Subj: [anarchopunk] KOSOVO 'FREEDOM FIGHTERS' FINANCED BY ORGANISED CRIME
Date: 99-04-08 17:54:34 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Chris Carrara)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More on the KLA/CIA drug connection (conspiracy)
By Michel Chossudovsky
Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
Ottawa, K1N6N5
1-613-562-5800, ext. 1415 / Fax: 1-514-425-6224
E-Mail: < [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
- Wednesday, 7 April 1999 -
Heralded by the global media as a humanitarian peace-keeping mission, NATO's
ruthless bombing of Belgrade and Pristina goes far beyond the breach of
international law. While Slobodan Milosevic is demonised, portrayed as a
remorseless dictator, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is upheld as a
self-respecting nationalist movement struggling for the rights of ethnic
Albanians. The truth of the matter is that the KLA is sustained by organised
crime with the tacit approval of the United States and its allies.
Following a pattern set during the War in Bosnia, public opinion has been
carefully misled. The multibillion dollar Balkans narcotics trade has played
a crucial role in "financing the conflict" in Kosovo in accordance with
Western economic, strategic and military objectives. Amply documented by
European police files, acknowledged by numerous studies, the links of the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to criminal syndicates in Albania, Turkey and
the European Union have been known to Western governments and intelligence
agencies since the mid-1990s.
...The financing of the Kosovo guerilla war poses critical
questions and it sorely test claims of an "ethical" foreign
policy. Should the West back a guerrilla army that appears
to partly financed by organised crime.[1]
While KLA leaders were shaking hands with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright at Rambouillet, Europol (the European Police Organization based in
the Hague) was "preparing a report for European interior and justice
ministers on a connection between the KLA and Albanian drug gangs."[2] In
the meantime, the rebel army has been skilfully heralded by the global media
(in the months preceding the NATO bombings) as broadly representative of the
interests of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
With KLA leader Hashim Thaci (a 29 year "freedom fighter") appointed as chief
negotiator at Rambouillet, the KLA has become the de facto helmsman of the
peace process on behalf of the ethnic Albanian majority and this despite its
links to the drug trade. The West was relying on its KLA puppets to
rubber-stamp an agreement which would have transformed Kosovo into an
occupied territory under Western Administration.
Ironically Robert Gelbard, America's special envoy to Bosnia, had described
the KLA last year as "terrorists." Christopher Hill, America's chief
negotiator and architect of the Rambouillet agreement "has also been a strong
critic of the KLA for its alleged dealings in drugs."[3] Moreover, barely a
few two months before Rambouillet, the U.S. State Department had acknowledged
(based on reports from the U.S. Observer Mission) the role of the KLA in
terrorising and uprooting ethnic Albanians:
...the KLA harass or kidnap anyone who comes to the police,
... KLA representatives had threatened to kill villagers and
burn their homes if they did not join the KLA [a process
which has continued since the NATO bombings]... [T]he KLA
harassment has reached such intensity that residents of six
villages in the Stimlje region are "ready to flee.[4]w
While backing a "freedom movement" with links to the drug trade, the West
seems also intent in bypassing the civilian Kosovo Democratic League and its
leader Ibrahim Rugova who has called for an end to the bombings and expressed
his desire to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Yugoslav
authorities.[5] It is worth recalling that a few days before his March 31st
Press Conference, Rugova had been reported by the KLA (alongside three other
leaders including Fehmi Agani) to have been killed by the Serbs.
COVERT FINANCING OF 'FREEDOM FIGHTERS'
Remember Oliver North and the Contras? The pattern in Kosovo is similar to
other CIA covert operations in Central America, Haiti and Afghanistan where
"freedom fighters" were financed through the laundering of drug money. Since
the onslaught of the Cold War, Western intelligence agencies have developed a
complex relationship to the illegal narcotics trade. In case after case,
drug money laundered in the international banking system has financed covert
operations.
