US Attacks Put Spotlight on Bosnia Muslim Community ``Osama is our brother''

Reuters via Yahoo! News ^ | Tuesday October 30 12:38 PM ET | Daria Sito-Sucic

[Pericles]

Tuesday October 30 12:38 PM ET

US Attacks Put Spotlight on Bosnia Muslim Community

By Daria Sito-Sucic

GORNJA MAOCA, Bosnia (Reuters) - This idyllic Bosnian village seems a world away from the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But Muslims here say outsiders treat them with increased suspicion after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

``I have never fired a bullet, and they call me a terrorist,'' said Abdulah, a bearded 27-year-old who last year moved to the northern village of Gornja Maoca with his wife and three children for a life devoted to their religion.

But some local people regard him and the others in the small community as mujahideen, Islamic holy warriors, suspecting them of plotting against the West in the guise of farmers.

Journalists in the nearby town of Brcko in early October pressed a U.N. spokeswoman on what security steps had been taken concerning ``the mujahideen group'' in the village.

Abdulah rejected allegations the community was mujahideen, saying he was not in Bosnia at all during the 1992-95 war and that those who were fought for the country and not for Islam.

``I have a feeling that all those who practice proper Islam are now called terrorists,'' said Austrian-born Abdulah, wearing a small white cap.

Stickers on an old Mercedes parked behind him read: ``I love Islam,'' ``You are looking for the truth: All answers are in Koran.'' Next to the car, two men chopped firewood. An old shepherd passed by followed by a flock of sheep.

Abdulah's bitter words show how the events of September 11 have affected Bosnia, with media reviving allegations the Muslim-led wartime government had links to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, named by the U.S. as the main suspect in the attacks.

ARRESTS FUEL FEARS

Fears have been fueled by the arrests of several people suspected of having links to terrorism -- some from Middle Eastern countries -- and by a Bosnian minister's comment that supporters of bin Laden saw the country as a potential ``safe haven.''

NATO-led peacekeepers said this week they had ``disrupted'' links in Bosnia to bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Spokesmen said the investigation into the network was continuing but refused to go into details of the alleged al Qaeda activities inside Bosnia.

Britain and the United States closed their Sarajevo embassies for five days in mid-October citing a credible security threat which an official at the British embassy said appeared to be linked to the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan.

Local media later reported that police had arrested five Algerians in connection with the case.

The U.N.'s chief war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, said this month she had handed the United States information from her Bosnia files for its investigation into al Qaeda.

The talk of terrorism has sent accusations flying back and forth across the ethnic divides which remain more than five years after the end of Bosnia's war.

Some Serb politicians have accused Muslim former president Alija Izetbegovic of wartime contacts with bin Laden associates.

Izetbegovic has hit back, accusing Serb and Croat hard-liners of trying to exploit world anger over the attacks to destroy Bosnia, having failed to do so during the war.

``Thousands of murderers walk freely in Bosnia today and it is in their interest to point the finger at other people here...as terrorists,'' Izetbegovic said.

Serb and Croat nationalists were using the fact that Islamic mujahideen fought alongside government forces in the conflict in order to link the country with terrorism, he said.

SOME FIGHTERS STAYED

The mujahideen came to Bosnia to help the heavily outgunned Muslim-led forces against separatist Serb and Croat fighters in a war that killed more than 200,000 people.

Bosnian wartime authorities are believed to have issued passports to some 400 of those fighters as a reward. Police say about 200 Arabs holding Bosnian citizenship are still in the country and it has stepped up checks on them.

Some ex-fighters settled after the war in the central village of Donja Bocinja, which had been abandoned by its Serb prewar residents. It became known as a ``mujahideen'' community and the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia kept a close eye on it.

But the new residents were forced to evacuate the village last year to make space for returning Serbs.

Many of them left Bosnia altogether but Abdulah's family and five others moved to Gornja Maoca -- joining about 15 other Muslim refugee families to keep sheep, goats and bees in what resembles a 1970s-style hippie community.

Enes, leader of the Gornja Maoca group, lashed out at the authorities for arresting people who had defended Bosnia while wartime Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic remained at large.

``Our brothers who came to help us in the war...now they are terrorists,'' said the bearded man, giving only his first name.

He also said he was convinced bin Laden was not behind the attacks in New York and Washington.

``Osama is our brother,'' Enes said. ``If he says he did not do it, we trust him more than anyone else.''

Many local and international officials have been trying to maintain a sense of calm despite the recent arrests and NATO's claim to have disrupted a terrorist structure.

A growing number of Bosnian Muslims turned to religion during and after the war, but the West's peace overseer in Bosnia described the country's variant of Islam as ``European.''

``I do not see a great danger of Islamic fundamentalism,'' High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch said.

[Pericles]

``Osama is our brother,'' Enes said. ``If he says he did not do it, we trust him more than anyone else.''

Does anyone need anymore proof?

[Pericles]

Abdulah rejected allegations the community was mujahideen, saying he was not in Bosnia at all during the 1992-95 war and that those who were fought for the country and not for Islam.

Why did the Bosnian Moslem government grant him land and Bosnian citizenship for? They have land to spare?

[Pericles]

Some Serb politicians have accused Muslim former president Alija Izetbegovic of wartime contacts with bin Laden associates.

