Posted on 11/12/2008 12:41:54 PM PST by Diocletian
BELGRADE, Serbia-Nikola Kavaja, who hijacked a U.S. passenger jet in 1979 with the intention of crashing it into Yugoslav Communist Party headquarters, has died.
Kavaja, 76, died of a heart attack at his home in Belgrade late Monday, the Blic daily newspaper said. Other local media also reported his death.
The self-declared anti-communist hijacked an American Airlines Boeing 707 in New York and flew it over the Atlantic with the aim of crashing it into the party headquarters in a high-rise in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
He abandoned his hijack mission in Ireland, saying at the time he was not sure of the exact location of the downtown party office and did not want innocent civilians to die if the jet missed the target.
Kavaja was extradited to the U.S. and spent 18 years in a federal prison on hijack charges. He was released on parole before returning to Serbia in 1999. His parole was to expire in 2019.
Kavaja claimed in a number of interviews with Serbia's newspapers that Osama bin Laden must have "stolen" his idea of crashing jets into tall buildings during the 9/11 attack in New York and Washington.
But terrorism experts said Tuesday they doubted his claim, citing plots to attack 11 planes flying from Asia to the U.S. in 1995, and a plot to hijack a plane and fly it into the Eiffel Tower in 1994. In addition, as early as 1974, an attempt by a gunman to commandeer a jetliner in Baltimore and force the pilot to fly it into the White House ended in an airport shootout in which the would-be hijacker killed himself.
Kavaja also claimed that he was recruited by the CIA to kill former communist dictator Josip Broz Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia from 1945 until he died in 1980, a claim Lewis called "unusual."
IIRC, Bokababe told me that Serbs never engaged in terrorist acts during the Cold War.
Really sounds like he should have done his time in a psych hospital rather a prison . . .
What an idiot. So in order to fight Communism he wanted to hijack an US passenger plane. Rot in hell...
He only did 18 years for hijacking a 707 full of Americans?
Dude should have never had the chance to die at home.
October 10, 1972 - hijackers threatened to crash an airliner into a nuclear reactor in my little town of Oak Ridge.
Not to defend the guy or anything, but most demented hijackers aren't that considerate.
You have been, however, canceled out. I met a Croatian young lady this last summer who doesn't have the darkness that you carry in your heart. You see, even your own people think guys like you are nuts. She even knows her own history better than you.
BS, Dio.
As for this guy, I agree with Solid Wood, "May he rot in hell!".
However it is worth noting that Kavaja was a CIA operative, hired to kill Tito. Kavaja just went off the reservation and started creating his own "missions" that ultimately resulted in this hijacking. Prior to this, he had been working for America against communist Yugoslavia.
Considering that I have Serbian relatives, and considering that my kumovi are Serbs, and two of my best friends are Serbs, your comment is truly ridiculous.
But after trouncing you on the history and politics of the region time and time again, you go for a personal attack and once again you fail.
Hey, I recall you saying that Serbs didn’t engage in terrorism.
You can "recall" what you like.
This guy was --as he says that he will be remembered in the article I linked -- "evil". He was a hired assassin -- and that America (the CIA) chose to hire him to "fight communism" and he went rogue, is indicative of their outlook and behavior at the time. This kind of thinking and haphazard behavior is why the CIA eventually got reigned in.
Okay.
Wow, were they the only Serbs your gramps couldn't kill off during WWII?
So now you're calling my grandfather a murderer. That's pretty low, even for you.
All these years and this is the first time we hear you "have Serbian family, kumovi and friends"? Hmmm... One day, you grew up in Bosnia, one day it's Croatia, the next it's Buffalo, NY Never know what to believe with you.
You said that your grandfather was Ustase. The official plan for Serbs under Ustase control in WWII Croatia and Bosnia was "kill 1/3, deport 1/3 and convert 1/3". So do you think that he was "selling Girl Scout Cookies"?
No, it's not the first time. I've been here since 2001, as getoffmylawn and kosta can vouch and I've mentioned this fact to them before.
Hmmm... One day, you grew up in Bosnia, one day it's Croatia, the next it's Buffalo, NY Never know what to believe with you.
I was born in Bosnia, grew up in Greater Toronto...again, as those on this forum longer than you already know. We pick up Buffalo TV channels here, as we do those from Erie, Pennsylvania.
You said that your grandfather was Ustase.
Yes he was....a good man.