According to author Alfred McCoy, the pattern of covert financing was
established in the Indochina war. In the 1960s, the Meo army in Laos was
funded by the narcotics trade as part of Washington's military strategy
against the combined forces of the neutralist government of Prince Souvanna
Phouma and the Pathet Lao.[6]
The pattern of drug politics set in Indochina has since been replicated in
Central America and the Caribbean. "The rising curve of cocaine imports to
the U.S.," wrote journalist John Dinges "followed almost exactly the flow of
U.S. arms and military advisers to Central America."[7]
The military in Guatemala and Haiti, to which the CIA provided covert
support, were known to be involved in the trade of narcotics into Southern
Florida. And as revealed in the Iran-Contra and Bank of Commerce and Credit
International (BCCI) scandals, there was strong evidence that covert
operations were funded through the laundering of drug money. "Dirty money"
recycled through the banking system -- often through an anonymous shell
company -- became "covert money," used to finance various rebel groups and
guerilla movements including the Nicaraguan Contras and the Afghan
Mujahadeen. According to a 1991 Time Magazine report:
Because the U.S. wanted to supply the mujehadeen rebels in
Afghanistan with stinger missiles and other military
hardware it needed the full cooperation of Pakistan. By the
mid-1980s, the CIA operation in Islamabad was one of the
largest U.S. intelligence stations in the World. `If BCCI is
such an embarrassment to the U.S. that forthright
investigations are not being pursued it has a lot to do with
the blind eye the U.S. turned to the heroin trafficking in
Pakistan', said a U.S. intelligence officer.[8]
AMERICA AND GERMANY JOIN HANDS
Since the early 1990s, Bonn and Washington have joined hands in establishing
their respective spheres of influence in the Balkans. Their intelligence
agencies have also collaborated. According to intelligence analyst John
Whitley, covert support to the Kosovo rebel army was established as a joint
endeavour between the CIA and Germany's Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND)
(which previously played a key role in installing a right wing nationalist
government under Franjo Tudjman in Croatia).[9] The task to create and
finance the KLA was initially given to Germany: "They used German uniforms,
East German weapons and were financed, in part, with drug money."[10]
According to Whitley, the CIA was, subsequently instrumental in training and
equipping the KLA in Albania.[11]
The covert activities of Germany's BND were consistent with Bonn's intent to
expand its "Lebensraum" into the Balkans. Prior to the onset of the civil
war in Bosnia, Germany and its Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher had
actively supported secession; it had "forced the pace of international
diplomacy" and pressured its Western allies to recognize Slovenia and
Croatia. According to the Geopolitical Drug Watch, both Germany and the U.S.
favoured (although not officially) the formation of a "Greater Albania"
encompassing Albania, Kosovo and parts of Macedonia.[12] According to Sean
Gervasi, Germany was seeking a free hand among its allies "to pursue economic
dominance in the whole of Mitteleuropa."[13]
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IN SUPPORT OF THE KLA
Bonn and Washington's "hidden agenda" consisted in triggering nationalist
liberation movements in Bosnia and Kosovo with the ultimate purpose of
destabilising Yugoslavia. The latter objective was also carried out "by
turning a blind eye" to the influx of mercenaries and financial support from
Islamic fundamentalist organisations.[14]
Mercenaries financed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had been fighting in
Bosnia.[15] And the Bosnian pattern was replicated in Kosovo: Mujahadeen
mercenaries from various Islamic countries are reported to be fighting
alongside the KLA in Kosovo. German, Turkish and Afghan instructors were
reported to be training the KLA in guerilla and diversion tactics.[16]
According to a Deutsche Press-Agentur report, financial support from Islamic
countries to the KLA had been channelled through the former Albanian chief of
the National Information Service (NIS), Bashkim Gazidede.[17] "Gazidede,
reportedly a devout Moslem who fled Albania in March of last year [1997], is
presently [1998] being investigated for his contacts with Islamic terrorist
organizations."[18]
The supply route for arming KLA "freedom fighters" are the rugged mountainous
