-Caveat Lector- > IN THE BARS OF KOSOVO, THE KLA IS HOLDING THE GREAT WEAPONS > BAZAAR CUSTOMERS ARE FLOCKING TO THE GREAT KLA ARMS BAZAAR OVER A > COLD BEER, BEKIM OFFERED TO SELL GUNS, GRENADES AND EXPLOSIVES > > > SITTING AT Tricky Dick's bar in Pristina, sipping ice cold beer, > Bekim Xhaki reels off a list of what is on offer: Kalashnikov > AK-47s can be bought for 150 German marks (pounds 52), Browning > semi-automatic pistols forDM80. There is heavier gear available > near Podujevo ... and he knows a man who can help. > > Liberated Kosovo is awash with guns and there are plenty of > people, like Mr Xhaki, to ensure that supply meets demand abroad. > The borders with Albania and Macedonia are effectively wide open > and the smugglers who fill the shops of Pristina with consumer > goods can organise the arms that are flowing in the other > direction - out of the province. > > It is this traffic that is now reaching the UK. Only last week, > AKM and AK-74 assault rifles, explosives, RPG-7 rocket-propelled > grenades, M2HB Browning heavy machine guns and Claymore > anti-personnel mines were being touted round London, according to > potential customers who spoke to The Independent. > > It is a growing trade but the Foreign Office and Customs and > Excise say they know nothing about it. One concerned Labour MP, > Alan Simpson, a long- time opponent of the arms trade, is > planning to write to Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, urging > him to remind the KLA that it made a commitment to disarm at the > end of the Nato liberation campaign. "He must tell the leaders of > the KLA that they have a responsibility to live up to their side > of the bargain," said Mr Simpson. > > At Luzane, where the KLA's weapons are being collected under the > Nato agreement, the numbers that have been seized by Alliance > troops are 10 times greater than those voluntarily handed in. But > Nato sources also believe a significant quantity has been sold > off to dealers with the complicity of some senior KLA officials. > > A senior Nato official said: "We have had reports of arms going > to Western Europe. Some of it is weaponry that was bought by the > KLA which is now being put back in the market; other weapons have > been taken from Serbians. A lot of KLA soldiers bought their own > weapons and there are reports they are selling them again to > Albanian dealers. > > "We don't believe this is sanctioned by the KLA leadership. If > they don't want to hand over their whole stock they will be > keeping them safe and hidden, not selling them off." > > There is no evidence that the organisation's leader, Hashim > Thaci, and its chief-of-staff, General Agim Ceku are aware of the > trade. A Swiss- based businessman with ties to the KLA, said he > was convinced that the trafficking was being done by rogue > elements within the organisation and that neither Mr Thaci nor Mr > Ceku was involved. "They would not know and would not approve," > the businessman said. > > Mr Thaci's supporters also blame rogue elements and point out > that even if the KLA hierarchy were intent on withholding part of > its arsenal instead of handing it to Nato, they would hide the > weapons away and not sell them off. > > The counter-argument from others within the KLA is that what the > organisation needs now more than anything else is hard foreign > currency - it can afford to lose some of its stock of weapons. > > This shortage will not last long; KLA members have been invited > by the United Nations to form the nucleus of Kosovo's new police > force and army, the National Guard. And that force will be armed > by the West. > > In the meantime, while the UN and its civil administrator Bernard > Kouchner moves agonisingly slowly towards setting up the > structures for a civic society, the KLA has formed an interim > government under MrThaci and is busy filling the political > vacuum. > > Serbian businesses and homes are being allocated to KLA > supporters, "taxes" are collected from shops and appointments > made at state enterprises. The only check on their activity is > the diligence of Nato's Kosovo Force (K-For) and especially its > British contingent. The UN is due to take over policing Kosovo at > the end of the month but out of the bare minimum of 3,100 > officers deemed necessary, less than 160 have arrived so far. > > K-For peace-keepers recently raided the KLA's sinister, > self-styled Ministry of Public Order, part of the "provisional > Government" that has been set up by the rebels. Weapons, cash and > unauthorised police identity cards - carried by Ministry of > Public Order personnel - were confiscated. K-For denied that the > public order "minister", Rexhep Selimi, and General Ceku who were > in the building with 14 other men at the time, were detained, but > Mr Selimi was warned against trying to claim police powers. > > The supply of arms to Western Europe is said to come from two > different sources. > > Many of the Kosovar Albanian volunteers who joined the KLA, > leaving behind their jobs in cafes and factories in Western > Europe, bought their own guns in Albania. Some of them are now > putting their weapons back on the market. But there are also much > larger arms deals, - involving heavier weaponry in which caches, > inside and outside Kosovo, are being sold off through the > international arms network. > > According to sources in the trade, the weaponry for sale is kept > mostly in secure locations in Albania, a country which had been > the original sponsor of the KLA while the Stalinist dictator > Enver Hoxha was in power, and where the organisation has an > extensive network. The deeply ingrained corruption among > officials in Albania ensures that few questions are asked. > > The conduits from there to northern Europe are said to be > established arms dealers. > > There have been dramatic shifts in the West's perception of the > KLA as events unfolded in Kosovo. Not so long ago it was accused > of following a Marxist agenda and receiving it's funding through > drug and arms dealing, fraud and prostitution. Just over a year > ago, Robert Gelbard, the US special envoy to Bosnia, described > its activists as "terrorists". > > Christopher Hill, America's chief peace negotiator in Kosovo, and > now its ambassador to Macedonia, much preferred the pacifist > Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova to the KLA. He believed that the > guerrillas were part of the problem in the Yugoslav province, and > not the solution. > > Europol, the European police authority, has been preparing a > report compiled from intelligence supplied by police forces in > Switzerland, Germany and Sweden that the KLA had been raising > money from trading in narcotics. > > But that was then. Mr Gelbard and Mr Hill no longer play a > significant part in deciding Kosovo policy, the KLA appears to > have the backing of the US and Mr Thaci is the favoured son. > Announcing the decommissioning agreement, Mr Thaci appeared at a > joint press conference with James Rubin, the US State Department > spokesman, during which Mr Rubin repeatedly stressed how close Mr > Thaci (whose nom de guerre is "Snake") was to the Secretary of > State, Madeleine Albright. > > Just before Nato troops went into Kosovo, a senior British > officer said of the KLA: "The honest ones are Marxists and the > dishonest ones gangsters ". > > Within sniffing distance of power, the KLA is already changing > its political tune but when it comes to to the arms trade, the > West may yet come to regret the former guerrillas' embracing of > free enterprise. > > The Arms for sale > > CLAYMORE CLM > > ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE > > Widely used by the US in Vietnam. An above-ground device. When > triggered, about 1kg of explosives sends out more than 4,000 > small ball-bearings in a fan-shape, shredding everything in their > path. > > RPG7 PORTABLE ROCKET LAUNCHER AND ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADES > > The standard portable short-range anti-tank weapon of the former > Warsaw Pact. The grenades have a diameter of 85mm and can be > fired up to 500m at a stationary target. Can penetrate up to > 330mm of armour. > > AKM ASSAULT RIFLE > > A modernised version of of the AK-47 produced in 1959 and > favoured by Russian infantry. Can fire up to 600 39m x 7.62mm > cartridges per minute up to an effective range of 300m. > > AK-74 ASSAULT RIFLE > > A smaller-calibre, 5.45mm version > > of the AKM, with arate of fire of 650 rounds per minute and a > range of 300m. > > M2HB (HEAVY BARREL > > BROWNING MACHINE GUN) > > Mounted on a tripod, the M2HB fires up to 550 rounds per minute. > Fires 12.7mm x 99mm belt-fed cartridges to a range of 6,800m. >From TheIndependent (UK) http://www.independent.co.uk/atp/INDEPENDENT/NEWS/index.html <<Now, can Billy Jeff really suggest there's any explaining to do to the Europeans about availability of weapons in the U.S.?>> <<Additional thought: Could the KLA/UCK have opened a pipeline to compund Tony Blair's little problem -- thereby retooling that rebellious group on the northeastern part of a neighbouring island? Seems like a whole lotta smoldering conflicts are re- erupting since NEATO stepped in Balkan dookey. What with the Chinese/Taiwanese/Panamanians, Indians/Pakistanis, Russians/Dagestanis/Chechnyans, Indonesians/Timorese, Columbians, Brits/No Ireland, Koreans (No & So), and others, it just might be a test of the NWO resolve and ability to put all the fires out. But, for now, the Albanians are allowing for a free-for-all in the guns&drugs-for-fun-and-profit markets while remaining the 'ally' of NEATO and the Kosovarians. And, the reports that the Yugoslavians might be called BACK to help restore order in *their* rebellious province. "NWDisO" ? Even a bunji cord can stretch only so far; we might even need the military and citizenry to be called into action HERE given the disconnect between the FBI and the immigration services {there goes gun-control}. A<>E<>R>> > FREE ENTRY FOR CRIMINALS > > By BRIAN BLOMQUIST >----------------------------------------------------------------- > WASHINGTON - Immigration