Has American Covert Retaliation Begun?

As you know by now, the Manhattan Financial District and the Pentagon were struck by a stunning airborne assault Tuesday morning. This postmodern Kamikaze raid has shocked the American people and temporarily paralyzed the nation's Transportation and Financial sectors. Thousands are dead, the economy has been staggered, and a populace unprepared for war has seen the battle brought to their doorstep.

I'm writing to update you on the situation, and to advise some additional bad news -- some of your outfit have been Killed in Action (KIA). I am advised by DC today that Mr U, Mr C, and Mr K are "missing" -- their office area at the Pentagon was near ground zero. Several other midlevel and senior members of your organization have been killed.

I'm very sorry to have to tell you this. Already a new command structure is being integrated into the existing framework -- I can assure you the outfit will Charlie Mike in your sector.

As bad as the situation at the Pentagon is, it is much worse in lower Manhattan. Each of the towers of the World Trade Center were struck by jumbo jet airliners carrying full loads of aviation fuel for transcontinental flights. The planes were hijacked by small groups of men and then intentionally rammed into the towering structures. The subsequent collapse of these buildings trapped several thousand office workers and rescue personnel. Internal FEMA numbers estimate the total dead from the attack in New York at 5800.

I doubt anyone will ever really know the exact number killed for certain. Rescue and recovery efforts are being hampered by a number of factors, some physical -- some political. However there is no doubt that the average man (and woman) involved on the ground is giving it everything he (she) has.

The country is facing two primary problems now. The first is that the airline industry is still reeling from the Tuesday dislocation caused by rerouting planes and the subsequent shutdown of the air lanes to commercial traffic. Service will be resumed shortly, although "stringent" new security measures are being rapidly pushed through the FAA -- which will further hamper future air travel.

I'm not sure any of these new regulations, except the prohibition of carrying knives onboard, could halt future attacks of this nature. But we can talk about that some other time. Let's just say the regulators and politicians are under the gun to do something in response...

However that will sort itself out. The troubling news is that the market will be closed Thursday, and probably Friday -- as the attack has taken the de facto liquidity out of the market because nobody can sell. Whether through armed attack, a lack of buyers, or too many sellers -- when stock holders can't sell they lose confidence.

However, the government is unlikely to permit the market to collapse although stock prices have been suffering of late. The fact that the end of the quarter is only weeks away and October -- the cruelest month for stocks -- follows is not a good sign. However the government has a number of options available to support the economy at this particular juncture.

Now, while explaining the government's role in artificially propping up the stock market is not the purpose of this missive, the fact is I remember how you were during the NATO war against Yugoslavia. You were so worried about your retirement portfolio that it seemed you sometimes lost focus when it came to (cough) (cough) liquidating "revisionist elements" in Tirana.

Since I have a feeling that you and your organization will soon be active in that line of work again due to Tuesday's attack, perhaps best I attempt to assuage those fears...

I won't bore you with how the NYSE leadership broke every rule in October 1987 to keep the market from collapsing after it lost 500 hundred points in one day. Instead of going to jail they were proclaimed as heroes. Keep that in mind as the Fed decides to cut interest rates again and hundreds of millions of dollars in credit continue to be injected into the system.

No, what I would tell you to think about is 1980 when silver ran up from five dollars to fifty an ounce as the Hunt brothers (legally) cornered the market. With all the investors/speculators/gamblers facing ruin, the COMEX and the CME changed the rules and prohibited buying silver futures except to cover short positions. In essence they took the liquidity out of the market (with no buyers -- none could sell) to save the day -- just as is happening with the current stock market closure.

However every artificial action in the market has future exponential results as President Carter learned the hard way -- and there are a lot of short positions out there in stocks now. This dynamic bodes ill for somebody -- but probably not the average investor with a conservative portfolio.

Regardless, I wouldn't worry about it. You need to focus on killing the enemy right now -- and to do that you must first identify him and then locate him. Which leads me to my next point...

If Osama Bin Laden was responsible for this attack he had to have help. A lot of people want to attack Afghanistan right now but I fear this is far from wise for a number of reasons. This is not the time to go into an explanation of the Russian debacle there in the 1980s or even discuss the epic British Empire defeat during the retreat from Kabul in the nineteenth century. Let's just say it's a tough place to win on the road...

Besides, the United States has been at war with the Taliban there for a number of years. America supports the Northern Alliance which has slowly been falling back for months now and is near collapse. The spectacular assassination of Commander Masoud last Sunday will probably destroy their forces eventually. He was blown up by a Taliban sapper team disguised as journalists...

