Posted on 05/08/2007 6:38:30 PM PDT by Omega Man II
Kosovo Albanians arrested in plot to kill American soldiers
May 08, 2007 10:06 AM
FORT DIX, N.J.-Six men described by federal prosecutors as "Islamic militants" were arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," authorities said Tuesday.
The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey.
Officials said four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey. Five of them lived in Cherry Hill, 10 miles east of Philadelphia and 20 miles southwest of Fort Dix, Drewniak said.
"They were planning an attack on Fort Dix in which they would kill as many soldiers as possible," Drewniak said.
The video depicted the six men charged in the case, including three ethnic Albanian brothers brothers from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who are living illegally in the U.S., the complaint said.
They are Dritan Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir Duka, 23. Mohamad Shnewer, 22, a Cherry Hill resident originally from Jordan, and Serdar Tatar, 23, a Philadelphia resident from Turkey, also were charged. Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, was charged with aiding and abetting.
The Dukas and Abdullahu are ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, authorities said.
Two of the men were arrested in Cherry Hill as they met an FBI informant to buy three AK-47 automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16 rifles, authorities said.
``There is no evidence that they received direction from an international terrorism organization,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said earlier today. ``There is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist plot.''
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the attack was stopped in the planning stages.
Authorities believe the men trained in the Poconos for the attack and also conducted surveillance at other area military institutions, including Fort Monmouth, the official said. The official said that the men had lived in the United States for some time.
The six were arrested trying to buy automatic weapons in a sale set-up by law enforcement authorities, the official said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said there is "no direct evidence" that the men arrested in the Fort Dix plot have ties to international terrorism.
"They are not charged with being members of an international terrorism organization," Snow said. "At least at this point, there is no evidence that they received direction from international terror organizations. However, their involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance and discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a strong law enforcement response."
Asked if those arrested had any ties to al-Qaida, Snow referred questions to the FBI and the U.S. attorney, but said those officials "seem to indicate that there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie."
Jerri Williams, spokeswoman for the FBI in Philadelphia, said U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and J.P. Weis, special agent in charge of the FBI in Philadelphia, would release more information at a news conference later Tuesday.
Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. In 1999, it sheltered more than 4,000 ethnic Albanian refugees during the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
After that war, refugees were allowed to return to the U.N.-run province of Kosovo in Serbia or to seek permanent residency in the United States. The U.N. Security Council is considering whether to approve a plan to grant Kosovo independence from Serbia under the supervision of the European Union and the United States.
Jeff Sagnip, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. James Saxton, who represents Fort Dix, said the base, along with adjacent McGuire Air Force Base, has been put on its highest security alert level.
He said Fort Dix typically has 15,000 people, including 3,000 soldiers; McGuire, which is adjacent to Fort Dix, has about 11,500 people.
Soldiers at Fort Dix have been training for warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sagnip said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the once-open Fort Dix has been closed to the public. There are heavily armed guards at entrances, along with X-ray machines and concrete barriers to make it impossible for vehicles to rush the entrances.
But the main road through neighboring Cookstown cuts through the base and is accessible to the public. A half-dozen locations on the base, including at least two where soldiers were conducting maneuvers Tuesday morning, were only a few hundred yards off the main road and accessible to anyone.
The description of the suspects as "Islamic militants" was causing renewed worry among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained by authorities in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks, but none was connected to that plot.
"If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says 'Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.
"Don't equate actions with religion," he said.
Isn’t it wonderful that we “liberated” the Albanian Muslims in Serbia? Without the Serbs to keep them occupied, these Muslims are now free to pursue their Jihad throughout the world.
Kosovo Albanians = Muslims Radicals
These are the criminals that are a part of Bill Clinton’s rancid legacy...the curse that keeps on punishing. I think Hillary should be asked what she intends to do about the Albanian drug dealers, con men and jihadis that came to the US after being “repatriated” by the Clinton administration after their Serbian atrocity.
“These are the criminals that are a part of Bill Clinton’s rancid legacy...the curse that keeps on punishing. I think Hillary should be asked what she intends to do about the Albanian drug dealers, con men and jihadis that came to the US after being “repatriated” by the Clinton administration after their Serbian atrocity.”
Maybe we ought to ask the Bush Administration the same sort of questions! It appears that Bush and the crowd of dhimmis at the State Department, not Clinton’s State Department, Bush’s, are prepared to be the midwife to the birth of an Islamist killer state in the middle of the Balkans even as these Albanian Mohammedan dogs were preparing to kill our soldiers right here in America. Five of the seven were illegals. Bush has had 7 years to do something about this and done nothing. I’m not excusing Clinton and his crowd, but Bush and his are the worthy successors to Clinton’s Balkan policies.
