http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO310B.html
---
Regime Rotation in America
by Michel Chossudovsky
Wesley Clark, Osama bin Laden and the 2004 Presidential Elections
www.globalresearch.ca 22 October 2003
The URL of this article is:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO310B.html
---
Has General Wesley Clark joined the ranks of the 9/11 "conspiracy
theorists"?
Clark has not only accused George W. of "possible manipulation of
intelligence", he is also calling for an investigation "into possible
'criminal' conduct in the drive to war." (Daily Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/04/
wclark04.xml 4 October 2003)
Strong words from the front-runner Democratic candidate in the
presidential race:
"Nothing could be a more serious violation of public trust than
consciously to make a case for war based on false claims... We need to
know if we were intentionally deceived... This administration is trying
to do something that ought to be politically impossible to do in a
democracy, and that is to govern against the will of the majority...
That requires twisted facts, silence, secrecy and very poor lighting."
(quoted in Daily Telegraph, 4 October 2003)
General Clark's statement hints to a cover-up in the 9/11 joint
Senate-House inquiry, regarding Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which he
identifies as "terrorist sponsors". In other words, the Retired Four
Star General tacitly acknowledges the insidious role played by
Washington's indefectible ally, the military government of President
Pervez Musharraf, which is known to have supported Al Qaeda and the
Taliban.
It is important that we understand the political motivations behind
Wesley Clark's position.
While his observations regarding the Bush administration are accurate,
his own record is tainted.
During his stint as NATO Supreme Commander (1997-2000), Wesley Clark
was in permanent liaison with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Under
Wesley Clark's command, NATO directly sponsored a terrorist
paramilitary army, with links to Al Qaeda and the trans-Balkan
narcotics trade.
About turn: a former "terrorist sponsor" (to use his own words) under
NATO auspices is now accusing the Bush administration of "seizing on
the Sept. 11 attacks for justification [to wage war]" (San Francisco
Chronicle, 2 October 2003).
In an utterly twisted logic, an individual who is recognized as a war
criminal is seeking the support of the anti-war movement. In the words
of the Palestine Chronicle:
"Enthusiastic support for front-running Democratic presidential
contenders Wesley Clark and Howard Dean from liberals and some
progressives reveals the dismal state of oppositional politics in
America. Decades of unremitting right wing assaults on every sphere of
American life has so jerked the political landscape to the right, that
instead of clamoring for sweeping or even revolutionary changes as in
days long past, the main battle-cry coming from 'the left' is ``Anybody
But Bush'".(Sunil Sharma and Josh Frank,Two Measures of American
Desperation: Wesley Clark and Howard Dean, 17 October 2003,
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20031017175449217 )
Filmmaker and antiwar critic Michael Moore supports the candidacies of
Wesley Clark and Howard Dean: "We need a doctor [Dean] because there
are 43 million of us without health care and we need a general to kick
Bush's ass."
(http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/15/
3f8ce93feca0a 15 October 2003).
Regime Rotation in America
Clark's Bush bashing and antiwar stance, supported by Hollywood and
Wall Street, is not meant to reverse the tide of war. Quite the
opposite. It provides a phony legitimacy to the war agenda in the name
of "peace building" and democracy.
It perpetuates "the big lie".
What this bipartisan mud-slinging achieves is "regime rotation" in
America. The "war on terrorism" which underlies the national security
agenda remains functionally intact.
Ironically, during the Clinton administration, it was the Republicans
who were accusing Bill Clinton of having links to the Islamic Militant
Network in Bosnia and Kosovo. In a carefully 1999 document prepared by
the Senate Republican Party Committee, the GOP blatantly accused
Clinton of supporting terrorism in Kosovo:
"By the time the NATO air strikes began, the Clinton Administration's
partnership with the KLA was unambiguous... Such an effusive embrace by
top Clinton Administration officials of an organization that only a
year ago one of its own top officials labeled as "terrorist" is, to say
the least, a startling development. Even more importantly, the new
Clinton/KLA partnership may obscure troubling allegations about the KLA
that the Clinton Administration has thus far neglected to address."
(Senate Republican Party Committee, The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does
Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties?
http://www.kosovo.com/rpc.html , Washington, March 31, 1999)
A previous 1997 document emanating from the House Republican Party
Committee entitled "Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn
Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base", accused Clinton of working hand in
glove with Al Qaeda in Bosnia:
"The Clinton administrationís hands-on involvement with the Islamic
network's arms pipeline included inspections of missiles from Iran by
U.S. government officials... [T]he Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), a
Sudan-based, phoney humanitarian organization ... has been a major link
in the arms pipeline to Bosnia... TWRA is believed to be connected with
such fixtures of the Islamic terror network as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman
(the convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing)
and Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi ÈmigrÈ believed to bankroll
numerous militant groups." (Congressional Press Release, Republican
Party Committee (RPC), U.S. Congress, Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms
Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base, Washington DC,
16 January 1997, available on the website of the Centre of Research on
Globalisation (CRG) at http://globalresearch.ca/articles/DCH109A.html .)
Needless to say, the Republicans and the Democrats are complicit. They
accuse one another of having links to Al Qaeda. Yet successive
Democratic and Republican administrations have been involved from the
outset of the Soviet Afghan war in 1979 (during the Presidency of Jimmy
Carter) in developing Al Qaeda as a US sponsored "intelligence asset".
These Congressional briefs, however, are not meant to be read by the
broader public. They are used to score political points in a
longstanding bipartisan ritual, while providing the illusion of a
functioning Legislature, where political leaders are said to be held
accountable.
If the Democrats were to win the 2004 presidential elections,
continuity in US foreign policy would be maintained. More importantly,
the "war on terrorism" and the lies concerning Al Qaeda and 9/11 would
also be maintained.
