Posted on 12/07/2004 8:20:57 AM PST by DTA
December 6, 2004
U.N.-APPROVED TERRORIST TO RUN KOSOVO
Imagine a "multi-ethnic" Palestine, administered by the United Nations, in which a Hamas leader notorious for terrorist attacks on Jewish civilians is certified as the Authority's "democratically" elected chief executive. Imagine Abu Musab al-Zarqawi being approved by a future UN governor as Iraq's prime minister. Imagine that in Kosovo a KLA murderer . . . but then in Kosovo you don't have to imagine anything. On December 3 the provincial parliament in Pristina voted to elect Ramush Haradinaj as prime minister. This 36-year-old former commander of the "Kosovo Liberation Army" has been indicted in Serbia on 108 detailed counts of murder, rape, and other crimes. He is also under investigation by The Hague War Crimes Tribunal, which is usually reluctant to take an interest in non-Serbs unless the case is particularly egregious. The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has implied that an indictment could be issued for him by the end of the year. The nation-building farce reached surreal proportions as Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN/EU governor of Kosovo, described Haradinaj's election as an example of "democracy at work . . . in full conformity with democratic and constitutional principles."
The appointment followed a coalition agreement between Ibrahim Rugova, whose party won most votes at the province's general elections, and the much smaller Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, led by Haradinaj, which came in third. Petersen's posture reflects the desire of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to keep an illusion of order at any price. Two years ago UNMIK arrested Haradinaj and his KLA colleague 'Remi' Mustafa, but the event sparked violent protests demanding "freedom for the freedom fighters."
Haradinaj returned from Switzerland—where he worked as a night club bouncer—to Kosovo in early 1998, joined the KLA, and soon acquired reputation for brutality. In April the KLA commander Hashim Thaci appointed Haradinaj commander of the Metohija region. His HQ was located in the village of Glodjane, where he was born. At that time the KLA was still on the State Department list of terrorist organizations and Haradinaj's behavior amply justified such designation. Haradinaj established a special unit called the Black Eagles, which under Haradinaj's command kidnapped and brutally murdered dozens of civilians, mostly but not exclusively Serbs. In the vicinity of Glodjane 39 bodies of civilians were discovered in three mass graves in September 1998. Later that month 13 unidentified bodies of civilians of both sexes and various ages were discovered in the canal supplying a nearby lake, and 21 bodies were recovered elsewhere in the district. According to the forensic experts' report,
"Due to various stages of decomposition, it was not possible to establish the cause of death solely on the basis of the autopsy. In 19 cases bone fractures indicated wounds made by bullets fired from small caliber weapons. In 24 cases signs of heavy objects were found; in two cases there were traces of sharp mechanical weapons, while in three instances the victims were exposed to high temperatures (bodies found in Dasinovac). Several objects on and near the bodies (metal wire and adhesive tape) suggest that some of the victims were first tied up and tortured."
Over 70 pounds of documents and testimonies submitted to The Hague indicate that during the 1998-99 KLA insurgency Haradinaj was responsible for those and other atrocities not only against local Serbs, but also against Romanies, Slav Muslims, and Albanians who were not supporting the KLA. Some of the documents include specific instances of crimes committed under Haradinaj's direct orders.
In 2001 Haradinaj extended his "zone of operations" to Macedonia, this time under the label of the ANA (Albanian National Army). According to the Macedonian Defense Ministry, its goal was to fight for new territories and to keep the dream of creating the greater Albania alive.
In Kosovo itself, Haradinaj has masterminded a highly developed network that threatens and intimidates those UNMIK police and administrative officers who are reluctant to accept his "lobbying contributions" (bribery). It is common knowledge that Albanian leaders in the Kosovo Police Service obey Haradinaj, and not their nominal UN masters. His men have been appointed municipal mayors and, paradoxically, are also members of negotiating groups for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, which gives them, and him, access to confidential Serbian and UNMIK plans. As an astute commentator has noted, it was not enough for the UN to whitewash NATO's illegal invasion and occupation of Kosovo, to sit idly by and even justify the ethnic cleansing and barbaric destruction of Serbs and their cultural treasures, or even to stage sham elections designed to give a veneer of legitimacy to the abomination they have created—no, they had to go all the way and allow the appointment of a gangster, murderer, and terrorist as "prime minister" of the occupied province:
"It's not that the UN and NATO and EU and the U.S. don't know who Ramush Haradinaj is. After all, they made him: sponsored his terrorist army, promoted him from a local thug into a politician, covered up his murderous activities, and even patched him up when his victims shot back. So, his appointment is deliberate, and the limp protestations of EU's foreign policy commissar are likely just a smokescreen."
