House Resolution 244 (Independence of "Kosova")

Dear brothers and sisters, The House is currently considering House Resolution 244 advocating the Independence of "Kosova". We must oppose this based upon the following reasons:

(1) "Bin Laden's Balkan Connections": http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/dec01/hed4473.shtml "Even without this Yugoslav co-operation, Interpol was already tracking the Al-Qaeda´s Balkan activities. On 23 October this year, Interpol released a preliminary report outlining bin Laden´s personal links to the Albanian Mafia. In this report, Interpol alleges that a senior Al-Qaeda lieutenant had been the commander of an elite UCK unit in Kosovo during the fighting in 1999." (Emphasis added)

Bottom Line: Serbia and America have a common enemy in the War on Terror Al-Qaeda and the UCK in Albanian or the Kosovo Liberation Army in English.

(2) Many Serbs in Kosovo continue to be without electricity since mid December. This is inhumane and unacceptable, especially in the middle of winter. This is in addition to the 30 churches destroyed in the March 2004 Pogrom and 140 churches since President Clinton's 1999 bombing. If the Albanians have any desire to join Europe, they must turn the power on and properly treat Serbs and our churches.

(3) Kosovo is centuries old Serbian Holy Land. It is the cradle of our civilization. You know the rest of the story and should articulate it to your Member of Congress.

(4) Drugs and the KLA: http://members.tripod.com/Balkania/resources/terrorism/kla-drugs.html

(5) Sex, Drugs, and Guns: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071971/ I am certain that many of you have personal stories that you can share with the Committee and your Member of Congress; please feel free to do so.

Suggested Action: (1) Please contact the following members of the House International Relations Committee by copying the following link into a browser and then clicking on their picture http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/109/fullmem109.htm

The most important members are Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL, 6th District) and Ranking Democrat Tom Lantos (D-CA, 12th District) who introduced it. Chairman Hyde's contact information is as follows:

6th District: (630) 832-5950 (Phone) (630) 832-5969 (Fax) http://www.house.gov/hyde/get_address2.htm (E-mail for residents of the 6th District). I can't e-mail him since I live in New York. However, there are lots of Serbs in Chicagoland and we need you now! We Serbs have the vote advantage in Chairman Hyde's district with 1,622 Serbs and 1,889 Yugoslavs to 1,200 Albanians.

As for Congressman Lantos, his contact information is as follows: (202) 225-3531 (DC Phone) (650) 342-0300 (San Mateo Office Phone) (415) 566-5257 (San Francisco Office Phone) (650) 375-8270 (Fax)

Frankly, we haven't had much luck with Congressman Lantos over the years but we also have the vote advantage with 295 Serbs and 1,103 Yugoslavs to 123 Albanians. We need to stop and reverse the Albanian lobby's influence on him. If you live in Congressman Lantos' district, please use the following link to contact him: http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Contact+Tom/Contact+Tom.htm

