Posted on 12/11/2004 2:57:31 AM PST by Straight Vermonter
Recent statement by the departing Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge that a profile of a terrorist must be described in a different way is an encouraging sign. Ridge said that al-Qaeda is actively recruiting terrorists among the white race: Bosnians, Chechens and among the Muslims integrated in the Western society, in particular, women. The new profile of a terrorist - the white al-Qaeda - removes another constraint in the battle against the islamic terrorism that has become a world struggle.
The bad part of the Ridge's statement, however, is that it has come relatively late, and that it is partially true.
The proof that Ridge's statement is true could have been heard immediately after 9/11. For example, immediately after the hit on the World Trade Center, I was summoned by a Belgrade TV Politika where I alluded that the central threat to the West may not come from al-Qaeda members recruited from Arab countries or Asia, but from the members and sympathizers of these terrorists mingling among the white races of Europe. The rationale is simple: since the al-Qaeda attacks on US will not end, and all Middle Eastern visitors to the US will immediately become suspects, terrorists need killers that will go unnoticed by the authorities and, increasingly, the suspecting public.
Since the middle eastern racial type is unique, and despite all efforts by the US government to respect all racial types, whether they like it or not, this racial type will be profiled. Precisely because of this, al-Qaeda has decided to recruit its terrorist killers among muslims that have a racial blend in a western society and a large pool of this racial type is found in the Balkans among Albanians and Bosnian Muslims.
Also important is that the 9/11 attack should be understood as the Islamists do: that it was a prelude designed to test al-Qaeda's possibilities and explore American vulnerabilities that are to be used in the final assault. Al-Qaeda wants the final assault to inflict a mortal blow to America or inflict sufficiently large damage so that US would become a desert that will never be able to recover into an oasis of freedom.
If the aim is a mortal attack on the US, then acts of the 9/11 type seem to be important to the terrorists only as morale boosters for their allegiance. But to achieve destruction of America, islamic terrorists want to hit targets such as nuclear facilities or the stockpiles of the atomic weapons, or use the weapons of mass destruction that will kill all alive but keep the material wealth of the US which islamic terrorists covet.
In December 2003 I've also alluded to this nuclear and WMD threat on a Belgrade TV show, and unfortunately it seems not early enough: soon thereafter, the news came that at least 10 top secret disks pertaining to the US nuclear program have been stolen from the Nuclear Laboratory in Los Alamos. The more bizarre is that this was the second time that top secret nuclear files have been stolen from that laboratory.
The repeat of the theft would not have happened unless some serious security holes exist and not just as absence of sufficient security personnel but, more importantly, as a political refusal to look into the eyes of the truth. Because of this, there is a real possibility that the institutions such as the one in Los Alamos will become infiltration centers that will lead the terrorist activities in the US and the peoples best suited to infiltrate these institutions and destroy America from the inside are the "white al-Qaeda" found among the Muslims of the Balkans - most notably the Muslim Albanians and Bosnians. That is why al-Qaeda is actively recruiting among them.
Ridge has made a similar mistake by not including into the new terrorist profile the islamic Albanians, or more precisely, their organized political-criminal hybrid that dominates Europe and has recently dethroned the Italian Mafia in the US as the leading criminal enterprise. This failure may be a tragic result of the Balkan policies that US has had in the Balkans and it compounds the political and security mistakes that the ex-Yugoslav and now Serbian authorities are making.
In treatment of the islamic problem in the Balkans the accent of the problem was always shifted onto the Bosnian Muslims while, in the case of Albanians, the phenomena of islamic fanaticism was downplayed.
When analyzing the Albanian society, for example, the typical depiction is of a conglomeration of 3 religious groups, and that the Islamic one is made up of Sunnis and many other dervish sects among whom the Becktesh was the largest. The cliché was that Albanians have overcome all of their religious differences and achieved national unity so, the cliché goes, religion does not matter to the Albanians. Therefore, the impact of Islam on the politics of Albanians was neglected and with that the potential influence of the al-Qaeda type organizations was also neglected.
Many superficial elements did give this clichéd impression. Albania was ruled by an atheistic regime for 50 years and it was removed only recently with the fall of communism; all Albanian separatist groups that operated in the Balkans had a distinctly marxist outlook and were nostalgic of Albania that was stalinist at the time.