You may have noted I have not used the word "Terrorists" in this commentary as I feel the term is incorrect in this scenario for a number of reasons. First is because the President has stated we are now at war with the attackers -- and for all practical purposes we have been at war with this enemy for many years now. They are not terrorists as much as enemy combatants. This is merely the first time the enemy has mounted an offensive on US soil -- and thus the first time most Americans have had this reality brought into focus.

You can't have it both ways so I think I will just refer to them as the enemy...

Yeah, people are angry and they are in shock now because they can't understand why this has happened. How do you explain to them that during the NATO war -- as you were doing your wet work each night in the Albanian capital -- Stealth bombers, B-52s, and Cruise Missiles were bombing Yugoslavia for 78 days? The destruction there was twenty times what these attacks caused Tuesday. Thousands were killed, the country littered with radioactive Depleted Uranium (DU) shells (cancer rates are going through the roof there now), and the country's economic infrastructure was destroyed for years to follow...

(And Yugoslavia is a Christian nation -- member of the UN -- that sort of thing. Although I've got to admit I loved the way the gang spread all of that counterfeit Serb money around to destabilize the economy.)

Iraq is where Muslim folks are very unhappy. That no-fly zone has been in effect for ten years now and most conservative estimates put the number of Iraqi children killed by US and British attacks -- combined with the economic blockade -- at around 50,000. That's 5000 a year, or about a hundred a week for ten years...

The US and Brits bomb them every month because the Iraqis have this crazy idea they should be able to fly planes over their own country and sell oil as they see fit...

I guess what concerns me is how the American people are screaming for the US to bomb somebody when they don't even realize we have been doing this for years. The failure of the various bombing and economic blockade strategies to force a decision is one of the reasons America was struck Tuesday. The enemy has been absorbing punishment for years -- without being defeated -- and it has only made him harder and more determined...

If Americans want war they had better realize that to ultimately force a decision it is necessary to close ground with the enemy and kill him with land forces. This means artillery, armor, and most importantly -- well trained infantry. Secretary Powell and former President Bush's failure to drive on Baghdad and destroy the enemy in 1991 was a critical mistake. The Iraqis were on the run then and vulnerable...

This type of pursuit, "Sabering the fugitive," leads to a decisive battle of annihilation as the enemy's ability to fight is effectively eliminated. It is the only type of strategy that should be considered by President Bush if these attacks eventually do lead to war -- halfway measures only get your people needlessly killed as any World War II or Vietnam vet can tell you...

Yes, people are upset -- but they are also in the dark. They need to wake up to the realities because until they do their emotions will continue to be subtly manipulated by an American government that is a master (rightly or wrongly) of this task. If they want war they can have it -- just no halfway measures please...

Yes, the attacks Tuesday were something else. The second plane to hit the World Trade Center timed its strike to cause maximum loss of life to rescue personnel -- while ensuring that every broadcast network was focused on the first building. The entire country was mesmerized by the spectacular affaire -- with the networks acting as unwitting conveyors -- as the shock was carefully calculated to obtain maximum psychological effect.

It will be President Bush's job to transform this shock into effective political action and public support for a well thought out response. I'm not sure this is accomplished by trampling on civil rights with jack booted thugs, or being less than transparent as events unfold. Without a doubt Americans are willing to fight for the freedoms they currently have -- this is the country's greatest strength -- best to ensure that these freedoms do not disappear in a blizzard of oppressive panic legislation and regulation.

Because then the people's popular support will evaporate and the enemy will have won...

I'll close with one last thought: Some advice I would give our leaders that wouldn't be very popular I'm afraid. But then again, having been at the war and seeing it up close allows one to shed most inhibitions -- and besides it's the truth...

Whether it's President Bush, Secretary Powell, or even the venerable Dan Rather -- I think this business of calling the attackers "cowards" and the assault "cowardly" does the American people a huge disservice in exchange for briefly stimulating emotions that are already sky high. If you think about it, you will realize that it takes an extremely brave and disciplined man -- with very strong spiritual beliefs -- to train for a year to hijack an airplane and then calmly crash it into a building.

The American people need to absorb such realities because this profile accurately represents the enemy they must kill if they decide to go to war. And I don't mean with cruise missiles and stealth bombers -- but with the silenced pistol, stiletto, and the satchel charge. It means American operators in Kabul, Islamabad, Quebec, Tirana, and Sarajevo will have to identify and locate the enemy -- and then kill him in cold blood.

What will happen? I have no idea. But if I was a gambling man I think I would put it all on President Bush -- and then ride him like an ornery old mule carrying weapons from Kosovo to Macedonia -- it might take awhile, but in the end you'll get where you're going with the winning hand.