With such a man at the helm it is to be feared that Kosovo will continue to be the worst-administered corner of Europe by far, a terminally dysfunctional polity plagued by crime, violence, and degrading inhumanity. Haradinaj's promise that his government "will be engaged in the realization of the demands of the international community for the implementation of democratic standards in Kosovo" has chilling connotations, especially in view of Petersen's earlier explanation why he could not reject Haradinaj's candidacy for Prime Ministership: "If I say no to this candidate, I would be saying no to democracy."
If the new PM and his UN mentor follow the model of "democratic standards" Haradinaj first perfected in his fiefdom at Glodjane back in 1998, before too long we'll witness yet another outbreak of mob violence like the one last March 17. That episode was described by a senior UN official as the "Kristallnacht": thousands of armed Albanian extremists torched Serb houses and medieval churches, clashed with UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers, and forced thousands of Serbs and other minorities to flee.
More seriously for American interests, Haradinaj's external links are not limited to the network of pimps and dope traffickers in Brooklyn, Milan, or Zurich. Interpol now believes that Osama bin Laden is linked to Kosovo-Albanian gangs who have taken over a growing web of crime across Europe. According to The Independent, "The investigations into organized crime links with his terrorist network also show that bin Laden supplied one of his top military commanders for an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict." The Black Eagles, perhaps? It is a fair bet that the recipient of bin Laden's assistance is now the prime minister of a self-designated republic in the heart of Europe. With friends like the UN/EU administrators in Kosovo and the illustrious Mr. Haradinaj himself, the United States needs no enemies.
I don't have to imagine, it was called Arafat and the UN "refugee" camps. Terrorism is the bread and butter of many a politician, and the meat and potatoes of the UN. Without terrorism, who needs the UN. Gee, I wonder why everthing the UN does increases terror or supports it hmmmm?
Hmmm, time for that EU "pole in opposition to US power" to do something about this. Maybe the Russians want to take care of business there. It is, after all, Europe's backyard. Have at it, dudes. France? Germany? Anyone?
(/sarcasm off)
Agreed.....but let's forget that "our man in Iraq" was once a staunch jack-booted Ba'athist loyalist in Saddam's inner circle.
Isn't this the atrocity promoting UN we've all come to know and love??
let's all give thanks to Hillary and Bill for helping make this happen...............(sarcasm; off)
Don't be so naive to think that your Orange pals in Ukraine won't experience this sort of 'democracy'
Freepers understand just how evil the liberals can be..........their support of Ramush is proof positive of that.
read this and weep
Well....what about "evil" conservative support of that former Jack-booted loyalist of Saddam, Mr. Allawi?
don't catch ur drift
Soros supports people like Ramush the KLA mad dog
don't be naive
Allawi has a fascist scumbag background and so does the guy your're talking about. What's the distinction? I don't see any.
>Allawi has a fascist scumbag background and so does the >guy your're talking about. What's the distinction? I don't >see any.
Go learn history..
Haradinaj's comments on this; the part about surrendering if indicted is probably of most concern to UNMIK & NATO.
Kosovo PM says war crimes probe based on Serb lies
swissinfo December 8, 2004 11:45 AM
Kosovo PM says war crimes probe based on Serb lies
By Matthew Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Kosovo's new premier has said Serbia fabricated
evidence he committed war crimes as a commander of ethnic Albanian guerrillas, and indicated he
would surrender if indicted by The Hague.
"We have proven our commitment to international justice and to the Hague tribunal. If more is
needed from us -- and from me personally -- I will fulfil my duty as a citizen," Ramush Haradinaj told
Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.
The stocky 36-year-old was elected prime minister on Friday by Kosovo's Albanian-dominated
parliament.
He expressed pride for his role in the uprising against Serb security forces in 1998-99, but has
been questioned twice by investigators from the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which plans
to indict some former Kosovo rebels this month.
