CHRONICLES INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTrnOsama bin Laden: The Balkan ConnectionrnT lie II.S. and British cinlwssics were shut down in Saraje{)rnon October 17 after receixing threats from Bosnian Nhislinisrnand tlicir foreign coreligionists resident in Bosnia who jjrofessrnontrage at the l)oinbing of Mghanistan. “This step has beenrntaken dne to a credible secnrih threat to the official U.S. presencernin Bosnia-I Ierzego”ina,” a U.S. official told the AssociatedrnPress. Anreriean and Brihsh cih/cns w orking in Bosnia were alsorn\arned to take extra preeantions. Bosnia is turning from arnnuilhcnltural, mnltiethnie protectorate of the New World Orderrninto an Islamic threat to Western interests.rnB’ now, we ha’e all heard that Osama bin Laden’s rise tornnear-mthical status in the Muslim world was inihalK facilitatedrnb the sn|)port he and other fnndamentalist Muslims receixedrnfrom the United States following the Soiet invasion ofrn/Vfghanistan in December 1979. But according to former CIArndirector Robert Gates, the U.S. intelligence serxices began tornarm the imijahkk’L’ii ex en before tlie Soxiet interxention.rnThis has been confirmed bx’ President Carter’s national secnrih”rnadxisor at the Hme, Zbigniexx Brzezinski, xxho told thernb’reneh xxecklx Le Noiivel Ohsenateiir in [anuarx 1998 thatrnCarter signed the first directixe for secret aid to the opponents ofrnthe pro-Sox ict regime in Kalsrd on Jrd- 3, 1979: “That xerx’ dav,rnI xxTotc a note to the president in xxhieh I explained to hinr dratrnin m’ opinion this aid xxas going to indnee a Soviet militarx’ interxentionrn. . . We didn’t push die Russians to interxene, bntxxernknowinglx increased Hic probabilih’ that thex’ xxould.” 1 he policx,rnxhieli Brzezinski called “an excellent idea,” xxas to create arn”Sox ict Vietnam,” and it entailed large-scale anning and trainingrnof Islamic hmdamentalists, including xolunteers from otherrnMuslim countries.rnMistaken and shortsighted as this strategx’ turned out to be, itrnxxas (conceixabK) justified bx’ the dictates of the Cold War:rnYour enemx’s enemy is xour de facto allx’, if not a trusted friend.rnBloxxbaek xxas a risk, but one at least arguabix worth taking.rnOxer txxo decades later, it is necessarx to rectify more recentrnmi.stakes of a similar nature. If the xietims of Nexx- York are to bernproperix axenged and the militarx effort in Afghanistan is to bernmeaningful, the Bush administration should inxestigate thernbiggest nnknoxxn scandal of tlie Clinton xears: that throughontrnthe 199()’s. the U.S. goxernment effeetixelx” aided and abettedrnbin Laden’s ()]3erations in Hie Balkans, long after lie xxas recognizedrnas a major seeurih threat to the United States.rnThrougliont the xxar in Bosnia, xoiees in Hie West xxarnedrndiat neither the Christian Serbs nor die Croats xxould exer willinglx’rnlixc in the same state xxith Muslims who wanted to dominaternthem under die label of “mulhcdinicih-.” 1 he sxsteniaticrnportrax al of Hie Serbs as demons and tlie Bosnian Muslims asrninnocent marhrs in the cause of multicultural tolerance concealedrntlie fiiet that the Bosnian xxar xxas primarilx- religious inrnSrdfa Trifhiviv is Chronicles’ foreign-affairs editor.rnby Srdja Trifkovicrnnature. Before the first shots xx ere fired, Bosnian Muslim leaderrnAlija Izetbegoxic prondlx’ proclaimed in his “Islamic Declaration”rnthat “there can be no peace or coexistence betvx eeii the Islamicrnfaith and non-Islamic sociehes and political in.stitutions.”rnHe xxarned his felloxx Muslims that “the Islamic movementrnshould and must start taking power as soon as it is morallx’ andrnnumericallx’ strong enough not onlx’ to ovcrthroxx’ die existingrnnon-Islamic power structure, but also to build a great Islamicrnfederahon spreading from Morocco to Indonesia, from tropicalrnAfrica to Central Asia.”rnIn the aftermath of September’s terrorist attacks, it has beenrnrexealed that a liiglih’ classified State Department report, preparedrnlast xear, xxarned that the Muslim-controlled porhons ofrnBosnia haxe become a safe haven for Islamic terrorism. The reportrnpointed out that hundreds of foreign mujahideeu. xxho becamernBosnian citizens and rcccix’cd passports after battling ftieirrnChristian foes, present a major terrorist threat to Europe and thernUnited States. Tliex include hard-core terrorists, some with tiesrnto Osama bin Laden, xxho xxere protected b’ die Muslim goxernmentrnin Sarajexo. The findings of the report were summarizedrnin die xxords of a former State Department official: Bosnia-rnHerzegoxina is “a staging area” for Lslamie terrorists.rnAccording to the Muslim-dominated government’s AlinistivrnofCixil Affiiirsand Conimunieations, there are roughlvonly 420rnnaturalized Arabs in Bosnia, but this figure is almost certainlyrnincorrect. The true magnitude of die problem xxas rexealed in arnreport in die European edition of the U.S. militarx nexx.spaperrnStars and Stripes on September 30. Relying on Israeli intelligencernsources, die report xxanicd diat “about 6,000 fighters inrnBosnia and Herzegoxina, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia arernreach’ to do bin Laden’s bidding if/inerica strikes his camps elsewhere.”rnThe same source argued that “a nucleus of bin Ladenrnfolloxxers in the Balkans could balloon into an arinx of aboutrn40,000 men,” mosdv local Muslims from Bosnia, Kosoxo, andrnAlbania. Stars and Stripes pointed out diat die Israelis liavernagents on die ground in the Balkans, and diat dieir predictionsrn”haxe proxed frighteninglx” accurate in the past.”rnThe core of bin Laden’s Balkan netxvork is composed of diernxctcrans of the Ed Moujahed brigade of die Bosnian-Muslimrnarmy. ‘I’lic brigade was established in 1992 and comprises xolunteersrnfrom all oxer the Islamic xvorld xxliose passage to Bosniarnwas facilitated and financed, at least in part, bx’ bin Laden’s uetxxork.rnThe unit xxas distinguished by its spectacular eruelh tornChristian prisoners, remarkable cxen bv the Balkans’ unpleasantrnstandards. In 1993, the members of the brigade decapitatedrn26 Serb prisoners on Mount Ozren xvith an ax, to die chants ofrn”Allahu-akhar.” The gruesome spectacle xxas videotaped andrncirculated not only in Bosnia but throughout the network of Islamicrncenters and stores and internet sites in the Western xvorld.rnEl Moujalied was tlie nurserv from xxhieh an international terroristrnnetxxork grexv and nftimately stretched from die Middlernornorn•«1rnl-Hrn0rn»rns ^rni-3rn1-4rn>rnDECEMBER 2001/23rnrnrn