Fusion, what kept you, you were suspiciously absent for two weeks, I knew something is going on. Any news from Forces of freedom of the move? Since you were away, and no info from KLA, I had to run websearch. Found this article from The Washingon Times. Good read these days. You know what Lieberman said: Fighting for KLA is Fighting for American values"

KLA rebels train in terrorist camps

By Jerry Seper

The Washington Times, May 4, 1999

Some members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which has financed its war effort through the sale of heroin, were trained in terrorist camps run by international fugitive Osama bin Laden -- who is wanted in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 persons, including 12 Americans.

The destruction of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was blamed by the U.S. on Osama bin Laden's group. Well before the start of the NATO operation reports were pointing to his ties to KLA. Click on the pictures to get the larger size. First and last pictures: Reuters, second: Associated Press.

The KLA members, embraced by the Clinton administration in NATO's 41-day bombing campaign to bring Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the bargaining table, were trained in secret camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere, according to newly obtained intelligence reports. The reports also show that the KLA has enlisted Islamic terrorists -- members of the Mujahideen --as soldiers in its ongoing conflict against Serbia, and that many already have been smuggled into Kosovo to join the fight.

Known to its countrymen as the Ushtria Clirimatare e Kosoves, the KLA has as many as 30,000 members, a number reportedly on the rise as a result of NATO's continuing bombing campaign. The group's leadership, including Agim Ceku, a former Croatian army brigadier general, has rapidly become a political and military force in the Balkans. The intelligence reports document what is described as a "link" between bin Laden, the fugitive Saudi including a common staging area in Tropoje, Albania, a center for Islamic terrorists.

The reports said bin Laden's organization, known as al-Qaeda, has both trained and financially supported the KLA. Many border crossings into Kosovo by "foreign fighters" also have been documented and include veterans of the militant group Islamic Jihad from Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Many of the crossings originated in neighboring Albania and, according to the reports, included parties of up to 50 men.

Jane's International Defense Review, a highly respected British Journal, reported in February that documents found last year on the body of a KLA member showed that he had escorted several volunteers into Kosovo, including more than a dozen Saudi Arabians. Each volunteer carried a passport identifying him as a Macedonian Albanian.

Bin Laden and his military commander, Mohammed Atef, were named in a federal indictment handed up in November in New York for the simultaneous explosions Aug. 7 at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The indictment accused the two men of directing the attacks, which injured more than 5,000 people.

The indictment said bin Laden, working through al-Qaeda, forged alliances with government officials in Iran, the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and an Iranian terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. He was indicted earlier this year by a federal grand jury in New York for his suspected terrorist activities. The al-Qaeda is believed to have targeted U.S. embassies and American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The organization also is accused of housing and training terrorists, and of raising money to support their causes.

The State Department, along with other federal agencies, offered a $5 million reward last year for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the two men. Mr. Clinton ordered a retaliatory attack on training bases controlled by bin Laden in Afghanistan and a chemical factory near Khartoum, Sudan, after the bombings.

Last year, while State Department officials labeled the KLA a terrorist organization, saying it bankrolled its operations with proceeds from the heroin trade and from loans from known terrorists like bin Laden, the department listed the group as an "insurgency" organization in its official reports. The officials charged that the KLA used terrorist tactics to assault Serbian and ethnic Albanian civilians in a campaign to achieve independence.

The KLA's involvement in drug smuggling as a means of raising funds for weapons is long-standing. Intelligence documents show it has aligned itself with an extensive organized crime network in Albania that smuggles heroin to buyers throughout Western Europe and the United States.

Drug agents in five countries believe the cartel is one of the most powerful heroin smuggling organizations in the world. The documents show heroin and some cocaine is moved over land and sea from Turkey through Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia to Western Europe and elsewhere. The circuit has become known as the "Balkan Route."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a recent report that drug smuggling organizations composed of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians were considered "second only to Turkish gangs as the predominant heroin smugglers along the Balkan Route." Greek Interpol representatives have called Kosovo's ethnic Albanians "the primary sources of supply for cocaine and heroin in that country."

France's Geopolitical Observatory of Drugs said the KLA was a key player in the rapidly expanding drugs-for-arms business and helped transport $2 billion in drugs a year into Western Europe. German drug agents said $1.5 billion in drug profits is laundered annually by Kosovo smugglers, through as many as 200 private banks or currency-exchange offices.

Jane's Intelligence Review estimated in March that drug sales could have netted the KLA profits in the "high tens of millions of dollars." It said the KLA had rearmed itself for a spring offensive with the aid of drug money, along with donations from Albanians in Western Europe and the United States.

>>>>What the heck is currently going on in Macedonia currenltly<<<<<

Dear Deutschesprecher, it was covered in lenght in German press, here is David Hackworth commentary what kind of fix is in. I hope not any more.

Those who abide by "DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR" do not make finacial deals with terrorists.