borders of Albania with Kosovo and Macedonia. Albania is also a key point of
transit of the Balkans drug route which supplies Western Europe with grade
four heroin. 75% of the heroin entering Western Europe is from Turkey. And
a large part of drug shipments originating in Turkey transits through the
Balkans. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), "it is
estimated that 4-6 metric tons of heroin leave each month from Turkey having
[through the Balkans] as destination Western Europe."[19] A recent
intelligence report by Germany's Federal Criminal Agency suggests that:
"Ethnic Albanians are now the most prominent group in the distribution of
heroin in Western consumer countries."[20]
THE LAUNDERING OF DIRTY MONEY
In order to thrive, the criminal syndicates involved in the Balkans narcotics
trade need friends in high places. Smuggling rings with alleged links to the
Turkish State are said to control the trafficking of heroin through the
Balkans "cooperating closely with other groups with which they have political
or religious ties" including criminal groups in Albanian and Kosovo.[21] In
this new global financial environment, powerful undercover political lobbies
connected to organized crime cultivate links to prominent political figures
and officials of the military and intelligence establishment.
The narcotics trade nonetheless uses respectable banks to launder large
amounts of dirty money. While comfortably removed from the smuggling
operations per se, powerful banking interests in Turkey but mainly those in
financial centres in Western Europe discretely collect fat commissions in a
multibillion dollar money laundering operation. These interests have high
stakes in ensuring a safe passage of drug shipments into Western European
markets.
THE ALBANIAN CONNECTION
Arms smuggling from Albania into Kosovo and Macedonia started at the
beginning of 1992, when the Democratic Party came to power, headed by
President Sali Berisha. An expansive underground economy and cross border
trade had unfolded. A triangular trade in oil, arms and narcotics had
developed largely as a result of the embargo imposed by the international
community on Serbia and Montenegro and the blockade enforced by Greece
against Macedonia.
Industry and agriculture in Kosovo were spearheaded into bankruptcy following
the IMF's lethal "economic medicine" imposed on Belgrade in 1990. The
embargo was imposed on Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanians and Serbs were driven
into abysmal poverty. Economic collapse created an environment which
fostered the progress of illicit trade. In Kosovo, the rate of unemployment
increased to a staggering 70 percent (according to Western sources).
Poverty and economic collapse served to exacerbate simmering ethnic tensions.
Thousands of unemployed youths "barely out of their Teens" from an
impoverished population, were drafted into the ranks of the KLA.[22]
In neighbouring Albania, the free market reforms adopted since 1992 had
created conditions which favoured the criminalisation of State institutions.
Drug money was also laundered in the Albanian pyramids (ponzi schemes) which
mushroomed during the government of former President Sali Berisha
(1992-1997).[23] These shady investment funds were an integral part of the
economic reforms inflicted by Western creditors on Albania.
Drug barons in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (with links to the Italian
mafia) had become the new economic elites, often associated with Western
business interests. In turn the financial proceeds of the trade in drugs and
arms were recycled towards other illicit activities (and vice versa)
including a vast prostitution racket between Albania and Italy. Albanian
criminal groups operating in Milan, "have become so powerful running
prostitution rackets that they have even taken over the Calabrians in
strength and influence."[24]
The application of "strong economic medicine" under the guidance of the
Washington based Bretton Woods institutions had contributed to wrecking
Albania's banking system and precipitating the collapse of the Albanian
economy. The resulting chaos enabled American and European transnationals to
carefully position themselves. Several Western oil companies including
Occidental, Shell and British Petroleum had their eyes rivetted on Albania's
abundant and unexplored oil-deposits. Western investors were also gawking
Albania's extensive reserves of chrome, copper, gold, nickel and platinum...
