Fusion, FYI. On another point, has Mr. D made a decision on the North Carolina primary?
Hop, anything that you disagree with, aside from the Racak parenthetical?
Trebos - I was unaware that the mass grave had been fully excavated. The ICTY is on site, monitoring this excavation, so I'll wait to hear something from them.
Somebody posted pictures of the bodies from the ambush last April, they didn't appear to have been desecrated in any manner - from the Macedonian White Book:
"According to the autopsy, it was confirmed that the bodies of the killed police officers and the army soldiers have been massacred. One of the killed officers had a broken scull; two others have had stabbing wounds to their hands and legs, and several killed officers had an entry hole in their heads caused by an automatic weapon projectile. Again, the autopsy confirmed the fact that the described wounds were caused after the officers were already dead.
Yet Scott says the bodies were dismembered. Who to believe?
Stinger missiles are passive, so nobody can tell they're being tracked. Duh. As a matter of fact, no western supplied weapons, save Barratt rifles supplied by the Albanian diaspora, have ever been found in the posession of any Albanian rebels in Kosovo or Macedonia that I'm aware of. If you know otherwise and can provide some sort of proof, it would be appreciated.
None of the 19 hijackers has been linked to either Kosovo or Bosnia, to my knowledge, other than through insinuation. When the accusation is run to ground, it evaporates. Again, if you have something substantitive, please let us know.
As far as Osama going to Albania, being in a hospital in Dubai, or having been to Bosnia, no proof has ever been offered to back up these claims.
Scott can't even tell the difference between foreign mujahadeen and Oric's army of Eastern Bosnian refugees. (They were in Srebrenica because they had been ethnically cleansed from their homes in the Drina Valley in 1992 - whoops, inconvenient fact that.)
Yugoslav intelligence estimates Whatever. Not a trustworthy source - authors of "Osama in Bosnia/Albania" claims.
To put it bluntly, Scott is a willing victim of Serbian disinformation.
There were Mujahadeen in Bosnia, though Al Quaeda's role is being overemphasized at the expense of the Iranians, who were the biggest muslim supporters of the Bosnian government.
As to the KLA, they're still a clannish bunch, and Albanian ethnicity trumps common religion, so Al Quaeda isn't as welcome as is presumed or portrayed.
You should ping Pericles, his thinking mirrors Scott's.
It appears that in the weeks preceeding 9/11 and the month immediately following there was a great influx of Islamic fighters making their way to Bosnia and Albania. Many of these Eastern shock troops came from Afghanistan and the Chechen fight -- when the battle for the Tetovo Republic is rejoined I suspect Skopje in for another rude awakening.
Another thread is headlined about secretary Rumsfeld saying London may be hit next. I can't begin to describe how likely I feel this scenario is going to be realized. Since time grows short I will bore you with a couple thoughts...
America is a very poor target for low tech Islamic entente suicide squads for a number of reasons. Many Americans are armed and US governors have authority to activate National Guard units that can deliver devastating firepower versus localized emergencies on short notice. However the primary reason is that such an attack cannot provide a decisive result...
The attack on London will be quite different. From a logistical perspective, intrinsic Islamic entente combat support is much more easily activated in the UK. Thousands of Muslims in the UK are enraged and ready to take up arms if the opportunity presents itself -- infiltration from the Balkans via the EU to London is very easy now.
Major cell leaders have been in place for more than a year for this battle. If they need to go back to Prague or Paris for further instructions it is quite easy to take the Channel ferry for a low key, low exposure trip to do so.
Another mistaken belief is that Islamic entente fighters want to kill Americans because they are Americans. US support for the moderate Chechens commanded by democratically elected president Aslan Maskhadov is well known -- and appreciated. These warriors want the US out of Saudi Arabia so they can topple the corrupt government there -- that is the root cause of 9/11.
The attack on London will open with several large explosions. Either "Allah's Suitcase" or a couple of Oklahoma City style truck bombs with twice the yield in half the space. As emergency responders reach the scene they will be overwhelmed by the carnage...
Meanwhile scores of Islamic entente gunmen will begin to open fire in groups of three and four around the city. This first wave will gun down anything that lives and prepare positions for the next wave to occupy and dig in. With a half dozen fortified positions in the heart of the city, the Eastern Holy Warriors will hold England hostage for a couple of weeks at least before they are rooted out.
Unlike the Russians at Grozny, it is unlikely the Brits will level their own capital in the counter-attack. This attack will stun the entire world and will attempt to inspire the Islamic fifth columnists to launch their uprising.
I sense it will be a critical moment in the history of the world...
And yes, these fighters are ferocious and barbaric by Western standards. One just needs to look at the Serb veterans in Kosovo and Bosnia and how they changed as human beings after fighting these Eastern Holy Warriors -- it is a devastating experience.
The mistake is to assume that these twenty year old al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan represent the Islamic entente first echelon fighter. Those killers have long been gone from the Afghan kill zone...
Anyway, it is an excellent piece. The West has a huge problem developing now in the Balkans. Hopefully US forces get out of there in the coming year...
Concerning Mr D, I don't believe he has made a decision on the North Carolina primary yet. I think redistricting and various lawsuits have altered the schedule somewhat and given him another few weeks...
Apparently he and his friends with the "Republican Men's Club" did quite a job on this Eva Clayton Congresswoman to make her decide to retire after this term. Then again, old Albania hands can tell you stories about Mr D and his gang in the Olde Country back in 1996 -- surviving physical copies of Albania Briefings from 95-96 indicate quite clearly they were going to return Fatos Nano to power.
Their wisdom was perhaps manifested by also delivering the KLA to Dr Berisha along with a few hundred thousand weapons during the chaos in 1997. Perhaps that is why both Nano and Berisha still take his calls...
Regardless, the world is at war -- 9/11 signalled the start of the Third World War and it has many years to run barring a quick knockout victory by the Islamic entente. To do that they must splinter the Western alliance, deny the US an attack on Iraq -- and topple one coalition member.
And ultimately that is why they will attack Britain -- it gives them a legitimate chance for victory...
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.