Kosovo, with compliments
1. Kosovo: Training Ground For New 'CIA Hi-Tech Hitmen' Operation
2. Gay kosovars flirt with danger
=== 1 ===
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/4003.html
The Herald (Scotland) - November 6, 2003
Spotlight on war in the shadows
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent
News of the death of a corporal from the UK's Special
Boat Service north of Mosul was a rare snapshot of the
savage shadow war which has been raging unabated and
unreported inside Iraq for the past seven months.
The Ministry of Defence announcement on Tuesday brings
the British death toll since the war started to 52.
Hundreds of British, US, and Australian special
forces, plus the CIA's "special affairs division" of
hi-tech hitmen have been operating in small teams
throughout the country, hunting the last fugitives
from the ousted regime and the new leaders of the
growing insurrection.
The biggest prize of all, Saddam Hussein, is the
intended prey of Task Force 20, a composite group
composed of US Delta troopers, members of Devgru – the
unit formerly known as US Navy Seals – and picked
squads from Britain's SAS and SBS.
The force operates in small surveillance teams trained
to lie up for days at a time in "hides" near suspected
enemy sanctuaries, watching for the movement of "known
players" and logging those who come and go in the
villages dotted throughout the Sunni Triangle area
north and west of Baghdad.
It is lonely, dangerous work. Despite their
state-of-the-art communications equipment, the
watchers know they would be overrun and wiped out long
before help could arrive if their presence was
detected.
Corporal Ian Plank, the British soldier killed in a
firefight last Friday, belonged to the SBS, the Royal
Marines' equivalent of the Army's SAS. It is an
organisation which lives up to its motto – "Not by
strength, but by guile" – and shuns publicity to
preserve security.
Candidates wishing to serve in its ranks must have
been members of one of the three regular Royal Marine
commando battalion groups for a minimum of two years.
They must also pass a selection course veterans claim
is tougher than that for the better-known SAS.
In the opening days of the invasion of Iraq this year,
a 10-man SBS patrol was ambushed by Iraqi troops near
Mosul.
Forced to abandon its specially adapted Land Rovers in
the face of vastly superior numbers and enemy tanks,
the patrol fought its way clear and evaded pursuit
until its men could be extracted by helicopter.
Britain's special forces exert an influence far out of
proportion to their manpower. There are four, 72-man
sabre squadrons in the SAS – fewer than 300 fighting
troopers – based at Hereford. The SBS has only 232
officers and men in its headquarters at Poole in
Dorset.
Both groups, commanded by an officer known as
"director, special forces" who answers directly to the
government's Cobra emergency cabinet committee, have
been heavily involved in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone,
the Balkans and Iraq.
Perhaps the ultimate secret of the undercover war in
Iraq is an organisation known to insiders as "The
Activity" and to others by the codename "Grey Fox".
A US military intelligence group established during
the 1999 Kosovo campaign because the Pentagon felt it
was not being supplied with immediate tactical
information by either the CIA or the National Security
Agency, its operations were originally hidden from
even the scrutiny of the US Congress.
It has since evolved into the nerve-centre for covert
US action abroad, running its own human agents where
even the CIA hesitates to venture. Drawing on the
resources of the US special forces' community, it now
has its own "shooters" to act promptly on real-time
intelligence.
=== 2 ===
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 433, May 30, 2003
GAY KOSOVARS FLIRT WITH DANGER
Fierce homophobia forces members of Kosovo's gay community to lead
double lives.
By Tanja Matic in Pristina
Veton is at ease amongst the well-groomed, watchful young men who
frequent the more flamboyant bars of London's Soho district.
The 27-year-old left Kosovo ten years ago. Sitting in a Soho bar on a
Sunday afternoon, he says he has no intention of going back to a
violent, prejudiced society where he would be regarded as a criminal.
However, unlike most Albanians living in London, Veton is not a victim
of ethnic conflict.
Nor is he part of the minority involved in the vice trade - the
Albanian gangs which, London police say, now dominate the capital's
underworld.
The reason Veton prefers Soho to Kosovo is his sexuality - he is openly
gay.
"I cannot live there because my lifestyle with my partner would be seen
as shocking and abhorrent. No one's harassing us here," said Veton,
whose name has been changed at his request.