Bin Laden and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
The role of the Kosovo Liberaiton Army (KLA) as a terrorist
organization is amply documented by Congressional transcripts.
According to Frank Ciluffo of the Globalized Organised Crime Program,
in a testimony presented to the House of Representatives Judicial
Committee:
"What was largely hidden from public view was the fact that the KLA
raise part of their funds from the sale of narcotics. Albania and
Kosovo lie at the heart of the "Balkan Route" that links the "Golden
Crescent" of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the drug markets of Europe.
This route is worth an estimated $400 billion a year and handles 80
percent of heroin destined for Europe." (House Judiciary Committee, 13
December 2000)
The relationship between the KLA and Osama bin Laden is confirmed by
Interpol's Criminal Intelligence division:
"The U.S. State Department listed the KLA as a terrorist organization,
indicating that it was financing its operations with money from the
international heroin trade and loans from Islamic countries and
individuals, among them allegedly Usama bin Laden . Another link to bin
Laden is the fact that the brother of a leader in an Egyptian Jihad
organization and also a military commander of Usama bin Laden, was
leading an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict." (US Congress,
Testimony of Ralf Mutschke of Interpol's Criminal Intelligence
Division, to the House Judicial Committee, 13 December 2000).
The evidence regarding the KLA contained in Congressional transcripts,
news reports and intelligence documents directly implicates General
Wesley Clark.
During his stint as NATO Supreme commander (1997-2000). Clark had close
personal ties with KLA Chief of Staff Commander Brigadier Agim Ceku and
KLA Leader Hashim Thaci (see photo below ).
Agim Ceku, who directly collaborated with NATO during the 1999 Kosovo
campaign is recognized by the Hague ICTY Tribunal "for alleged war
crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and
1995." ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)
Hashim Thaci had ordered the political assassination of his opponents
in Ibrahim Rugova's nationalist Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) (See
November 2000 BBC Report at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1037302.stm ). According to The
Boston Globe (2 August 1999):
"Terrorists with ties to Osama bin Laden running around with AK-47s and
anti-tank weapons is bad enough. Worse, Thaci's boys aren't just
killers and kleptos, but mafioso who are neck deep in the drug trade.
(During the war, the Washington Times quoted an unnamed U.S. drug
enforcement official commenting on the KLA, 'They were drug dealers in
1998 and now, because of politics, they're freedom fighters.')"
In the wake of the 1999 Kosovo campaign, under NATO regency, these acts
of political assassination--ordered by the self-proclaimed Provisional
Government of Kosovo (PGK)-- were carried out in a totally permissive
environment. The leaders of the KLA rather than being arrested by NATO
for war crimes, were granted KFOR protection. According to one report
of the Foreign Policy Institute (published during the 1999 bombings:
"...the KLA have [no] qualms about murdering Rugova's collaborators,
whom it accused of the "crime" of moderation...(Michael Radu, "Don't
Arm the KLA", CNS Commentary from the Foreign Policy Research
Institute, 7 April, 1999).
In course of the bombing campaign, Fehmi Agani, one of Rugova's closest
collaborators in the Kosovo Democratic League (KDL) was executed on the
orders of the r Hashim Thaci.(Tanjug Press Dispatch, 14 May 1999): "If
Thaci actually considered Rugova a threat, he would not hesitate to
have Rugova removed from the Kosovo political landscape." (Stratfor
Comment, "Rugova Faced with a Choice of Two Losses", Stratfor, 29 July
1999). In turn, the KLA has abducted and killed numerous professionals
and intellectuals.
And who was behind the 29 year old KLA leader Hashim Thaci: Madeleine
Albright and Wesley Clark. (see photos below ).
NATO, the KLA and Al Qaeda
According to a US Department of Defense briefing, so-called "initial
contacts" between the KLA and NATO took place in mid-1998, during the
first part of General Clark's mandate as NATO Commander in Chief:
"...the realization has come to people [in NATO] that we [NATO led by
Wesley Clark] have to have the UCK [acronym for KLA in Albanian]
involved in this process because they have shown at least the potential
to be rejectionists of any deal that could be worked out there with the
existing Kosovo parties. So somehow they have to be brought in and
that's why we've made some initial contacts there with the group,
hopefully the right people in the group, to try and bring them into
this negotiating process." (US Department of Defense, Background
Briefing, July 15, 1998)
["Hopefully the right group" means "we deal with people who obey
orders."]
While these "initial contacts" were acknowledged by NATO officially
only in mid-1998, the KLA had (according to several reports) been
receiving "covert support" and training from the CIA and Germany's
Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND) since the mid-nineties. These covert
operations were known and approved by NATO. (Michel Chossudovsky,
Kosovo `Freedom Fighters' Financed by Organised Crime, Covert Action
Quarterly, 2000)
The development and training of KLA forces was part of NATO planning,
directly led by General Wesley Clark. In the words of former Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) secret agent Michael Levine, writing
at the height of the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia:
"Ten years ago we were arming and equipping the worst elements of the
Mujahideen in Afghanistan - drug traffickers, arms smugglers,
anti-American terroristsÖNow we're doing the same thing with the KLA,
which is tied in with every known middle and far eastern drug cartel.
Interpol, Europol, and nearly every European intelligence and
counter-narcotics agency has files open on drug syndicates that lead
right to the KLA, and right to Albanian gangs in this country." (New
American Magazine, May 24, 1999)
The KLA acted as a paramilitary force, present on the ground in Kosovo.
It was integrated by US and British SAS Special Forces and remained in
close liaison with NATO. The KLA was also used by NATO High Command to
acquire intelligence on bombing targets during the 1999 Kosovo campaign.
