt ethnic Albanian insurrectionist violence, provided for its ringleader to enjoy a power sharing arrangement in Macedonia. In return, he pledged to renounce civil strife and turn his back on organized crime and his Islamist terrorist associations.

Ahmeti was also supposed to hand over the names of the 30 terror chiefs hiding in the hills.

The Albanian rebel chief, since gaining his seat in parliament, has not honored a single one of his promises. He did not disarm his militia and, while handing over 30 names, which still have to be checked, he claimed he never agreed to their detention.

Moreover, since the signing of the Ohrid accord, the guerrilla leader turned politician has opened the door wide to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda and allied terrorist groups from the Middle East. Neither Macedonian police officers nor international peacekeepers dare venture into parts of Tetovo and most of the villages strung along Macedonia’s western frontier. The coalition of Islamist terrorists who rule that area pose a rising threat of extremist Muslim penetration to other parts of former Yugoslavia and their European neighbors, while turning Macedonia into their launching pad for terrorist attacks across Europe.

However, the European governments who brokered the accord are restraining NATO and Macedonian forces from going after the al Qaeda and Hizballah leaders, fearing the Macedonian government will fall and the country revert to civil bloodshed between Macedonian Slavs and militant Albanians.

In any case it might be too late for a limited operation. Local Skopjans report that the 30 wanted men have multiplied, joined in their Crna Gora mountain enclave by a small army of some thousand fighting men, who can be heard practicing in the use of automatic weapons, grenades and explosives.

Al Qaeda’s reach from Skopje to Karachi, southern Pakistan, was highlighted on December 5, when the Macedonian honorary consulate building was blown up. The bodies of three Pakistanis were found, all murdered before the explosion. Their deaths are regarded as revenge for the deaths of seven Pakistanis suspected of plotting terrorist attacks on Western embassies in Skopje on behalf of al Qaeda. Macedonian police hunted them down last April and killed them in a gun battle north of Skopje.

The West is being defeated in the so-called "War on Terrorism." When the serious historians write the post-mortems of the kampf they will focus on the Balkans and the failed American foreign policy there. The West now being whipsawed by a classic scenario that sees US taxpayer dollars being used to kill Americans in the coming Islamic Entente offensives -- after first being filtered through the international frameworks within the Balkans.

While Islamic fighters train in Albania and Bosnia, Serbia continues to export technology and systems to Iraq and Africa. As both Balkan Muslims and Christians rail against the Western neo-hegemonists, they are grateful for the foolishness of American foreign policy that continues to pump hundreds of millions of unaccounted dollars each year into the region. Dollars that are never seen again after they first enter the Byzantine maze of Balkan financial fronts.

The recent purchase of Krystal Banka by the Hippo Bank a case in point. Krystal Banka holding the paper on more than 150 million USD in collateralised property in the Republika Srpska. These properties the "guarantee" that America will be paid back for loans made through the International Finance Corporation arm of the World Bank.

Now these properties, in default for more than a year on these loans, have been sold to the Hippo Bank for 1 DM. "Poof" -- these 150 million dollars of taxpayer money are gone -- forever disappeared down the Balkan black hole.

In reality there never were any "loans" -- these transactions merely a sham for elements of the US State Department to covertly fund former Yugoslav criminal organisations through the World Bank. These monies help buy off "legitimate" local law enforcement while ensuring that international investigators are serviced as they desire...

Mladen Ivanic in the RS is a focal point of this criminal enterprise. Yet this man continues to be feted and hailed by Foggy Bottom and 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue. America too caught up in the "Big picture" to see what is really going on...

The same funding mechanisms support Islamic Entente camps in Albania and Bosnia. The players are all the same -- the "usual suspects" merely hopping from one Balkan capital to the next to oversee the disbursements that eventually will partially find their way into the private bank accounts of American and British officals.

They grow rich while America's enemies grow strong. If this truly were a "war on terror" then these officials would be arrested, charged with treason, and -- if found guilty -- executed by a firing squad.

