The Ottawa Citizen: U.S. backed Albanian rebels with al-Qaeda links

[Andrej Tisma]

The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, February 22, 2002

U.S. backed Albanian rebels with al-Qaeda links, book says: Author
predicts renewed Balkan war

By Bruce Garvey

    The Balkans will likely be plunged into a new round of war as
    early as this spring, with fighting centred in Macedonia, according
    to a new book by Ottawa military writer Scott Taylor.

    Diary of an Uncivil War warns that despite concessions made by the
    Macedonian government, ethnic Albanians and their guerrilla army,
    made up of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, are preparing for a
    major offensive in the region. The wildcard will be whether the U.S.
    government backs away from its support of the Albanians in their
    quest to take control of parts of the region they claim as theirs,
    Mr. Taylor writes.

    "While everyone is bracing for an Albanian offensive following the
    melting of the winter snows, what remains unclear is whether the
    U.S. will continue to support the guerrillas," Mr. Taylor writes.
    "Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that the U.S. will
    scale back its military presence in the Balkans. But it will not be
    easy for the Americans to disengage themselves from the mess they
    created without setting off another round of factional violence."

    The ethnic Albanians and their guerrilla army are intent on carving
    out what they call "Greater Albania" -- an area that includes 90,000
    square kilometres of Kosovo, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia and
    Montenegro.

    Mr. Taylor has covered the fighting and political situation in the
    Balkans over the past several years for the Citizen. Diary of an
    Uncivil War, published by Esprit de Corps books, has just been
    released in stores.

    A news report this week from Macedonia includes warnings from
    western intelligence officials that former KLA guerrillas and
    Albanian extremists have used profits from a Taliban drug-smuggling
    ring to re-arm themselves. The money has been used to buy
    surface-to-air missiles that give the Albanians the ability to shoot
    down Macedonian helicopter gunships, one of that force's main
    deterrents against the guerrillas.

    Mr. Taylor's book chronicles his first-hand observations of
    fighting in Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia over three years. It also
    outlines the strong support by former U.S. president Bill Clinton's
    government for the KLA, despite the links the guerrilla group has to
    extremist Muslim organizations such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

    Mr. Taylor writes that the U.S. military has supplied the group
    with equipment and advisers, including former senior U.S. army
    officers, who have been training the Albanian guerrillas.

    In some cases, the U.S. support has been blatant. In August 2001
    U.S. troops were to disarm 500 KLA guerrillas and transport them to
    camps in Kosovo. Instead, they transported the men, still armed, to
    a location inside Macedonia near an ethnic Albanian stronghold.
    There the guerrillas promptly resumed their attacks.

    But the Clinton administration's unofficial policy of supporting
    the ethnic Albanians and KLA has backfired and has only created
    instability in the region, Mr. Taylor argues.

    The current crisis in Macedonia began last March, when Albanian
    guerrillas staged attacks from inside NATO-occupied Kosovo, using
    weapons that NATO was supposed to have confiscated, Mr. Taylor
    reports.

    The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. also highlight the folly
    of Mr. Clinton's policies in the Balkans. Over the past decade,
    mujahedeen fighters, and in particular Mr. bin Laden's followers,
    have fought in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, and have benefited from
    the U.S. military support. Previously, Macedonian intelligence
    officials had tried to warn western governments that Arab and Afghan
    volunteers form the backbone of organizations such as the KLA.

    An exclusive excerpt from Diary of an Uncivil War by Scott Taylor
    will appear tomorrow (Saturday, Feb 23, 2002) in the Ottawa Citizen.