We Serbs and Yugoslavs flexed our muscle in Ohio and re-elected President Bush and turned back Senator Kerry and his colleagues Richard Holbrooke, Jaime Rubin, etc. For instance, please find the following link written by Mr. James Jatras, former Senior policy analyst for the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate, http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/othercolumns/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1100169013227680.xml We need to flex our muscle again here. If your Member of Congress is on the Committee, please call their district and DC office because their offices keep tabs on votes like this per my experience in my internship in a Buffalo Congressman's office a decade ago. (If you need the Census data for the Serbs, Yugoslavs, and Albanians in your district, please find it attached below.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Text of the resolution being introduced by Rep. Lantos HRES 24 IH 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 24 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should declare its support for the independence of Kosova. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 4, 2005 Mr. LANTOS (for himself and Mr. HYDE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should declare its support for the independence of Kosova. Whereas the United States and the international community recognize that a right to self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all people; Whereas Kosova was constitutionally defined as a sovereign territory in the First National Liberation Conference for Kosova on January 2, 1944, and this status was confirmed in the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopted in 1946, and the amended Yugoslav constitution adopted in 1974 preserved the autonomous status of Kosova as a de facto republic; Whereas prior to the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Kosova was a separate political and legal entity with separate and distinct financial institutions, police force, municipal and national government, school system, judicial and legal system, hospitals and other independent organizations; Whereas Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic rose to power in 1987 on a platform of ultranationalism and anti-Albanian racism, advocating violence and hatred against all non-Slavs and specifically targeting the Albanians of Kosova; Whereas Slobodan Milosevic subsequently stripped Kosova of its self-rule, without the consent of the people of Kosova; Whereas the elected Assembly of Kosova, faced with these intolerable acts, adopted a Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1990, proclaimed the Republic of Kosova, and adopted a constitution on September 7, 1990, based on the international legal principles of self-determination, equality, and sovereignty; Whereas in recognition of the de facto dissolution of the Yugoslav federation, the European community established principles for the recognition of the independence and sovereignty of the republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosova fully satisfied those principles as a de facto republic within the federation; Whereas a popular referendum was held in Kosova from September 26-30, 1991, in which 87 percent of all eligible voters cast ballots and 99.87 percent voted in favor of declaring Kosova independent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; Whereas, from the occupation of Kosova in 1989 until the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military action against the Milosevic regime in 1999, the Albanians of Kosova were subjected to the most brutal treatment in the heart of Europe since the Nazi era, forcing approximately 400,000 Albanians to flee to Western Europe and the United States; Whereas in the spring of 1999 almost 1,000,000 Kosovar Albanians were driven out of Kosova and at least 10,000 were murdered by the Serbian paramilitary and military; Whereas Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal and extradited to The Hague in June 2001 to stand trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Kosova, Bosnia, and Croatia; Whereas the United Nations established Kosova as a protectorate under Resolution 1244, ending the decade long Serbian occupation of Kosova and Milosevic's genocidal war in Kosova; Whereas Kosovar Albanians, together with representatives of the Serb, Turkish, Roma, Bosniak, and Ashkali minorities in Kosova, have held free and fair municipal and general elections in 2000 and 2001 and successfully established a parliament in 2002, which in turn elected a president and prime minister; Whereas 50 percent of the population in Kosova is under the age of 25 and the unemployment rate is currently between 60 and 70 percent, increasing the likelihood of young people entering criminal networks, the source of which lies outside of Kosova, or working abroad in order to survive unless massive job creation is facilitated by guaranteeing the security of foreign investments through an orderly transition to the independence of Kosova; Whereas the Kosova parliament is committed to developing a western-style democracy in which all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, are granted full human and civil rights and are committed to the return of all noncriminal Serbs who fled Kosova during and after the war; and Whereas there is every reason to believe that independence from Serbia is the only viable option for Kosova, after autonomy has failed time and time again: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should-- (1) recognize the danger that delay in the resolution of Kosova's final status poses for the political and economic viability of Kosova and its neighbors, and consequently for the future of Southeast Europe; (2) publicly support the independence of Kosova within its existing borders as a sovereign and democratic state in which human rights, including the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and the rule of law are respected as the only way to lasting peace and stability in the Balkans; (3) establish a monitoring body in conjunction with the United Nations, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other multilateral organizations to ensure that the new state of Kosova achieves the standards set forth by the UN Security Council, including the protection of minority rights and security for all of Kosova's communities, and to facilitate an orderly transition from a UN protectorate to a fully functioning democratic government; (4) work with the Council of Europe to develop and implement anti-racism programs that would be instituted at the level of federal and municipal governments throughout the Balkans; (5) work with the United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization to facilitate the return of Albanians to their pre-war homes in northern Mitrovica and its environs and Serbs to theirs in southern Mitrovica and other parts of Kosova; and (6) provide its share of assistance, trade, and other programs to support the government of an independent Kosova and to encourage the further development of democracy, rule of law, and a free market economic system in Kosova and throughout the Balkans."

Congressman Lantos, the sponsor of the resolution for Kosovo independence, is a Holocaust survivor. He had no problem recognizing what was happening to the Kosovar Albanians at the hands of the Serbs in the 1990s. As a result, he is committed to the issue and has sponsored this same legislation every congressional session.

Both the Clinton & Bush State Departments have opposed the resolution as the U.S. position is to reach a final status in Kosovo within the context of UN Resolution 1244 and the "standards before status" strategy. Final status talks will most probably begin this summer. Outright independence and re-incorporation into Serbia are both unlikely outcomes.

Sorry, but Lantos's memories didn't make him recognize what was happening to the Kosovar Albanians--it left him open to their propaganda.

Sure Milosevic was fighting a dirty war, but all the news reports of 'genocide' have been debunked--some even during the Clinton bombing campaign, if one payed attention to AFP and the LA Times.

It's really quite grotesque to have a Holocaust survivor sponsoring such a measure--the third largest death camp during WW II was a Jasanovac, was run by the Croatian Ustashe and Albanian Muslim SS, and murdered mostly Serbs, not Jews. Its work is part of the reason the Serb population of Kosovo was so easily overtaken by illegal Albanian immigration. Giving the descendants of the Nazi-allied Albanians the Serbian spiritual heartland may not quite be giving Hitler a posthumous victory, but it's sure giving one to his allies-in-murder.