The Adenauer Foundation had been lobbying in the background on behalf of
German mining interests.[25]
Berisha's Minister of Defence Safet Zoulali (alleged to have been involved in
the illegal oil and narcotics trade) was the architect of the agreement with
Germany's Preussag (handing over control over Albania's chrome mines) against
the competing bid of the U.S. led consortium of Macalloy Inc. in association
with Rio Tinto Zimbabwe (RTZ).[26]
Large amounts of narco-dollars had also been recycled into the privatisation
programmes leading to the acquisition of State assets by the mafias. In
Albania, the privatisation programme had led virtually overnight to the
development of a property owning class firmly committed to the "free marke."
In Northern Albania, this class was associated with the Guegue "families"
linked to the Democratic Party.
Controlled by the Democratic Party under the presidency of Sali Berisha
(1992-97), Albania's largest financial "pyramid" VEFA Holdings had been set
up by the Guegue "families" of Northern Albania with the support of Western
banking interests. VEFA was under investigation in Italy in 1997 for its
ties to the Mafia which allegedly used VEFA to launder large amounts of dirty
money.[27]
According to one press report (based on intelligence sources), senior members
of the Albanian government during the Presidency of Sali Berisha including
cabinet members and members of the secret police SHIK were alleged to be
involved in drugs trafficking and illegal arms trading into Kosovo:
(...) The allegations are very serious. Drugs, arms,
contraband cigarettes all are believed to have been handled
by a company run openly by Albania's ruling Democratic
Party, Shqiponja (...). In the course of 1996 Defence
Minister, Safet Zhulali [was alleged] to had used his office
to facilitate the transport of arms, oil and contraband
cigarettes. (...) Drugs barons from Kosovo (...) operate in
Albania with impunity, and much of the transportation of
heroin and other drugs across Albania, from Macedonia and
Greece en route to Italy, is believed to be organised by
Shik, the state security police (...). Intelligence agents
are convinced the chain of command in the rackets goes all
the way to the top and have had no hesitation in naming
ministers in their reports.[28]
The trade in narcotics and weapons was allowed to prosper despite the
presence since 1993 of a large contingent of American troops at the
Albanian-Macedonian border with a mandate to enforce the embargo. The West
had turned a blind eye. The revenues from oil and narcotics were used to
finance the purchase of arms (often in terms of direct barter): "Deliveries
of oil to Macedonia (skirting the Greek embargo [in 1993-4] can be used to
cover heroin, as do deliveries of kalachnikov rifles to Albanian 'brothers'
in Kosovo".[29]
The Northern tribal clans or "fares" had also developed links with Italy's
crime syndicates.[30] In turn, the latter played a key role in smuggling
arms across the Adriatic into the Albanian ports of Dures and Valona. At the
outset in 1992, the weapons channelled into Kosovo were largely small arms
including Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles, RPK and PPK machine-guns, 12.7 calibre
heavy machine-guns, etc.
The proceeds of the narcotics trade has enabled the KLA to rapidly develop a
force of some 30,000 men. More recently, the KLA has acquired more
sophisticated eaponry including anti-aircraft and anti-armor rockets.
According to Belgrade, some of the funds have come directly from the CIA
"funnelled through a so-called "Government of Kosovo" based in Geneva,
Switzerland. Its Washington office employs the public-relations firm of
Ruder Finn -- notorious for its slanders of the Belgrade government".[31]
The KLA has also acquired electronic surveillance equipment which enables it
to receive NATO satellite information concerning the movement of the Yugoslav
Army. The KLA training camp in Albania is said to "concentrate on heavy
weapons training - rocket propelled grenades, medium-caliber cannons, tanks
and transporter use, as well as on communications, and command and control."
