U.S. Troops Rescue Albanian Terrorists, Causing Anti-American Riot in Macedonia
The American president who said during his election campaign that he
would pull the U.S. troops out of the Balkans has just done a turn-about-face. George W.
Bush pushed the U.S. deeper into the Balkans quagmire when an unspecified number American
G.I.'s were ordered Monday to rescue some 320 secession-minded Albanian terrorists from
Aracinovo, a small town only six miles northeast of Skopje, Macedonia's capital. The U.S. troops marshaled 15 buses, 3 trucks, 3 ambulances and 16 Humvees
for an operation in which the Albanian rebels were whisked off to safety of the
NATO-occupied Kosovo (see map)
The news of the American G.I.'s coming to the aid of Albanian terrorists
spawned a huge riot in Skopje, during which the Macedonian Parliament was occupied by some
of the over 5,000 angry citizens for several hours. Protesters fired guns in the air and
shouted anti-western slogans during the night of June 25-26. The Jan. 26 New York Times
carried a front page photo of the Macedonian troops trying to prevent some citizens of the
Umin Dol village from attacking the 101st Airborne Division G.I.'s who were rescuing the
Aracinovo Albanian rebels. Outside the capital, an American diplomat was slightly wounded,
apparently accidentally, by the Macedonian army soldiers.
It is especially ironic that the U.S. troops were ordered into action in
Macedonia less than a week after George W. Bush and his senior foreign affairs officials
declared that they did NOT want the U.S. troops involved in any NATO operations that were
to follow an eventual ceasefire between the Macedonian government and the Albanian
secessionist rebels. But saving Albanian terrorists was evidently a
justified mission. Why? Because birds of a feather flock
together. Albanian insurgents in Macedonia were doing Washington's bidding just as
they were three years ago in Kosovo No wonder a top NATO official in Macedonia (Daniel
Speckhard) defensively told the New York Times that the U.S. action was "a one-time
offer (to save the rebels) aimed at bolstering peace."
Really? If so, why did NATO, the Albanian
terrorists' air wing and bus company, let the terrorist leave Macedonia with their
weapons, rather than disarm them first?
Details, details… The NATO "lie and
deny" spokespeople have never been very strong on details or logic...
Meanwhile, back to Macedonia, why would the U.S. government
not-so-secretly support the Albanian rebels? In a word, the answer is - OIL.
(pipelines.jpg)
Note how the locations of the latest Albanian insurgency lie northeast
of Skopje. In other words, trouble spots are AWAY from the Albanian ethnically-dominant
areas. But they do lie along the route of the future oil corridor - the "Green
Interstate," as we put it
(green.jpg). So much for the latest Albanian terrorist activity having
anything to do with "liberation" or "secession" of this Macedonian
minority from Macedonia.
WHO IS BEHIND THE TRANS-BALKAN PIPELINE?
The US based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of
political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick Cheney's firm
Halliburton Energy.
The feasibility study for AMBO's Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by
the international engineering company of Brown & Root Ltd. [Halliburton's British
subsidiary] has determined that this pipeline…will become a part of the region's
critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fiber
optic telecommunications lines.
And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior
executive of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO. Halliburton was also granted a
contract to service US troops in the Balkans and build "Bondsteel" in Kosovo,
which now constitutes "the largest American foreign military base constructed since
Vietnam".5 Coincidentally, White and Case LLT, the New York law firm that President
William J. Clinton joined when he left the White House also has a stake in the AMBO
pipeline deal.
