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Kosovo:
The U.S. and the E.U. Support a Political Process
Linked to Organized Crime
Kosovo
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci Part of Criminal
Syndicate
by Michel
Chossudovsky
Our orientations are
clear. The building of the state of Kosova, economic development, economic and
social well-being and rigorous measures against corruption, organized crime
and negative behavior, so we can have improved security and integrate Kosova
into European Union structures. Hashim Thaci,
chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Prime Minister of the Kosovo
provisional government, former KLA leader and known
criminal.
"The PDK, led by Hashim Thaci, former Kosovan
Liberation Army commander, took control of many municipalities after the war.
The party has close links with organized crime in the province." The Observer, 29 October 2000
"Mr. Thaci, nicknamed "the Snake" during his KLA days, is a
sharp-suited 32-year-old former rebel commander with poor oratory skills, with
links to organized crime and a determination to preserve relations between his
party and the United States." The
Scotsman, 20 October 2000
"I know a
terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists." U.S. Special Envoy and Ambassador Robert Gelbard
"The
KLA [formerly headed by Hashim Thaci] is tied in with every known Middle
and Far Eastern drug cartel. Interpol, Europol, and nearly every European
intelligence and counter-narcotics agency has files open on drug syndicates
that lead right to the KLA,..." Michael Levine
former official of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA)
Hashim
Thaci founded the "Drenica-Group" an underground organization that is
estimated to have controlled between 10% and 15% of all criminal activities in
Kosovo (smuggling arms, stolen cars, oil, cigarettes and
prostitution). Wikipedia The Free
Encyclopedia
The U.S., the E.U. and the U.N.
are supporting a Kosovo government headed by a known criminal, Prime Minister
Hashim Thaci. The position of Prime Minister was created under the "Provisional
Institutions of Self-Government (PISG)" established by the United Nations
Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
Under U.N.
mandate, the purpose of the provisional government was "to provide 'provisional,
democratic self-government' in advance of a decision on the political status of
Kosovo.
What this signifies is that the United Nations has not only set
the stage for an "Independent" Kosovo government in violation of international
law, it has also installed a Kosovo government integrated by the
members of a criminal syndicate. All three Kosovo Prime Ministers, Ramush
Haradinaj, Agim Ceku and Hashim Thaci are war criminals.
The
Kosovo Democratic Party headed by former KLA Commander Hashim Thaci is
essentially an outgrowth of the former Kosovo Liberation Army.
U.S.-NATO
covert support of the KLA goes back to the mid-1990s. In the year preceding the
1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, the KLA was quite openly supported by the Clinton
administration. KLA
leader Hashim Thaci was a protégé of Madeleine Albright. He was chosen by
Albright to play a key role on Washington's behalf at the 1998 Rambouillet
negotiations.
Madeleine
and Hashim
The
links of the KLA to organized crime have been documented by Interpol and the
U.S. Congress. The Washington Times in an article published in May 1999
describes the KLA and its links to the Clinton administration as follows:
"Some
members of the Kosovo Liberation Army [headed by the current Kosovo Prime
minister Hashim Thaci] , which has financed its war effort through the sale of
heroin, were trained in terrorist camps run by international fugitive Osama bin
Laden -- who is wanted in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that
killed 224 persons, including 12 Americans.
The
KLA members, embraced by the Clinton administration in NATO's 41-day bombing
campaign to bring Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the bargaining table,
were trained in secret camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere,
according to newly obtained intelligence reports.
The
reports also show that the KLA has enlisted Islamic terrorists -- members of the
Mujahideen --as soldiers in its ongoing conflict against Serbia, and that many
already have been smuggled into Kosovo to join the fight...
The
intelligence reports document what is described as a "link" between bin Laden,
the fugitive Saudi millionaire, and the KLA --including a common staging area in
Tropoje, Albania, a center for Islamic terrorists. The reports said bin Laden's
organization, known as al-Qaeda, has both trained and financially supported the
KLA. (Washington Times, May 4, 1999, see
[1] )
The
Christian Science Monitor in an August 14, 2000
report describes the criminal network controlled by Thaci:
"U.N.
police suspect that much of the violence and intimidation has come from former
KLA members, especially those allied with Hashim Thaci, the
former KLA leader and head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, one of the KLA's
political offshoots. In one
recent incident, the shop of an LDK activist in Mr. Thaci's home village was
sprayed with automatic gunfire - the second such attack since
November.
Thaci's
party potentially has much to lose in the elections, which are for municipal
offices only. After Serb forces withdrew last year, the KLA occupied town halls
and public institutions across Kosovo and set up its own provincial
government.
Although
the UN has gradually asserted its own authority and placed representatives of
other political groups in local governments, in places like Srbica ex-KLA
members affiliated with Thaci's party still exercise virtual complete
control.
"These
guys are not going to give up power that easily," says Dardan Gashi, a political
analyst with the International Crisis Group, a U.S.-based research organization
with an office in Pristina. U.N.
police also suspect organized crime is involved in some of the
violence.
They say that criminal groups engaged in racketeering, smuggling, and
prostitution rely on close links to some people in power. The prospect of
losing these connections - and the income they generate - may make them
ill-disposed toward the LDK.