Homosexual relationships, though technically not illegal, have always
been a matter of shame and taboo in Kosovo. Gay men who do not want to
become the pariahs of this fiercely patriarchial society make sure they
keep their relationships secret.
Gay rights activists say the situation has not improved, despite the
post-war influx of western money and values. They receive regular
reports of men being beaten up or intimidated on suspicion of being
gay, while homophobic views are routinely published in Kosovo's
newspapers.
But they say the problem has failed to attract the attention of human
rights groups in the area because fear of being "outed" stops most gays
from reporting hate crime to the authorities.
Kosovo ombudsman, Marek Nowitzki, told IWPR he had not been informed of
any such attacks during the past two years, but added "there are cases
which are not usually reported to the police".
"We are dealing with a very traditional society here... there is no
tolerance for homosexuals at all," said Nowitzki.
Kosovo's gays are at a critical point in their struggle for acceptance
- encouraged, on the one hand, to be bolder by their exposure to
western media and values, while on the other hand, still bound by the
expectations of a fiercely conservative society.
Experts have tried to explain Kosovo's antipathy towards gays by
looking to the Code of Leka Dukagjini, the law that has guided Albanian
clans since the 15th century. Although the code makes no direct mention
of homosexuals, it heavily emphasises masculine honour. To this day,
men who deviate from their customary role as husbands and fathers are
accused of bringing shame and stigma upon the entire family, if not the
clan.
"Men are expected to act as real men - strong and macho," said Martin
Berisha, president of Kosovo's first gay and lesbian association,
Elysium and Sappho. "That is why the Kosovo Albanian community will not
accept someone who does not behave as a man in the way the patriarchial
society thinks he should," said Berisha.
While Kosovo's gays try to keep a low profile, their enemies have
become increasingly brazen.
The daily newspaper Zeri recently produced an article backed by
comments from various academics and religious leaders, putting forward
the view that homosexuality was unnatural.
Kosovo's top imam, Sabri Bajgora, caused particular offence in gay
circles by warning that Islamic law regarded homosexuality "as a
disease which needed to be healed and prevented".
The article also claimed that the leading human rights group in Kosovo,
the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, had no clear
stance on the matter. A spokesman for the council, Ibrahim Makolli,
confirmed to IWPR that they did not "have any defined attitude" towards
the subject.
Martin Berisha said the council's neglect was disappointing, adding,
"If they, as human rights activists, don't have a clear stance on this
issue, then what can we expect from religious extremists or even the
common folk?"
Observers say attitudes towards homosexuals within Kosovar society may
also have hardened because of the recent conflict with Serbia, during
which machismo was held up as a patriotic virtue.
Worryingly, some Albanian conservatives believe this virtue is once
again facing an external threat - not from the Serbs, but from the
westerners who now live and work in Kosovo.
In an article published last September, the daily newspaper Epoka E
Re spoke of the "dangerous ways and behaviour brought by the
foreigners", before naming a restaurant near the university in Pristina
as a popular meeting place for homosexuals.
According to the OSCE's media advisor in Kosovo, Willem Houwen, three
members of Kosovo's gay and lesbian association were beaten up
immediately after the article was published.
Houwen, who helped the association to become registered in Kosovo, told
IWPR that when one victim reported the assault to local police, he was
mocked and verbally abused. No action was taken against the
perpetrators.
As Kosovo has no hate crimes law that distinguishes between an attack
on a homosexual and an ordinary assault, gays are loathe to report
homophobic attacks to the police. But whether such legislation were
introduced or not, society would immediately seize upon any such
complaint as an admission of homosexuality - a disaster for the many
gays who lead dangerous double-lives as devoted husbands, fathers and
sons.
At a private party in Pristina, such men are happy to discuss and
discard their disguises.
A 25-year-old man from northern Kosovo speaks of how he lies to his
parents every time they ask him why he hasn't found himself a girl to
marry. His boyfriend, an American, adds that his partner is deeply
paranoid of being discovered.
A 40-year-old from Presevo in southern Serbia spends every weekend with
his lover in Pristina after telling his family he has left town on
business.
Another young man kisses his lover and says, "Doing this in our office
or anywhere outside would be suicide."