Confirmed by British military sources, the task of arming and training
of the KLA had been entrusted in 1998 to the US Defence Intelligence
Agency (DIA) and Britain's Secret Intelligence Services MI6, together
with "former and serving members of 22 SAS [Britain's 22nd Special Air
Services Regiment], as well as three British and American private
security companies". (The Scotsman, Glasgow, 29 August 1999)
"The US DIA approached MI6 to arrange a training program for the KLA,
said a senior British military source. `MI6 then sub-contracted the
operation to two British security companies, who in turn approached a
number of former members of the (22 SAS) regiment. Lists were then
drawn up of weapons and equipment needed by the KLA.' While these
covert operations were continuing, serving members of 22 SAS Regiment,
mostly from the unit's D Squadron, were first deployed in Kosovo before
the beginning of the bombing campaign in March [1999]." (Ibid)
While British SAS Special Forces in bases in Northern Albania were
training the KLA, military instructors from Turkey and Afghanistan
financed by the "Islamic jihad" were providing the KLA with guerilla
and diversion tactics:
"Bin Laden had visited Albania himself. He was one of several
fundamentalist groups that had sent units to fight in Kosovo, ... Bin
Laden is believed to have established an operation in Albania in 1994
... Albanian sources say Sali Berisha, who was then president, had
links with some groups that later proved to be extreme
fundamentalists." (Sunday Times, London, 29 November 1998.)
In the Wake of the 1999 Bombing of Yugoslavia
In the wake of the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, NATO under Wesley
Clark's command, supported the extension of the terrorist activities of
the KLA into Southern Serbia and Macedonia.
Meanwhile, the KLA --renamed the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC)-- was
elevated to United Nations status, implying the granting of
"legitimate" sources of funding through United Nations as well as
through bilateral channels, including direct US military aid.
In other words, a terrorist paramilitary force supported by Al Qaeda
and linked to organized crime becomes a legitimate "civilian" National
Guard, directly supported by NATO and the UN.
And barely two months after the official inauguration of the KPC under
UN auspices (September 1999), KPC-KLA commanders - using UN resources
and equipment - were already preparing the assaults into Macedonia, as
a logical follow-up to their terrorist activities in Kosovo. In this
endeavour they had the full support of NATO and the US military, not to
mention the so-called "international community" symbolised by the UN
Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK), headed by France's former Minister of Health
Bernard Kouchner:
According to the Skopje daily Dnevnik, the KPC had established a "sixth
operation zone" in Southern Serbia and Macedonia:
"Sources, who insist on anonymity, claim that the headquarters of the
Kosovo protection brigades [i.e. linked to the UN sponsored KPC] have
[March 2000] already been formed in Tetovo, Gostivar and Skopje. They
are being prepared in Debar and Struga [on the border with Albania] as
well, and their members have defined codes." (Macedonian Information
Centre Newsletter, Skopje, 21 March 2000, published by BBC Summary of
World Broadcast, 24 March 2000)
According to the BBC, "Western special forces were still training the
guerrillas" meaning that they were assisting the KLA in opening up "a
sixth operation zone" in Southern Serbia and Macedonia. (BBC, 29
January 2001, at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1142000/
1142478.stm )
Ironically the United Nations in a confidential February 2000 report to
Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged that the KPC, was responsible
for "criminal activities . . . killings, ill-treatment (and) torture,
illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of
political neutrality and hate-speech.". These occurred at the height
of Bernard Kouchner's "humanitarian" mandate as the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (15 July 1999 to 12 January
2001).
And in this regard, Kouchner, whose mandate was to channel humanitarian
aid under UN auspices, worked closely with NATO officials including
Wesley Clark in providing support to Kosovo's terrorist paramilitary
army. (See photo below ). Let us not forget that Bernard Kouchner was
the Founder of "Doctors without Borders".(MÈdecins sans frontiËres)
According to the London Observer, "the grim message to the U.N.
secretary-general is that his own organization [led by UNMIK Head
Bernard Kouchner] is paying the salaries of many of the offenders"
(Observer, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/031400-03.htm , 14
March 2000)
The 2004 Presidential Elections
What choices for the US Electorate?
The evidence presented above confirms that both the Democrats and the
Republicans have links to Al Qaeda and are complicit in the "war on
terrorism".
In a bitter irony, the very same terrorist organization (Al Qaeda)
which were supported by successive administrations, is heralded in both
the Republican and Democratic election platforms as "an enemy of
America". (See Michel Chossudovsky, Expose the Links between Al Qaeda
and the Bush Administration, Centre for Research on Globalization,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303D.html , 15 March 2003).
Ironically, Osama bin Laden has become part of the election ritual,
providing all the necessary buzz-words for a stylized debate on
"Homeland Security", which is a central feature of the election
platform of both political parties. . .
Republicans or Democrats: The war agenda remains intact . The Democrats
do not oppose President Bush's request to Congress to allocate $87
billion to finance Iraq's occupation and "reconstruction." :
"The consent on financing the occupation and the reconstruction of
Iraq are strong indications that there will be no substantial change in
the U.S. policy in the region, at least until the strategic goal of the
war is achieved." (Salameh Nematt, Bin Laden and the U.S. Elections,
Salameh Nematt Al-Hayat, 11 September 2003,
http://english.daralhayat.com/OPED/09-2003/Article-20030911-9082bea7-
c0a8-01ed-002a-cc14f6dc4d75/story.html )
The Republicans led the first Gulf war, the Democrats led the wars in
the Balkans leading to the military occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina
under the Dayton Accords in 1995 and the invasion of Kosovo in 1999.
The Democrats were in office during the devastating wars in Rwanda and
the Congo, leading to more than 3 million deaths. The Democrats and the
Republicans joined hands in enforcing the "No Fly Zone" (1991-2003) and
a twelve year program of economic sanctions and bombing of Iraq.
The Clinton-led wars in the Balkans were a stage of the "road-map".