Officials
say the problem is the worst in the Drenica region of Kosovo, the KLA's
heartland and a stronghold of Thaci's party."
Srbica, where Koci is the local LDK president, is one of the main towns in
Drenica. (emphasis added)
The
Heritage Foundation: Support the KLA-KDP, despite its Criminal
Connections
The
Heritage Foundation in a May 1999 report acknowledges that the KLA is a
criminal organization. It nonetheless called for the support of the
KLA by the Clinton administration:
"Should
the U.S. harness the KLA's military potential against Milosevic's brutal regime,
despite the KLA's unusual ideological roots and apparent ties to
organized crime? ... The KLA does not represent every group
seeking an end to Milosevic's brutal campaign and is known to have committed
some atrocities of its own, it is the most significant force resisting Yugoslav
aggression within Kosovo. Moreover, the scale and scope of its crimes have
been dwarfed by the systematic campaign of terror unleashed by Yugoslav
military, paramilitary, and police forces inside Kosovo. which Washington has
done consistently since the 1999 war." (Heritage Foundation Report, 13 May
1999)
"Shunning
the KLA now will deprive the United States of the benefits of cooperating with a
resistance force that is capable of ratcheting up the pressure on Milosevic to
negotiate a settlement." (Ibid)
The
Heritage Foundation supports the Kosovo Democratic Party (KDP) which is
integrated by former members of the KLA.
The KDP has retained its
links to organised crime. This position of the Heritage Foundation
broadly summarizes the attitude of the "international community" in relation to
Kosovo. More recently, the Heritage Foundation, which plays a behind the
scenes role in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy, has been
pushing for Kosovo "Independence"
Hashim
Thaci
The
evidence amply confirms that the prime minister of Kosovo never severed his
links to organized crime.
A
known criminal is being protected by the United Nations: He was arrested in
Budapest in July 2003 on an Interpol warrant and was immediately released,
following a request from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). This is not an
isolated event. There is evidence that the U.N. Mission and its international
police force have protected the former KLA, which in the wake of the 1999 NATO
bombing was relabeled the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) under a formal U.N.
mandate.
"According
to Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic, "the prosecution at the Hague war
crimes tribunal has over 40,000 pages of evidence against former Kosovo
Liberation Army leader Hashim Thaci." ( Radio B92,
Belgrade, 3 July 2003).
In
April 2000, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "ordered The Hague chief
prosecutor Carla del Ponte to omit from the list of war crime suspects Hashim
Thaci" (Tanjug, 6 May 2000). Carla del Ponte
subsequently claimed that there was not enough evidence to indict Thaci on war
crimes.
More
generally, the U.N. Mission has acted as an accessory in protecting a criminal
syndicate. In
November 2003, criminal proceedings against several former KLA commanders were
initiated in Belgrade. These included Hashim Thaci, Agim Ceku and Ramush
Haradinaj. Both Haradinaj and Ceku's names are on Interpol lists.
Agim
Ceku
"Agim
Ceku is known for having committed extensive war crimes in the Krajina region of
Croatia in the mid-1990s involving the massacre and ethnic cleansing of the Serb
population. He was a former brigadier general in the Croatian Army and a key
planner of Operation Storm, which led to the expulsion of several
hundred thousand Serbs from Krajina region of Croatia. In 1999, he was
appointed Commander of the KLA, with the approval of the U.S. and NATO. He
was subsequently appointed Commander of the U.N. sponsored Kosovo Protection
Corps (KPC) (on UN payroll) and became Prime Minister of Kosovo in 2006,
succeeded by Hashim Thaci, the current Prime Minister In Kosovo,
he continues to have links to organized crime syndicates. According
to a London Observer, the KPC which was headed by Ceku, was involved in
acts of torture as well protecting prostitution in Kosovo." (March 14, 2000 ,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The
Western Media: Disinformation concerning the Nature of the Kosovo
government
The
Kosovo government is tied into organized criminal syndicates involved in
narcotics and human trafficking.
The
fact that all three Kosovo Prime Ministers, Ramush Haradinaj, Agim Ceku and
Hashim Thaci are war criminals has not been acknowledged in recent press reports
regarding the Independence of Kosovo.
The
E.U. and the U.S. are supporting the criminalization of Kosovo politics.
We
bring to our readers attention to two articles published in the Washington
Times. The
first article [1] published in May 1999 describes the KLA
as a criminal organization. The second article [2] published in
February 2008 highlights the role of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a "former
criminal" in the process of Kosovo independence.
NOTES:
[1]
KLA Rebels Train in Terrorist Camps
By Jerry Seper, THE
WASHINGTON TIMES, May 4, 1999
www.washtimes.com
also
available here www.balkan-archive.org.yu/kosovo_crisis/html/wt-0504.html
[2]
Kosovo Independence Seen Likely for Feb. 17
By Dusan Stojanovic,
THE
WASHINGTON TIMES, February 9, 2008
www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080209/FOREIGN/109678671/1003
This
article was originally published by www.GlobalResearch.ca
The
CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on
community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified.
© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2008 This essay is
herein reprinted with the author's permission.
Posted March 17,
2008
URL:
www.thecitizenfsr.org
SM 2000-2011
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