The official plan for Serbs under Ustase control in WWII Croatia and Bosnia was "kill 1/3, deport 1/3 and convert 1/3". So do you think that he was "selling Girl Scout Cookies"?
That wasn't the official plan....it was never put into legislation, it was a threat made by an Ustasha official...similar to how Vojislav Seselj threatened to gouge out Croatian eyes with rusty spoons only a little under two decades ago.
My grandfather's funeral was in May 1991, and was attended not only by Croatians, but by our Serbian neighbours in the neighbouring villages. He was that well respected and regarded...I'm sorry if this punctures the black/white version of history advanced by communists and Serbian ultranationalists. Instead of attacking my family, you should be telling Squid that he should be ashamed of himself for calling my grandfather a murderer.
So how were you in the middle of "arms transfers" to the Bosnian Muslims via Croatia during the wars as you have said, if you grew up in Toronto?
The official plan for Serbs under Ustase control in WWII Croatia and Bosnia was "kill 1/3, deport 1/3 and convert 1/3".
That wasn't the official plan....it was never put into legislation, it was a threat made by an Ustasha official...
When three government ministers publicly announce it as the country's strategy, it isn't "a threat", its an official plan. From Wiki:
The Ustaše aimed at an ethnically "pure" Croatia, and saw the Serbs that lived in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as the their biggest obstacle. Thus, Ustaše ministers Mile Budak, Mirko Puk, and Milovan Žanić declared in May 1941 that the goal of the new Ustaše policy was an ethnically clean Croatia. They also publicly announced the strategy to achieve their goal:
1. One third of the Serbs (in the Independent State of Croatia) were to be forcibly converted to Catholicism.
2. One third of the Serbs were to be expelled (ethnically cleansed).
3. One third of the Serbs were to be killed.
"My grandfather's funeral was in May 1991, and was attended not only by Croatians, but by our Serbian neighbours in the neighbouring villages."
So he was still over there in Bosnia?
For the past few weeks, I have been reading story after story on how Croatia is choking on its own corruption and I haven't posted here. Why? Because what's the point? To take a pot-shot at Croats & Croatia? To take pot-shots at you? Again, what's the point?
But, you see that this obviously evil hijacker happens to have been "a Serb" and damn, you just can't resist, can you Dio? Even the New York Times story called him "an anti-communist Yugoslav", but you had to find the story on Serbianna that led with "Serb".
So please quit with the "my best friends are Serbs" crap, Dio.
And maybe, in spite of it all, you grandfather was a good man who just got caught up with the wrong crowd. But the way that you continue to defend that "crowd", makes me wonder if that was the case, how you became such a Croat supremacist.
Because like many of us in the diaspora, I volunteered to help out during the war .
When three government ministers publicly announce it as the country's strategy, it isn't "a threat", its an official plan.
Nonsense...only one official made the threat and nothing became of it. Just because wiki says it doesn't make it so. No legislation tabled, much less passed. So much for "official".
So he was still over there in Bosnia?
He fought until 1948 in the mountains as a "Krizar" (Crusader), part of the OSS (now CIA) mission to destabilize Tito's regime. When Tito turned on Stalin in '48, the OSS ended its support of "Operation Guardian" and the fight was over. My grandfather was condemned to death but thanks to the lobbying by a Serb from the neighbouring village who was a Partizan during the war, his sentenced was commuted. That man became my father's godfather the following year when my father was born and baptized. That man's sons now live in Banja Luka and Belgrade. One of them drove my mother to the hospital while she was in labour with me...my father at the time was working in Hamburg, Germany.
My grandfather's brother was a bit unluckier as he was executed.
But, you see that this obviously evil hijacker happens to have been "a Serb" and damn, you just can't resist, can you Dio?
After the attempts to once again portray Croatians as terrorists in light of Busic's release, a little balance was necessary...hence this post. You shouldn't misconstrue it as an attack on all Serbs since it isn't.
And maybe, in spite of it all, you grandfather was a good man who just got caught up with the wrong crowd. But the way that you continue to defend that "crowd", makes me wonder if that was the case, how you became such a Croat supremacist.
I'm not a Croatian supremacist...I don't believe Croatians are supreme (nor do I believe that any other nation or race is supreme).
You have nothing. You think you trounce people so you can create a feeling of self-worth at an attempt to quell the hatred inside of you. You probably have nothing else significant to offer the real world so you dream about how great and successful you are in cyberspace. You see, in the end all you are left with is you and the devil that owns you.
Like I said, if you would like some referrals to some good psychiatrists let me know. Good luck Diablos.
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