Posted on 10/31/2003 1:00:14 PM PST by alternatediscourse
Al Qaeda's European attack route is the Balkans, new report claims First Published on the balkanalysis.com A provocative report from the US Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare claims that the Balkans is about to heat up again as an Islamic terrorist base. This surpasses traditional nationalist rifts, claims author Yossef Boddansky, and is intended to increase al Qaeda infiltration. Thus the Balkan operations would be ultimately controlled by the Evil One, OBL. However, it remains to be seen to what extent this is true. Boddansky does not cite sources, and his assessment for Bosnia is more likely to be accurate than his view on Macedonia, for example. The report, dated 19 September 2003, states that "... starting in mid-August 2003, radical Islamist leaders elevated the role of the terrorism infrastructure in the Balkans as a key facilitator of a proposed escalation of conflict into the heart of Europe, Israel and the United States." Apparently, the elevation of one Shahid Emir Mussa Ayzi- a veteran of Afghanistan with close al Qaeda and Taliban ties- to coordinate and run special recruitment operations is the ominous development here. In what canít be a compliment to anyone, Boddansky states the new goal as making jihadis of the "Slavs" or as jihad leaders call them, ìwhite devils.î He canít be talking about Serbs or Macedonians here. Indeed, just a little later he describes the "main recruitment pool" as consisting of Bosnian Muslims, as well as some ìRussian convertsî (Chechens?) recruited in the Caucasus. The report states that in August Ayzi took over this Balkan brigade, and reported his success with the "Slavs" to Mullah Qudratullah, a "senior Taliban official." Another key leader is said to be Muhammad al-Zawahiri, the brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Apparently, "... the senior Islamist commanders now consider what they call "the Albanian landî- Albania, Serbia's Kosovo province and parts of Macedonia - to be safe for use as a springboard for the insertion of a new wave of expert terrorists, including the Slavs, into Western Europe and onward throughout the West." Boddansky claims that at the same time, "... there was a discernible increase in the number of foreigners in the Islamist mosques throughout Albania." "'... They [originally] come from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran. They come from many countries,í noted an eyewitness in Tirana. 'They arrive [in Tirana] from Afghanistan,' he added. These expert terrorists are being prepared in Albania for their specific missions in the West." Here is where things get interesting. The Albanian lobbyists in American are now doubt enflamed by the next charge- that the Albanian National Army (ANA or AKSH) is now training these dubious imports, with most of the senior trainers being "mujahedin who retreated from Bosnia." In return for Albanian support, Boddansky claims, "the Islamists assist the local terrorists in preparing for launching spectacular terrorism into the major cities of Serbia and Montenegro, with Belgrade and Nis believed to be the top targets." This is certainly a different picture than we get from the AKSH leaders themselves. Idajet Beqiri, the fugitive political leader with the group, was recently recorded as saying the AKSH has no contact with mujahedin- but rather exists only to fight for the Greater Albania. He vehemently assured that the group does not work with Islamists. However, we know that in the past, even as recently as 2001 in Macedonia, this was not the case. Mujahedin from al Qaeda did train the KLA in 1999 in northern Albaniaís remote mountains, and documentary, photographic and verbal evidence exists to indicate a presence among NLA ranks in Macedonia in 2001. Occasional "sightings"- like the dark-skinned, bearded man who allegedly loads down an enormous shopping cart weekly in Skopjeís Vero while wearing a bullet-proof vest under his shirt- are evidence of a continued presence. The enormous, Saudi-built medresah in the nearby village of Kondovo may be another site fostering unrest. Israeli sources have also claimed that a certain number of Albanians were being trained in Hamas camps in Lebanon- but that the Macedonian government showed no interest in following this up. Indeed, Boddansky claims that the Islamists are active in Albania, western Macedonia, and Kosovo (the last is most likely of the three). Balkanalysis.com has independent information attesting to recent upsurges in Islamic recruiting activity in the Prizren area (near the border with all three), as well as cross-border arrests in weapons and drugs smuggling in recent weeks, that can be linked with terrorist or at least militant funding. Still, care should be taken to separate the Islamist movement from the Albanian one. The latter is predominantly secular. We believe that the AKSH split earlier this year over just such a divergence in objectives. If tensions do increase in Kosovo, it will be due to Albanian impatience with the UNMIK provisional government and a latent fear that the US is becoming too Serb-friendly. Could lurking Islamists attempt to ride the coattails of their discontent, in order to make mischief of their own? A major aspect of both secular and religious terrorism is symbolism. The Islamists want their acts to be seen as representative of something, as do the Albanian separatists. Neither wants the other to take the credit for their own work, and