Tanja Matic is an IWPR associate in Pristina.
www.iwpr.net
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright (c) 2003 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 433
1. Kosovo: Training Ground For New 'CIA Hi-Tech Hitmen' Operation
2. Gay kosovars flirt with danger
=== 1 ===
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/4003.html
The Herald (Scotland) - November 6, 2003
Spotlight on war in the shadows
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent
News of the death of a corporal from the UK's Special
Boat Service north of Mosul was a rare snapshot of the
savage shadow war which has been raging unabated and
unreported inside Iraq for the past seven months.
The Ministry of Defence announcement on Tuesday brings
the British death toll since the war started to 52.
Hundreds of British, US, and Australian special
forces, plus the CIA's "special affairs division" of
hi-tech hitmen have been operating in small teams
throughout the country, hunting the last fugitives
from the ousted regime and the new leaders of the
growing insurrection.
The biggest prize of all, Saddam Hussein, is the
intended prey of Task Force 20, a composite group
composed of US Delta troopers, members of Devgru – the
unit formerly known as US Navy Seals – and picked
squads from Britain's SAS and SBS.
The force operates in small surveillance teams trained
to lie up for days at a time in "hides" near suspected
enemy sanctuaries, watching for the movement of "known
players" and logging those who come and go in the
villages dotted throughout the Sunni Triangle area
north and west of Baghdad.
It is lonely, dangerous work. Despite their
state-of-the-art communications equipment, the
watchers know they would be overrun and wiped out long
before help could arrive if their presence was
detected.
Corporal Ian Plank, the British soldier killed in a
firefight last Friday, belonged to the SBS, the Royal
Marines' equivalent of the Army's SAS. It is an
organisation which lives up to its motto – "Not by
strength, but by guile" – and shuns publicity to
preserve security.
Candidates wishing to serve in its ranks must have
been members of one of the three regular Royal Marine
commando battalion groups for a minimum of two years.
They must also pass a selection course veterans claim
is tougher than that for the better-known SAS.
In the opening days of the invasion of Iraq this year,
a 10-man SBS patrol was ambushed by Iraqi troops near
Mosul.
Forced to abandon its specially adapted Land Rovers in
the face of vastly superior numbers and enemy tanks,
the patrol fought its way clear and evaded pursuit
until its men could be extracted by helicopter.
Britain's special forces exert an influence far out of
proportion to their manpower. There are four, 72-man
sabre squadrons in the SAS – fewer than 300 fighting
troopers – based at Hereford. The SBS has only 232
officers and men in its headquarters at Poole in
Dorset.
Both groups, commanded by an officer known as
"director, special forces" who answers directly to the
government's Cobra emergency cabinet committee, have
been heavily involved in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone,
the Balkans and Iraq.
Perhaps the ultimate secret of the undercover war in
Iraq is an organisation known to insiders as "The
Activity" and to others by the codename "Grey Fox".
A US military intelligence group established during
the 1999 Kosovo campaign because the Pentagon felt it
was not being supplied with immediate tactical
information by either the CIA or the National Security
Agency, its operations were originally hidden from
even the scrutiny of the US Congress.
It has since evolved into the nerve-centre for covert
US action abroad, running its own human agents where
even the CIA hesitates to venture. Drawing on the
resources of the US special forces' community, it now
has its own "shooters" to act promptly on real-time
intelligence.
=== 2 ===
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 433, May 30, 2003
GAY KOSOVARS FLIRT WITH DANGER
Fierce homophobia forces members of Kosovo's gay community to lead
double lives.
By Tanja Matic in Pristina
Veton is at ease amongst the well-groomed, watchful young men who
frequent the more flamboyant bars of London's Soho district.
The 27-year-old left Kosovo ten years ago. Sitting in a Soho bar on a
Sunday afternoon, he says he has no intention of going back to a
violent, prejudiced society where he would be regarded as a criminal.
However, unlike most Albanians living in London, Veton is not a victim
of ethnic conflict.
Nor is he part of the minority involved in the vice trade - the
Albanian gangs which, London police say, now dominate the capital's
underworld.
The reason Veton prefers Soho to Kosovo is his sexuality - he is openly
gay.
"I cannot live there because my lifestyle with my partner would be seen
as shocking and abhorrent. No one's harassing us here," said Veton,
whose name has been changed at his request.