EYEWITNESS TO THE SECRET VISIT OF THE MOST WANTED CRIMINAL IN THE WORLD TO SARAJEVO

[floriduh voter]

Hello, Russian mafia in various states. If your neighbors act suspicious, drive brand new mercedes or have scary friends, please call your local law enforcement. You can call anonymously. The fbi is swamped with tips and they are working through them one at a time. I believe the russian mafia is connected to terrorism because criminal activity is scary especially if in your own backyard.

They may be muslim but do not look mid-eastern. Be on the safe side and let the cops decide if they are bad people or not.

[Pericles]

A growing number of Bosnian Muslims turned to religion during and after the war, but the West's peace overseer in Bosnia described the country's variant of Islam as ``European.'' The Balkan Branches of the Terror Network "in search of blond Moslems"

FILE--Unidentified Muslims march in Sarajevo in this March 2000 file photo during a protest organized by local Islamic youth organizations to demand the world community put a stop to Russia's offensive in Chechnya. The banner reads "Allah is the only one, and Muhammad is his envoy on earth." As the United States widens its war against Osama bin Laden, signs that a radical fringe is trying to stir up Bosnia, one of the largest Muslim areas in Europe, are being taken seriously. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic)

``I do not see a great danger of Islamic fundamentalism,'' High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch said. Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary

[Pericles]

You posted to fast. See post #5.

[Pericles]

fyi - pass the bumps around

[sistergoldenhair]

``I have never fired a bullet, and they call me a terrorist,''
``I have a feeling that all those who practice proper Islam are now called terrorists,''

Is this the sign of a quilty conscience or deep seated sense of inferiority? Can your "feelings".

``I do not see a great danger of Islamic fundamentalism"

Wrong. Fundamentalist extremism is always dangerous.

[sistergoldenhair]

quilty = guilty

[floriduh voter]

I posted too fast meaning what? You weren't done or I misunderstood? I am going to check on the World Series again. Anyway, I stand behind my post, whatever speed it was. lol

[onyx]

Country, nation or state or origin matters not. It's the Islamic religion, stupid!

We have Clinton, Madeline, and Hollbrook among others, to thank for waging war against Christians, Catholic, and Jewish citizens to "free" Muslims living in Bosnia, Albania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia etc.

[Keith]

We have a grwoing number of muslim Bosnians at my place of work...all are VERY grateful for what USA did to help them, ALL were shocked and hurt at what happened on Sept. 11, the first just became a citizen a few weeks ago, and was sad that day...sad because muslims had attacked his new country, and sad because he thought he would have to go into the army...again...but he would have. I think one has to be very careful how one characterizes them. I'm not worried about the ones working here at my workplace.

[Travis McGee]

Rule 7.62 Bump.

(European metric system.)

[Pericles]

Bosnian Muslims were the victims of theor govt as well. The past Bosnian govt tried to creat an Islamic stae in Bosnia and the Muslims as well as the serbs and Croatians wanted none of that. We should never have backed Bosnian independence from Yugoslavia and never supported the ex Bosnian president that started it all, Islamist Alija Izebegovic.

[Honorary Serb]

The visit to Sarajevo gave the guest, who introduced himself as "the leader of the Islamic world,"an opportunity to clear the path toward his vision: beginning from the re-Islamization of the Sarajevo suburb of Bascarsija to the creation of the first Islamic mini-state in central or eastern Europe in Sarajevo.

Does Binnie-Boy style himself as the modern-day khalif of islam? Many islamic supremacists--including Izetbegovic--desire the revival of an islamic khalifate. This would be an islamic world-state--stretching from Morocco to Indonesia.

Of course, the islamic supremacists want that khalifate to stretch even further, to cover the ENTIRE WORLD!!! Accomplishing that would require genocides of proportions not seen before in all of world history, followed by forcing many of the survivors to become muslims and reducing the rest to dhimmi servitude.

That is exactly what the islamic supremacists want!!! (If you don't belive me, REALLY pay attention to what bin Laden and hsi ilk are saying!) And the islamization of half of Bosnia was part and parcel of moving toward that monstrously evil goal!!

So much for New World Order gaulieter Petritsch's statement that he does not "see a great danger of islamic fundamentalism''!!! Neither the US nor Europe can afford the NWO--with its antichrist alliance with islamic supremacist thugs and savages--any more, if they ever could! IT'S A MATTER OF SURVIVAL--physically, morally, and spiritually!!!!

[Honorary Serb]

Bosnian Muslims were the victims of their govt as well.

RIGHT! There were plenty of non-supremacist muslims who even FOUGHT WITH THE SERBS in the Bosnian war. Many of them and their families are now refugees in Serbia.

In almost every jihad situation, the muslims become divided, and the jihadists end up fighting the moderate muslims and branding them as "traitors" and "kuffar"!!

[joan]

``I have a feeling that all those who practice proper Islam are now called terrorists,'' said Austrian-born Abdulah, wearing a small white cap.

I wonder what ethnicity Abdulah is. Probably the Bosnian Muslim government is encouraging immigration of Muslims from all ethnic backgrounds.

Do you know if that village is in the Federation or the RS?

[Great Dane]

Very clear, but NATO knew that when they destroyed Serbia.
And we all knew it would come back to bite them...... it has, in a big way.

[joan]

Do you think the CIA helped set up Haq's murder instead of just being lukewarm towards helping him, as described in the following thread: The Abdul Haq fiasco

All those years Haq survived the Taliban, but when he works most directly in communication with the CIA, he is trapped and killed right away.