Posted on 01/01/2006 6:41:58 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Weapons of Disruption
C 2006 Frederick J. Cowie, Ph.D.
Whereas we have no masses, it certainly would be seriously challenging to deliver a "weapon of mass destruction" in the vast majority of geographical areas in the American West, as well as in many areas in the East and South. For instance, Montana is approximately the size of Germany, yet the population hovers only around a million (we have one representative in the House). There is no "metropolitan" area anywhere around, though Spokane is about three hundred miles away. Wyoming has more sheep than people. Utah has Salt Lake City and a few nearby populous areas. Nevada has two populated regional areas, Las Vegas and Reno. North and South Dakota have, well, a few folks here and there. Idaho folks are few and far between. I swear you can drive from San Antonio to El Paso without seeing a city policeman, because I've done it several times. Then there are Arizona, New Mexico, eastern California, inter alia. The point is we have a few population points, while the rest of the states are empty excepted for isolated small communities.Thus, out West we probably need to talk more about "weapons of disruption." (Some folks say "weapons of mass disruption," but we have no masses!)
You must ask yourself: What would I do if I were a terrorist (or a terrorism preparedness instructor) looking into the ramifications of launching a rural terrorism attack? Personally, I would concentrate on considering the consequences of disruption rather than mass destruction. Here are a few scenarios you might want consider when your local rural emergency management/response group gathers to discuss terrorism exercises.
1) Wildland Fire Incidents: Incendiary (mostly wildland) warfare has been used by military strategists for at least 2500 years, over a thousand years before the use of gunpowder. The western U.S. is disrupted, seriously disrupted, every year by wildland fires. Quite a few are started by humans, accidentally and purposefully. Starting dozens of major fires in a dozen western states could be a brilliant line of attack if militants wished to disrupt America. Thousands of security personnel could do nothing and the perpetrator/s would probably never be implicated, much less captured. Are you prepared?
2) Railroad Chemical Incidents: Many railroad main lines go through tunnels. A few strategically placed armor-piercing shells in a series of chlorine cars, along with appropriately staged derailments leaving the leaking cars in the tunnels, could shut down many main line routes in the West. Spin-off scenarios are numerous. Ready?
3) Flammable Liquid Incidents: Bridges are not easily brought down from below and approaches to bridge support structures are often highly visible and randomly monitored. However, on CNN we all have seen many tanker truck accidents involving burning hydrocarbons which have made bridge structures unusable. How hard would it be to have a few terrorists steal trucks and drive them (as opposed to hijacking planes and flying them) to strategic bridges over wide rivers or narrow gorges, ignite the gasoline (or diesel or crude), block the approaches with other incendiary or chemical releases, and make the structures extremely dangerous and impassible to highway traffic? Gotcha!
There are many variations of these themes. You probably have or can make up many more plausible, novel, and easily implemented rural-specific attack scenarios. Design exercises around them. If you want to stop terrorist events you must think like a terrorist and quit fighting last year's war!
Peace, thanks, Fred
Please check out my website at fredcowie.com
To find recent presentations, Google (with quotation marks) "Fred Cowie"
Frederick J. (Fred) Cowie, Ph.D. E-mail: fredcowie@aol.com Phone: (24 hr cell) 406-431-3531 Website: fredcowie.com
But if the Jews strike an Arab country....or worse if they strike with more than mere air assets and actually put Israeli boots on the ground....rage will be the result. Jihadism will overcome rational discourse and the entire region AND it's oil will go up in the flames of perdition. This is something we can not afford. Not in terms of our own national security, or in terms of our economic stability. Not as long as we are tied to the middle east for our oil. Until we get off our collective butts and re-enter the business of oil exploration and extraction in a serious manner.....meaning as soon as we tell the DemocRATS and the environmentalist whackos to stick it if you'll pardon a turn of the phrase...and go find our own supplies wherever they are to be found....we'll be the ones who are well and truly....stuck.
Staring blind into the obvious
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras
By: Stella Jatras
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml
What took so long for it to become obvious that Bosnia and other parts of the Balkans are the launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe?
The Washington Post writes on 1 December, "Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans."
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#1
1) What a revelation! The fact is, Bosnia became a launching pad as far back as 1992 when the Bosnian Muslim government of Alija Izetbegovic - the government that was supported by the Clinton administration - issued a passport to Osama bin Laden which he used to visit Bosnia and Kosovo on several occasions.
More and more newspapers are finally beginning to expose Bosnia's connection to terrorism cells. A UPI article in The Washington Times of 1 December headlined "Balkans seen as terrorist training ground" reported:
Recent arrests confirm the belief that parts of the Balkans are becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe, authorities say.
One example came in an apartment occupied by an underground group aiming to blow up the British Embassy in Sarajevo, Western intelligence officials told The Washington Post. There they found explosives, rifles, other arms and a videotape pledging vengeance for the "brothers" killed fighting Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Islamic radicals reportedly want to create cells of so-called 'white' al-Qaida, non-Arab members who can avoid racial profiling used to spot potential terrorists.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#2
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Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic, right wearing a suit, talks strategy with the al-Qaeda commander in Bosnia.
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In 2003, Brendan O'Neill wrote in The [UK] Spectator, "The Bosnian war taught Islamic terrorists to operate abroad. For all the millions of words written about al-Qaeda since the 9/11 attacks two years ago, one phenomenon is consistently overlooked -- the role of the Bosnian war in transforming the mujahedin of the 1980s into the roving Islamic terrorists today."
Will these latest revelations receive as little attention as the report in 1996 in The Houston Chronicle when NATO forces uncovered a terrorist training camp in Bosnia with weapons and explosives? "Most disturbing was a cache of ingenious bombs - some made out of children's toys." (my emphasis)
Also discovered was a satellite dish giving the mujahedin the capability to communicate between Bosnia and Iran.
The Houston Chronicle further stated that U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith, commander of NATO forces in Bosnia, said as he toured the area, "No one can escape the obvious, that there is terrorist training activity going on in this building and it has direct association with people in the government," referring to the Bosnian Muslim government.
But it gets even more bizarre. Discovered also was a makeup room with charts instructing how to change eye color using contact lenses, peroxide bottles to alter hair color, and a dozen beards and mustaches to use as disguises.
In classrooms, instructors had laid out mock-ups of installations.
Notebooks detailed the daily lives of possible targets and manuals showed how to build bombs out of children's toys. "There is no military value to these types of devices; rigging toys is an act of terror," (my emphasis) said Col Brian Hoey, a NATO spokesman. His fellow spokesman, Col. John T. Kirkwood, added: "I never saw John Wayne rip the head off a plastic doll and throw it." (my emphasis)
President Bush accuses Iran of sending armed insurgents into Iraq, but where was the outrage when a 1997 Senate Republican Policy Committee report stated, "Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base"?
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#3
3) While exposing the Iranian connection to the Balkan war, the report also states that "Perhaps most threatening to the SFOR mission - and more importantly, to the safety of the American personnel serving in Bosnia - is the unwillingness of the Clinton Administration to come clean with the Congress and with the American people about its complicity in the delivery of weapons from Iran to the Muslim government in Sarajevo."
The Italian news agency AKI headlines, "Bosnia: Muslim Newspaper Points to Existence of Islamic Terror Camps,"
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#4
4) writes, "Sarajevo, 30 August (AKI) - A Bosnian Muslim newspaper on Tuesday joined a chorus of mostly Serbian news reports on the existence of training camps for Islamic terrorists, accusing the international community of closing its eyes in front of this danger.
The weekly Slobodna Bosna (Free Bosnia), whose editor is Senad Avdic, a moderate Muslim, in its latest issue described in detail how and where the alleged terrorist camps operate in Bosnia. The paper criticised the commander of the international forces in Bosnia (Eufor)
David Leaky for his recent statement that he had no knowledge of the existence of such camps.
"In the article titled 'The Commander of Eufor in Bosnia David Leaky is Playing Dumb', the paper said that there was no point in presenting the facts to the 'uninformed general. 'Is he (Leaky) really uninformed, which is hard to believe, or is he conscientiously deceiving the local public, like most Western politicians who serve in Bosnia and advocate the thesis that the best thing for world security is that all terrorists be concentrated in one place, in Bosnia, where they can be kept under control?', the paper asked.
The paper quoted former UN representative in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, as having confirmed to the Security Council that Islamic terrorists were active in Bosnia, but added that it was good they were concentrated in one place, because 'the rest of the world would be safe'."
Let me repeat that idiotic statement by one of the UN's high representatives, "The paper quoted former UN representative in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, as having confirmed to the Security Council that Islamic terrorists were active in Bosnia, but added that it was good they were concentrated in one place, because 'the rest of the world would be safe'."
Personally, I always thought that Jacques Klein somewhat resembled Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister, in facial appearance, with his pointy nose, etc., but then that's just my observation. Goebbels is the one who coined the phrase ""If you tell a lie enough times, it becomes accepted as truth, and, the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be accepted."
The New York Times of 3 December in an article, "Police Raid Raises Fears of Bosnia as Haven for Terrorists," writes, "A recent police raid on an apartment near this city's airport uncovered evidence of an imminent suicide bombing, intensifying the fears of Western security services that Bosnia is becoming a haven for Islamic militants.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#5
5) Therefore, it is safe to say Bosnia is the birthplace of Al-Qaeda.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#(6)
6) At the time, Bosnia's Islamic terrorism was focused against the Serbian people, and therefore "justified." But if al-Qaeda could succeed in Bosnia, it could succeed anywhere in the world. Today, their terrorism is aimed at the American people. If only the Clinton administration had taken serious action against known Islamic terrorists in Bosnia when he had the chance, perhaps 9/11 would not have happened.
Bibliography
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR200511300 2098.html
Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml# (1) Back
2.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20051201-101417-2684r.htm
Bakans seen as terrorist training ground|
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#
(2)> Back
3.
http://www.senate.gov/%7erpc/releases/1997/iran.htm#top
Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base |
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#(3)
Back
4.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.202217820&par=0
Bosnia: Muslim Newspaper Points to Existence of Islamic Terror Camps
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#(4)
5.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/international/europe/03bosnia.html
Police Raid Raises Fears of Bosnia as Haven for Terrorists
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#(5)
6.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/007042.php
Bosnia: The Birthplace of Al-Qaeda |
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/jatras/004.shtml#(6)
_____ Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans Arrests Point to Attacks Within Europe
By Rade Maroevic and Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, December 1, 2005; A16
SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- The raid netted explosives, rifles, other arms and a videotape pledging vengeance for the "brothers" killed fighting Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. Police found the cache in an apartment occupied by an underground group that was aiming to blow up the British Embassy in Sarajevo, Western intelligence officials said.