the latter are especially fearful that an Islamic attack on the wrong target could be blamed on them. Indeed, it seems unlikely that the AKSH wishes to perform a ìspectacularî terrorist attack in either Nis or Belgrade (Beqiri restricted their operations to strictly "Albanian" lands). After all, there would be no way to bring Serbian tanks back to Kosovo faster than a firebombing of Belgrade. When it comes to Bosnia, however, Boddansky might have a more realistic point to make. He reminds that Islamists have a grudge over Srebrenica (while, remarkable for an American, admits that the Muslim death count was bloated for propaganda purposes). According to the London-based extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, the failure of UN peacekeepers to protect the Bosnian Muslims made them legitimate targets in Iraq. On 18 October, Serbian authorities also sounded the alarm. Darko Trifunovic, a Serbian expert on terrorism, visited Washington then and announced that: "...a group of ten mujahedin who were trained in Afghanistan have managed to enter BiH. They are currently in al-Qaeda camps in the vicinity of Zenica and Tuzla. A plan of this group to blow up a tunnel through which a row of US vehicles was supposed to pass was prevented at the last moment." Once, such warnings would have been cast aside as yet more Serb propaganda. Now, however, they are being listened to. According to Trifunovic, a group of 3000 young Kosovo Albanians (who had been trained in northern Albania), were also sent into Kosovo and Macedonia along with mujahedin from Middle Eastern and North African countries. Trifunovic further states thatsome of them went on to stir up trouble in Sandzak, while others were arrested in other parts of Serbia. Citing numerous similar actions in Bosnia, Trifunovic also pointed out that two banks there (Vakufska Banka and Islamska Banka) continue to work with impunity despite being suspected of having terrorist ties. Independent of this, Balkanalysis.com has been informed that a group of 1,000 Iranian students were allowed to attend Serbian universities, a couple of years ago, on student visas. When a similar request was lodged in Skopje, the Serbian authorities informed them that of the original 1,000 students, only "about 30" could be found after one year. Macedonia wisely ignored the Iranian request. According to Brendan O'Neill of Spiked! The US adventure in training foreign mujahedin in Bosnia was "very important" to the rise of a globalized jihad, in which terrorists "... think nothing of moving from state to state in the search of outlets for their jihadist mission." The US should surely know some of the routes through which arms are smuggled into Bosnia from neighboring states. After all, it created them in the 1990s arming of the Bosnians. Weapons were taken through Croatia or airlifted from as far afield as Saudi Arabia, something about which the US had ìvery closeî knowledge and cooperation. Today, American diplomats regret this complicity, but doggedly stick to its necessity for helping the defenseless Muslims of Bosnia: "... Richard Holbrooke, America's former chief Balkans peace negotiator, has said that the Bosnian Muslims 'wouldn't have survived' without the help of the mujahedin, though he later admitted that the arrival of the mujahedin was a 'pact with the devil' from which Bosnia is still recovering." Of course, the interventionists then were paid to get a job done, not think of long-term dangers. This was obfuscated by the continuing "moral blind spot" that the West has regarding Bosnia, O'Neill contends. That said, from their enthusiasm with using imported Islamic fighters in not only Bosnia but Kosovo, one would suspect that the policy makers had forgotten about the Afghan experience of the 1980ís; lamentably, they would only remember it after September 11th, 2001. Hopefully they wonít suffer more persistent and vivid reminders than that of this bad decision in the years to come.
by Chrostopher Deliso in Skopje
What does this have to do with promoting conservative values or topics?
The Wall Street Journal is one of the most reliable and trusted papers in world.
Which part of my KLA comments weren't clear? I've always said they're a thug/criminal organization. At the same time, all Kosovo people are not the KLA, it's not synonymous.
Sorry, I was in Kosovo last August, and an intended victim of Albanian on Serb attack. Your brethren attempt to attack an innocent person, my gosh, what type of people do you support and give money too???
I am for an independent Kosovo, once once it's carved up the way Bosnia was... The Serbs have a right to part of it... It's the only solution. That's my opinion. What's your problem. State your opinion and move on, I'm not budging from mine. I want to see an end to hostilities, and if that means carving up the land, so be it.
You're a sick racist F, how does that differentiate you from Hitler, who wanted to eliminate a people based on their religion? The only difference is you don't have the power to act upon it.
You losers hide behind your keyboards, anonymously, and call for the slaughter of human beings. How disgraceful!
I haven't been there, and have no intention of visiting, but that doesn't mean that I'm clueless to what's going on there.
As far as attacking innocents, YOUR brethen Serbs attacked thousands and thousands in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo...
YOU want sympathy??? hahahah
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