Congressman Lantos, the sponsor of the resolution for Kosovo independence, is a Holocaust survivor

And Sen. Lieberman isn't! Yet Liebrman said that terrorist KLA and the U.S. stand for the same values! This has to do with human values not who is a Holocaust survivor. These two have no problems supporting Muslim terrorists in Europe, while Israeli citizens are being targeted by their Muslim borthers in the Middle East! I guess money talks. See my post above.

the third largest death camp during WW II was a Jasanovac, was run by the Croatian Ustashe and Albanian Muslim SS,

David, the Albanians didn't have anything to do with Jasenovac. The one SS unit manned by Albanians was the 21st Skanderbeg Division. It was not even formed until May 1944 and only 6,491 Albanians--many motivated by offers of release from prison--joined the unit. The officers and NCOs were mostly Germans. The Skanderbeg Division was used in the Kosovo, Montenego, and Macedonia areas to guard key facilities and to fight partisans. It was not a concentration camp unit, nor was it any good at fighting the partisans. Plagued by massive desertions, in September its commander reported to Army Group "E" that it was of no military value. It eventually was whittled down to a regiment and then a battalion of all Germans. By January 1945 it was taken off the books.

Nazi-allied Albanians

Albania was invaded and occupied first by Italians and then by the Germans. It had an extensive resistance by communist partisans, royalists, and nationalists. Just like the partisans & Chetniks in Yugoslavia, these guys often fought each other as much as the occupiers. The communist partisans were the largest group and were led by Enver Hoxha, Tito's buddy and the future xenophobic communist dictator of Albania.

Albania was no more a Nazi ally than was Serbia. It did have its share of collaborators, no different than Serbia did with the Zbor Party, Ljotic, Nedic and a Serbian SS unit, the Serbisches Freilligen Korps der SS.

It's really quite grotesque to have a Holocaust survivor sponsoring such a measure[independence of Kosovo]

David, two points. First, Congressman Lantos is fully knowledgeable of the ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by the Serbs in Kosovo. As a Holocaust survivor he feels a moral obligation to the "never again" concept.

Second, Albania has been honored by Israel for being the only European country in WWII to have more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning. A book about how Muslim, Orthodox, and Catholic Albanians collaborated together to save the Jews of Albania from the Nazis is called "Rescue in Albania," It can be read on-line.

Congressmen Lantos & Gilman wrote the introduction:

It is a tragic irony that the children and grandchildren of the Albanians who helped Jews in Albania to escape during World War II now face discrimination and violence in Kosova and Macedonia. It is important to understand the background of these Albanians, and it is for this reason we urge you to take the time to read Rescue in Albania. This is a compelling story, and one that all of us can benefit from reading. At the same time, we must commit ourselves to see that the children and grandchildren of the brave heroes whose story this volume tells do not become victims of the forces of evil and repression that in every age work to suppress human freedom.

Tom Lantos, Member of Congress, (California)

Benjamin A. Gilman, Member of Congress (New York)

Liebrman said that terrorist KLA and the U.S. stand for the same values! This has to do with human values

Kosta, I don't know what Senator Lieberman said or when he said it, but obviously the treatment of Serbs and other ethnic minorities in Kosovo since the 1999 war has not been in accordance with American values. However, just as obviously--and on a larger scale--the treatment of the Albanians by the Serbs prior to the war was a clear violation of the same human values that Americans fought their own Revolution to preserve.

Maybe what Senator Lieberman was talking about was the Albanian letter writing campaign to Congress in 1998-9 which described the Kosovar Albanian situation under the Serbs using these familiar words:

".. all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government"

Ok, here's the new plan:

A specially constructed destination determinator, the Magic 8-ball O'Migration shall be constructed, with a 4 sided pyramid inside it with the countries: Belgium, Lithuania, Portugal, & Switzerland. Representatives from the Albanian, Bosnian, Croat, and Serb (it's alphebetized - if you weren't complaining about the Swiss getting screwed, pipe down already) nations shall rock-scissors-paper to determine which three shall shake the 8-ball. Once country pairings are determined, intracontinental transfer shall ensue, thus separating the Balkan warring parties, and allowing them to meet new and interesting neighbors who don't as of yet have a specific reason to kill them.

You know where to find me when Nobel Peace Prize time comes around.