They were part of a broader US led-war extending from the Balkans into
the Middle East and Central Asia.
Republicans present a consistent team dominated by the Neo-cons
including former Iran Contra officials of the Reagan administration.
The GOP's war agenda is defined in terms of "multiple and simultaneous
theater wars" as contained in the Project for the New American Century
(PNAC). (See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/NAC304A.html ). The
PNAC also foresaw the triggering of a so-called "Pearl Harbor Event" to
mobilize public opinion in support of the war agenda. (Ibid).
While there are substantive differences between the Neo-Cons and
leading Democrats, Bush's National Security doctrine is, in many
regards, a continuation of that formulated by Clinton in 1995, which
was based on a "strategy of containment of rogue states".
There are significant differences. The NeoCons are more reckless than
the Democrats, particularly with regard to nuclear policy. The
Democrats under the Clinton adminstration were more skillful in using
the UN system and multilateral framework to their advantage to
effectively pursue their war agenda.
It is worth mentioning, however, that US Central Command (USCENTCOM)
had already, during the Clinton administration, formulated "in theater
war plans" to invade Iraq and Iran. And the stated objective of these
1995 war plans was oil::
"The broad national security interests and objectives expressed in the
President's National Security Strategy (NSS) [President Clinton] and
the Chairman's National Military Strategy (NMS) form the foundation of
the United States Central Command's theater strategy. The NSS directs
implementation of a strategy of dual containment of the rogue states of
Iraq and Iran as long as those states pose a threat to U.S. interests,
to other states in the region, and to their own citizens. Dual
containment is designed to maintain the balance of power in the region
without depending on either Iraq or Iran. USCENTCOM's theater strategy
is interest-based and threat-focused. The purpose of U.S. engagement,
as espoused in the NSS, is to protect the United States' vital interest
in the region - uninterrupted, secure U.S./Allied access to Gulf
oil."(USCENTCOM,
http://www.milnet.com/milnet/pentagon/centcom/chap1/
stratgic.htm#USPolicy )
In fact, broadly the same concepts of Homeland Defense, preventive
war, etc. are contained in Clinton's 1999 and 2000 National Security
Strategy documents.(See
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/national/ )
In other words, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under the Bush
administration were part of the bipartisan road-map to Empire, --i.e. a
continuation of a war agenda which had already been decided upon well
in advance of Bush's accession to the White House in January 2001. This
should come as no surprise since many of the people in charge of these
war plans, including CIA director George Tenet,had been appointed
during the Clinton administration.
Increasingly, the military-intelligence establishment (rather than the
State Department, the White House and the US Congress) call the shots
on US foreign policy , with the Texas oil giants, the defense
contractors and Wall Street operating discretely behind the scenes.
Ultimately, the war agenda and "Homeland Security" (including the
ongoing militarisation of civilian police and judicial institutions)
are determined by powerful economic interests. Party politics largely
serves as a smokescreen.
It is, therefore, unlikely that the Democrats would undo either the War
agenda or the Patriot Act.
Totalitarian State in America: De facto Military Dictatorship
The backbone of this system is militarisation, including territorial
conquest and military occupation. Behind the democratic facade and the
bipartisan ritual, a de facto military dictatorship prevails.
Militarisation in turn endorses and enforces the global "free market"
on behalf of dominant economic and financial interests.
In other words, the underlying political and economic power structures
will not be fundamentally modified through "regime rotation" and the
ritual of presidential and Congressional elections.
To effectively build their "legitimacy", both the Democrats and
Republicans need to uphold the falsehoods behind the "war on terrorism".
Sustaining the "freedom and democracy rhetoric" is not only part of
this bipartisan ritual, it is part of the process of building a
totalitarian State in America under the disguise of a functioning
democracy.
Let us be under no illusion: the 2004 presidential elections will not
result in a significant change of direction.
To reverse the tide of war, military bases must be closed down, the war
machine namely the production of advanced weapons systems (WMDs) must
be dismantled, the evolving police state must be dismantled, etc.
To achieve these broad objectives, it is essential to break the
legitimacy of the military and political actors who rule in our name.
The falsehoods which sustain the legitimacy of the bipartisan ritual
must be unraveled.
Both parties share the same war agenda. There are war criminals in
both political parties. Both parties are complicit in the 9/11
cover-up.
The evidence points to what is best described as "the criminalization
of the State", which also includes the Judiciary and the bipartisan
corridors of the US Congress.
In the words of Andreas van Buelow, former German Minister of Defense
and author of The CIA and September 11: "If what I say is right, the
whole US government should end up behind bars,"
---
Photo:
1999 War Criminals Join Hands (Kosovo 1999).
From Left to Right:
Hashim Thaci, Head of the KLA, closely linked to Osama bin Laden's Al
Qaeda. Hashim Thaci had ordered political assassinations directed
against the Party of Ibrahim Rugova. Thaci was a protÈgÈ of Madeleine
Albright (see photo below).
Bernard Kouchner, Head of United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in
Kosovo (July 1999- January 2001), instrumental in elevating the KLA to
UN status.
General Michael Jackson, Commander of KFOR Troops in Kosovo.
General Agim Ceku, Military Commander of the KPC, investigated by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "for
alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between
1993 and 1995." ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)
General Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme Commander.
[The only person missing in the photo is Osama bin Laden.]
---
Photos:
Madeleine Albright greets KLA Hashim Thaci
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (appointed by President Clinton) with a
KLA Commander, Summer 1998
Source of pictures: Senate Republican Party Committee,
http://www.kosovo.com/rpc.html
---
Michel Chossudovsky is the author of War and Globalisation, the Truth
behind Septmber 11 , 2003. For details click here .
Recent writings by Michel Chossudovsky
© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, CRG 2003 For fair use only/ pour
usage Èquitable seulement .
