Kerry Campaign
Financed by Terrorists
by: Andy Wilcoxson
Introduction
John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, is
being given money by an Albanian terrorist organization known as the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK in Albanian).
The KLA is currently smuggling weapons into Kosovo as
part of a plot to attack American and other UN peacekeepers, should the UN
Security Counsel refuse their demand for Kosovo's secession from Serbia
and Montenegro.
About the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK)
In order to fully understand the significance of John
Kerry's involvement with the KLA it is first necessary to understand what
sort of an organization the KLA is. The KLA is a terrorist organization
with ties to Osama bin Laden and the Iranian government. The KLA's main
objective is to break Kosovo, which has been an integral part of Serbia
for centuries, away from Serbia.
The KLA began on the radical fringe of
Kosovo-Albanian politics, originally made up of diehard Marxist-Leninists
as well as by descendants of the fascist militias raised by the Italians
in World War II. [1]
The KLA made its military debut in February 1996 with
the bombing of several camps housing Serbian refugees from wars in Croatia
and Bosnia. [2]
In early 1998 the KLA caught the attention of the
U.S. Special Envoy for Kosovo, Robert Gelbard. Gelbard told Agence France
Presse "We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UCK
is, without any questions, a terrorist group." [3]
The KLA has been credibly linked to the notorious
terrorist Osama bin Laden. In 1999 The Washington Times obtained
intelligence documents that showed what is described as a 'link' between
bin Laden, and the KLA --including a common staging area in Tropoje,
Albania, a center for Islamic terrorists. The reports said bin Laden's
al-Qaeda organization has both trained and financially supported the KLA.
[4]
In 1998 Fatos Klosi, the head of SHIK, the Albanian
intelligence service, told London’s Sunday Times newspaper that Bin
Laden had visited Albania himself. His was one of several fundamentalist
groups that had sent units to fight in Kosovo, Klosi said. [5]
In 2002 the U.S. State Department issued a report
giving Iran the dubious distinction of being "the most active state
sponsor of terrorism." Their report went on to report that Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and
Security were involved in the planning of and support for terrorist acts
and continued to exhort a variety of groups that use terrorism to pursue
their goals. [6]
The Jerusalem Post reported that Iranian
Revolutionary Guardsmen were training the KLA in 1998. The newspaper said
that "Selected groups of Albanians were sent to Iran to study that
country's version of militant Islam." The same article went on to
report that "millions of dollars have been funneled through Bosnia
and Albania to buy arms for the KLA. The money is raised from both Islamic
governments and from Islamic communities in Western Europe, particularly
Germany." [7]
Yossef Bodansky, the Director of the U.S. House
Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, wrote a
report for the magazine Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy
saying that "In the Fall of 1997, the uppermost leadership in Tehran
ordered the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps] High Command to
launch a major program for shipping large quantities of weapons and other
military supplies to the Albanian clandestine organizations in Kosovo.
[Ayatollah] Khamene'i's instructions specifically stipulated that the
comprehensive military assistance was aimed to enable the Muslims 'to
achieve the independence' of the province of Kosovo."
Bodansky's article corroborates the Jerusalem Post's
account. He wrote that in 1997 "the Iranians began sending promising
Albanian and UCK commanders for advanced military training in al-Quds
[special] forces and IRGC camps in Iran." [8]
In addition to the direct financing that the KLA
receives from Islamic terror organizations, the organization also relies
on funds raised by the Albanian mafia. [9]
The Baltimore Sun, citing western intelligence
officials, reported that part of the KLA's funding comes from
"powerful Albanian mafia organizations that deal in narcotics,
prostitution and arms smuggling across Europe." [10]
The London Times reported that the KLA was "an
outgrowth of the Kosovo Albanian mafia." Their report said,
"these Kosovan criminals operate the most powerful drug-running
network in Europe." [11]
According to police in the Czech Republic, Kosovo
Albanian drug traffickers fund the KLA with proceeds from the heroin
trade. "Kosovo Albanian drug smugglers have become a major
phenomenon," said Jiri Komorous, head of the Czech Republic's
national narcotics police, who added that his heroin division "spends
about 80 percent of its time" on Kosovar drug gangs. [12]
Interpol estimates that Kosovo Albanians may control
40 percent of the European heroin trade. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
and the Czech Republic, they may have as much as 70 percent of the market,
according to the estimates. [13]
In addition to drug trafficking. The KLA kidnaps
women and young girls and forces them into prostitution.
During NATO's 1999 bombardment of Yugoslavia, which
resulted in the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo refugees, the
KLA robbed refugee families and forced refugee girls into prostitution.