The Oct. 19 bust in Sarajevo confirmed a suspicion among several intelligence agents that Bosnia and other parts of the Balkans are becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe.
In particular, Islamic radicals are looking to create cells of so-called white al Qaeda, non-Arab members who can evade racial profiling used by police forces to watch for potential terrorists. "They want to look European to carry out operations in Europe," said a Western intelligence agent in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and Montenegro, adjacent to Bosnia. "It's yet another evolution in the tools used by terrorists."
Parts of the Balkans, stuck in lawless limbo after years of war in the 1990s, are ripe recruitment territory for Middle East radicals, intelligence officials say.
Bosnia is still divided among Muslim, Croat and Serb population areas, even if nominally united under the 10-year-old Dayton peace agreement that ended ethnic warfare.
Muslim enclaves in Serbia are restive, and Muslim-majority Kosovo remains an estranged province campaigning for independence six years after NATO bombing forced out Serb-dominated Yugoslav troops.
The Balkans have long been a freeway for smugglers of cigarettes, drugs, weapons and prostitutes. "All the conditions are present. Embittered Muslims, arms, corruption -- everything underground operators need to get established," said the Western intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The raid on the Sarajevo group, which was said to have had contacts with cells in Denmark and Britain, was not the only event that raised concern.
During the summer, Italian and Croatian police arrested five people who allegedly plotted to bomb the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City in April.
In addition, Serbian police accidentally came across a key suspect in the March 2004 bombings of Madrid commuter trains while he was traveling through the country by train. He arrived in the Balkans in July, and Serbian police investigators conjecture that he was seeking haven either in Bosnia or Kosovo and perhaps safe passage to the Middle East. They quickly extradited the man, Abdelmajid Bouchar, a Moroccan citizen, to Spain.
U.S. and allied intelligence officers have long worked together in Sarajevo to keep an eye on Islamic radicals in Bosnia. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the CIA and other foreign agencies set up a joint, fortified headquarters to keep tabs on terrorism suspects in Bosnia, a Western intelligence source in Sarajevo said.
The spy teams operate separately from the chief international overseers of Bosnia, the Office of the High Representative, according to the official.
During the three-sided war in Bosnia, hundreds of fighters from Arab and other Middle Eastern countries flocked to Bosnia to fight on behalf of the Muslim faction against Croats and Serbs. Many of the foreign mujaheddin , or holy warriors, were expelled after the war, according to the Bosnian government, but others remained and received passports.
Today, parts of Bosnia framed by the cities of Zenica, Tuzla, Sarajevo and Travnik are home to these immigrants and compose the core regions for Islamic militancy, Bosnian police and Western intelligence officials say.
Until recently, the immigrants tried to keep a low profile. Western intelligence officials here and in Belgrade surmised that they wanted to exploit Bosnia as a logistics and transit point and not invite a crackdown from local police or European Union peacekeepers.
The Sarajevo arrests changed that perception. A Bosnian Interior Ministry official, Robert Cvrtak, released the names of four detainees from the raid:
Cesur Abdulkadir, who is of Turkish heritage;
Mirsad Bektasevic, a Swedish citizen of Bosnian origin;
and Bajro Ikanovic
and Almir Bajric, both Bosnian citizens.
Among their activities, Bosnian police said, were hiding explosives inside lemons and tennis balls and trying to set up training camps in the hills near Sarajevo.
Last Thursday night, Bosnian police arrested a fifth suspect in the town of Hadzici, near Sarajevo.
The police found about 20 pounds of explosives hidden in woods near his home. The man, whose name has not been made public, is suspected of being in charge of providing explosives to the rest of group.
Police officials here say Bektasevic, 19, also ran a Web site on behalf of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq. He had pictures of the White House in his computer, they added.
Bektasevic operated under the code name Maximus and kept in touch with a group of at least three men in Britain. British police arrested them in early November, according to press reports.
A week after the original Sarajevo arrests, police in Copenhagen detained four men ages 16 to 20 and said they had planned suicide bombings somewhere in Europe. "We had a very short period to investigate, but our information indicated that their action was imminent," said a police spokesman, Joern Bro. The Danes believed that the Copenhagen suspects had been in contact by phone and e-mail with Bektasevic.
In August, police in Croatia arrested five Bosnians whom Italian military intelligence had fingered for involvement in a plot to bomb the papal funeral.
The group originated in Gornja Maoca, a town in northeastern Bosnia, and had planned to smuggle rocket launchers, explosives and detonators into Italy. The plot fell apart, Western intelligence officials said, when a suspect was arrested in Rome in April. The Croatian police, acting on a tip from the Italians, found the others in Croatia.
The capture of Bouchar, suspected in the Madrid train bombings, in Serbia in July surprised police there. They had thought he was just another Middle Easterner traveling illegally through the country until an Interpol fingerprint check revealed his identity.
Authorities say Bouchar had narrowly escaped death or capture shortly after the Madrid attacks, when police there sealed off an apartment where suspects were hiding. Seven men died in the residence by detonating explosives. Bouchar, however, was taking out garbage at the time and fled, Serbian and Spanish officials say.
He traveled to Brussels, where he expected to obtain forged documents, authorities said. However, his contacts there were either under arrest or fleeing police. He moved on and spent time in Austrian and Hungarian jails, but was freed. No one in either country checked his fingerprints.
When picked up heading toward Belgrade, he was wearing a new business suit. Western intelligence officials in Belgrade note that Serbia, although predominantly non-Muslim, has pockets of Muslims in the Sanjak region near Montenegro as well as Kosovo and other areas along the province's border.
Williams reported from Belgrade
_____ ***NOTE: PERSONAL COMMENTS ARE NOT MADE BY: FREE REPUBLIC.COM (or) NW_ARIZONA_GRANNY
I've seen plenty of "yoots" wearing these baggies with their underwear hanging out. You can't help but laugh as you watch them trying to run to catch the bus.
>>>GangbangersRDummies.com
LOL! I like it.
I wondered about Kim Jong's train as well.
Balkans seen as terrorist training ground
Dec. 1, 2005 at 10:42AM
Recent arrests confirm the belief that parts of the Balkans are becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe, authorities say.
One example came in an apartment occupied by an underground group aiming to blow up the British Embassy in Sarajevo, Western intelligence officials told The Washington Post.
There they found explosives, rifles, other arms and a videotape pledging vengeance for the "brothers" killed fighting Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, the newspaper said. Islamic radicals reportedly want to create cells of so-called white al-Qaida, non-Arab members who can avoid racial profiling used to spot potential terrorists.
Parts of the Balkans, long a freeway for smugglers and stuck in lawless limbo after years of war in the 1990s, are said to be ripe recruitment territory for Middle East radicals.
Though nominally united under the 10-year-old Dayton agreement that ended ethnic warfare, Bosnia is still divided among Muslim, Croat and Serb population areas, and many Muslims are reported embittered and restive, the Post said.
_____ Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base
"'There is no question that the policy of getting arms into Bosnia was of great assistance in allowing the Iranians to dig in and create good relations with the Bosnian government,' a senior CIA officer told Congress in a classified deposition. 'And it is a thing we will live to regret because when they blow up some Americans, as they no doubt will before this . . . thing is over, it will be in part because the Iranians were able to have the time and contacts to establish themselves well in Bosnia.'"
["Iran Gave Bosnia Leader $500,000, CIA Alleges: Classified Report Says :
Izetbegovic Has Been 'Co-Opted,' Contradicting U.S. Public Assertion of Rift,"
Los Angeles Times, 12/31/96. Ellipses in original.
Alija Izetbegovic is the Muslim president of Bosnia.]
"'If you read President Izetbegovic's writings, as I have, there is no doubt that he is an Islamic fundamentalist,' said a senior Western diplomat with long experience in the region. 'He is a very nice fundamentalist, but he is still a fundamentalist. This has not changed. His goal is to establish a Muslim state in Bosnia, and the Serbs and Croats understand this better than the rest of us.'" ["Bosnian Leader Hails Islam at Election Rallies," New York Times, 9/2/96]
Introduction and Summary
In late 1995, President Bill Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia-Hercegovina as part of a NATO-led "implementation force" (IFOR) to ensure that the warring Muslim, Serbian, and Croatian factions complied with provisions of the Dayton peace plan.
[NOTE: This paper assumes the reader is acquainted with the basic facts of the Bosnian war leading to the IFOR deployment. For background, see RPC's "Clinton Administration Ready to Send U.S. Troops to Bosnia, "9/28/95,"
and Legislative Notice No. 60, "Senate to Consider Several Resolutions on Bosnia," 12/12/95]
Through statements by Administration spokesmen, notably Defense Secretary Perry and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Shalikashvili, the president firmly assured Congress and the American people that U.S. personnel would be out of Bosnia at the end of one year.
Predictably, as soon as the November 1996 election was safely behind him, President Clinton announced that approximately 8,500 U.S. troops would be remaining for another 18 months as part of a restructured and scaled down contingent, the "stabilization force" (SFOR), officially established on December 20, 1996.
SFOR begins its mission in Bosnia under a serious cloud both as to the nature of its mission and the dangers it will face. While IFOR had successfully accomplished its basic military task -- separating the factions' armed forces -- there has been very little progress toward other stated goals of the Dayton agreement, including political and economic reintegration of Bosnia, return of refugees to their homes, and apprehension and prosecution of accused war criminals.
It is far from certain that the cease-fire that has held through the past year will continue for much longer, in light of such unresolved issues as the status of the cities of Brcko (claimed by Muslims but held by the Serbs) and Mostar (divided between nominal Muslim and Croat allies, both of which are currently being armed by the Clinton Administration).
Moreover, at a strength approximately one-third that of its predecessor, SFOR may not be in as strong a position to deter attacks by one or another of the Bosnian factions or to avoid attempts to involve it in renewed fighting: "IFOR forces, despite having suffered few casualties, have been vulnerable to attacks from all of the contending sides over the year of the Dayton mandate.
As a second mandate [i.e., SFOR] evolves, presumably maintaining a smaller force on the ground, the deterrent effect which has existed may well become less compelling and vulnerabilities of the troops will increase." ["Military Security in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Present and Future," Bulletin of the Atlantic Council of the United States, 12/18/96]
The Iranian Connection
Perhaps most threatening to the SFOR mission -- and more importantly, to the safety of the American personnel serving in Bosnia -- is the unwillingness of the Clinton Administration to come clean with the Congress and with the American people about its complicity in the delivery of weapons from Iran to the Muslim government in Sarajevo. That policy, personally approved by Bill Clinton in April 1994 at the urging of CIA Director-designate (and then-NSC chief) Anthony Lake and the U.S. ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith, has, according to the Los Angeles Times (citing classified intelligence community sources), "played a central role in the dramatic increase in Iranian influence in Bosnia."