---
Regime Rotation in America
by Michel Chossudovsky
Wesley Clark, Osama bin Laden and the 2004 Presidential Elections
www.globalresearch.ca 22 October 2003
The URL of this article is:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO310B.html
---
Has General Wesley Clark joined the ranks of the 9/11 "conspiracy
theorists"?
Clark has not only accused George W. of "possible manipulation of
intelligence", he is also calling for an investigation "into possible
'criminal' conduct in the drive to war." (Daily Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/04/
wclark04.xml 4 October 2003)
Strong words from the front-runner Democratic candidate in the
presidential race:
"Nothing could be a more serious violation of public trust than
consciously to make a case for war based on false claims... We need to
know if we were intentionally deceived... This administration is trying
to do something that ought to be politically impossible to do in a
democracy, and that is to govern against the will of the majority...
That requires twisted facts, silence, secrecy and very poor lighting."
(quoted in Daily Telegraph, 4 October 2003)
General Clark's statement hints to a cover-up in the 9/11 joint
Senate-House inquiry, regarding Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which he
identifies as "terrorist sponsors". In other words, the Retired Four
Star General tacitly acknowledges the insidious role played by
Washington's indefectible ally, the military government of President
Pervez Musharraf, which is known to have supported Al Qaeda and the
Taliban.
It is important that we understand the political motivations behind
Wesley Clark's position.
While his observations regarding the Bush administration are accurate,
his own record is tainted.
During his stint as NATO Supreme Commander (1997-2000), Wesley Clark
was in permanent liaison with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Under
Wesley Clark's command, NATO directly sponsored a terrorist
paramilitary army, with links to Al Qaeda and the trans-Balkan
narcotics trade.
About turn: a former "terrorist sponsor" (to use his own words) under
NATO auspices is now accusing the Bush administration of "seizing on
the Sept. 11 attacks for justification [to wage war]" (San Francisco
Chronicle, 2 October 2003).
In an utterly twisted logic, an individual who is recognized as a war
criminal is seeking the support of the anti-war movement. In the words
of the Palestine Chronicle:
"Enthusiastic support for front-running Democratic presidential
contenders Wesley Clark and Howard Dean from liberals and some
progressives reveals the dismal state of oppositional politics in
America. Decades of unremitting right wing assaults on every sphere of
American life has so jerked the political landscape to the right, that
instead of clamoring for sweeping or even revolutionary changes as in
days long past, the main battle-cry coming from 'the left' is ``Anybody
But Bush'".(Sunil Sharma and Josh Frank,Two Measures of American
Desperation: Wesley Clark and Howard Dean, 17 October 2003,
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20031017175449217 )
Filmmaker and antiwar critic Michael Moore supports the candidacies of
Wesley Clark and Howard Dean: "We need a doctor [Dean] because there
are 43 million of us without health care and we need a general to kick
Bush's ass."
(http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/15/
3f8ce93feca0a 15 October 2003).
Regime Rotation in America
Clark's Bush bashing and antiwar stance, supported by Hollywood and
Wall Street, is not meant to reverse the tide of war. Quite the
opposite. It provides a phony legitimacy to the war agenda in the name
of "peace building" and democracy.
It perpetuates "the big lie".
What this bipartisan mud-slinging achieves is "regime rotation" in
America. The "war on terrorism" which underlies the national security
agenda remains functionally intact.
Ironically, during the Clinton administration, it was the Republicans
who were accusing Bill Clinton of having links to the Islamic Militant
Network in Bosnia and Kosovo. In a carefully 1999 document prepared by
the Senate Republican Party Committee, the GOP blatantly accused
Clinton of supporting terrorism in Kosovo:
"By the time the NATO air strikes began, the Clinton Administration's
partnership with the KLA was unambiguous... Such an effusive embrace by
top Clinton Administration officials of an organization that only a
year ago one of its own top officials labeled as "terrorist" is, to say
the least, a startling development. Even more importantly, the new
Clinton/KLA partnership may obscure troubling allegations about the KLA
that the Clinton Administration has thus far neglected to address."
(Senate Republican Party Committee, The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does
Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties?
http://www.kosovo.com/rpc.html , Washington, March 31, 1999)
A previous 1997 document emanating from the House Republican Party
Committee entitled "Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn
Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base", accused Clinton of working hand in
glove with Al Qaeda in Bosnia:
"The Clinton administrationís hands-on involvement with the Islamic
network's arms pipeline included inspections of missiles from Iran by
U.S. government officials... [T]he Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), a
Sudan-based, phoney humanitarian organization ... has been a major link
in the arms pipeline to Bosnia... TWRA is believed to be connected with
such fixtures of the Islamic terror network as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman
(the convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing)
and Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi ÈmigrÈ believed to bankroll
numerous militant groups." (Congressional Press Release, Republican
Party Committee (RPC), U.S. Congress, Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms
Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base, Washington DC,
16 January 1997, available on the website of the Centre of Research on
Globalisation (CRG) at http://globalresearch.ca/articles/DCH109A.html .)
Needless to say, the Republicans and the Democrats are complicit. They
accuse one another of having links to Al Qaeda. Yet successive
Democratic and Republican administrations have been involved from the
outset of the Soviet Afghan war in 1979 (during the Presidency of Jimmy
Carter) in developing Al Qaeda as a US sponsored "intelligence asset".
These Congressional briefs, however, are not meant to be read by the
broader public. They are used to score political points in a
longstanding bipartisan ritual, while providing the illusion of a
functioning Legislature, where political leaders are said to be held
accountable.
If the Democrats were to win the 2004 presidential elections,
continuity in US foreign policy would be maintained. More importantly,
the "war on terrorism" and the lies concerning Al Qaeda and 9/11 would
also be maintained.