Serb leaders say the new prime minister was behind a string of atrocities against Serb civilians.
Haradinaj, denying this, said the probe against him was based on "fabrications from Belgrade" and
he was confident it would come to nothing.
"All the tribunal has is the stuff the Belgrade government gave it," he said in English, dressed in a
dark blue suit and red tie. "I explained to them that I did my duty as a citizen at that time ... and that it
is wrong to pursue the fabrications of a government which committed genocide here.
"They wouldn't wait until now if they really had a case," he added, sipping tea in his Pristina office.
Haradinaj's comments may soothe Western fears of having to order NATO peacekeepers to arrest
him, a move diplomats say could provoke a violent backlash from Kosovo's majority Albanians who
see him as a hero of their independence struggle.
The U.N. governor of Kosovo, which has been a protectorate since 1999 though still formally part
of Serbia, said he would not block Haradinaj's election as part of a new coalition, although the EU
and NATO appeared to have misgivings.
"NO TIME TO LOSE"
Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas were being pounded in 1999 before NATO launched a bombing
campaign and expelled Serb forces to end what they said was Serbia's ruthless disregard for
civilians.
Serb leaders branded Haradinaj's election "risky and provocative".
Belgrade newspapers have been awash with graphic reports of kidnap, murder and rape that
"police sources" say were carried out by Haradinaj and his forces.
With or without an indictment, Western diplomats concede Haradinaj's presence is sure to sour an
already unsavoury relationship between Kosovo's U.N. overseers and Belgrade.
The United Nations has rejected angry Serb calls to annul the election in October after which the
new coalition was formed, saying it was democracy in action. Serbs, a minority in the province of two
million people, boycotted it en masse.
But belligerence in Belgrade could fan tensions and slow efforts to ready the province for
negotiations in mid-2005 on its future.
An internal U.N. report has warned against delay, after devastating Albanian riots in March against
Serbs and other minorities exposed mounting Albanian pressure for independence.
Serbia says its sovereignty over Kosovo cannot be challenged. But Haradinaj, who lost two
brothers in the guerrilla war, predicted independence within 12 months.
"The international community is aware of the merit in normalising this society," he said. "We don't
have time to lose. We must all work to end the process of final status, I think by the end of the year."
URL of this story
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=5391258
Haradinaj then claims that documents submitted to ICTY are fabrications and last but not least claims that Serbian Government has committed genocide in Kosovo.
Remarkable, three brazen lies in a single sentence. He is better than Clinton.
Now UMNIK and KFOR have hot potato in their hands. If they hand Haradinaj to ICTY, they will face Albanian rebelion. If they do not, they harbor terrorist. And aiding and abetting terrorist only makes the problem worse.
Haradinaj then claims that documents submitted to ICTY are fabrications
I don't know and you don't either. In due time we'll see.
claims that Serbian Government has committed genocide in Kosovo.
Ethnic cleansing, yes. But genocide, I don't think so. The ICTY did not charge anyone for genocide in Kosovo either.
And this delusion has to be supported by International community. Suppose a bunch of Mexican American thugs in Texas considered US rule illegitimate and start killing USPS personnel, US forrest rangers and start killing and torturing fellow Mexican Americans to coerce others to support them?
Could they claim it was their "duty of a citizen".
Such lunacy would be more logical - Texas was once part of Mexico and Kosovo was NEVER part of Albania.
They could claim whatever they want. We'd find them, arrest them, and give them a fair trial. If the Serbs had done that in Kosovo, there'd have been no 1999 bombing, no UNMIK or KFOR and not much to talk about on this thread.
Tough to make the SW USA to Kosovo analogy until we start sending our police, our Army, and our ex-cons in little private paramilitary bands on rampages of robbing, raping, killing and burning down the houses of Hispanic-Americans.
If they take Haradinaj against his will, yes there's a pretty significant probability of what you describe.
If, however, as Haradinaj says in the story, he surrenders himself and all stays peacable in Kosovo, the final status talks on Kosovo scheduled for 2005 will begin with a definite Kosovar advantage; especially if the Serbs are still playing to the nationalist crowd at home by denying atrocities and harboring war criminals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.