Further, according to the Times, in September 1996 National Security Agency analysts contradicted Clinton Administration claims of declining Iranian influence, insisting instead that "Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel remain active throughout Bosnia."
Likewise, "CIA analysts noted that the Iranian presence was expanding last fall," with some ostensible cultural and humanitarian activities "known to be fronts" for the Revolutionary Guard and Iran's intelligence service, known as VEVAK, the Islamic revolutionary successor to the Shah's SAVAK. [LAT, 12/31/96]
At a time when there is evidence of increased willingness by pro-Iranian Islamic militants to target American assets abroad -- as illustrated by the June 1996 car-bombing at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 American airmen, in which the Iranian government or pro-Iranian terrorist organizations are suspected ["U.S. Focuses Bomb Probe on Iran, Saudi Dissident," Chicago Tribune, 11/4/96] -- it is irresponsible in the extreme for the Clinton Administration to gloss over the extent to which its policies have put American personnel in an increasingly vulnerable position while performing an increasingly questionable mission.
Three Key Issues for Examination
This paper will examine the Clinton policy of giving the green light to Iranian arms shipments to the Bosnian Muslims, with serious implications for the safety of U.S. troops deployed there. (In addition, RPC will release a general analysis of the SFOR mission and the Clinton Administration's request for supplemental appropriations to fund it in the near future.) Specifically, the balance of this paper will examine in detail the three issues summarized below:
1. The Clinton Green Light to Iranian Arms Shipments (page 3): In April 1994, President Clinton gave the government of Croatia what has been described by Congressional committees as a "green light" for shipments of weapons from Iran and other Muslim countries to the Muslim-led government of Bosnia.
The policy was approved at the urging of NSC chief Anthony Lake and the U.S. ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith.
The CIA and the Departments of State and Defense were kept in the dark until after the decision was made.
2. The Militant Islamic Network (page 5): Along with the weapons, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and VEVAK intelligence operatives entered Bosnia in large numbers, along with thousands of mujahedin ("holy warriors") from across the Muslim world.
Also engaged in the effort were several other Muslim countries (including Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Turkey) and a number of radical Muslim organizations.
For example, the role of one Sudan-based "humanitarian organization," called the Third World Relief Agency, has been well-documented.
The Clinton Administration's "hands-on" involvement with the Islamic network's arms pipeline included inspections of missiles from Iran by U.S. government officials.
3. The Radical Islamic Character of the Sarajevo Regime (page 8):
Underlying the Clinton Administration's misguided green light policy is a complete misreading of its main beneficiary, the Bosnian Muslim government of Alija Izetbegovic. Rather than being the tolerant, multiethnic democratic government it pretends to be, there is clear evidence that the ruling circle of Izetbegovic's party, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), has long been guided by the principles of radical Islam. This Islamist orientation is illustrated by profiles of three important officials, including President Izetbegovic himself; the progressive Islamization of the Bosnian army, including creation of native Bosnian mujahedin units; credible claims that major atrocities against civilians in Sarajevo were staged for propaganda purposes by operatives of the Izetbegovic government; and suppression of enemies, both non-Muslim and Muslim.
The Clinton Green Light to Iranian Arms Shipments
Both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the House Select Subcommittee to Investigate the United States Role in Iranian Arms Transfers to Croatia and Bosnia issued reports late last year. (The Senate report, dated November 1996, is unclassified. The House report is classified, with the exception of the final section of conclusions, which was released on October 8, 1996; a declassified version of the full report is expected to be released soon.)
The reports, consistent with numerous press accounts, confirm that on April 27, 1994, President Clinton directed Ambassador Galbraith to inform the government of Croatia that he had "no instructions" regarding Croatia's decision whether or not to permit weapons, primarily from Iran, to be transshipped to Bosnia through Croatia. (The purpose was to facilitate the acquisition of arms by the Muslim-led government in Sarajevo despite the arms embargo imposed on Yugoslavia by the U.N. Security Council.)
Clinton Administration officials took that course despite their awareness of the source of the weapons and despite the fact that the Croats (who were themselves divided on whether to permit arms deliveries to the Muslims) would take anything short of a U.S. statement that they should not facilitate the flow of Iranian arms to Bosnia as a "green light."
The green light policy was decided upon and implemented with unusual secrecy, with the CIA and the Departments of State and Defense only informed after the fact. ["U.S. Had Options to Let Bosnia Get Arms, Avoid Iran," Los Angeles Times, 7/14/96]
Among the key conclusions of the House Subcommittee were the following (taken from the unclassified section released on October 8):
"The President and the American people were poorly served by the Administration officials who rushed the green light decision without due deliberation, full information and an adequate consideration of the consequences." (page 202)
"The Administration's efforts to keep even senior US officials from seeing its 'fingerprints' on the green light policy led to confusion and disarray within the government." (page 203)
"The Administration repeatedly deceived the American people about its Iranian green light policy." (page 204)
Clinton, Lake, and Galbraith Responsible
While the final go-ahead for the green light was given by President Clinton -- who is ultimately accountable for the results of his decision -- two Clinton Administration officials bear particular responsibility: Ambassador Galbraith and then-NSC Director Anthony Lake, against both of whom the House of Representatives has referred criminal charges to the Justice Department.
Mr. Lake, who personally presented the proposal to Bill Clinton for approval, "played a central role in preventing the responsible congressional committees from knowing about the Administration's fateful decision to acquiesce in radical Islamic Iran's effort to penetrate the European continent through arms shipments and military cooperation with the Bosnian government." ["'In Lake We Trust'?
Confirmation Make-Over Exacerbates Senate Concerns About D.C.I.-Designate's Candor, Reliability," Center for Security Policy, Washington, D.C., 1/8/97]
His responsibility for the operation is certain to be a major hurdle in his effort to be confirmed as CIA Director: "The fact that Lake was one of the authors of the duplicitous policy in Bosnia, which is very controversial and which has probably helped strengthen the hand of the Iranians, doesn't play well," stated Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Shelby. ["Lake to be asked about donation," Washington Times, 1/2/97]
For his part, Ambassador Galbraith was the key person both in conceiving the policy and in serving as the link between the Clinton Administration and the Croatian government; he also met with Imam Sevko Omerbasic, the top Muslim cleric in Croatia, "who the CIA says was an intermediary for Iran."
["Fingerprints: Arms to Bosnia, the real story," The New Republic, 10/28/96; see also LAT 12/23/96] As the House Subcommittee concluded (page 206): "There is evidence that Ambassador Galbraith may have engaged in activities that could be characterized as unauthorized covert action." The Senate Committee (pages 19 and 20 of the report) was unable to agree on the specific legal issue of whether Galbraith's actions constituted a "covert action" within the definition of section 503(e) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. Sec. 413(e)), as amended, defined as "an activity or activities . . . to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly."
NOTE: COMMENTS ARE NOT THOSE OF: FREE REPUBLIC.COM (or) NW_ARIZONA_GRANNY
The Militant Islamic Network
The House Subcommittee report also concluded (page 2): "The Administration's Iranian green light policy gave Iran an unprecedented foothold in Europe and has recklessly endangered American lives and US strategic interests." Further --
" . . . The Iranian presence and influence [in Bosnia] jumped radically in the months following the green light. Iranian elements infiltrated the Bosnian government and established close ties with the current leadership in Bosnia and the next generation of leaders.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards accompanied Iranian weapons into Bosnia and soon were integrated in the Bosnian military structure from top to bottom as well as operating in independent units throughout Bosnia.
The Iranian intelligence service [VEVAK] ran wild through the area developing intelligence networks, setting up terrorist support systems, recruiting terrorist 'sleeper' agents and agents of influence, and insinuating itself with the Bosnian political leadership to a remarkable degree.
The Iranians effectively annexed large portions of the Bosnian security apparatus [known as the Agency for Information and Documentation (AID)] to act as their intelligence and terrorist surrogates.
This extended to the point of jointly planning terrorist activities. The Iranian embassy became the largest in Bosnia and its officers were given unparalleled privileges and access at every level of the Bosnian government." (page 201)
Not Just the Iranians
To understand how the Clinton green light would lead to this degree of Iranian influence, it is necessary to remember that the policy was adopted in the context of extensive and growing radical Islamic activity in Bosnia. That is, the Iranians and other Muslim militants had long been active in Bosnia; the American green light was an important political signal to both Sarajevo and the militants that the United States was unable or unwilling to present an obstacle to those activities -- and, to a certain extent, was willing to cooperate with them. In short, the Clinton Administration's policy of facilitating the delivery of arms to the Bosnian Muslims made it the de facto partner of an ongoing international network of governments and organizations pursuing their own agenda in Bosnia: the promotion of Islamic revolution in Europe. That network involves not only Iran but Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan (a key ally of Iran), and Turkey, together with front groups supposedly pursuing humanitarian and cultural activities.
For example, one such group about which details have come to light is the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), a Sudan-based, phoney humanitarian organization which has been a major link in the arms pipeline to Bosnia.
["How Bosnia's Muslims Dodged Arms Embargo: Relief Agency Brokered Aid From Nations, Radical Groups," Washington Post, 9/22/96; see also "Saudis Funded Weapons For Bosnia, Official Says: $300 Million Program Had U.S. 'Stealth Cooperation'," Washington Post, 2/2/96]
TWRA is believed to be connected with such fixtures of the Islamic terror network as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (the convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) and Osama Binladen, a wealthy Saudi emigre believed to bankroll numerous militant groups. [WP, 9/22/96]
(Sheik Rahman, a native of Egypt, is currently in prison in the United States; letter bombs addressed to targets in Washington and London, apparently from Alexandria, Egypt, are believed connected with his case.
Binladen was a resident in Khartoum, Sudan, until last year; he is now believed to be in Afghanistan, "where he has issued statements calling for attacks on U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf." [WP, 9/22/96])
The Clinton Administration's "Hands-On" Help
The extent to which Clinton Administration officials, notably Ambassador Galbraith, knowingly or negligently, cooperated with the efforts of such front organizations is unclear. For example, according to one intelligence account seen by an unnamed U.S. official in the Balkans, "Galbraith 'talked with representatives of Muslim countries on payment for arms that would be sent to Bosnia,' . . .
