Posted on 07/18/2009 7:05:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
What has to be the most pro-American country on the globe outside of North America celebrated its first birthday on February 17.
If George W. Bush ever needs a near fully-friendly venue, he can travel to Kosovo.
As can Bill Clinton, whose giant visage beams down on Bill Clinton Boulevard in the capitol city of Pristina.
Kosovars love America and Americans, or at least the vast, vast majority of them do. I spent three days with the men and women of the 40th Infantry Division at its base at Camp Bondsteel this past week, and in long travels with various elements of the National Guard units doing the work of peacekeeping in their sector, came in contact with Serbs, Albanians, and Roma; with Muslims, Orthodox and Serbs, with the secular and the sectarian. Not a negative word was heard, but many Kosovars were eager to tell me of their love for America.
It is a bipartisan love --they love President Obama as well as Presidents Bush and Clinton-- and it frames a country that is increasingly stable and maturing, thanks in large part to the professionalism and dedication of America’s citizen-soldiers who have been shouldering much of the U.S.’s share of the burden in Kosovo for the past many years. The 40th I.D. is on its second year-long deployment in the country in four years, both of which have occurred since the most recent round of ethnic violence in 2004. Veterans of both deployments admire the amazing progress on the ground throughout the region that occurred in the years they were home in the U.S. American forces have the lead only in the eastern region of the country, while large contingents of French, Irish, and Greeks patrol other regions, and units from Poland, Ukraine, and Slovenia are assisting the American troops in their duties in Multi-National Task Force-East.
Those duties have not had to include the suppression of violence in recent years, but focus rather on the “soft power” of extraordinarily competent assistance in nation-building. On the second day of my visit, Major Westerfield of the California 1-18 Cavalry and Task Force Sabre was providing expert and experienced counsel in a touchy situation where the mayor and the judiciary of one town found themselves on opposite sides of a dispute. This is the routine business of land-use in ten thousand American cities, but it is all new in a new country, and it perfectly illustrates the sorts of problem sets the approximately 1,500 American troops at Camp Bondsteel deal with every day.
Lipstick on a pig.
Of course they love us, KOsovO is now void of all but Albanians.
Why is Hewitt drinking this Kool-Aid?
Sort of like how the Arabs would love Obama if he helped them expel all the Jews from the Middle East. They’d probably name some major street in Jerusalem after him.
I believe Hugh is really showing his ignorance here. If I'm wrong, someone can correct me, but I don't believe the Muslims in the Balkans ever adopted the traditional Arab/Muslim dress, and the women did not wear burkas or abayas. And, some of the real fundamentalists Muslims from Arab nations received an indifferent reception when they tried to transplant their fundamentalists brand of Islam to the Balkans.
I heard this clown chastise a caller during the election campaign for wanting to bring up “The Divine One’s” middle name. Further, he called The Divine One an “honorable man.” This guy is a McCain of the broadcasting world.
Is the author praising Kosovo or US troops more? Weird how antiwar types supporting 0 and Clinton like to smoke that “Islam is peace” weed and ignore US security role when convenient.
Hugh has gone around the bend. Sad, He used to be good before his obamabotomy.
“You will find more traditional Islamic dress in every major America city than in any Kosovo metropolis.
I believe Hugh is really showing his ignorance here. If I’m wrong, someone can correct me, but I don’t believe the Muslims in the Balkans ever adopted the traditional Arab/Muslim dress, and the women did not wear burkas or abayas. And, some of the real fundamentalists Muslims from Arab nations received an indifferent reception when they tried to transplant their fundamentalists brand of Islam to the Balkans. “
you are correct. you will see some of the older women wearing a head-scarf, and some of the older men wear the little hat-thing,(called??) but the rest are dressing western-like...I refer to them as ‘Heineken-Muslims”
“Why is Hewitt drinking this Kool-Aid?”
at least he mentioned and gave props to the soldiers...I know about 1/3 of those he mentioned personally
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