inspectors at JFK and Newark airports > fear that hundreds of criminals have entered the country through > New York since March, when the FBI cut off access to its > database. > > "It's open season. The doors are open," one port inspector at JFK > told The Post. > > "We no longer check for criminal aliens. We don't have the tools > to do it. We can't stop them if they want to come in." > > Officials with the Immigration and Naturalization Service said > that, until March, they routinely used the FBI criminal database > to screen all foreign passengers on incoming overseas flights. > > But then, on orders from FBI Director Louis Freeh, the inspectors > were told that their access was cut off. They could use the FBI > database for specific criminal cases, but not for widespread > screening. > > The border inspectors were getting about 150 "hits" per month > with the FBI system, INS officials said. A "hit" is when the > database matches a passenger's name with the name of a known > criminal. > > Inspectors say they're "crippled" without the FBI system. They > say they've caught "thousands of criminals [mostly drug dealers] > and inadmissible aliens" and "hundreds of aggravated felons" in > the two years they were getting into FBI computers. > > Now, one inspector said, "Unless a non-citizen has cocaine > falling out of his bag, we have no way of knowing if he's a > criminal." > > The INS inspectors do have access to the State Department's > computer to check for terrorists. > > FBI officials say their dispute with the INS boils down to > protecting civil liberties. They note that inspectors never were > supposed to be using the FBI criminal database in the first > place. > > "The thought that without probable cause or reasonable suspicion > that these vast populations would be subject to screenings is not > something the FBI is in favor of," said FBI lawyer Hal Sklar. > > "It would be no different than if the chief of a police > department decided he was going to take the AT&T-provided list of > names [of telephone users] and run those in comparison with [FBI > criminal] files," Sklar noted. > > INS inspectors said they began using the FBI criminal database on > a routine basis after Congress passed the illegal-immigration act > in 1996. That law made stopping criminal aliens one of the INS's > highest priorities. > > Toward that end, inspectors at JFK and Newark started their own > special "criminal" division, made up of more than 20 agents whose > mission was to keep the bad guys out. > > "This is something unique and special that this unit at JFK and > Newark was doing. It's good work and important work, and perhaps > if these [disputes] can be resolved, it's the type of model that > could be expanded into other ports of entry," said INS spokesman > Russ Bergeron. > > Compounding the inspectors' predicament is their dissatisfaction > with the INS computer system, which already is so overloaded that > criminal files have had to be deleted, according to congressional > overseers. > > The INS inspectors never were able to gain access to the FBI > database through their own computers. They had to use the Customs > Service computers at the airport instead, and the reason is a > case of classic bureaucratic bungling. > > The INS computer system identifies criminals through fingerprints > - two of them for each person entered into the system. But the > FBI computers, along with just about every other law-enforcement > system, has a 10-fingerprint system. > > The two systems simply don't work together - despite the $88 > million that's been spent on the new INS computers, and despite > Associate INS Commissioner Ronald Collison's promise to Congress > in 1996 that the two systems would be "shareable" and "there will > be full compatibility." > > "The two systems were not developed as partners," Bergeron > explained. "What needs to be done now is the technical people > need to get together and see how the two systems can be linked. > It presents a technical challenge, but it can be done." > > Congress might just force it to happen. A House immigration > subcommittee chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has been > trying to get the INS, FBI and Customs Service to resolve the > dispute at the two airports for months. But there's been no > breakthrough. > > It was Smith who first heard about the plight of the inspectors > when he got letters from several of them in June. > > "I am offended that one government agency is prohibiting another > agency from protecting the citizens and residents of these United > States against drug dealers, rapists, thieves and murderers," one > of the inspectors wrote in his letter to the congressman. > > Smith plans to take up the issue again when Congress returns next > month. > > His aim is to get the inspectors back online with the FBI > criminal database because without it, said spokesman Allen Kay, > "They're flying blind." >From http://www.nypost.com/news/1442.htm <<And what about them pesky terrorists ? A<>E<>R>> A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