[T]he dollar amount mentioned in the report was $500 million-$800 million. The U.S. official said he also saw subsequent 'operational reports' in 1995 on almost weekly arms shipments of automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-armor rockets and TOW missiles." [TNR, 10/28/96]
The United States played a disturbingly "hands-on" role, with, according to the Senate report (page 19), U.S. government personnel twice conducting inspections in Croatia of missiles en route to Bosnia. Further --
"The U.S. decision to send personnel to Croatia to inspect rockets bound for Bosnia is . . . subject to varying interpretations. It may have been simply a straightforward effort to determine whether chemical weapons were being shipped into Bosnia. It was certainly, at least in part, an opportunity to examine a rocket in which the United States had some interest. But it may also have been designed to ensure that Croatia would not shut down the pipeline." (page 21)
The account in The New Republic points sharply to the latter explanation: "Enraged at Iran's apparent attempt to slip super weapons past Croat monitors, the Croatian defense minister nonetheless sent the missiles on to Bosnia 'just as Peter [i.e., Ambassador Galbraith] told us to do,' sources familiar with the episode said." [TNR, 10/28/96] In short, the Clinton Administration's connection with the various players that made up the arms network seems to have been direct and intimate.
The Mujahedin Threat
In addition to (and working closely with) the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and VEVAK intelligence are members of numerous radical groups known for their anti-Western orientation, along with thousands of volunteer mujahedin ("holy warriors") from across the Islamic world. From the beginning of the NATO-led deployment, the Clinton Administration has given insufficient weight to military concerns regarding the mujahedin presence in Bosnia as well as the danger they pose to American personnel.
Many of the fighters are concentrated in the so-called "green triangle" (the color green symbolizes Islam) centered on the town of Zenica in the American IFOR/SFOR zone but are also found throughout the country.
The Clinton Administration has been willing to accept Sarajevo's transparently false assurances of the departure of the foreign fighters based on the contention that they have married Bosnian women and have acquired Bosnian citizenship -- and thus are no longer "foreign"! -- or, having left overt military units to join "humanitarian," "cultural," or "charitable" organizations, are no longer "fighters." [See "Foreign Muslims Fighting in Bosnia Considered 'Threat' to U.S. Troops," Washington Post, 11/30/95;
"Outsiders Bring Islamic Fervor To the Balkans," New York Times, 9/23/96;
"Islamic Alien Fighters Settle in Bosnia," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/23/96;
"Mujahideen rule Bosnian villages: Threaten NATO forces, non-Muslims," Washington Times, 9/23/96;
and Yossef Bodansky, Offensive in the Balkans (November 1995) and Some Call It Peace (August 1996), International Media Corporation, Ltd., London. Bodansky, an analyst with the House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, is an internationally recognized authority on Islamic terrorism.] The methods employed to qualify for Bosnian citizenship are themselves problematic: ["Mujaheddin Remaining in Bosnia: Islamic Militants Strongarm Civilians, Defy Dayton Plan," Washington Post, 7/8/96]
The threat presented by the mujahedin to IFOR (and now, to SFOR) -- contingent only upon the precise time their commanders in Tehran or Sarajevo should choose to activate them -- has been evident from the beginning of the NATO-led deployment.
For example, in February 1996 NATO forces raided a terrorist training camp near the town of Fojnica, taking into custody 11 men (8 Bosnian citizens -- two of whom may have been naturalized foreign mujahedin -- and three Iranian instructors); also seized were explosives "built into small children's plastic toys, including a car, a helicopter and an ice cream cone," plus other weapons such as handguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, etc.
The Sarajevo government denounced the raid, claiming the facility was an "intelligence service school";
the detainees were released promptly after NATO turned them over to local authorities.
["NATO Captures Terrorist Training Camp, Claims Iranian Involvement," Associated Press, 2/16/96;
"Bosnian government denies camp was for terrorists," Reuters, 2/16/96;
Bodansky Some Call It Peace, page 56] In May 1996, a previously unknown group called "Bosnian Islamic Jihad" (jihad means "holy war") threatened attacks on NATO troops by suicide bombers, similar to those that had recently been launched in Israel.
["Jihad Threat in Bosnia Alarms NATO," The European, 5/9/96] NOTE: OPINIONS IN THIS REPORT, ARE NOT THOSE OF: FREE REPUBLIC.COM (or) NW_ARIZONA_GRANNY
Stepping-Stone to Europe
The intended targets of the mujahedin network in Bosnia are not limited to that country but extend to Western Europe. For example, in August 1995, the conservative Paris daily Le Figaro reported that French security services believe that "Islamic fundamentalists from Algeria have set up a security network across Europe with fighters trained in Afghan guerrilla camps and [in] southern France while some have been tested in Bosnia." [(London) Daily Telegraph, 8/17/95]
Also, in April 1996, Belgian security arrested a number of Islamic militants, including two native Bosnians, smuggling weapons to Algerian guerrillas active in France. [Intelligence Newsletter, Paris, 5/9/96 (No. 287)]
Finally, also in April 1996, a meeting of radicals aligned with HizbAllah ("Party of God"), a pro-Iran group based in Lebanon, set plans for stepping up attacks on U.S. assets on all continents; among those participating was an Egyptian, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who "runs the Islamist terrorist operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina from a special headquarters in Sofia, Bulgaria. His forces are already deployed throughout Bosnia, ready to attack US and other I-FOR (NATO Implementation Force) targets."
["State-Sponsored Terrorism and The Rise of the HizbAllah International," Defense and Foreign Affairs and Strategic Policy, London, 8/31/96]
Finally, in December 1996, French and Belgian security arrested several would-be terrorists trained at Iranian-run camps in Bosnia. ["Terrorism: The Bosnian Connection," (Paris) L'Express, 12/26/96]
The Radical Islamic Character of the Sarajevo Regime
Underlying the Clinton Administration's misguided policy toward Iranian influence in Bosnia is a fundamental misreading of the true nature of the Muslim regime that benefitted from the Iran/Bosnia arms policy: "The most dubious of all Bosniac [i.e., Bosnian Muslim] claims pertains to the self-serving commercial that the government hopes to eventually establish a multiethnic liberal democratic society. Such ideals may appeal to a few members of Bosnia's ruling circle as well as to a generally secular populace, but President Izetbegovic and his cabal appear to harbor much different private intentions and goals." ["Selling the Bosnia Myth to America: Buyer Beware," Lieutenant Colonel John E. Sray, USA, U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS, October 1995]
The evidence that the leadership of the ruling Party of Democratic Action (SDA), and consequently, the Sarajevo-based government, has long been motivated by the principles of radical Islam is inescapable. The following three profiles are instructive: to destroy non-Islamic institutions ("There can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Islamic religion and non-Islamic social institutions"), and to create an international federation of Islamic states.
[The Islamic Declaration: A Programme for the Islamization of Muslims and the Muslim Peoples, Sarajevo, in English, 1990]
Izetbegovic's radical pro-Iran associations go back decades: "At the center of the Iranian system in Europe is Bosnia-Hercegovina's President, Alija Izetbegovic, . . . who is committed to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Bosnia-Hercegovina." ["Iran's European Springboard?", House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, 9/1/92] The Task Force report further describes Izetbegovic's contacts with Iran and Libya in 1991, before the Bosnian war began; he is also noted as a "fundamentalist Muslim" and a member of the "Fedayeen of Islam" organization, an Iran-based radical group dating to the 1930s and which by the late 1960s had recognized the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini (then in exile from the Shah).
Following Khomeini's accession to power in 1979, Izetbegovic stepped-up his efforts to establish Islamic power in Bosnia and was jailed by the communists in 1983. Today, he is open and unapologetic about his links to Iran: "Perhaps the most telling detail of the [SDA's September 1, 1996] campaign rally . . . was the presence of the Iranian Ambassador and his Bosnian and Iranian bodyguards, who sat in the shadow of the huge birchwood platform. . . . As the only foreign diplomat [present], indeed the only foreigner traveling in the President's [i.e., Izetbegovic's] heavily guarded motorcade of bulky four-wheel drive jeeps, he lent a silent Islamic imprimatur to the event, one that many American and European supporters of the Bosnian Government are trying hard to ignore or dismiss." [NYT, 9/2/96]
During the summer 1996 election campaign, the Iranians delivered to him, in two suitcases, $500,000 in cash; Izetbegovic "is now 'literally on their [i.e., the Iranians'] payroll,' according to a classified report based on the CIA's analysis of the issue." [LAT, 12/31/96. See also "Iran Contributed $500,000 to Bosnian President's Election Effort, U.S. Says," New York Times, 1/1/97, and Washington Times, 1/2/97]
Adil Zulfikarpasic, a Muslim co-founder of the SDA, broke with Izetbegovic in late 1990 due to the increasingly overt fundamentalist and pro-Iranian direction of the party. [See Milovan Djilas, Bosnjak: Adil Zulfikarpasic, Zurich, 1994]
Hassan (or Hasan) Cengic: Until recently, deputy defense minister (and now cosmetically reassigned to a potentially even more dangerous job in refugee resettlement at the behest of the Clinton Administration), Cengic, a member of a powerful clan headed by his father, Halid Cengic, is an Islamic cleric who has traveled frequently to Tehran and is deeply involved in the arms pipeline. ["Bosnian Officials Involved in Arms Trade Tied to Radical States," Washington Post, 9/22/96]
Cengic was identified by Austrian police as a member of TWRA's supervisory board, "a fact confirmed by its Sudanese director, Elfatih Hassanein, in a 1994 interview with Gazi Husrev Beg, an Islamic affairs magazine. Cengic later became the key Bosnian official involved in setting up a weapons pipeline from Iran. . . . Cengic . . . is a longtime associate of Izetbegovic's.
He was one of the co-defendants in Izetbegovic's 1983 trial for fomenting Muslim nationalism in what was then Yugoslavia. Cengic was given a 10-year prison term, most of which he did not serve. In trial testimony Cengic was said to have been traveling to Iran since 1983.
Cengic lived in Tehran and Istanbul during much of the war, arranging for weapons to be smuggled into Bosnia." [WP, 9/22/96]
According to a Bosnian Croat radio profile: "Hasan's father, Halid Cengic . . . is the main logistic expert in the Muslim army. All petrodollar donations from the Islamic world and the procurement of arms and military technology for Muslim units went through him. He made so much money out of this business that he is one of the richest Muslims today.
Halid Cengic and his two sons, of whom Hasan has been more in the public spotlight, also control the Islamic wing of the intelligence agency AID [Agency for Information and Documentation].
Well informed sources in Sarajevo claim that only Hasan addresses Izetbegovic with 'ti' [second person singular, used as an informal form of address] while all the others address him as 'Mr. President,'" a sign of his extraordinary degree of intimacy with the president. [BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 10/28/96, "Radio elaborates on Iranian connection of Bosnian deputy defense minister," from Croat Radio Herceg-Bosna, Mostar, in Serbo-Croatian, 10/25/96, bracketed text in original] In late 1996, at the insistence of the Clinton Administration, Hassan Cengic was reassigned to refugee affairs.
However, in his new capacity he may present an even greater hazard to NATO forces in Bosnia, in light of past incidents such as the one that took place near the village of Celic in November 1996.