It is all a fraud and a sham. Brave Albanian freedom fighters such as Ali Ahmeti and the former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army understand completely the hypocrisy and moral inequities of these Western "programmes." They shake their heads in amazement that the West cuts its own throat for nothing less than money...

But these structures will soon be destroyed if Albania and the Tetovo Republic are not paid what they consider their "new" fair share. Why should Islamic Entente killers be rewarded for killing Westerners by funds from America and the bankrupt Britain -- when such monies can go to the Kosovo Liberation Army instead?

America talking the talk but backing away now from walking the walk. The next Islamic Entente strikes designed to collapse the global economic structure with a trio of blows -- the scores of millions siphoned off by the Eastern holy warriors from the Balkans funding the West's doom.

"Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again..."

Millions will die in the Third World War -- the West has already been defeated...

The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.

Hezbollah uses Canada as base: CSIS
Agency wiretaps show suspected operatives using laundered money to buy materiel

Stewart Bell
National Post

Thursday, October 31, 2002

The terrorist group Hezbollah has been using Canada as an offshore base for raising money and purchasing supplies needed to carry out and videotape attacks against Israel, documents obtained by the National Post show.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents detail how Hezbollah has laundered tens of thousands of dollars through Canadian banks while drawing on the accounts to shop for military equipment.

Hezbollah agents shopped for blasting devices, night-vision goggles, powerful computers and camera equipment used to record attacks against Israeli forces, according to dozens of CSIS wiretaps obtained yesterday.

The Canadian operation was so successful that CSIS agents overheard suspected Hezbollah operatives in Vancouver in early 1999 congratulating each other in a monitored telephone conversation.

"Ali Adham Amhaz informed Mohamad Hassan Dbouk that he was watching the latest news on today's operation involving Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Amhaz congratulated Dbouk for Hezbollah's success in their improving ability which was making Israel retaliate for the attacks."

Even as they lived in Canada with their families as immigrants the Hezbollah operatives apparently remained disdainful of their new surroundings, denouncing "the Canadians and the Zionists" in a wiretapped conversation.

Hezbollah is a radical Shiite group formed in Lebanon in 1982 that is funded by Iran and Syria. It is responsible for kidnappings, hostage takings and bombings that killed hundreds of Americans in the early 1980s.

Although defended recently as a political movement by Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, and Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hezbollah has been running secret operations in Canada for more than a decade.

Mr. Chrétien declined to condemn Hezbollah after he attended an event at the francophone summit in Beirut two weeks ago that was also attended by the group's leader.

But Canadian police and intelligence reports show the group has been using Canada in recent years to buy materiel, forge travel documents, raise money and steal luxury vehicles.

CSIS reports dated April, 2002, show that in 1999 and 2000, Hezbollah sent detailed shopping lists to agents who were allegedly part of a network with operatives in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal who filled the orders and shipped the equipment back to Lebanon in courier packages.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were moved through various Canadian banks such as the Bank of Nova Scotia to finance purchases for what the participants referred to as the "resistance" and the "brave people."

Canadian Hezbollah agents also discussed a scam they called a "miracle strike," which involved taking out life insurance on someone and then having them killed in a bombardment in Lebanon.

Two of the alleged Canadian agents, Lebanese immigrants identified as Mr. Dbouk and his brother-in-law Mr. Amhaz, shopped at a "military supply warehouse and looked at some military supplies and instruments in Vancouver." Mr. Dbouk inquired at one company about buying "any equipment used to blow up rocks."

The agents were cautious to protect the secrecy of their work, although apparently unaware their every phone call was being recorded by CSIS agents who were already on to their clandestine procurement operation.

"Amhaz expressed his concern about depositing large sums of money in the bank account and suggested that Dbouk give him smaller sums of money to avoid suspicion [by the banks]," CSIS wrote.

"Dbouk advised Amhaz that he would give instructions that the money be transferred to Ali Bassal in Montreal, after which time Dbouk would fly/travel to Montreal to get the cash and return to B.C."