No doubt you are both right. This is a very disturbming story. Plu, these guys are white, absolutely undistinguishable, unless they run around in some Muslim garb.
New Jersey, the home away from home for Muslim terrorits.
Bill Clinton, Enabling the enemys of America.
And then the is the wonderful UN.
10 years of having Serbs on trial while Bosnian and Albanian Muslims destroyed over 600 Christian Churches as the UN just watched.
The Libs love to call Iraq a quagmire, but what the hell tdo you call Bosnia? Were still there and nothing has changed for the better.
Sounds like their idea of gratitude for SlicKKK bombing an innocent Christian nation into dust on their behalf. Touching...
Looks like Soros’ boys haven’t managed to kill this story yet.
yet, this is the same guy that wants me dead for being an American who serves the nation. Yet, he remains silent about his brothers that were just recently rolled.
Yeah, hoopy, how much money have you gotten from your fundraiser to get your boys bail and a good atty?
Thursday May 10, 3:12 AM
3 in Dix Plot From Pro-U.S. Balkans Area
Three Muslim brothers who allegedly helped plot to kill soldiers at a U.S. Army base have roots in one of Europe's most pro-American corners _ a region that remains grateful to the United States for ending the Kosovo war.
Dritan Duka, 28, Shain Duka, 26, and Eljvir Duka, 23, who were arrested in New Jersey this week in what U.S. authorities said was a bungled scheme to blow up and gun down soldiers at Fort Dix, were born in Debar, a remote town on Macedonia's rugged border with Serbia's Kosovo province.
Relatives in the ethnic Albanian-populated town of 15,000 said they had not seen the brothers in more than two decades, but expressed disbelief Wednesday that the three would attack the United States.
"We all have been supporters of America. We were always thankful to America for its support during the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia," a cousin, Elez Duka, 29, told The Associated Press.
"These are simple, ordinary people and they've got nothing to do with terrorism. I expect their release and I expect an apology," he said, waving his hands. "I see injustice. These are ridiculous charges."
His indignation captured the mood among Slavic Muslims in Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania _ places that have repeatedly expressed gratitude to the United States for intervening in the 1998-99 Kosovo war and a 2001 ethnic conflict that pushed Macedonia to the brink of civil war.
Albania was among the first countries to answer Washington's call for troops to help support U.S.-led military offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, which many expect to gain independence from Serbia later this year, U.S. flags are commonplace. The main avenue is Bill Clinton Boulevard, renamed to honor the president who ordered airstrikes that halted former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown in the province.
Like many Europeans, ethnic Albanians staged a big demonstration after the U.S. led the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but theirs was a pro-America rally, not an anti-war protest.
In and out of Debar, people struggled to reconcile those feelings with the indictment of the three brothers and a fourth ethnic Albanian suspect, Agron Abdullahu, 24. Two other men also were arrested: Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, a Palestinian born in Jordan, and Serdar Tatar, 23, born in Turkey.
It was unclear whether Abdullahu also came from Debar, but U.S. authorities said he served as a sniper during the Kosovo war, which pitted ethnic Albanian separatists against Serbian troops loyal to Milosevic.
U.S. authorities have not given details of the alleged plot, or said if a date had been set for an attack. They said only that the accused were training and buying weapons.
Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku wrote a letter to the U.S. mission in Pristina on Wednesday expressing the "extraordinary feeling that Kosovo's people have for the U.S." Ceku also denounced what he called "the disgusting idea" that Albanians could be involved in an attack "against a nation that has been very generous so far."
The Duka brothers' grandmother, Naze Duka, was visibly upset as word of their arrests spread through the modest two-story brick houses in Debar, about 110 miles southwest of the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
"America is good _ you work, you earn money there," the 88-year-old said. "I have no idea where this all came from. How did this happen?"
Elez Duka, the brothers' cousin, said their father took the family to the U.S. via Italy in 1986 or 1987.
American officials say the brothers were in the U.S. illegally. The cousin said they had not been back because they didn't have the necessary papers for returning to the U.S.
He said the brothers occasionally phoned. Over the past two years, Elez Duka said, his cousins told him they had grown long beards and had become more devoted to Islam, but he insisted they were incapable of involvement in a terrorist plot.
"They live in America and grew up in the American culture. How can you say they are anti-American? These accusations are totally unfounded," he said.