At that time, in what NATO officers called part of a pattern of "military operations in disguise," American and Russian IFOR troops were caught between Muslims and Serbs as the Muslims, some of them armed, attempted to encroach on the cease-fire line established by Dayton; commented a NATO spokesman: "We believe this to be a deliberate, orchestrated and provocative move to circumvent established procedures for the return of refugees." ["Gunfire Erupts as Muslims Return Home," Washington Post, 11/13/96]
Dzemal Merdan: "The office of Brig. Gen. Dzemal Merdan is an ornate affair, equipped with an elaborately carved wooden gazebo ringed with red velvet couches and slippers for his guests. A sheepskin prayer mat lies in the corner, pointing toward Mecca. The most striking thing in the chamber is a large flag. It is not the flag of Bosnia, but of Iran. Pinned with a button of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's late Islamic leader, the flag occupies pride of place in Merdan's digs -- displayed in the middle of the gazebo for every visitor to see. Next to it hangs another pennant, that of the Democratic Action Party, the increasingly nationalist Islamic organization of President Alija Izetbegovic that dominates Bosnia's Muslim region. . . .
Merdan's position highlights the American dilemma. As head of the office of training and development of the Bosnian army, he is a key liaison figure in the U.S. [arm and train] program. . . .
But Merdan, Western sources say, also has another job -- as liaison with foreign Islamic fighters here since 1992 and promoter of the Islamic faith among Bosnia's recruits.
Sources identified Merdan as being instrumental in the creation of a brigade of Bosnian soldiers, called the 7th Muslim Brigade, that is heavily influenced by Islam and trained by fighters from Iran's Revolutionary Guards. He has also launched a program, these sources say, to build mosques on military training grounds to teach Islam to Bosnian recruits.
In addition, he helped establish training camps in Bosnia where Revolutionary Guards carried out their work." ["Arming the Bosnians: U.S. Program Would Aid Force Increasingly Linked to Iran," Washington Post, 1/26/96, emphasis added]
General Merdan is a close associate of both Izetbegovic and Cengic; the central region around Zenica, which was "completely militarized in the first two years of the war" under the control of Merdan's mujahedin, is "under total control of the Cengic family." ["Who Rules Bosnia and Which Way," (Sarajevo) Slobodna Bosna, 11/17/96, FBIS translation;
Slobodna Bosna is one of the few publications in Muslim-held areas that dares to criticize the policies and personal corruption of the ruling SDA clique.] Merdan's mujahedin were accused by their erstwhile Croat allies of massacring more than 100 Croats near Zenica in late 1993. ["Bosnian Croats vow to probe war crimes by Moslems," Agence France Presse, 5/12/95]
The Islamization of the Bosnian Army
In cooperation with the foreign Islamic presence, the Izetbegovic regime has revamped its security and military apparatus to reflect its Islamic revolutionary outlook, including the creation of mujahedin units throughout the army; some members of these units have assumed the guise of a shaheed (a "martyr," the Arabic term commonly used to describe suicide bombers), marked by their white garb, representing a shroud. While these units include foreign fighters naturalized in Bosnia, most of the personnel are now Bosnian Muslims trained and indoctrinated by Iranian and other foreign militants -- which also makes it easier for the Clinton Administration to minimize the mujahedin threat, because few of them are "foreigners."
Prior to 1996, there were three principal mujahedin units in the Bosnian army, the first two of which are headquartered in the American IFOR/SFOR zone:
(1) the 7th Muslim Liberation Brigade of the 3rd Corps, headquartered in Zenica;
(2) the 9th Muslim Liberation Brigade of the 2nd Corps, headquartered in Travnik (the 2nd Corps is based in Tuzla); and
(3) the 4th Muslim Liberation Brigade of the 4th Corps, headquartered in Konjic (in the French zone). [Bodansky, Some Call It Peace, page 40]
Particularly ominous, many members of these units have donned the guise of martyrs, indicating their willingness to sacrifice themselves in the cause of Islam.
Commenting on an appearance of soldiers from the 7th Liberation Brigade, in Zenica in December 1995, Bodansky writes: "Many of the fighters . . . were dressed in white coveralls over their uniforms. Officially, these were 'white winter camouflage,' but the green headbands [bearing Koranic verses] these warriors were wearing left no doubt that these were actually Shaheeds' shrouds." [Some Call It Peace, page 12] The same demonstration was staged before the admiring Iranian ambassador and President Izetbegovic in September 1996, when white winter garb could only be symbolic, not functional. [NYT, 9/2/96]
By June 1996, ten more mujahedin brigades had been established, along with numerous smaller "special units" dedicated to covert and terrorist operations; while foreigners are present in all of these units, most of the soldiers are now native Bosnian Muslims. [Some Call It Peace, pages 42-46]
In addition to these units, there exists another group known as the Handzar ("dagger" or "scimitar") Division, described by Bodansky as a "praetorian guard" for President Izetbegovic.
"Up to 6000-strong, the Handzar division glories in a fascist culture. They see themselves as the heirs of the SS Handzar division, formed by Bosnian Muslims in 1943 to fight for the Nazis. Their spiritual model was Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who sided with Hitler.
According to UN officers, surprisingly few of those in charge of the Handzars . . . seem to speak good Serbo-Croatian. 'Many of them are Albanian, whether from Kosovo [the Serb province where Albanians are the majority] or from Albania itself.' They are trained and led by veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, say UN sources." ["Albanians and Afghans fight for the heirs to Bosnia's SS past," (London) Daily Telegraph, 12/29/93, bracketed text in original]
Self-Inflicted Atrocities
Almost since the beginning of the Bosnian war in the spring of 1992, there have been persistent reports -- readily found in the European media but little reported in the United States -- that civilian deaths in Muslim-held Sarajevo attributed to the Bosnian Serb Army were in some cases actually inflicted by operatives of the Izetbegovic regime in an (ultimately successful) effort to secure American intervention on Sarajevo's behalf.
These allegations include instances of sniping at civilians as well as three major explosions, attributed to Serbian mortar fire, that claimed the lives of dozens of people and, in each case, resulted in the international community's taking measures against the Muslims' Serb enemies.
(The three explosions were: (1) the May 27, 1992, "breadline massacre," which was reported to have killed 16 people and which resulted in economic sanctions on the Bosnian Serbs and rump Yugoslavia;
(2) the February 5, 1994, Markale "market massacre," killing 68 and resulting in selective NATO air strikes and an ultimatum to the Serbs to withdraw their heavy weapons from the area near Sarajevo; and
(3) the August 28, 1995 "second market massacre," killing 37 and resulting in large-scale NATO air strikes, eventually leading to the Dayton agreement and the deployment of IFOR.)
When she was asked about such allegations (with respect to the February 1994 explosion) then-U.N. Ambassador and current Secretary of State-designate Madeleine Albright, in a stunning non sequitur, said: "It's very hard to believe any country would do this to their own people, and therefore, although we do not exactly know what the facts are, it would seem to us that the Serbs are the ones that probably have a great deal of responsibility." ["Senior official admits to secret U.N. report on Sarajevo massacre," Deutsch Presse-Agentur, 6/6/96, emphasis added]
The fact that such a contention is difficult to believe does not mean it is not true. Not only did the incidents lead to the result desired by Sarajevo (Western action against the Bosnian Serbs), their staging by the Muslims would be entirely in keeping with the moral outlook of Islamic radicalism, which has long accepted the deaths of innocent (including Muslim) bystanders killed in terrorist actions.
According to a noted analyst: "The dictum that the end justifies the means is adopted by all fundamentalist organizations in their strategies for achieving political power and imposing on society their own view of Islam. What is important in every action is its niy'yah, its motive. No means need be spared in the service of Islam as long as one takes action with a pure niy'yah." [Amir Taheri, Holy Terror, Bethesda, MD, 1987]
With the evidence that the Sarajevo leadership does in fact have a fundamentalist outlook, it is unwarranted to dismiss cavalierly the possibility of Muslim responsibility. Among some of the reports:
Sniping: "French peacekeeping troops in the United Nations unit trying to curtail Bosnian Serb sniping at civilians in Sarajevo have concluded that until mid-June some gunfire also came from Government soldiers deliberately shooting at their own civilians. After what it called a 'definitive' investigation, a French marine unit that patrols against snipers said it traced sniper fire to a building normally occupied by Bosnian [i.e., Muslim] soldiers and other security forces. A senior French officer said, 'We find it almost impossible to believe, but we are sure that it is true.'" ["Investigation Concludes Bosnian Government Snipers Shot at Civilians," New York Times, 8/1/95]
The 1992 "Breadline Massacre": "United Nations officials and senior Western military officers believe some of the worst killings in Sarajevo, including the massacre of at least 16 people in a bread queue, were carried out by the city's mainly Muslim defenders -- not Serb besiegers -- as a propaganda ploy to win world sympathy and military intervention. . . .
Classified reports to the UN force commander, General Satish Nambiar, concluded . . . that Bosnian forces loyal to President Alija Izetbegovic may have detonated a bomb. 'We believe it was a command-detonated explosion, probably in a can,' a UN official said then. 'The large impact which is there now is not necessarily similar or anywhere near as large as we came to expect with a mortar round landing on a paved surface." ["Muslims 'slaughter their own people'," (London) The Independent, 8/22/92] "Our people tell us there were a number of things that didn't fit. The street had been blocked off just before the incident. Once the crowd was let in and had lined up, the media appeared but kept their distance. The attack took place, and the media were immediately on the scene." [Major General Lewis MacKenzie, Peacekeeper: The Road to Sarajevo, Vancouver, BC, 1993, pages 193-4; Gen. MacKenzie, a Canadian, had been commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Sarajevo.]
The 1994 Markale "Market Massacre": "French television reported last night that the United Nations investigation into the market-place bombing in Sarajevo two weeks ago had established beyond doubt that the mortar shell that killed 68 people was fired from inside Bosnian [Muslim] lines." ["UN tracks source of fatal shell," (London) The Times, 2/19/94]
"For the first time, a senior U.N. official has admitted the existence of a secret U.N. report that blames the Bosnian Moslems for the February 1994 massacre of Moslems at a Sarajevo market. . . . After studying the crater left by the mortar shell and the distribution of shrapnel, the report concluded that the shell was fired from behind Moslem lines."
The report, however, was kept secret; the context of the wire story implies that U.S. Ambasador Albright may have been involved in its suppression. [DPA, 6/6/96]
For a fuller discussion of the conflicting claims, see "Anatomy of a massacre," Foreign Policy, 12/22/94, by David Binder; Binder, a veteran New York Times reporter in Yugoslavia, had access to the suppressed report.