WANTED: GUNS FOR HIRE

DAVID H. HACKWORTH

Last month, American troops in Macedonia rescued 400 Albanian rebels who were members of the 113th UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army) Brigade. This operation didn't pass the smell test for me. I couldn't stop asking myself why NATO brass would risk the lives of 80 American paratroopers to save a band of heavily armed cutthroats bent on overthrowing the established government of a country that our president and State Department have repeatedly stated they are committed to save.

The act was kind of like an FBI SWAT team rescuing Timothy McVeigh minutes before the execution. My first thought was, Whose side are we really on? My second was, What's the objective here -- stabilizing or destabilizing Macedonia?

The UCK brigade -- dug in around Aracinovo, four miles north of Skopje, the capital of Macedonia -- had been surrounded for two weeks, under heavy attack by Macedonian government forces and on the verge of destruction. Imagine how we'd feel if one of our units was about to take out a rebel brigade whose objective was to overthrow our government, when out of nowhere a Canadian paratroop company swooped in and saved the enemy force?
Of course, the Macedonians were fit to be tied.

Sources in the U.S. Army in Kosovo familiar with the 3/502nd Airborne Battalion's rescue operation confirm that the mission was all about saving the "17 'instructors' among the withdrawing rebels -- former U.S. officers, who were providing the rebels with continued military education. But that was not enough: The Macedonian security forces claim that 70 percent of the equipment taken away by the guerrillas had been U.S. made -- to include even the most modern third-generation night vision devices," as reported by the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt on June 28.

Other sources say the "17 instructors" were members of a high-ticket Rent-a-Soldier outfit called MPRI -- Military Professional Resources Incorporated -- that operates in the shadow of the Pentagon and has been hired by the CIA and our State Department for ops in ex-Yugoslavia. The company, headed up by former U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carl E. Vuono, is filled with former U.S. Army personnel, from generals to senior sergeants, all of whom draw handsome wages on top of their Army retired salaries.

This is the same outfit that in the early 1990s trained Croatian soldiers for Operation Storm -- which resulted in the brutal ethnic cleansing of 200,000 unarmed Serb civilians -- as well as bringing Croatian Gen. Agim Ceku up to speed. Ceku, who played a central role in the slaughter, is alleged to have killed thousands of other Serb civilians before joining the KLA in 1999, where he again received training and assistance from CIA and State Department contractors operating overtly and covertly throughout ex-Yugoslavia and around the globe.

Retired four-stars don't run out of power until they hear taps. Had Vuono or another of his compadres such as Gen. Crosbie Saint picked up the phone and suggested the 502nd be sent to the rescue, that suggestion would have been taken as a virtual command.

MPRI even has a Web site -- www.MPRI.com -- that boasts, "We serve the needs of the U.S. government, of foreign governments and of the private sector with the highest standards and cost effective solutions."

While Ollie North's Contra boys and the mercenaries who botched up the Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion might not have been so businesslike -- or so blatant -- they did establish an unfortunate tradition of hired guns sticking our nation into one minefield after another.

Dozens of ex-Army pals are presently working for the ever-expanding MPRI or other such military contractors in places like Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, ex-Yugoslavia and Colombia. We're talking booming business here.

But others have had the moral decency to say, "Take your high-paying mercenary job and stick it in your ear."

One still-serving three-war vet told me: "A number of contractors have been pitching me to work for them after I retire. I said no. There's no principles, no love of country, no honor -- just MONEY. I can't ... sell my soul for a buck."

There are laws on the books that prevent American citizens from serving foreign governments. It's about time Congress did its duty and enforced them.

***

You are right. The policy is essentially the same in the Balkans as it was during the last administration. There appears to be no change in the last few days either. From KFOR/NATO/UN occupied Kosovo, within the past day, the Albanians have tried to launch an invasion into Macedonia and have provoked Yugoslav police in Southern Serbia:

(From Tanjug)

MACEDONIAN BORDER PATROLS CLASH WITH TERRORISTS NEAR TANUSEVCI

SKOPJE - Macedonian border patrols have prevented a large group of ethnic Albanian terrorists from penetrating Macedonian territory from Kosovo-Matohija, a General Staff spokesman said in Skopje on Thursday.

Colonel Blagoje Markovski said that the incident took place overnight near the Tanusevci watchtower on the northern part of the Macedonian-Yugoslav border.

14:39 SERBIA-BUJANOVAC-TERRORISTS-PROVOCATIONS

Terrorist provocations between Bujanovac and Kosovska

Kamenica BUJANOVAC, Sept 14 (Tanjug) - Ethnic Albanian terrorists twice opened fire overnight from the direction of the village of Karacevo, Kosovska Kamenica district in Kosovo-Metohija, on police in the village of Breznica, northern Bujanovac region, the press centre in Bujanovac announced on Friday.

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