According to the London Times, "Reports from
Macedonia and Albania confirm that KLA 'minders' [inside the refugee
camps] ensure that all refugees peddle the same line when speaking to
Western journalists. KLA gangsters rob them of any remaining cash. And KLA
pimps driving Mercedes kidnap refugee girls for prostitution in
Italy." [14]
The Albanian mafia's involvement in prostitution is
huge. In 2001 The Economist, citing an internal British Home Office
briefing, reported that "Albanians or Kosovars now control 'around
70%' of massage parlors in Soho. That ties in with a report last year
[2000] by the National Criminal Intelligence Service, which noted a
long-term threat from organized Albanian gangs who run immigration and
prostitution rackets across Western Europe to pursue their goals."
The article says that there is "little the
police can do. They say that immigrant sex workers refuse to testify
because the gangs threaten reprisals against the women's loved ones. Since
these groups operate internationally, the British police cannot protect
the families of the workers. They are powerless against such
intimidation."
Paul Holmes, who heads London's Metropolitan Police's
Vice Unit says "All our intelligence and evidential experience is
that these women are being used, effectively as sexual slaves, by
ruthless, exploitative pimps." Tackling prostitution is harder than
ever. But it is not the sex that is the problem. It is the slavery. [15]
The Albanian mafia has become extremely powerful as a
world-wide criminal force. The effects of the Albanian mafia are even
being felt in the United States where they are taking over organized
crime.
The FBI says, thousands of Albanians and others who
fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have emerged as a
serious organized crime problem, threatening to displace La Cosa Nostra (LCN)
families as kingpins of U.S. crime. [16]
According to Chris Swecker, the head of the FBI's
criminal division, Albanian gangsters have already seized control of some
rackets from New York Mafia families. [17]
John Kerry and the KLA
The leader of the KLA is a man named Hashim Thaci.
Thaci, who goes under the nom de guerre "Snake," attended the
Democratic Party’s convention in Boston earlier this year.
Upon returning from the convention, Thaci told the
Albanian-Language KosovaLive agency, "It was a very successful visit
at the Democratic Convention, where the PDK [Thachi's political party] had
been invited as a guest. It was confirmed once again that the Democratic
authorities would recognize and respect the will of the people of Kosova
for self-determination" [18]
In addition to the KLA leader's attendance at the
Democratic Convention was the presence of KLA members at a John Kerry
fundraiser in New York.
In September, the Dutch Television station VPRO
produced a documentary entitled "De Brooklyn Connectie." This
documentary follows a KLA terrorist named Florin Kraniqi as he attends a
John Kerry fundraiser, and then smuggles weapons into Kosovo for a war
that is being planned against American and other UN Peacekeepers there.
The video can be downloaded from the VPRO website at:
http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/afleveringen/18793157
Kraniqi lives in Brooklyn, where he allegedly works
as a roofer; although his big house, his shiny new car, and his swimming
pool, suggest that he makes money in other ways.
The first few minutes of the video consist of Kraniqi
praising the KLA and accusing the Serbs.
At the 11:08 mark of the video, he goes to a John
Kerry fundraiser together with a group of KLA members. They are shown
writing checks to the Kerry campaign for thousands of dollars each.
While at the fundraiser, they openly identify
themselves as the KLA. Kraniqi is seen introducing himself and his
brothers-in-arms to Wesley Clark (Commander of the NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia, and former Democratic presidential candidate). Kraniqi says,
"Mr. Clark. This is your group, your KLA." Clark then praises
the group saying, "They fought against tremendous odds."
Then, Richard Holbrooke (Kerry's Sr. Foreign Policy
Adviser), who apparently knows one of the terrorists, comes over and
jokingly says, "He almost got me killed." To which Kraniqi
quips, "He would not let his Kalashnikov go. He will keep his
Kalashnikov." Then Holbrooke, Clark, and this group of KLA terrorists
all have a good laugh.
It is rather disturbing to see these high officials
in the Democratic Party having such a relaxed and friendly exchange with a
group of terrorists, eventhough they have just given thousands of dollars
to John Kerry’s campaign.
Kraniqi makes clear that he expects a quid-pro-quo
for his donation. He says, "With money you can do amazing things in
this country. Senators and congressmen are looking for donations. If you
fund them and raise the money they need for their campaign they pay you
back."
At the 29:03 mark of the video, Kraniqi visits a gun
store and purchases weapons to use in Kosovo. From this point forward you
get to see how the KLA smuggles weapons into Kosovo, disguising them as
humanitarian aid and so forth.
Near the end of the video, at the 46:00 mark, you
finally learn why the KLA has been smuggling all of those weapons into
Kosovo. The Dutch TV reporter says, "In Pristina I talked to the NATO
spokesman and he told me that he was very successful in disarming the
Albanians."