Bodansky categorically states that the bomb "was actually a special charge designed and built with help from HizbAllah ["Party of God," a Beirut-based pro-Iranian terror group] experts and then most likely dropped from a nearby rooftop onto the crowd of shoppers. Video cameras at the ready recorded this expertly-staged spectacle of gore, while dozens of corpses of Bosnian Muslim troops killed in action (exchanged the day before in a 'body swap' with the Serbs) were paraded in front of cameras to raise the casualty counts." [Offensive in the Balkans, page 62]
The 1995 "Second Market Massacre": "British ammunition experts serving with the United Nations in Sarajevo have challenged key 'evidence' of the Serbian atrocity that triggered the devastating Nato bombing campaign which turned the tide of the Bosnian war." The Britons' analysis was confirmed by French analysts but their findings were "dismissed" by "a senior American officer" at U.N. headquarters in Sarajevo. ["Serbs 'not guilty' of massacre:
Experts warned US that mortar was Bosnian," (London) The Times, 10/1/95] A "crucial U.N. report [stating Serb responsibility for] the market massacre is a classified secret, but four specialists -- a Russian, a Canadian and two Americans -- have raised serious doubts about its conclusion, suggesting instead that the mortar was fired not by the Serbs but by Bosnian government forces."
A Canadian officer "added that he and fellow Canadian officers in Bosnia were 'convinced that the Muslim government dropped both the February 5, 1994, and the August 28, 1995, mortar shells on the Sarajevo markets.'"
An unidentified U.S. official "contends that the available evidence suggests either 'the shell was fired at a very low trajectory, which means a range of a few hundred yards -- therefore under [Sarajevo] government control,' or 'a mortar shell converted into a bomb was dropped from a nearby roof into the crowd.'" ["Bosnia's bombers," The Nation, 10/2/95].
At least some high-ranking French and perhaps other Western officials believed the Muslims responsible; after having received that account from government ministers and two generals, French magazine editor Jean Daniel put the question directly to Prime Minister Edouard Balladur: "'They [i.e., the Muslims] have committed this carnage on their own people?' I exclaimed in consternation.
'Yes,' confirmed the Prime Minister without hesitation, 'but at least they have forced NATO to intervene.'" ["No more lies about Bosnia," Le Nouvel Observateur, 8/31/95, translated in Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, January 1997]
NOTE:
OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE NOT THOSE OF: FREE REPUBLIC.COM (or) nw_arizona_granny
Suppression of Enemies
As might be expected, one manifestation of the radical Islamic orientation of the Izetbegovic government is increasing curtailment of the freedoms of the remaining non-Muslims (Croats and Serbs) in the Muslim-held zone.
While there are similar pressures on minorities in the Serb- and Croat-held parts of Bosnia, in the Muslim zone they have a distinct Islamic flavor. For example, during the 1996-1997 Christmas and New Year holiday season, Muslim militants attempted to intimidate not only Muslims but Christians from engaging in what had become common holiday practices, such as gift-giving, putting up Christmas or New Year's trees, and playing the local Santa Claus figure, Grandfather Frost (Deda Mraz). ["The Holiday, All Wrapped Up; Bosnian Muslims Take Sides Over Santa," Washington Post, 12/26/96]
In general:
"Even in Sarajevo itself, always portrayed as the most prominent multi-national community in Bosnia, pressure, both psychological and real, is impelling non-Bosniaks [i.e., non-Muslims] to leave.
Some measures are indirect, such as attempts to ban the sale of pork and the growing predominance of [Bosniak] street names. Other measures are deliberate efforts to apply pressure. Examples include various means to make non-Bosniaks leave the city. Similar pressures, often with more violent expression and occasionally with overt official participation, are being used throughout Bosnia." ["Bosnia's Security and U.S. Policy in the Next Phase: A Policy Paper, International Research and Exchanges Board, November 1996]
In addition, President Izetbegovic's party, the SDA, has launched politically-motivated attacks on moderate Muslims both within the SDA and in rival parties. For example, in the summer of 1996 former Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic, (a Muslim, and son of the former imam at the main Sarajevo mosque) was set upon and beaten by SDA militants. Silajdzic claimed Izetbegovic himself was behind the attacks. [NYT, 9/2/96]
Irfan Mustafic, a Muslim who co-founded the SDA, is a member of the Bosnian parliament and was president of the SDA's executive council in Srebrenica when it fell to Bosnian Serb forces; he was taken prisoner but later released.
Because of several policy disagreements with Izetbegovic and his close associates, Mustafic was shot and seriously wounded in Srebrenica by Izetbegovic loyalists. [(Sarajevo) Slobodna Bosna, 7/14/96]
Finally, one incident sums up both the ruthlessness of the Sarajevo establishment in dealing with their enemies as well as their international radical links:
"A special Bosnian army unit headed by Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosnian president's son, murdered a Bosnian general found shot to death in Belgium last week, a Croatian newspaper reported . . . citing well-informed sources. The Vjesnik newspaper, controlled by the government, said the assassination of Yusuf Prazina was carried out by five members of a commando unit called 'Delta' and headed by Ismet Bajramovic also known as Celo.
The paper said that three members of the Syrian-backed Palestinian movement Saika had Prazina under surveillance for three weeks before one of them, acting as an arms dealer, lured him into a trap in a car park along the main highway between Liege in eastern Belgium and the German border town of Aachen.
Prazina, 30, nicknamed Yuka, went missing early last month. He was found Saturday with two bullet holes to the head.
'The necessary logistical means to carry out the operation were provided by Bakir Izetbegovic, son of Alija Izetbegovic, who left Sarajevo more than six months ago,' Vjesnik said.
It added that Bakir Izetbegovic 'often travels between Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Baghdad, Tehran and Ankara, by using Iraqi and Pakistani passports,' and was in Belgium at the time of the assassination. Hasan Cengic, head of logistics for the army in Bosnia-Hercegovina, was 'personally involved in the assassination of Yuka Prazina,' the paper said." [Agence France Presse, 1/5/94]
Conclusion
The Clinton Administration's blunder in giving the green light to the Iranian arms pipeline was based, among other errors, on a gross misreading of the true nature and goals of the Izetbegovic regime in Sarajevo.
It calls to mind the similar mistake of the Carter Administration, which in 1979 began lavish aid to the new Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the hopes that (if the United States were friendly enough) the nine comandantes would turn out to be democrats, not communists, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. By the time the Reagan Administration finally cut off the dollar spigot in 1981, the comandantes -- or the "nine little Castros," as they were known locally -- had fully entrenched themselves in power.
To state that the Clinton Administration erred in facilitating the penetration of the Iranians and other radical elements into Europe would be a breathtaking understatement.
A thorough reexamination of U.S. policy and goals in the region is essential. In particular, addressing the immediate threat to U.S. troops in Bosnia, exacerbated by the extention of the IFOR/SFOR mission, should be a major priority of the 105th Congress.
_____ BOSNIA: MUSLIM NEWSPAPER POINTS TO EXISTENCE OF ISLAMIC TERROR CAMPS
Sarajevo, 30 August (AKI) - A Bosnian Muslim newspaper on Tuesday joined a chorus of mostly Serbian news reports on the existence of training camps for Islamic terrorists, accusing the international community of closing its eyes in front of this danger. The weekly Slobodna Bosna (Free Bosnia), whose editor is Senad Avdic, a moderate Muslim, in its latest issue described in detail how and where the alleged terrorist camps operate in Bosnia. The paper criticised the commander of the international forces in Bosnia (Eufor) David Leaky for his recent statement that he had no knowledge of the existence of such camps.
In the article titled “The Commander of Eufor in Bosnia David Leaky is Playing Dumb”, the paper said that there was no point in presenting the facts to the “uninformed general”. “Is he (Leaky) really uninformed, which is hard to believe, or is he conscientiously deceiving the local public, like most Western politicians who serve in Bosnia and advocate the thesis that the best thing for world security is that all terrorists be concentrated in one place, in Bosnia, where they can be kept under control”, the paper asked.
The paper quoted former UN representative in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, as having confirmed to the Security Council that Islamic terrorists were active in Bosnia, but added that it was good they were concentrated in one place, because “the rest of the world would be safe”.
Similar reports in Bosnian media have been carried in the past mostly by Serbian newspapers and Slobodna Bosna is the first Muslim paper to tackle the subject.
The paper said that terrorist training camps had been situated near the Jablanica and Boracko Lakes in Herzegovina, but were later moved to other locations.
“At the beginning of August this year the Active Islamic Youth organized a big camp between Bihac and Bosanska Krupa, in the location of Grmusa”, the paper said.
According to Slobodna Bosna, the training was conducted under military tents on the property of Fuad Vukovic, whose father Mustafa was one of the founders of the ruling Muslim Party for Democratic Action.
The paper pointed out that it was impossible for the international soldiers not to have noticed the big tents, the presence of large groups of people and automobile plates from various European countries where they came from.
Slobodna Bosna said that apart from Active Islamic Youth, the Wahabi Islamic movement has been gathering strength in Bosnia under the instructions of mujahedin from Arabic countries, who have remained in Bosnia following 1992-1995 civil war.
The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported last week that a Wahabi cell was also operating in eastern Bosnian village of Gornja Maoca and was plotting terrorist attacks in Italy. The Wahabi school of thought is the strictest of Sunni Islam and is advocated by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
_____ Police Raid Raises Fears of Bosnia as Haven for Terrorists
By NICHOLAS WOOD (NYT) 1351 words Published: December 3, 2005
A recent police raid on an apartment near this city's airport uncovered evidence of an imminent suicide bombing, intensifying the fears of Western security services that Bosnia is becoming a haven for Islamic militants.
The raid, which occurred in October after an extensive surveillance operation by both the Bosnian police and Western intelligence services, turned up an arsenal in the apartment, in the suburb of Ilidza, including suicide vests, up to 65 pounds of exploding bullets and high explosive, and a machine pistol.
Investigators also found a video in which three men -- at least two of them teenagers -- are seen asking forgiveness from God for their ''sacrifice,'' in a recording made just hours before the raid. The two teenagers were detained.
[Subsequent investigations by the Bosnian police led to the arrests of three more men, all Bosnians, whose identities have not been disclosed. Two were arrested on Nov. 19 and accused of providing support for the Ilidza group. The last was detained on Nov. 24 and charged with supplying explosives. The police also say they seized 22 pounds of explosives kept by the same man in a forest in Hadjici, just outside Sarajevo.]
The weapons seizures and arrests, most notably of the two men found in the Ilidza apartment -- a Turk who had been living in a well-established Muslim community in Denmark, and a Swede of Bosnian heritage -- have provided government and international officials here with the clearest evidence in years of a terrorist cell working in Bosnia. They have also shed light on a complex web that stretches well beyond the Balkans and that may threaten Western Europe.