(According to Yugoslav government sources).[32]
These extensive deliveries of weapons to the Kosovo rebel army were
consistent with Western geopolitical objectives. Not surprisingly, there has
been a "deafening silence" of the international media regarding the Kosovo
arms-drugs trade. In the words of a 1994 Report of the Geopolitical Drug
Watch: "the trafficking [of drugs and arms] is basically being judged on its
geostrategic implications (...) In Kosovo, drugs and weapons trafficking is
fuelling geopolitical hopes and fears"...[33]
The fate of Kosovo had already been carefully laid out prior to the signing
of the 1995 Dayton agreement. NATO had entered an unwholesome "marriage of
convenience" with the mafia. "Freedom fighters" were put in place, the
narcotics trade enabled Washington and Bonn to "finance the Kosovo conflict"
with the ultimate objective of destabilising the Belgrade government and
fully recolonising the Balkans. The destruction of an entire country is the
outcome. Western governments which participated in the NATO operation bear a
heavy burden of responsibility in the deaths of civilians, the impoverishment
of both the ethnic Albanian and Serbian populations and the plight of those
who were brutally uprooted from towns and villages in Kosovo as a result of
the bombings.
NOTES
1. Roger Boyes and Eske Wright, Drugs Money Linked to the Kosovo Rebels The
Times, London, Monday, March 24, 1999.
2. Ibid.
3. Philip Smucker and Tim Butcher, "Shifting stance over KLA has betrayed'
Albanians," Daily Telegraph, London, 6 April 1999.
4. KDOM Daily Report, released by the Bureau of European and Canadian
Affairs, Office of South Central European Affairs, U.S. Department of State,
Washington, DC, December 21, 1998; Compiled by EUR/SCE (202-647-4850) from
daily reports of the U.S. element of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission,
December 21, 1998.
5. "Rugova, sous protection serbe appelle a l'arret des raides," Le Devoir,
Montreal, 1 April 1999.
6. See Alfred W. McCoy, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia Harper and
Row, New York, 1972.
7. See John Dinges, Our Man in Panama, The Shrewd Rise and Brutal Fall of
Manuel Noriega, Times Books, New York, 1991.
8. "The Dirtiest Bank of All," Time, July 29, 1991, p. 22.
9. Truth in Media, Phoenix, 2 April, 1999; see also Michel Collon, Poker
Menteur, editions EPO, Brussels, 1997.
10. Quoted in Truth in Media, Phoenix, 2 April, 1999).
11. Ibid.
12. Geopolitical Drug Watch, No 32, June 1994, p. 4.
13. Sean Gervasi, "Germany, US and the Yugoslav Crisis", Covert Action
Quarterly, No. 43, Winter 1992-93).
14. See Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1993.
15. For further details see Michel Collon, Poker Menteur, editions EPO,
Brussels, 1997, p. 288.
16. Truth in Media, Kosovo in Crisis, Phoenix, 2 April 1999.
17. Deutsche Presse-Agentur, March 13, 1998.
18. Ibid.
19. Daily News, Ankara, 5 March 1997.
20. Quoted in Boyes and Wright, op cit.
21. ANA, Athens, 28 January 1997, see also Turkish Daily News, 29 January
1997.
22. Brian Murphy, KLA Volunteers Lack Experience, The Associated Press, 5
April 1999.
23. See Geopolitical Drug Watch, No. 35, 1994, p. 3, see also Barry James,
In Balkans, Arms for Drugs, The International Herald Tribune Paris, June 6,
1994.
24. The Guardian, 25 March 1997.
25. For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, La crisi albanese, Edizioni
Gruppo Abele, Torino, 1998.
26. Ibid.
27. Andrew Gumbel, The Gangster Regime We Fund, The Independent, Feb. 14,
1997, p. 15.
28. Ibid.
29. Geopolitical Drug Watch, No. 35, 1994, p. 3.
30. Geopolitical Drug Watch, No 66, p. 4.
31. Quoted in Workers' World, May 7, 1998.
32. See Government of Yugoslavia at
http://www.gov.yu/terrorism/terroristcamps.html
33. Geopolitical Drug Watch, No 32, June 1994, p. 4.
* * *
Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, 1999.
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