Bin Laden and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
The role of the Kosovo Liberaiton Army (KLA) as a terrorist
organization is amply documented by Congressional transcripts.
According to Frank Ciluffo of the Globalized Organised Crime Program,
in a testimony presented to the House of Representatives Judicial
Committee:
"What was largely hidden from public view was the fact that the KLA
raise part of their funds from the sale of narcotics. Albania and
Kosovo lie at the heart of the "Balkan Route" that links the "Golden
Crescent" of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the drug markets of Europe.
This route is worth an estimated $400 billion a year and handles 80
percent of heroin destined for Europe." (House Judiciary Committee, 13
December 2000)
The relationship between the KLA and Osama bin Laden is confirmed by
Interpol's Criminal Intelligence division:
"The U.S. State Department listed the KLA as a terrorist organization,
indicating that it was financing its operations with money from the
international heroin trade and loans from Islamic countries and
individuals, among them allegedly Usama bin Laden . Another link to bin
Laden is the fact that the brother of a leader in an Egyptian Jihad
organization and also a military commander of Usama bin Laden, was
leading an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict." (US Congress,
Testimony of Ralf Mutschke of Interpol's Criminal Intelligence
Division, to the House Judicial Committee, 13 December 2000).
The evidence regarding the KLA contained in Congressional transcripts,
news reports and intelligence documents directly implicates General
Wesley Clark.
During his stint as NATO Supreme commander (1997-2000). Clark had close
personal ties with KLA Chief of Staff Commander Brigadier Agim Ceku and
KLA Leader Hashim Thaci (see photo below ).
Agim Ceku, who directly collaborated with NATO during the 1999 Kosovo
campaign is recognized by the Hague ICTY Tribunal "for alleged war
crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and
1995." ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)
Hashim Thaci had ordered the political assassination of his opponents
in Ibrahim Rugova's nationalist Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) (See
November 2000 BBC Report at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1037302.stm ). According to The
Boston Globe (2 August 1999):
"Terrorists with ties to Osama bin Laden running around with AK-47s and
anti-tank weapons is bad enough. Worse, Thaci's boys aren't just
killers and kleptos, but mafioso who are neck deep in the drug trade.
(During the war, the Washington Times quoted an unnamed U.S. drug
enforcement official commenting on the KLA, 'They were drug dealers in
1998 and now, because of politics, they're freedom fighters.')"
In the wake of the 1999 Kosovo campaign, under NATO regency, these acts
of political assassination--ordered by the self-proclaimed Provisional
Government of Kosovo (PGK)-- were carried out in a totally permissive
environment. The leaders of the KLA rather than being arrested by NATO
for war crimes, were granted KFOR protection. According to one report
of the Foreign Policy Institute (published during the 1999 bombings:
"...the KLA have [no] qualms about murdering Rugova's collaborators,
whom it accused of the "crime" of moderation...(Michael Radu, "Don't
Arm the KLA", CNS Commentary from the Foreign Policy Research
Institute, 7 April, 1999).
In course of the bombing campaign, Fehmi Agani, one of Rugova's closest
collaborators in the Kosovo Democratic League (KDL) was executed on the
orders of the r Hashim Thaci.(Tanjug Press Dispatch, 14 May 1999): "If
Thaci actually considered Rugova a threat, he would not hesitate to
have Rugova removed from the Kosovo political landscape." (Stratfor
Comment, "Rugova Faced with a Choice of Two Losses", Stratfor, 29 July
1999). In turn, the KLA has abducted and killed numerous professionals
and intellectuals.
And who was behind the 29 year old KLA leader Hashim Thaci: Madeleine
Albright and Wesley Clark. (see photos below ).
NATO, the KLA and Al Qaeda
According to a US Department of Defense briefing, so-called "initial
contacts" between the KLA and NATO took place in mid-1998, during the
first part of General Clark's mandate as NATO Commander in Chief:
"...the realization has come to people [in NATO] that we [NATO led by
Wesley Clark] have to have the UCK [acronym for KLA in Albanian]
involved in this process because they have shown at least the potential
to be rejectionists of any deal that could be worked out there with the
existing Kosovo parties. So somehow they have to be brought in and
that's why we've made some initial contacts there with the group,
hopefully the right people in the group, to try and bring them into
this negotiating process." (US Department of Defense, Background
Briefing, July 15, 1998)
["Hopefully the right group" means "we deal with people who obey
orders."]
While these "initial contacts" were acknowledged by NATO officially
only in mid-1998, the KLA had (according to several reports) been
receiving "covert support" and training from the CIA and Germany's
Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND) since the mid-nineties. These covert
operations were known and approved by NATO. (Michel Chossudovsky,
Kosovo `Freedom Fighters' Financed by Organised Crime, Covert Action
Quarterly, 2000)
The development and training of KLA forces was part of NATO planning,
directly led by General Wesley Clark. In the words of former Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) secret agent Michael Levine, writing
at the height of the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia:
"Ten years ago we were arming and equipping the worst elements of the
Mujahideen in Afghanistan - drug traffickers, arms smugglers,
anti-American terroristsÖNow we're doing the same thing with the KLA,
which is tied in with every known middle and far eastern drug cartel.
Interpol, Europol, and nearly every European intelligence and
counter-narcotics agency has files open on drug syndicates that lead
right to the KLA, and right to Albanian gangs in this country." (New
American Magazine, May 24, 1999)
The KLA acted as a paramilitary force, present on the ground in Kosovo.
It was integrated by US and British SAS Special Forces and remained in
close liaison with NATO. The KLA was also used by NATO High Command to
acquire intelligence on bombing targets during the 1999 Kosovo campaign.