Diplomats and international officials close to the investigation describe it as a series of overlapping networks, in which young Muslims from Scandinavia have been recruited as possible suicide bombers and sent to Bosnia.
Government officials here say the group in Bosnia used the former Yugoslav state as a staging ground for attacks elsewhere in Europe.
Dragan Mektic, Bosnia's deputy security minister, said in an interview that ''all the indicators show that Bosnia is a territory where they can come and rest, organize their activities, and then go and carry out'' an attack elsewhere,
The police have accused two of the Bosnian suspects with planning an attack in ''internationally protected property,'' a commonly used law enforcement euphemism for an embassy. But senior Western diplomats and Mr. Mektic emphasized that there were no indications that the target of the Ilidza cell was in Bosnia.
The surveillance began in late September, Mr. Mektic said, and focused on at least 10 people, some of them from the region, others Bosnian passport-holders with ties to the Middle East. During that time, five of the people rented the apartment in Ilidza, as well as rooms in a house in Hrasno Brdo, a rambling hilltop suburb of Sarajevo.
When the police finally moved to make arrests, they initially captured only 3 of the 10. The third -- who was not on the suicide tape -- had rented the apartment in Ilidza on the others' behalf. He was dropped from the investigation.
The potential for Bosnia to become a terrorist base has long been a concern of security services, both Western and Bosnian. The 1992-95 conflict here ripped apart Bosnia's Muslim, Serbian and Croatian populations, opening the way for illicit weapons supply lines and organized crime.
The religious and ethnic overtones of the war attracted, at minimum, dozens of Muslim fighters from the Middle East, many with experience of fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, who brought with them the influence of radical Islam.
Many of those fighters settled here and married Bosnian women. They have remained largely at the margins of the Islamic community. While more conservative, they have not had a significant impact on Bosnia's Muslims, who by and large are moderate in their religious outlook.
Periodically, former fighters and others who came to Bosnia to help Muslims have been placed under investigation by Western and Bosnian security services, which say they have thwarted several terrorist attacks as a result.
In January 2002, six Algerians living in Bosnia were accused of plotting an attack on the American Embassy in Sarajevo. No evidence of the alleged plot was made public, and a Bosnian court dismissed the charges and ordered the men released. But the Bosnian government, under the pressure from the United States, transferred them to American custody. They were flown to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where they remain.
Bosnia gave passports to more than 800 former fighters and aid workers from the Middle East. Both the United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Bosnia of giving passports to known terrorists, sometimes under aliases.
Few details have been disclosed about those believed to be coordinating the Sarajevo group, but Mr. Mektic and international officials close to the investigation say Bosnia's liberal passport policy as well as its porous borders made it appealing as a terrorist base, in spite of the presence of several thousand European Union-led peacekeepers. (The passport process has been made more stringent.)
''The flow of people, narcotics and other materials is very difficult to break,'' said Jonathan Ratel, a prosecutor responsible for organized crime in Bosnia's State Court.
The background of the two men in custody has helped investigators make connections between the operation here and the rest of Europe. Abdulkadir Cesur, 18, and Mirsad Bektasevic, 19, were arrested in the raid near the airport. Both traveled to Bosnia three weeks earlier, according to Bosnian border police records, and come from Muslim communities in Denmark and Sweden. Mr. Cesur is Turkish but has Danish residency, and Mr. Bektasevic left Bosnia at the age of 6 and became a Swedish citizen.
Acting on phone records, a senior international official close to the Bosnian investigation said, the Bosnian police tipped off their counterparts in Denmark about the possibility of a parallel group in Copenhagen.
On Oct. 27, the police in Denmark, working in liaison with the Bosnian authorities, arrested four men all between the ages of 16 and 20 and seized computers, computer discs, books with radical Muslim literature and Danish kroner worth some $32,000, from separate addresses.
Since then, three more people have been detained in connection with the Bosnian arrests. Out of the seven, none of whom have been identified, six attended the same mosque in the Noebbro district of Copenhagen.
One international official close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is formally the responsibility of Bosnia's state prosecutor, said the group had sought to recruit potential suicide bombers from established immigrant communities in the West.
''They are indoctrinated into thinking that they could be a huge cause for their people,'' the official said. ''They are young and impressionable and potentially disenfranchised from the society they find themselves living in.''
Mr. Bektasevic's background appears to fit that description. Unemployed since leaving school a year and half ago, he had begun to attend a mosque in Gothenburg, the city nearest their home on Sweden's west coast, according to his mother, Nafija Hamedovic. She described her son as having come under the influence of three men: a Palestinian from Syria, a Kurd and a Somali.
''He was not religious before, but in the past two years he practiced more seriously,'' Mrs. Hamedovic said in a telephone interview.
''Some people frightened him and talked to him about hell, and told him would be tortured in hell if he does not pray and does not believe,'' she said.
But she dismissed accusations that he could have been a suicide bomber, explaining that he had gone to stay with her relatives in Sarajevo and that he obviously had no outside support.
''It's a lie,'' she said. ''He didn't even have any money. I even had to pay for his bus ticket to Bosnia.''
_____ Jatras: Bosnia: The Birthplace of Al-Qaeda
Stella L. Jatras details jihadist activity in Bosnia and some of its implications:
A series of bombs devasted London; the number of casualties numbered more than 40, 13 of whom died in a bus attack. An al-Qaeda group is linked to the London blasts: AP reports, "A group calling itself 'Secret Organization — al-Qaeda in Europe' has posted a claim of responsibility for the series of blasts in London according to a report in Der Spiegel."
Evan F. Kohlmann, author of Al-Qaeda's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1859738079/ref=ase_robertspen cer-20/103-1603172-8127010?v=glance&s=books
Network, argues that the "key to understanding Al Qaida’s European cells lies in the Bosnian war of the 1990s.
Using the Bosnian war as their cover, Afghan-trained Islamic militants loyal to Osama bin Laden convened in the Balkans in 1992 to establish a European domestic terrorist infrastructure in order to plot their violent strikes against the United States. As the West and the United Nations looked on with disapproval, the fanatic foreign 'mujahideen', or holy warriors, wreaked havoc across southern Europe, taking particular aim at UN peacekeepers and even openly fighting with Bosnian Muslims at times.
Middle Eastern religious and charitable organizations, largely based in and funded from the Arabian Gulf, were responsible for bankrolling this effort, and providing travel documentation for would-be mujahideen recruits."
Kohlmann adds that "many of the cell members – responsible for some of the most notorious terrorist attacks of the past decade – spent their formative years waging jihad in the unlikely Muslim land of Bosnia."
Therefore, it is safe to say that the birth of al-Qaeda as a force on the world stage can be traced directly back to 1992, when the Bosnian Muslim government of Alija Izetbegovic issued a passport in the Vienna embassy to Osama bin Laden.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2001 that "for the past 10 years, the most senior leaders of al Qaeda have visited the Balkans, including bin Laden himself on three occasions between 1994 and 1996.
The Egyptian surgeon turned terrorist leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri has operated terrorist training camps, weapons of mass destruction factories and money-laundering and drug-trading networks throughout Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Bosnia. This has gone on for a decade. Many recruits to the Balkan wars came originally from Chechnya, a jihad in which Al Qaeda has also played a part."
THE BOSNIA/911 CONNECTION
An AP article of 2002 entitled, "U.N.Lawyer Turns Over Hijacker Info," reported that "the chief U.N war crimes prosecutor has turned over information about one of the Sept. 11 hijackers to the United States, France and the Netherlands, the U.N. spokesman said Wednesday...The war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said last October that information concerning people with connections to terrorist groups, primarily in Bosnia, was provided to Pierre Prosper, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes.
"On Wednesday, [UN Spokesman] Eckhard confirmed for the first time that the information included material related to 'one of the named terrorists said to have been on one of the hijacked aircraft' on Sept. 11. Eckhard refused to name the hijacker but said the information was also shared with the French and Dutch governments."
The report further states that "following the terrorist attacks on the United States, Del Ponte was approached by the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands and asked for information in identifying those responsible, Eckhard said. The office of the prosecutor did in fact have some information in relation to one of the named terrorists said to have been on one of the hijacked aircraft, he said. An electronic version of some of the information was then given to Prosper as well as French and Dutch officials, Eckhard said.
"Florence Hartmann, the spokeswoman for Del Ponte, said U.N. investigators may have had information about some Muslim fighters who stayed on in Bosnia after the civil war ended in 1995."
Moreover, Gregory R. Copley, editor of Defense & Foreign Affairs, writes: "The Islamist-dominated Government of Bosnia & Herzegovina (B-H) is proposing as its new Ambassador to the United States a woman who was one of the founders of the radical Islamist Muslim SDA Party (Party of Democratic Action [Stranka Demokratske Akcije]), which has had, since its foundation, strong links with al-Qaida and a variety of other Islamist terrorist organizations, and to the intelligence and terrorist-training arms of the Iranian Government."
In his commentary, "We bombed the wrong side?" former Canadian UNPROFOR Commander Lewis MacKenzie wrote, "The Kosovo-Albanians have played us like a Stradivarius. We have subsidized and indirectly supported their violent campaign for an ethnically pure and independent Kosovo. We have never blamed them for being the perpetrators of the violence in the early '90s and we continue to portray them as the designated victim today in spite of evidence to the contrary. When they achieve independence with the help of our tax dollars combined with those of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world."
I repeat these words of General MacKenzie: "Just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world." (My emphasis)
WE HAD HIM!
In his book, Dereliction of Duty
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0895261405/ref=ase_robertspen cer-20/103-1603172-8127010?v=glance&s=books
, Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, chief military aide to President Clinton writes: "The White House Situation Room was buzzing. It was fall 1998 and the National Security Council (NSC) and the 'intelligence community' were tracking the wehereabout of Osama bin Laden, the shadowy matermind of terrorist attacks on Americn targets overseas. 'They successfully triangulated his location,' yelled a 'Sit Room' watch stand. 'We've got him.' Beneath the West Wing of the White House, behind a vaulted steel door, the Sit Room staff sprang into action.
The watch officer notified National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, 'Sir, we've located bin Laden. We have a two-hour window to strike'.
Characteristic of the Clinton administration, the weapons of choice would be Tomahawk missiles. After several attempts to first locate President Clinton to receive permission to get Osama bin Laden, Presindent Clinton was nowhere to be found. When the President finally accepted Berger's call, there was discussion, there were pauses -- and no decision. 'We studied the issue until it was too late -- the window of opportunity closed'."
On 11 March 2004, 190 people were killed at the Madrid Train Station.
One of the main terrorists was born in Bosnia yet very little was made of this important connection. However, whenever or if ever information is uncovered of a possible connection of the London terrorists to Bosnia, it will be played down as was the Bosnia connection to the Madrid bombing. It wouldn't be prudent.