Mr. Dbouk fled Canada and returned to Lebanon but Mr. Amhaz still resides in Burnaby, B.C. The U.S. sought to have him extradited to stand trial but dropped the case without explanation. Mr. Amhaz has denied any involvement with Hezbollah.

The extent of Hezbollah operations in Canada first came to light in the 1990s when an agent named Mohammed Hussein al-Husseini was arrested for deportation. He told CSIS about a vast cross-Canada network.

He also confessed that agents had spied on Canadians and sent information about Canadian life and infrastructure back to Lebanon "in case there's a problem with Canada."

In two cases, alleged Hezbollah agents wanted for terrorist activities overseas were found hiding out in Edmonton and Ottawa.

One of them has been charged with taking part in a 1993 bombing attack in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans.

"Hezbollah has members in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto -- all of Canada," Mr. Al-Husseini, a member of Hezbollah's security organization, told CSIS before he was deported in 1994.

"Hezbollah wants to collect information on Canada, on life in Canada, its roads and so on, in case there's a problem with Canada." He was reportedly referring to videotapes of Canadian landmarks sent to Hezbollah.

The RCMP has also linked auto theft rings in Ontario and Quebec to Hezbollah, saying that a portion of the criminal proceeds were funnelled to the group, and that luxury SUVs stolen in Canada were being driven by high-ranking Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon.

The CSIS reports on Hezbollah's Canadian activities were made available recently to U.S. attorneys prosecuting accused operatives involved in a North Carolina cigarette smuggling ring

Chretien draws criticism for Hezbollah blunder

CTV Newsnet: PM criticized for giving speech with Hezbollah leader in audience 0:47

Beirut 2002 Francophone summit

CTV News Staff

Prime Minister Jean Chretien is being criticized for speaking to an audience in Lebanon that included the leader of Hezbollah.

The Globe and Mail reports the head of the militant Islamic group sat just metres from Chretien as he addressed a francophone summit in Beirut on Friday.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah sat in the summit's front row as Chretien delivered an address to French-speaking world leaders gathered for the meeting of La Francophonie.

Afterward, Chretien said he was unaware Nasrallah was present at the summit session.

"I didn't know," Chretien said. "I didn't meet him. He was invited by the Lebanese government."

Hezbollah, which many Lebanese credit with liberating the southern part of their country following 20 years of Israeli occupation, is near the top of the United States' list of terrorist groups.

Its military arm, which Nasrallah leads, has been condemned by both the U.S. and Canada for committing acts of terror in the Mideast.

The Globe quotes Canadian officials as saying they were not aware of the Hezbollah leader's attendance at the event and did not ask about the guest list ahead of Chretien's address.

Lebanese officials said Nasrallah was one of a number of religious leaders invited to the summit opening and that he was seated between two Orthodox Christian bishops, the paper reports.

Stockwell Day, the Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic, is quoted by the Globe as saying that "it is astonishing" Chretien would not have known about Hezbollah's participation in the meeting.

Hezbollah's military arm is not permitted to operate in Canada, although Ottawa allows the group's social agencies to raise money for schools and clinics it runs in Palestinian refugee camps.

Although Chretien used his speech at the opening session of the three-day gathering to push a human rights agenda, Mideast tensions had already begun to overshadow all other issues.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, opening the summit, said any possible military action against Iraq for ignoring UN resolutions was hypocritical as long as Israel failed to implement resolutions which applied to the Jewish state.

"Arguments called in support of such an action, namely the disregard by Iraq of certain resolutions of the United Nations and its production of weapons of mass destruction, will remain unconvincing as long as Israel ... continues to ignore with impunity a large number of UN resolutions," he said.

Arabs repeatedly cite UN resolutions which call for Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories.

The bitterness between Lebanon and Israel dates back decades -- from the Israeli invasion of 1982 and the subsequent occupation that ended just two years ago. The two countries are still officially in a state of war.

Chretien refused to condone or condemn Lebanon's strong words on Israel.

"We don't agree with everything they say. They probably don't agree with everything I say. It is a dialogue, and for me, it is very complicated," said Chretien.

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