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COLONIAL WARS
New liberal imperialism is making the world safe for
terrorists
By Neil Clark
Reprinted from the Spectator (UK)
[Posted 14 July 2002]
=======================================
'What is needed is a new kind of imperialism, one
compatible with human rights and cosmopolitan values:
an imperialism which aims to bring order and
organisation,' argues New Labour foreign-policy guru
Robert Cooper in his recent pamphlet Re-ordering the
World: The Long-term Implications of September 11th.
Cooper distinguishes between two kinds of 'new
colonialism' that can 'save the world': the 'voluntary'
imperialism of institutions such as the IMF and the World
Bank, which 'provide help for states wishing to find
their way back on to the global economy', and the
'imperialism of neighbours', when states intervene to
sort out 'instability' in their neighbourhood.
Cooper uses the 'humanitarian' intervention in Kosovo
and the subsequent establishment there of a
'protectorate' as a shining example of how his 'new
colonialism' can bring 'order and organisation'. As
Cooper is so keen to talk of Kosovo, let us examine a
little more closely the effect his 'imperialism of
neighbours' has had on the province.
Six years ago, Kosovo was at relative peace. Albanian
demands for greater independence from Belgrade were
channelled through the peaceful Democratic League party
of Ibrahim Rugova, while the small groups of Albanian
paramilitaries that did exist were disorganised, unco-ordinated
and isolated. As late as November 1997, the KLA, having
been formed as the 'hardline' wing of a previous Albanian
terror group, could, it has been estimated, call on the
services of only at the very most 200 men.
At this point, Robert Cooper's 'new colonialists'
started to get involved. Having at first declared the KLA
to be a terrorist organisation, our new colonialists,
with the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the
fore, started to see in this motley array of fanatics,
cut-throats and hoodlums a perfect vehicle for their long-desired
aim to topple the politically incorrect regime in
Belgrade that they and other 'humanitarian' liberals so
detested.
Instead of being treated as pariahs, the KLA were now
to be given a makeover. Gone were the 'terrorist'
epithets; the KLA were now gallant 'freedom fighters',
bravely defending their people from the brutal 'fascist'
regime in Belgrade. The fact that, during 1998, the KLA
actually executed more of their people than they did
Serbs was not widely reported in the media of Cooper's
'post-modern states'. CIA money was diverted, via Geneva,
to fund KLA operations, while BND, the German secret
service, provided uniforms, weaponry and instructors to
knock the rag-bag KLA into shape. Britain, now under the
leadership of enthusiastic new colonialists, was keen to
play its part, too, diverting SAS units from their hunt
for the Omagh bombers to send them instead to the
mountains of northern Albania to do their bit in training
the young bucks of the KLA to shoot Yugoslav postmen and,
indeed, anyone else wearing the uniform of the Yugoslav
state.
In siding with the KLA, it mattered not a jot to our
new colonialists that they were joining forces with a
group largely funded by trafficking in illegal narcotics.
Ironically, on the very day that KLA hardliner Hashim
Thaci (having discarded his Balaclava and combat fatigues
for a designer suit) was being warmly embraced by Mrs
Albright for signing the Rambouillet 'peace' treaty,
Europol was submitting a report for all European interior
ministers on the connection between Thaci's organisation
and the Albanian drug gangs that were supplying Western
Europe with more than 75 per cent of its heroin.
Not only were the KLA drug-traffickers, they were also
linked incontrovertibly to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda
organisation. When claims that al-Qa'eda cells were
active in Kosovo in the late 1990s were made by the then
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, they were,
predictably, dismissed out of hand as Serb propaganda.
But one doesn't have to take Slobo's word for it when
there is also available the testimony of J.T. Caruso, the
assistant-director of the FBI's counter-terrorism
division.
In his statement to a Congressional committee on 18
December last year, Caruso confirmed that al-Qa'eda had
supported 'Islamic fighters' in Bosnia, Afghanistan,
Kosovo and Chechnya. 'Al-Qa'eda,' continued Caruso, 'has
active cells in 20 countries, including Pakistan, Egypt,
Afghanistan, Kosovo, Chechnya and the Philippines.'
Furthermore, according to a Deutsche Press report,
financial support from Islamic countries to the KLA was
channelled through the former Albanian chief of national
security, Bashkim Gazidede, a man notorious for having
'strong links' to Islamic terror groups.
So there you have it. Just three years before the
Manhattan bombings, Robert Cooper's new colonialist
forces were working alongside Afghan and Turkish
instructors in KLA camps, training mercenaries from Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait to wage holy war on the forces of
another European state. One only hopes that if these
erstwhile colleagues do happen to meet up shortly in an
Afghan cave, they remember that they did once work
together and at least exchange greetings before firing at
each other.
Not surprisingly, given the massive support that they
received from all quarters, the KLA were, in 1999, able
to step up their campaign to remove Yugoslav forces from
Kosovo. When the inevitable security backlash came from
Belgrade, the redoubtable Mrs Albright was ready to hand
out the ultimata, and, after the Rambouillet 'stitch-up',
the new colonialists got the war against Slobo that they
had long desired. After a 78-day, $7-billion bombing
campaign, their dream of a 'protectorate' over Kosovo was
finally realised. Three years on, what now of Kosovo?
The province, previously so diverse in its ethnic
composition, has seen, under the aegis of the
'international community', no fewer than 200,000 Serbs
and Roma driven from their homes, with hundreds more
murdered or gone missing. So much for Robert Cooper's
call for a new imperialism compatible with human rights
and cosmopolitan values. The KLA, now officially
disbanded, is once more being trained by the British,
this time being transformed into the caring, sharing
Kosovo Protection Corps. Once again, the new colonialists
have provided the uniforms.
Meanwhile, the drug-running continues. The recent
arrest of three ex-KLA 'freedom fighters' in Norway,
after the discovery of the country's largest ever heroin
haul, shows that old habits die hard. It is estimated
that Kosovan/Albanian gangs now control 90 per cent of
the Western trade in heroin, 15 per cent up on when the
international community took control of the province.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. New jobs have
been created in Kosovo; not for the local inhabitants,
but instead for worthy citizens of the 'post-modern'
world. As Robert Cooper proudly states, 'The
international community provides not just soldiers but
police, judges, prison officers, bankers and others.' For
'others', Cooper is obviously referring to semi-retired
politicians and diplomats, such as Pascal Fieschi of
France, the new head of the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe in Kosovo, and our own Sir Paddy
Ashdown, who has been widely touted as the new high
commissioner of the province. Sir Paddy, though, is
reported to be having second thoughts about taking on the
job: perhaps he believes that stemming the multi-billion-dollar
drugs trade and coaxing the Serbs and Roma back to the
province so that Albanian snipers can take pot-shots at
them is beyond even his prodigious talents.
In short, Kosovo is in a mess. But it is a mess that
is entirely the making of the new colonialists. If Cooper
and his disciples are to have their way, we must prepare
for many more Kosovos in the years ahead. This might be
good news for the numerous politicos and flunkeys keen to
end their careers with a high-commissioner posting in
some far-flung corner of the globe, but decidedly bad
news for the rest of us. As the example of Kosovo shows,
Cooper's new colonialism, far from bringing stability and
order, has done exactly the opposite.
The only thing that can truly 'save the world', is if
all the states, whether 'post-modern', 'pre-modern' or
however Cooper wishes to label them, go back to minding
their own bloody business.
(c)2001 The Spectator.co.uk http://www.spectator.co.uk
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