Homosexual relationships, though technically not illegal, have always
been a matter of shame and taboo in Kosovo. Gay men who do not want to
become the pariahs of this fiercely patriarchial society make sure they
keep their relationships secret.
Gay rights activists say the situation has not improved, despite the
post-war influx of western money and values. They receive regular
reports of men being beaten up or intimidated on suspicion of being
gay, while homophobic views are routinely published in Kosovo's
newspapers.
But they say the problem has failed to attract the attention of human
rights groups in the area because fear of being "outed" stops most gays
from reporting hate crime to the authorities.
Kosovo ombudsman, Marek Nowitzki, told IWPR he had not been informed of
any such attacks during the past two years, but added "there are cases
which are not usually reported to the police".
"We are dealing with a very traditional society here... there is no
tolerance for homosexuals at all," said Nowitzki.
Kosovo's gays are at a critical point in their struggle for acceptance
- encouraged, on the one hand, to be bolder by their exposure to
western media and values, while on the other hand, still bound by the
expectations of a fiercely conservative society.
Experts have tried to explain Kosovo's antipathy towards gays by
looking to the Code of Leka Dukagjini, the law that has guided Albanian
clans since the 15th century. Although the code makes no direct mention
of homosexuals, it heavily emphasises masculine honour. To this day,
men who deviate from their customary role as husbands and fathers are
accused of bringing shame and stigma upon the entire family, if not the
clan.
"Men are expected to act as real men - strong and macho," said Martin
Berisha, president of Kosovo's first gay and lesbian association,
Elysium and Sappho. "That is why the Kosovo Albanian community will not
accept someone who does not behave as a man in the way the patriarchial
society thinks he should," said Berisha.
While Kosovo's gays try to keep a low profile, their enemies have
become increasingly brazen.
The daily newspaper Zeri recently produced an article backed by
comments from various academics and religious leaders, putting forward
the view that homosexuality was unnatural.
Kosovo's top imam, Sabri Bajgora, caused particular offence in gay
circles by warning that Islamic law regarded homosexuality "as a
disease which needed to be healed and prevented".
The article also claimed that the leading human rights group in Kosovo,
the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, had no clear
stance on the matter. A spokesman for the council, Ibrahim Makolli,
confirmed to IWPR that they did not "have any defined attitude" towards
the subject.
Martin Berisha said the council's neglect was disappointing, adding,
"If they, as human rights activists, don't have a clear stance on this
issue, then what can we expect from religious extremists or even the
common folk?"
Observers say attitudes towards homosexuals within Kosovar society may
also have hardened because of the recent conflict with Serbia, during
which machismo was held up as a patriotic virtue.
Worryingly, some Albanian conservatives believe this virtue is once
again facing an external threat - not from the Serbs, but from the
westerners who now live and work in Kosovo.
In an article published last September, the daily newspaper Epoka E
Re spoke of the "dangerous ways and behaviour brought by the
foreigners", before naming a restaurant near the university in Pristina
as a popular meeting place for homosexuals.
According to the OSCE's media advisor in Kosovo, Willem Houwen, three
members of Kosovo's gay and lesbian association were beaten up
immediately after the article was published.
Houwen, who helped the association to become registered in Kosovo, told
IWPR that when one victim reported the assault to local police, he was
mocked and verbally abused. No action was taken against the
perpetrators.
As Kosovo has no hate crimes law that distinguishes between an attack
on a homosexual and an ordinary assault, gays are loathe to report
homophobic attacks to the police. But whether such legislation were
introduced or not, society would immediately seize upon any such
complaint as an admission of homosexuality - a disaster for the many
gays who lead dangerous double-lives as devoted husbands, fathers and
sons.
At a private party in Pristina, such men are happy to discuss and
discard their disguises.
A 25-year-old man from northern Kosovo speaks of how he lies to his
parents every time they ask him why he hasn't found himself a girl to
marry. His boyfriend, an American, adds that his partner is deeply
paranoid of being discovered.
A 40-year-old from Presevo in southern Serbia spends every weekend with
his lover in Pristina after telling his family he has left town on
business.
Another young man kisses his lover and says, "Doing this in our office
or anywhere outside would be suicide."
Tanja Matic is an IWPR associate in Pristina.
www.iwpr.net
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright (c) 2003 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 433