NATO is prepared and ready to insert over 3000 soldiers into the boiling cauldron known as Macedonia. Leaders insist that this deployment will ensure tranquility and stability in an otherwise fractious land. However NATO will not roll in until the so-called Albanian Rebels, and the representatives of the Macedonian government, come to a cease-fire agreement. Any experienced observer of Balkan instability; knows that in this venue a cease-fire must cite a high and low spectrum quotient of murder, abduction, and assassination. To assume otherwise is foolish, when it comes to the "Bloody Balkans".
Why is NATO so reluctant to roll in with the troops? Has this Macedonia quagmire suddenly caused NATO the learned wisdom of pause, prior to launching its military might and spend millions of dollars in an armaments expenditure exercise? Or is there a not-so-visible reason why the NATO is so careful in this instance? NATO does not appear to be the roaring lion that sustained the U. S. led, May 1999, air campaign against Yugoslavia.
On June 28th. The highly respected German Newspaper, the Hamburger Abendblatt, reported that American soldiers descended on the surrounded members of the 113th UCK Brigade, which is an integral unit of the Albanian Guerrilla force. Why would a force of heavily armed American Infantrymen suddenly appear to rescue a force of some four hundred beleaguered Albanian Guerrillas?
The Albanian force had been surrounded for days and was in danger of total annihilation. Out of the confusion the U. S. Army Infantry forces of the 101st Airmobile Division emerged with a column of comfortable busses to extract the Albanians from the killing zone. This defies all conventional logic, until one realizes the actual potential embarrassment factor, if the Albanian force was not promptly evacuated.
When the U. S. Army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Phillip, was directly asked for the truth about what the American soldiers had done, he said, in a rehearsed monotonous tone, "I do not wish to confirm these circumstances"!
This gets a little "dicey" because the incident that Lieutenant Colonel Phillip did not.. "wish to confirm".. was that a handful of U. S. government hired contractors were among the Albanian force. They were serving in an advisory role, shoulder to shoulder, with the evacuated Albanian Guerrilla Force. The instability and vehement protest that prevailed, subsequent to the evacuation of the rebels, was apparently far more acceptable … than what was, about, to become public knowledge! This writer has been around, "black operations" and "off the books initiatives", long enough to tell you, without equivocation that this smells of foul.
Seventeen American Military Advisors were with the Albanian Force when they were evacuated. It turns out that they were former U. S. military personnel, now employed by a U. S. Government Defense Contractor. This contractor is well known in the industry, and its Chief Executive Officer is a former 4-Star General and Chief of Staff of The Army. Suddenly his "boys" were likely to be captured or killed by the Macedonian government forces, which "up-front" the United States swears it is supporting.
The civil disturbances, and wildly convulsive destructive rioting that have occurred in Skopje indicate that the common man in Macedonia has finally wised-up. In response to the destabilization that NATO, and the United States have caused by its own run away clandestine operations, more American Marines have been rapidly inserted to fortify the American diplomatic mission in Skopje. These soldiers are most likely totally unaware that they are there to deter the violence that there own government has so flippantly caused.
Now we can understand NATO's reticence at jumping into the fray. It is clearly visible that NATO, and the U. S. Government at least, are walking in two camps. A fool knows how dangerous this is, nothing parallels the inherent dangers of "being doubled". The ascribing of the United States, and NATO, to this rather bizarre approach to implementing Balkan tranquility makes a mockery out of any measure of logic or the goals of freedom.
Over seventy percent of the equipment taken away from the battle, and retained by the Albanian Force, was American designed, manufactured, and distributed. This also includes the most modern third generation night vision devices. Yes, "retained by the force", the American soldiers at the scene did not disarm the Albanian force and their American "instructors"! This idiotic shortcoming illustrates, in the eyes of Macedonians and any clear- eyed observer, that the U. S., and NATO, are in collusion with the Albanian force.
For the past three months, every time Macedonia hints of a full-scale assault against the Albanian fighters, NATO urges restraint. Restraint by Macedonia … at least until Western governments can have plausible deniability as pertains to the UCK and their clandestine involvement. Less than a week after this "rescue", I was personally informed, by one of the U. S. advisers that, "now all but three of the trainers had left the Balkans".
Currently, the Albanian guerrillas are regrouping across the North and West of Macedonia. They still enjoy indigenous support in the Presevo Valley. The cease-fire peace talks have failed. NATO may think that they have repaired the communication gap between the warring factions, however patient observance will prove otherwise. The Albanian rebels are spreading their influence and fortifying their tactical positions. The frequent staccato of small arms and non-crew served rocket fire are punctuating the fragile level of "almost achieved" tranquility.
Albanian rebels are now in areas where they have been heretofore unseen. They are setting up roadblocks and they are becoming much more brazen. If NATO and the U. S. believe that they are simply going to walk into Macedonia, and start disarming compliant combat veterans, then they have far overshot their estimate. Ground truth, and the ability of the UCK to make it a very hot summer in the Balkans, whilst NATO scratches its head like the Village Idiot, in the weeks to come.
J. DAVID GALLAND
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/07/27/11154.html