The clichéd political profile of Albanians in the Balkans suggested that the Albanians are secularized society with a negligible Islamic influence. Along with the neglect of the force of Islam among Albanians, whether deliberate or not but nevertheless a false religious picture was also portrayed of the Albanian population. For example, the much touted "Balkan expert" Stephen Schwartz recently made a claim that 15% of Albanians in Macedonia are Christian while a more realistic picture is a negligible decimal. Similarly, in Kosovo, claims are made that hundreds of thousands are Catholic when in fact the Kosovo Albanian Catholic congregation led by Bishop Mark Sopi is at 20,000 - just below two percent.
In addition to the overwhelming numbers and behind the surface of clichés attempting to whitewash the Islamic influence among Albanians are cultural practices that suggest a much more "Islamic" character of Albanians then Bosnian Muslims.
For example, even during the years of hyper-atheism of the communist Yugoslavia, Albanian recruits in the ex-Yugoslav army refused pork products at an overwhelmingly larger rate then did the Bosnian Muslims; Albanian soldiers demanded that the toilets be outfitted not with paper but water hoses; belief in djenet and huria (Islamic heaven's virgins) that are waiting for the devout ones is much more widespread among the Albanians then the Bosnian Muslims. What's more alarming is the spread of the Wahabism among the Albanians across Balkans. In fact, the most prominent Kosovo Albanian clergyman, Redzxep Boya, is a Wahabi schooled cleric and exerts tremendous influence on the political landscape of this province. In Albania itself, furthermore, Muslims are increasingly renouncing moderate Henif-Islam and flocking to the militant Wahabism.
The Wahabi Redzxep Boya was recently removed from the leadership position and along with these traditional Islamic practices of takhiyah that require a Muslim to deceive the infidel in order to bring victory to Islam; the upsurge in Islamic fanaticism among Albanians; sheer scale of population numbers; general cultural predisposition to the extreme Islamic practices, as well as the vast and brutal criminal network that stretches across the world... all represent a terrorist profile that should alarm the West and in particular, the US.
The profile should be even more alarming because the al-Qaeda has already established a good terrorist network among the Albanians in the Balkans. During the mandate of the post-communist President of Albania, Sali Berisha, al-Qaeda infiltrated that country with great deal of help from Berisha's chief of security (SHIK) Baskim Gazidede who may have organized bin-Laden's visit to Albania. Gazidede also organized the secret training camps for the Albanian gunmen, KLA, in Albania itself, Kosovo and Macedonia, and some of the financing for the camps came from al-Qaeda.
After the fall of the Berisha government, Gazidede allegedly flew to safety to Syria. Despite his departure and presence of the NATO troops in Albania and Kosovo, the goal of Islamic terrorists is unchanged for this region: to create a large, majority Albanian and Muslim state in the Balkans by annexing territories from Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Greece to Albania and to use that islamic state as a launching pad for destruction of the West.
With its support for the extreme islamic forces in the Balkans, the US has contributed greatly to the spread of terrorism and insecurity in the region. Extremists used this support very well and now are ready to repay it back to America and the payment may be too dangerous to collect.
Probably like most everyone else, I lapsed in paying attention to what goes on in Kosovo. This story and the report from those presently serving there has rekindled my interest. Apparently, though our forces are not being attacked, all is not sweetness. From a UN Centre article dated 24 November 2004:
Although there has been progress in reconstruction and reform in Kosovo since March's deadly violence, the worst in the five years since the United Nations took over administering the ethnically-divided province, key areas such as reconciliation and the return of minorities remain cause for concern, according to a new report released today.
While measures and mechanisms have been established for moving forward towards reconciliation between the Albanian majority and minorities, in particular the Serbs, "more action is required to translate these into concrete and sustainable results," Secretary-General Kofi Annan writes in his latest report on the issue.
[ . . . ]
On the credit side Mr. Annan cites evidence that Kosovo is getting back on track towards fulfilling the necessary standards for deciding its final status after the onslaught by Albanian extremists to drive out Serb, Roma and Askhali communities led to 19 people being killed, nearly 1,000 injured and hundreds of homes and centuries-old Serbian cultural sites razed or burned in March.
Progress in some areas has been "tangible and encouraging," with many damaged homes and schools rebuilt or under reconstruction and advances in reforming local government, of major importance in safeguarding the vital interests of minority communities, particularly Serbs, he says.