Confirmed by British military sources, the task of arming and training
of the KLA had been entrusted in 1998 to the US Defence Intelligence
Agency (DIA) and Britain's Secret Intelligence Services MI6, together
with "former and serving members of 22 SAS [Britain's 22nd Special Air
Services Regiment], as well as three British and American private
security companies". (The Scotsman, Glasgow, 29 August 1999)
"The US DIA approached MI6 to arrange a training program for the KLA,
said a senior British military source. `MI6 then sub-contracted the
operation to two British security companies, who in turn approached a
number of former members of the (22 SAS) regiment. Lists were then
drawn up of weapons and equipment needed by the KLA.' While these
covert operations were continuing, serving members of 22 SAS Regiment,
mostly from the unit's D Squadron, were first deployed in Kosovo before
the beginning of the bombing campaign in March [1999]." (Ibid)
While British SAS Special Forces in bases in Northern Albania were
training the KLA, military instructors from Turkey and Afghanistan
financed by the "Islamic jihad" were providing the KLA with guerilla
and diversion tactics:
"Bin Laden had visited Albania himself. He was one of several
fundamentalist groups that had sent units to fight in Kosovo, ... Bin
Laden is believed to have established an operation in Albania in 1994
... Albanian sources say Sali Berisha, who was then president, had
links with some groups that later proved to be extreme
fundamentalists." (Sunday Times, London, 29 November 1998.)
In the Wake of the 1999 Bombing of Yugoslavia
In the wake of the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, NATO under Wesley
Clark's command, supported the extension of the terrorist activities of
the KLA into Southern Serbia and Macedonia.
Meanwhile, the KLA --renamed the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC)-- was
elevated to United Nations status, implying the granting of
"legitimate" sources of funding through United Nations as well as
through bilateral channels, including direct US military aid.
In other words, a terrorist paramilitary force supported by Al Qaeda
and linked to organized crime becomes a legitimate "civilian" National
Guard, directly supported by NATO and the UN.
And barely two months after the official inauguration of the KPC under
UN auspices (September 1999), KPC-KLA commanders - using UN resources
and equipment - were already preparing the assaults into Macedonia, as
a logical follow-up to their terrorist activities in Kosovo. In this
endeavour they had the full support of NATO and the US military, not to
mention the so-called "international community" symbolised by the UN
Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK), headed by France's former Minister of Health
Bernard Kouchner:
According to the Skopje daily Dnevnik, the KPC had established a "sixth
operation zone" in Southern Serbia and Macedonia:
"Sources, who insist on anonymity, claim that the headquarters of the
Kosovo protection brigades [i.e. linked to the UN sponsored KPC] have
[March 2000] already been formed in Tetovo, Gostivar and Skopje. They
are being prepared in Debar and Struga [on the border with Albania] as
well, and their members have defined codes." (Macedonian Information
Centre Newsletter, Skopje, 21 March 2000, published by BBC Summary of
World Broadcast, 24 March 2000)
According to the BBC, "Western special forces were still training the
guerrillas" meaning that they were assisting the KLA in opening up "a
sixth operation zone" in Southern Serbia and Macedonia. (BBC, 29
January 2001, at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1142000/
1142478.stm )
Ironically the United Nations in a confidential February 2000 report to
Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged that the KPC, was responsible
for "criminal activities . . . killings, ill-treatment (and) torture,
illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of
political neutrality and hate-speech.". These occurred at the height
of Bernard Kouchner's "humanitarian" mandate as the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (15 July 1999 to 12 January
2001).
And in this regard, Kouchner, whose mandate was to channel humanitarian
aid under UN auspices, worked closely with NATO officials including
Wesley Clark in providing support to Kosovo's terrorist paramilitary
army. (See photo below ). Let us not forget that Bernard Kouchner was
the Founder of "Doctors without Borders".(MÈdecins sans frontiËres)
According to the London Observer, "the grim message to the U.N.
secretary-general is that his own organization [led by UNMIK Head
Bernard Kouchner] is paying the salaries of many of the offenders"
(Observer, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/031400-03.htm , 14
March 2000)
The 2004 Presidential Elections
What choices for the US Electorate?
The evidence presented above confirms that both the Democrats and the
Republicans have links to Al Qaeda and are complicit in the "war on
terrorism".
In a bitter irony, the very same terrorist organization (Al Qaeda)
which were supported by successive administrations, is heralded in both
the Republican and Democratic election platforms as "an enemy of
America". (See Michel Chossudovsky, Expose the Links between Al Qaeda
and the Bush Administration, Centre for Research on Globalization,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303D.html , 15 March 2003).
Ironically, Osama bin Laden has become part of the election ritual,
providing all the necessary buzz-words for a stylized debate on
"Homeland Security", which is a central feature of the election
platform of both political parties. . .
Republicans or Democrats: The war agenda remains intact . The Democrats
do not oppose President Bush's request to Congress to allocate $87
billion to finance Iraq's occupation and "reconstruction." :
"The consent on financing the occupation and the reconstruction of
Iraq are strong indications that there will be no substantial change in
the U.S. policy in the region, at least until the strategic goal of the
war is achieved." (Salameh Nematt, Bin Laden and the U.S. Elections,
Salameh Nematt Al-Hayat, 11 September 2003,
http://english.daralhayat.com/OPED/09-2003/Article-20030911-9082bea7-
c0a8-01ed-002a-cc14f6dc4d75/story.html )
The Republicans led the first Gulf war, the Democrats led the wars in
the Balkans leading to the military occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina
under the Dayton Accords in 1995 and the invasion of Kosovo in 1999.
The Democrats were in office during the devastating wars in Rwanda and
the Congo, leading to more than 3 million deaths. The Democrats and the
Republicans joined hands in enforcing the "No Fly Zone" (1991-2003) and
a twelve year program of economic sanctions and bombing of Iraq.
The Clinton-led wars in the Balkans were a stage of the "road-map".