Strange, I guess the Jews have a different memory of Albanian behavior during WW II than the Roma (Gypsies) and the Serbs:

From a Roma site:

"With the rise of the ethnic-nationalist movement, the Roma were increasingly caught in the crossfire between Serbs and Albanians, both sides demanding absolute loyalty. During the Balkan wars of 1912/1913, Serbian propagandists justified massacres of Muslim Albanians by referring to them as sub-human creatures who could be recognised by their "ugly Gypsy-faces". Nevertheless, Serbian Roma actively participated - also as regular soldiers - in the resistance of the Serbs against the German and Austrian occupation in World War I. When the Albanian nationalists, thanks to Mussolini and Hitler, were finally able to proclaim an "ethnically clean" Greater Albania, a systematic persecution of Serbs, Jews and "Gypsies" started in Kosovo, first conducted by the Albanian bands of "Balli Kombetar" and later by the SS-division "Skanderbeg", which Himmler himself put together using Albanian volunteers. Until 1943, Roma were forced to do slave labour, wearing yellow arm-bands. Later, many were deported to Jasenovac, Buchenwald and Mauthausen. The 81-year old Rom Sevki M., who fled to Cologne in September 2000, in the 1940s, had been deported from Orahovac to Finsterbergen in Thuringia to do forced labour."

But I do see my memory served me ill: the running of Jasenovac was entirely an Ustashe affair. The Albanian SS only helped round up Serbs, Roma, and Jews to send there, and did their own dirty work on the ground inside Kosovo.

Giving the Albanians the heart of ancient Serbia, the site of its Partiarchate and most of the Serbian Church's spiritual life would fulfill a promise Hitler made, but couldn't keep. However much the non-Nazi Albanians may have helped Jews, it is a perverse thing for a survivor of the horrors of that era to wish.

Still, I guess if the 61 Righteous Goyim of Albania were more successful at saving Jews than the 118 of Serbia and Montenegro, that's all that matters, even if an independent 'Kosova' would be a haven for the current enemies of Jews, Israel and Western civilization.

>>>>>>As a Holocaust survivor he feels a moral obligation to the "never again" concept.

Kosovo Albanians were NAZIS during WWII and they have not changed the mindset for a notch. Kosovo is JUDENREIN today, owing to Antal Lantosz' KLA buddies.

Your invoking of The Holocaust as propaganda theme is realy sickening, having in mind that The Remberance Day was this week.

You are HOLOCAUST REVISIONIST and you have no shame!

Sen. Lieberman's and KLA values (terrorism, murder of civilians, prostitution, sex slavery, drug and weapons smuggling) are antithesis of

In your blind support to terrorism You insult American forefathers!

You should wash your mouth with soap.

Kosta, I don't know what Senator Lieberman said or when he said it

BS Mark! You know it very well. You just want to get over the issue without having to deal with Senator Lieberman's scandalous remarks. Let me refresh your memory:

“[The] United States of America and the Kosovo Liberation Army stand for the same human values and principles . . . Fighting for the KLA is fighting for human rights and American values.” [Washington Post, March 28, 1999]

Feel the feathers in your mouth? Yeah, it's called crow.

As for your of Holocaust, this is how Senator Lieberman sees Jew-hating Albanians:

Jews and Albanians “have been through so many challenges together and have such correlated histories that I feel very connected to the Albanian people, their hopes and aspirations” [National Albanian American Council, March 30, 2003]

This must be because of the Albanian version of the Holocaust, which -- according to the NAAC's chairman Richard S. Lukaj who "cited [to Sen. Lieberman] that Albania had a 100% record of saving every Jew in the country during the Holocaust and was the only country in Europe after the Second World War with more Jews after the war than before the War." Simply amazing! In case you wanted to know, they also saved Albert Einstein (according to Lukaj).

One more little detail about Albanians: they wholeheartedly supported the Gore/Lieberman ticket. And Sen. Lieberman and his wife were co-sponsors of an Israeli fertility clinic that accept only Jewish sperm! I suppose you never heard of that either? Still hungry?

is just another bloody Jihad

The idea that the secularized and pro-American Kosovars are jihadists is simply ridiculous. The KLA fought for the liberation of Kosovo from the Serbs. Nothing in their political statements or acts during the war or since then supports the concepts of jihad, sharia, or any type of religious motive--Islamic or otherwise. KLA soldiers included Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox Albanians from Kosovo, Albania proper, and the diaspora. Their elected president is a Christian,the Catholic Church in Kosovo is thriving, and Christian missionaries are welcome. Their two most revered national figures are Skanderbeg and Mother Theresa, both Christian. During the war when bin Laden sent his emissary to offer weapons and money, the KLA turned him down flat--didn't want anything to do with him.

Dennis, in my time in the Balkans, Middle East and Africa, I've been in no-kidding real-life Muslim societies where Islam is actually practiced, jihad is supported, Christianity is despised, and Americans are the enemy. Kosovo is not one of those places.

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