[ . . . ]
But in the debit column Mr. Annan lists the failure to establish "a systematic, properly resourced programme for outreach, including mid- and long-term reconciliation and inter-ethnic dialogue," a significant drop in the rate of Serbs returning, Serb non-participation in the elections and the continuing precarious security of minority groups.
"There continue to be substantial limitations on their freedom of movement. In some regions, Kosovo Serbs travel through areas in which there is a Kosovo Albanian majority only with escorts," he writes.
"Because of the March events, more members of minority communities have been displaced in 2004 than have been able to return to their homes."
"despite all efforts by the US government to respect all racial types... this racial type will be profiled "
WRONG guess !!
Well, I think time has told. We've been in various parts of the Balkans for ten years and there's been plenty of American targets and time for "plotting", but nothing has happened. Meanwhile, in places with real Islamists, we're getting hit left & right and our troops are fighting and dying.
There are only a few Americans on FR with extensive time on the ground in the Balkans. Our experiences normally stand in direct contradiction to what our numerous Serb & Serb-apologist posters would have you believe.
>we've had tens of thousands of U.S. troops in the Balkans >(Macedonia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo) for ten years and >have not had a single loss to hostile action--never been >attacked by these people. If there are al qaeda & >Islamist extremists all over Bosnia & Kosovo, then why >aren't they attacking us like in Iraq, Afghanistan, and ?even Saudi
I don't wish to be the Voice of Doom but I suspect time may alter the situation. The Al Quaeda filth has been overly-occupied in laying its plans and recruiting from firmly-established Muslim countries or those with a substantial Muslim population. Now the ball is rolling "nicely" they can turn their attention to what had been locations less eager to embrace their philosophies and who may take more time and effort to win round. The Muslims in this part of Eastern Europe had never been ardent followers of the faith. But I never expected this to deter the "outsiders" from targeting them in time. The Turks - on "our" side - in some ways paved the way for them during their military action in this area of Europe by circumicising as many young men as their doctors could cope with. Previously these people had never - or very rarely - observed the religious ritual.
The first step in a "conversion" is always the most difficult. It is akin to the Mau Mau oathing in Kenya. The first oath was quite innocuous so no members of the Kikuyu, Embu or Meru tribes placed much importance on it, and for peace sake accepted it. But then came the second and so on. There was a total of seven oaths, each with seven parts, growing increasingly more unpleasant and eventually unspeakable. But having travelled a certain way down the road, one more step forward each time didn't seem such a dreadful prospect. Start the degradation process and it rolls on with much pushing.....
I personally have nothing against the procedure (on males) except when it is used as a bonding weapon for identifying an enemy as it is in this case. Even the Malaysian government was last year considering enforcing circumcision on the non-Muslim members of its population officially to "promote racial harmony".
This, of course, is laughable. If the procedure is not an established ritual within a cuture (as with the Chinese there) making it mandatory is more likely to antagonise than "harmonise!. Greater harmony could have been achieved by ensuring more Chinese reached senior positions in public life. Admittedly it is some time since I was there
but at the time, Chinese were given a pretty raw deal. Civil servants were often sent on courses abroad, only to find their jobs had been occupied by Malaysians during their absence.
However, back to eastern Europe. We know that Al Quaeda was behind the planning of the hostage-taking operation in the Moscow theatre and the totally revoltingly brutal, murderous seizure of the Russian school.
A Kosovan running a business down the road from me welcomed the action in Iraq. Religion, he said, quite firmly, is just "PART of life" it is not life itself. Here he is surrounded by relatively sane, tolerant people.
I wonder how long he would be able to sustain such an attitude under pressure back home in Kosovo?
The fundamentalists are hardly like to allow such possibly fertile ground in a key area to lie fallow, particularly when we consider the strategic importance of the new oil pipline. Al Quaeda must view with horror the prospect of an
alternative source of oil being available if they step up their political and sabotage activities in the Middle East. It reduces their potency considerbly.
Let me remind you that their aims were made abundantly clear by Osama's second-in-command when asked what they were seeking. "We are not here to negotiate with you," he said. "We are here to DESTROY you."
Anybody who takes the threat lightly should consult a specialist! They're not in touch with reality.
Perhaps but also very self-serving:
"Ridge has made a similar mistake by not including into the new terrorist profile the islamic Albanians "
Look who is the author....