Kraniqi laughs and replies, "It's a NATO
propaganda. No one ever is going to disarm Albanians. There is no way. No
NATO, no one is going to disarm Albanians. [...] NATO can collect a few
arms. But most Albanians in Kosovo are very well armed. Just incase NATO
pulls out, or we don't get our independence peacefully then we'll use
those weapons."
Because the video has been edited, the end of this
conversation is way back at the 4:08 mark (you can tell that it is part of
the same conversation because he is standing in front of the same wall, in
the same lighting conditions, and wearing the same clothes).
The Dutch Reporter asks: "It's going to be
war?"
Kraniqi replies: "Hope not, but if it is were
ready; if not this spring then the next one. If Kosova does not get its
independence there will be a war."
In case you are unaware of this fact, the only ones
in Kosovo that the KLA can have a war with are the UN peacekeeping troops,
which include Americans. The Serbs all withdrew in 1999 after the NATO
bombing.
This is not such a thinly veiled threat, Kraniqi is
saying that if the KLA does not get its way then it will attack the UN
Troops who are stationed in Kosovo, and those UN troops include Americans.
These terrorists have already shown that they are not
afraid to attack the UN. In September, UCK sniper attacks on UN vehicles
forced the UN to stop using the Kosovska Mitrovica-Leposavic road between
9:00 PM and 6:00 AM. [19]
Conclusion
The KLA is clearly a terrorist organization. It is
backed by Islamic terror organizations. It is linked both to Osama bin
Laden and to the Government of Iran. It is heavily involved in drug
trafficking and forced prostitution.
The KLA is directly threatening the safety of
American personnel stationed in Kosovo. They’re smuggling weapons in for
a war against a UN force that includes Americans, and they’re so brazen
that they’ll do for everybody to see on Dutch national TV.
John Kerry, who was on the Senate Intelligence
Committee from 1993 until 2000, must know who the KLA is, but he clearly
doesn’t care.
Instead of condemning the KLA, Kerry takes money from
them. And instead of distancing itself from the KLA, Kerry's party invites
the KLA's leader to come to their convention in Boston.
The United States of America, was brutally attacked
by terrorists on 9/11, we are in a life or death struggle against
terrorism, and here is John Kerry taking money from terrorists; if there
was ever anybody that we needed to keep out of the White House it’s John
Kerry.
Footnotes
[1] "Fog of War -- Coping With
the Truth About Friend and Foe: Victims Not Quite Innocent," New York
Times, March 28, 1999
[2] Jane's Intelligence Review,
October 1, 1996
[3] Agence France Presse, February 23,
1998
[4] "KLA Rebels Train in
Terrorist Camps: Bin Laden Offers Training Too," Washington Times,
May 4, 1999, pg. A1
[5] "Bin Laden opens European
terror base in Albania," The Sunday Times (London), November 29,
1998, Sunday
[6] FORM item 9, U.S. Department of
State , Patterns of Global Terrorism -2002, dtd April 30, 2003
[7] "Kosovo Seen as New Islamic
Bastion," Jerusalem Post, September 14, 1998
[8] "Italy Becomes Iran's New
Base for Terrorist Operations," by Yossef Bodansky, Defense and
Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy (London), February 1998
[9] "Albanian Mafia, This Is How
It Helps The Kosovo Guerrilla Fighters," Corriere della Sera (Milan,
Italy), October 15, 1998
[10] "Speculation Plentiful,
Facts Few About Kosovo Separatist Group," Baltimore Sun, March 6,
1998
[11] "In spontaneously opening
our hearts to these Kosovan refugees, we are opening our country to
organised criminality," The Times (London), May 6, 1999, Thursday
[12] "A New Drug Route is Traced
to the Old Balkans Anarchy" The Boston Globe, June 3, 2001, Sunday,
Pg. A14
[13] Ibid.
[14] "In spontaneously opening
our hearts to these Kosovan refugees, we are opening our country to
organised criminality," The Times (London), May 6, 1999, Thursday
[15] "Prostitution: SoHopeless;
Albanian organised crime dominates prostitution in Soho" The
Economist - June 21, 2001
[16] "FBI: Albanian mobsters 'new
Mafia'," CNN, August 18, 2004
[17] "Hunt for 'terrorism nexus'
changes how FBI handles crime," USA Today - August 19, 2004
[18] "Thaci Says US Democrats
Support Self-Determination of People of Kosova," KosovaLive -
Wednesday, August 4, 2004 [FBIS Document # FBIS-EEU-2004-0805]
[19] "UN Pulls Out of Night-Time
Use of Kosovo Road For Security Reasons” BBC Monitoring, September 24,
2004 - FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1151 gmt 23 Sep 04
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