Few ethnic Albanians embrace militant Islam. Most are moderate or secular.
Even those in Debar who described themselves as devout Muslims denounced the Fort Dix plot.
"They must have been crazy. They shouldn't dare throw a stone at America," said Rrahmi Duka, 70, a distant relative of the brothers, selling beads and Muslim books in Debar's main square as a loudspeaker blared prayers.
"Who saved us? America," he said. "We are in America's hands."
I will say that the Albanian women in New York certainly have incredible bodies. Whoops, no longer thinking with my head...
And we expect you to kiss our collective American ass there, Elez!
Debar (Cyrillic: Дебар) is a city in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, near the border with Albania, on the road from the city of Struga to the city of Gostivar. It is a seat of the Debar municipality.
So, they're not even from the Serbian province of Kosovo! But then the Albanians were always good at the shell game. Today an Albainan, yesterday a "Kosovar" and tomorrow a Macedonian! Dump them all back into the garden spot of Albania and Lek them take care of each other!
Is he talking about the ALA in Macedonia?
The Moslem censorship in the drive by media is astounding.
They don’t mention the SERIOUS wahabists in Kosovo.
For pictures of those same class of moslems tearing down christian churchs go to
THE UN IS VOTING TO GIVE THESE TERRORISTS KOSOVO AS A BALKAN FOOT HOLD! THE USA IS supporting this with their friends for Saudi Arabia.
FYI a little off topic but since you mentioned it. Just another in a long line of State Department blunders which have given us the destabilized balkans we all enjoy today:
THE IDENTITY OF MACEDONIANS
By NIKOS MARTIS, Former Greek Government Minister, President “Macedonian Hestia”
The Skopjeans adhere persistently to their usurped constitutional name “Macedonia”, because they want to be falsely considered as “Macedonians” and consequently descendants of Philip and Alexander the Great. Naming themselves “Macedonians”, they proceed as such with the haphazard actions of re-naming their two airports “Alexander the Macedonian” and “Apostle Paul” respectively. Furthermore in 2000 they published a voluminous book titled “28 centuries of glorious of Military History of the Macedonian people”, in which they mention their first victory against Greece in Chaeronia , their victories in Granicus and Issus etc! The said book is used in their military schools and since 2005 has been circulating in the English speaking worldwide.
The fact that the core of the problem with Skopje has always been the identity of the Macedonians, is not only proven by the above-mentioned actions, but also by the unanimous Resolution of the 15 European Nations, comprising the former European Market.
The late President of the Hellenic Republic Constantine Karamanlis in his letter of the 3rd January 1992 addressed to his colleagues of the other European countries, in which he requested Skopje not to be named “Macedonia”, remarked that he himself was Macedonian and that the Skopjeans are Slavs, Albanians etc, who have no relation whatsoever to the Macedonians.
The Lisbon Summit Meeting of June 1992 concerning the issue of identity, decided unanimously to admit Skopje, stipulating however that it should not contain the word “Macedonia”.
Greece (i.e. Greek Parliament - Greek Government - Greek Members of the European Parliament) should stress to the EU, which is solely responsible for this matter – and not the UN or any third parties – that the EU owes it to is authority, its Declarations and according to Articles 2 and 3 of the Stability Agreement of 2001, to state bluntly to the Skopjeans that they cannot be called “Macedonians”. In case the EU does not do so, it would seem to accept that the late Constantine Karamanlis, the present Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and more than two million Macedonians, are not Greeks; and that the cultural foundations of the Europeans are not based on the Greco-Roman civilization, but the one forged by our neighbors, the Skopjeans.
The false assertion of the Skopjeans that they represent the “Macedonian Nation”, that there are “Macedonian minorities” and that they are “Macedonians”, which is strongly rejected by the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Albanians and the Serbs, constitutes the sole danger of destabilization of the area.
Those who call this Skopjean State “Democracy of Macedonia” and the Skopjeans “Macedonians”, should not forget that this Democracy was fabricated by Tito and Stalin in 1944, as a consequence of the Italian fascist attack against Greece in 1940 and the German in 1941. They should also remember that according the admission of Hitler and many others, it was the heroic struggle of the Greeks that prevented Hitler’s victory, contributed to his defeat in Europe and led to the final victory of the Allies in WW II.
In 1942 the Frenchman Pierre Bourdan talking to the BBC said “As time goes by it will become clear that following the action of England in 1940 it was the braveness of the Greek people which contributed most to the preservation of the European civilization. This is what they should bear in mind those form Europe today. Every act of ingratitude to Greece would equal an act of betrayal to Europe”.
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