George Washington (Farewell Address)
Posted on 12/19/2004 12:41:42 PM PST by w6ai5q37b
U.N.-APPROVED TERRORIST TO RUN KOSOVO
by Srdja Trifkovic
Imagine a "multi-ethnic" Palestine, administered by the United Nations, in which a Hamas leader notorious for terrorist attacks on Jewish civilians is certified as the Authority's "democratically" elected chief executive. Imagine Abu Musab al-Zarqawi being approved by a future UN governor as Iraq's prime minister. Imagine that in Kosovo a KLA murderer . . . but then in Kosovo you don't have to imagine anything. On December 3 the provincial parliament in Pristina voted to elect Ramush Haradinaj as prime minister. This 36-year-old former commander of the "Kosovo Liberation Army" has been indicted in Serbia on 108 detailed counts of murder, rape, and other crimes. He is also under investigation by The Hague War Crimes Tribunal, which is usually reluctant to take an interest in non-Serbs unless the case is particularly egregious. The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has implied that an indictment could be issued for him by the end of the year. The nation-building farce reached surreal proportions as Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN/EU governor of Kosovo, described Haradinaj's election as an example of "democracy at work . . . in full conformity with democratic and constitutional principles."
The appointment followed a coalition agreement between Ibrahim Rugova, whose party won most votes at the province's general elections, and the much smaller Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, led by Haradinaj, which came in third. Petersen's posture reflects the desire of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to keep an illusion of order at any price. Two years ago UNMIK arrested Haradinaj and his KLA colleague 'Remi' Mustafa, but the event sparked violent protests demanding "freedom for the freedom fighters."
Haradinaj returned from Switzerland—where he worked as a night club bouncer—to Kosovo in early 1998, joined the KLA, and soon acquired reputation for brutality. In April the KLA commander Hashim Thaci appointed Haradinaj commander of the Metohija region. His HQ was located in the village of Glodjane, where he was born. At that time the KLA was still on the State Department list of terrorist organizations and Haradinaj's behavior amply justified such designation. Haradinaj established a special unit called the Black Eagles, which under Haradinaj's command kidnapped and brutally murdered dozens of civilians, mostly but not exclusively Serbs. In the vicinity of Glodjane 39 bodies of civilians were discovered in three mass graves in September 1998. Later that month 13 unidentified bodies of civilians of both sexes and various ages were discovered in the canal supplying a nearby lake, and 21 bodies were recovered elsewhere in the district. According to the forensic experts' report,
"Due to various stages of decomposition, it was not possible to establish the cause of death solely on the basis of the autopsy. In 19 cases bone fractures indicated wounds made by bullets fired from small caliber weapons. In 24 cases signs of heavy objects were found; in two cases there were traces of sharp mechanical weapons, while in three instances the victims were exposed to high temperatures (bodies found in Dasinovac). Several objects on and near the bodies (metal wire and adhesive tape) suggest that some of the victims were first tied up and tortured."
Over 70 pounds of documents and testimonies submitted to The Hague indicate that during the 1998-99 KLA insurgency Haradinaj was responsible for those and other atrocities not only against local Serbs, but also against Romanies, Slav Muslims, and Albanians who were not supporting the KLA. Some of the documents include specific instances of crimes committed under Haradinaj's direct orders.
In 2001 Haradinaj extended his "zone of operations" to Macedonia, this time under the label of the ANA (Albanian National Army). According to the Macedonian Defense Ministry, its goal was to fight for new territories and to keep the dream of creating the greater Albania alive.
In Kosovo itself, Haradinaj has masterminded a highly developed network that threatens and intimidates those UNMIK police and administrative officers who are reluctant to accept his "lobbying contributions" (bribery). It is common knowledge that Albanian leaders in the Kosovo Police Service obey Haradinaj, and not their nominal UN masters. His men have been appointed municipal mayors and, paradoxically, are also members of negotiating groups for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, which gives them, and him, access to confidential Serbian and UNMIK plans. As an astute commentator has noted, it was not enough for the UN to whitewash NATO's illegal invasion and occupation of Kosovo, to sit idly by and even justify the ethnic cleansing and barbaric destruction of Serbs and their cultural treasures, or even to stage sham elections designed to give a veneer of legitimacy to the abomination they have created—no, they had to go all the way and allow the appointment of a gangster, murderer, and terrorist as "prime minister" of the occupied province:
"It's not that the UN and NATO and EU and the U.S. don't know who Ramush Haradinaj is. After all, they made him: sponsored his terrorist army, promoted him from a local thug into a politician, covered up his murderous activities, and even patched him up when his victims shot back. So, his appointment is deliberate, and the limp protestations of EU's foreign policy commissar are likely just a smokescreen."
With such a man at the helm it is to be feared that Kosovo will continue to be the worst-administered corner of Europe by far, a terminally dysfunctional polity plagued by crime, violence, and degrading inhumanity. Haradinaj's promise that his government "will be engaged in the realization of the demands of the international community for the implementation of democratic standards in Kosovo" has chilling connotations, especially in view of Petersen's earlier explanation why he could not reject Haradinaj's candidacy for Prime Ministership: "If I say no to this candidate, I would be saying no to democracy."
If the new PM and his UN mentor follow the model of "democratic standards" Haradinaj first perfected in his fiefdom at Glodjane back in 1998, before too long we'll witness yet another outbreak of mob violence like the one last March 17. That episode was described by a senior UN official as the "Kristallnacht": thousands of armed Albanian extremists torched Serb houses and medieval churches, clashed with UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers, and forced thousands of Serbs and other minorities to flee.
More seriously for American interests, Haradinaj's external links are not limited to the network of pimps and dope traffickers in Brooklyn, Milan, or Zurich. Interpol now believes that Osama bin Laden is linked to Kosovo-Albanian gangs who have taken over a growing web of crime across Europe. According to The Independent, "The investigations into organized crime links with his terrorist network also show that bin Laden supplied one of his top military commanders for an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict." The Black Eagles, perhaps? It is a fair bet that the recipient of bin Laden's assistance is now the prime minister of a self-designated republic in the heart of Europe. With friends like the UN/EU administrators in Kosovo and the illustrious Mr. Haradinaj himself, the United States needs no enemies.
The politico's sure forgot Washington's words, didn't they?
Bumping for a later read.
This here "Great Prophet Zarquon" is RBJ, I am quite (90%) sure.
Yeah, only he'd be stupid enough to shift from quoting his make-believe universe where it was signifigant that "Spock wore a beard" to a Douglas Adams reference.
That fat, stupid ex-JAG taxi driver is quite the joke in life, yes?
thks Clinton for bringing us the KLA and Bosnian Jihadists
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