Bump for reference. ;-)
"this racial type is found in the Balkans among Albanians and Bosnian Muslims"
Aren't these the ones that Clinton wagged the dog over?
We still have not recovered from the Clinton administration, and we never will. We still haven't recovered from the Johnson adminstration, for that matter.
It's pretty much a futile battle around here against blatant Serb propaganda. People basically want to believe it and pretty eagerly lap it up. It's a pretty simplified world view. So now you're getting FReepers who buy the idea Milosevic is some sort of hero, that all Bosnian Muslims are rabid members of AQ and were so before the Bosnian war started, etc.
Arabs ARE Caucasians. People seem desperately resistant to this idea though.
Among the (many, despite the attention given to those who claim there are no races at all) scientists who use and accept race that's where they're categorized. Not like they're Asian or Black.
"At midnight Mass Christmas, in the Catholic church, I would say that half
the 2,000 or 3,000 people were Muslims,"
This I find hard to believe, they might be arabs, but not muslims, I would think.
thank you for the added information, as I don't know enough about Kosovo.
A little context helps. Besides the ethnic cleansing & atrocities committed by the Serbs in the 98-99 war, over 200 mosques were destroyed. When the Albs returned to their burnt out villages in the summer of 99, they were somewhat irritated and went out to get some back. That's when most of the Serbs were driven out of Kosovo and when the Serb Orthodox churches were attacked. The operative term is Serb, not Orthodox. And the attackers are best described as Albanians, most probably to include Albanian irreligious and Christians, not "Mohammedan". Note that the Albanian Christian Churches were not touched.
As for rules of engagement in the 2004 riots, the KFOR troops had all the authority they needed to protect civilian lives and property. They were surprised and either didn't react very quickly in some cases, or in others apparently (Germans in particular) did not want to put their troops at risk to confront the rioters. BTW, the killed included 11 Albanians and 8 Serbs--it was not all one-sided. At least one of the Serbs and three of the Albanians were killed by KFOR.
as you must know, that Al Queda or its sympathizers were active during the war over there in relatively large numbers.
Actually, I do know something about this and reports of Al Qaeda were never confirmed and participation by outside jihadists was greatly exaggerated. The only known Al qaeda contact was bin Laden's emissary Claud Kader who the KLA threw out, refusing to accept even the weapons he brought. Kader is now in jail in Albania. If you trace the Al qaeda references, they always lead to Serb or anonymous sources. If you know anything about Balkans history, you should know that the Serb-Albanian conflict has been going on long before al qaeda existed or bin laden was even born.
The Belloc quotes were great. Belloc was *prescient* because at the time (1938) he wrote those comments, the Muslim countries were languishing in obscurity. The huge oil deposits hadn't yet been found or exploited. The thought of the USSR and the US supplying the Egyptians and Saudis with a modern air force would have made Belloc rotate in his grave.
So are Turks, Pakistanis, Persians, the "white Moors" of Northern Africa, and Indians.
The British kind of poisoned the well here. They insisted on seeing their colonial subjects as members of "inferior races," even when scientifically those subjects were *of the same race.*
Interesting thread bump. Thanks
Andika, that philosophy is the prevailing philosophy in the Albanian-populated lands--the pressure is to adopt to that way of thinking, not the other way around. Remember, before the Serbs invaded and took over Kosovo in 1912, the Albanians had been in a state of revolt against the Muslim Ottomans. There's an oft-quoted saying among Albanians that: "The religion of Albanians is Albanianism."
Having said that, if Kosovar independence does not come and the USA is seen as helping prevent it, then all sorts of things can change.
LOL, that's exactly what I thought when I read that.
They think they can reach us? Well, we can reach them real good. Set the missile coordinates for Mecca Medina.
Well, I don't think its futile. The truth comes out. Fortunately, the Bush administration is not setting Balkans policy based on Serb propaganda.
To add to your erudite take: How about the Muslim praying 5 times a day in Muslim countries, and Ramadan and other collective religious observances? To me this enhances the hypnotic brainwashing of Islam. Enhances the group think that makes Islamic countries impervious to outside influences. Those who have doubts about Islam still have it drilled in by going along with these group observances so they aren't ostracized.
They glom onto some of our technology but their mindset remains the same.
Great minds think alike... :o)
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