They were part of a broader US led-war extending from the Balkans into
the Middle East and Central Asia.
Republicans present a consistent team dominated by the Neo-cons
including former Iran Contra officials of the Reagan administration.
The GOP's war agenda is defined in terms of "multiple and simultaneous
theater wars" as contained in the Project for the New American Century
(PNAC). (See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/NAC304A.html ). The
PNAC also foresaw the triggering of a so-called "Pearl Harbor Event" to
mobilize public opinion in support of the war agenda. (Ibid).
While there are substantive differences between the Neo-Cons and
leading Democrats, Bush's National Security doctrine is, in many
regards, a continuation of that formulated by Clinton in 1995, which
was based on a "strategy of containment of rogue states".
There are significant differences. The NeoCons are more reckless than
the Democrats, particularly with regard to nuclear policy. The
Democrats under the Clinton adminstration were more skillful in using
the UN system and multilateral framework to their advantage to
effectively pursue their war agenda.
It is worth mentioning, however, that US Central Command (USCENTCOM)
had already, during the Clinton administration, formulated "in theater
war plans" to invade Iraq and Iran. And the stated objective of these
1995 war plans was oil::
"The broad national security interests and objectives expressed in the
President's National Security Strategy (NSS) [President Clinton] and
the Chairman's National Military Strategy (NMS) form the foundation of
the United States Central Command's theater strategy. The NSS directs
implementation of a strategy of dual containment of the rogue states of
Iraq and Iran as long as those states pose a threat to U.S. interests,
to other states in the region, and to their own citizens. Dual
containment is designed to maintain the balance of power in the region
without depending on either Iraq or Iran. USCENTCOM's theater strategy
is interest-based and threat-focused. The purpose of U.S. engagement,
as espoused in the NSS, is to protect the United States' vital interest
in the region - uninterrupted, secure U.S./Allied access to Gulf
oil."(USCENTCOM,
http://www.milnet.com/milnet/pentagon/centcom/chap1/
stratgic.htm#USPolicy )
In fact, broadly the same concepts of Homeland Defense, preventive
war, etc. are contained in Clinton's 1999 and 2000 National Security
Strategy documents.(See
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/national/ )
In other words, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under the Bush
administration were part of the bipartisan road-map to Empire, --i.e. a
continuation of a war agenda which had already been decided upon well
in advance of Bush's accession to the White House in January 2001. This
should come as no surprise since many of the people in charge of these
war plans, including CIA director George Tenet,had been appointed
during the Clinton administration.
Increasingly, the military-intelligence establishment (rather than the
State Department, the White House and the US Congress) call the shots
on US foreign policy , with the Texas oil giants, the defense
contractors and Wall Street operating discretely behind the scenes.
Ultimately, the war agenda and "Homeland Security" (including the
ongoing militarisation of civilian police and judicial institutions)
are determined by powerful economic interests. Party politics largely
serves as a smokescreen.
It is, therefore, unlikely that the Democrats would undo either the War
agenda or the Patriot Act.
Totalitarian State in America: De facto Military Dictatorship
The backbone of this system is militarisation, including territorial
conquest and military occupation. Behind the democratic facade and the
bipartisan ritual, a de facto military dictatorship prevails.
Militarisation in turn endorses and enforces the global "free market"
on behalf of dominant economic and financial interests.
In other words, the underlying political and economic power structures
will not be fundamentally modified through "regime rotation" and the
ritual of presidential and Congressional elections.
To effectively build their "legitimacy", both the Democrats and
Republicans need to uphold the falsehoods behind the "war on terrorism".
Sustaining the "freedom and democracy rhetoric" is not only part of
this bipartisan ritual, it is part of the process of building a
totalitarian State in America under the disguise of a functioning
democracy.
Let us be under no illusion: the 2004 presidential elections will not
result in a significant change of direction.
To reverse the tide of war, military bases must be closed down, the war
machine namely the production of advanced weapons systems (WMDs) must
be dismantled, the evolving police state must be dismantled, etc.
To achieve these broad objectives, it is essential to break the
legitimacy of the military and political actors who rule in our name.
The falsehoods which sustain the legitimacy of the bipartisan ritual
must be unraveled.
Both parties share the same war agenda. There are war criminals in
both political parties. Both parties are complicit in the 9/11
cover-up.
The evidence points to what is best described as "the criminalization
of the State", which also includes the Judiciary and the bipartisan
corridors of the US Congress.
In the words of Andreas van Buelow, former German Minister of Defense
and author of The CIA and September 11: "If what I say is right, the
whole US government should end up behind bars,"
---
Photo:
1999 War Criminals Join Hands (Kosovo 1999).
From Left to Right:
Hashim Thaci, Head of the KLA, closely linked to Osama bin Laden's Al
Qaeda. Hashim Thaci had ordered political assassinations directed
against the Party of Ibrahim Rugova. Thaci was a protÈgÈ of Madeleine
Albright (see photo below).
Bernard Kouchner, Head of United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in
Kosovo (July 1999- January 2001), instrumental in elevating the KLA to
UN status.
General Michael Jackson, Commander of KFOR Troops in Kosovo.
General Agim Ceku, Military Commander of the KPC, investigated by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "for
alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between
1993 and 1995." ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)
General Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme Commander.
[The only person missing in the photo is Osama bin Laden.]
---
Photos:
Madeleine Albright greets KLA Hashim Thaci
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (appointed by President Clinton) with a
KLA Commander, Summer 1998
Source of pictures: Senate Republican Party Committee,
http://www.kosovo.com/rpc.html
---
Michel Chossudovsky is the author of War and Globalisation, the Truth
behind Septmber 11 , 2003. For details click here .
Recent writings by Michel Chossudovsky
© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, CRG 2003 For fair use only/ pour
usage Èquitable seulement .