Baggies, are also nice for shoplifting.
The stores hate to see them coming.
I know one 20 year old who really holds it against his parents, as they did not allow him to wear baggies.
Should have beat him more often............
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsect
ion=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=December2005&file=World_News2005121
323418.xml
Turkey seeks CIA intelligence to fight PKK Web posted at: 12/13/2005
2:34:18
Source ::: Reuters
ANKARA: Turkey wants the United States to provide more intelligence to
help
it fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a government
spokesman
said yesterday during a visit by the head of the CIA.
Turkish forces have been battling an armed campaign by the PKK, which
is on
the US and EU lists of foreign terrorist organisations, in the
southeast
since 1984.
The violence, at its height in the 1980s and 1990s, dwindled when the
PKK
declared a unilateral ceasefire in 1999, but the group recently took up
arms
again. "Turkey has expectations from the United States especially in
the
fight against the separatist terrorist organisation, both in the sense
of
sharing information and also the measures that can be built on this,"
Justice Minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek told a news
conference. He did not elaborate.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss is in Ankara to meet
senior
officials, including Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and members of the
Nato
country's key National Intelligence Organisation.
"He is here to discuss the many areas we cooperate on in intelligence,
such
as international terrorism and the PKK," a US official in Ankara said.
FBI Director Robert Mueller visited Turkey only a few days ago. The
United
States considers Turkey, which is seeking EU membership, a key ally in
the
region. Turkey has borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria and close ties
with
Israel. Turkey has repeatedly called on the United States to crack down
on
PKK rebels based in northern Iraq.
EU officials say Ankara can play a crucial role in bringing greater
stability to the Middle East. Broadcaster NTV said Goss and his Turkish
counterparts were expected to consider measures against the PKK, and
quoted
a senior official as saying "If the CIA shares with us 25 per cent of
the
intelligence it has on the PKK, we will have taken a large step in this
struggle."
More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched a
separatist
insurgency in 1984.
Explosion Daytona Beach Florida. Just in.....no link yet.
From another board....
I work across the street from the Speedway, and when I left for lunch I saw the smoke back to the East, and didn't hear cars on the track, so got alarmed thinking it may be an on track incident. SO....turned around, headed East, towards turn 4, and saw immediately that it was further East, but a LOT of smoke. It is a Waste treatment plant that is right on the Intercoastal in Daytona Beach.
Chemical Explosion At Waste Treatment Plant Kills One
POSTED: 12:13 pm EST January 11, 2006
UPDATED: 12:32 pm EST January 11, 2006
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A chemical explosion at a waste treatment plant in Daytona Beach killed one person and injured two others, one critically.
Three city workers were repairing hurricane damage on a shed when the explosion and fire happened late Wednesday morning at the Bethune Point waste treatment plant on Shady Place.
One of the injured has third-degree burns over 100 percent of his body. He was transported to Halifax Medical Center in critical condition.
The other injured person has first- and second-degree burns over 80 percent of his body.
There were no evacuations, but crews are still working to contain the scene, clean up the area and figure out exactly what happened.
Thanks for the ping on that story RR. I'm going to transfer it over here for info purposes.
Al Qaeda Video is 'Green Light' for Attack, Analyst Warns
Snipped~~excerpt
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPrint.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200601\SPE20060111a.html
But it is not the content of the video that is a sign of a possible imminent strike, said terrorism expert Christopher L. Brown. Instead, it is the timing of the video that is consistent with previous patterns. Brown, a researcher with a Washington think tank, has briefed members of Congress and senior administration officials on key threats, and he has prepared testimony and briefing materials for officials at the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA, National Security Council and the White House.
The pattern Brown observed is that each Zawahiri video appears to be part of a pair, with the second video followed by a significant attack within 30 days, outside of the major combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The videos released on Sept. 9 and Nov. 9, 2004, were the first "set" and were followed by the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bombings on Dec. 6, 2004. The second "set" of videos was released Feb. 20 and June 26, 2005, followed by the July 7 London bombings. A third set of videos was released Aug. 4 and Sept 1, 2005, followed by the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 1, 2005.
A Cybercast News Service exclusive report on Sept. 8 of last year detailed Brown's warning regarding an impending October attack.
The fourth set of videos, according to Brown's theory was released on Oct. 23, 2005 and last week -- Jan. 6.
"This pattern has held for at least three of al Qaeda's last large-scale attacks," said Brown, "This most recent video is likely a signal that a large-scale operation is about to be launched within the next 30 days. The question is where."
A clue may be found in the Internet postings of the enigmatic Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said Brown. The brigades appear to be 'green-lighting' coming attacks prior to the release of the second video of each pair, Brown said.
The video that preceded the London bombings was itself preceded by a post by the "European division" of the brigades under the title, "Letter to mujahedeen in Europe." The posting stated in part, "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack." The message appeared on an al Qaeda-linked Internet forum.
Brown believes the larger pattern of two videos sandwiching an Internet posting by the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades was repeated when a November web message declared that the upcoming attack would occur in the "land of the Romans," widely seen as a reference to Italy.
The Internet posting, under the name of al Qaeda's reputed military commander Saif al-Adel, mentioned future attacks involving unidentified poisonous substances and surface-to-air missiles procured from Chechnya. Brown notes that the Abu-Hafs Al-Masri Brigades are overseen by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq who is also known to have ties to Chechnya.
snip~
However, the November reference to the "land of the Romans" could be misdirection Brown said, since al Qaeda is known to use coded language in many of its communications. The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) has indicated that al Qaeda intentionally labeled Italy as its target, prior to the London bombings.
If the "land of the Romans" doesn't refer to Rome, what might it refer to? Dan Darling of the Manhattan Institute believes it could be a reference to the United States. "It could just as easily apply to the U.S. -- America as the new Rome," said Darling.
Brown also believes the al Qaeda threat could apply to the U.S. and that America is the likelier target.
The "land of the Romans" could be a symbolic reference to the "countless examples of Romanesque architecture in Washington, D.C.," said Brown.
The missiles reportedly obtained from Chechnya have not been located and Brown believes it is possible that some of the weapons have been smuggled into North America since individuals involved in the "Chechen network" who procured the missiles were allegedly involved in the 1999 conspiracy to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
snip~
Regarding the video release pattern, "once can be an interesting anomaly, twice could be a coincidence, but three times is a pattern," Brown said, indicating "that in all likelihood al Qaeda will launch a major attack sometime in the next month."
Waste plant explosion, that is almost as much of a disaster,
as a water plant.
Can you imagine a bunch of liberals, with no plumbing?
It will blow ones mind.
I am sorry for those who are hurt and the family of the dead and injuried, prayers will be needed.
The Green Light, that is interesting and fits with all we know.
30 days is a long time to be on alert.
I think that I may have this or others dealing with an attack at Yahoo, I saw several new posts this morning and simply could not sit up long enough to read them.
Do you notice that the 3 contacts, are not flooding the net as they normally do, I don't think I even have OBL's last one, did get one and parts of the other.
The goat boy, almost did not make the news media and some that I hunted for, I did not find, except for Cindy's links.
Sorry if this has been posted but I just got home from work and it all over the news.
A 4th grader was shot in the neck during lunch recess on the playground at a Milwaukee public elementary school. The child is in serious but stable condition. Their calling it a random act of violence.
I'll post more when its available.
Deer rifle and scope, or a pistol and a nondescript van or car with camouflaged firing port.
Target practice on transformers and insulators.
I think you'll find this article and comments concerning future military action against Iran interesting.
http://www.theadventuresofchester.com/archives/2006/01/sinking_feeling.html#more
January 11, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News
Americans divided on domestic spying
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10795841/
Poll also finds willingness to give up some personal privacy
(UK) Terrorist Detector Tests (in London Trains)
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1208609,00.html?f=rss
A-bomb fears as Iran defies UN to restart work at nuclear sites
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1979910,00.html
Spain: Algerian Suicide Bomber Linked to Cell
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.247677138&par=0
Spain arrests 20 terror suspects
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/10/news/web.0110spain.php
(Indonesia) Islamic militant goes on trial
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17795438%255E1702,00.html
Prosecutors accused Joko Tri Priyanto, 34, of giving funds to fellow
militant Ahmad Rofiq Ridho in August 2004.
(Netherlands) Police station evacuated over bomb find
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=26676&name=Police+station+evacuated+over+bomb+find
Thai terrorists 'target resorts'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17787751%255E31477,00.html
The two-year insurgency, which has killed more than a thousand people,
has until this point been dominated by attacks against symbols of the
Thai state, such as police stations, and dominant religion, such as
Buddhist temples.
7 Pakistan Troops Killed in Rocket Attack
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060110/ap_on_re_mi_ea/pakistan_rocket_attack;_ylt=Apc8dI0x5WE9oHh03B9zUdELewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--
Top Militant Claims Jihad Spreading Across North Caucasus
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/01/53957011-89A1-4728-97B2-D7F2E253880F.html
Self-proclaimed leader of anti-Russian front in Kabardino-Balkaria
warned that jihad spreading across entire North Caucasus
Imam Elahi: Loyal U.S. Citizen or Iranian Terrorist?
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/060110a.asp
Detroit Imam praises Hezbollah, likens Ahmadinejad's statements to
Declaration of Independence, and isn't sure whether Israel was involved in
9/11 attacks
(Israel) Terror mastermind given 35 life terms
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361051706&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Abbas al-Sayid behind Park Hotel and Sharon Mall suicide bombings.
Senior Hamas, Jihad terrorist indicted
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3198370,00.html
Gaza resident accused of dispatching terrorists who killed 4 IDF
soldiers and of planning to set up West Bank terror cell
(San Francisco) Suspect Arrested in Starbucks Bomb Case
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/S/STARBUCKS_BOMB?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
"There is no connection to any terrorism or anything against
Starbucks," Sgt. Neville Gittens said
Commentary: The Growing Al-Qaeda Threat to Israel
http://www.israelnn.com/special.php?id=freund
Insane world, if they don't rape them, they shoot them.
Possibly, the police in Vegas, was the shooting of a Security officer in the leg at the Gold Coast, by some man.
Also an incident at the Boulder Casino.
Are either of those close to the area you asked about?
Sure a lot of bombs in Wisconcin today, exploding things all over the country.
Micah Halpern was answering questions on attacks, he says yes and soon and that it will be many smaller attacks, not another 9-11......Seems he thought our FEDS were too on the ball for another 9-11.
You can listen to him, rick barbor show, 850koa.com, until the new show starts tonight at 1 am. Colorado time.
Also, Dr. Bill Wattenbergs shows are archived now and can be heard on MP3 and Podcast at:
pushback.com
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