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The Spectacle Blog

Another Great Clinton Foreign Policy Success

By Doug Bandow on 12.15.10 @ 8:01AM

It was never easy to understand why the Clinton administration intervened in Kosovo. The U.S. had not made a habit of deciding which European state was obligated to grant independence to which disaffected minority. For instance, Spain told Basques to stuff it without much comment from Washington. And the U.S. never worried about its allies using brutality against guerrillas--the Turkish campaign against the Kurds destroyed thousands of villages and killed tens of thousands of people, while the U.S. provided Ankara with arms.

However, the prospect of getting involved in a conflict with no conceivable relationship to U.S. interests drew the Clinton administration into the Balkans. So Washington joined with a majority of European states in a policy that could be defined as "the Serbs always lose": Everyone got to secede from Yugoslavia/Serbia, but Serbs could never secede from anyone else, whether Bosnia, Croatia, or Kosovo, irrespective of the principle of ethnic self-determination and threat of human rights violations.

Thus, the U.S. joined with a majority of European states to bomb Serbia for 78 days to force it to relinquish its control over Kosovo. Then the allies presided over mass ethnic-cleansing by the ethnic Albanian majority. Finally, the U.S. and European Union promoted faux negotiations with the understanding that the outcome was already set: independence for Kosovo. And the northern majority Serb areas of Kosovo were supposed to supinely accept their status rather than seek to remain with Serbia. When Belgrade refused to go along, the allies backed Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. But Russia has blocked Kosovo's entry into the UN and the majority of states do not recognize the new nation.

Great work, both the Clinton and Bush administrations.

It has long been known that Albania's leaders are, shall we say, a bit "shady." Now comes a new Council of Europe report on Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister. Reports the Guardian:

Kosovo's prime minister is the head of a "mafia-like" Albanian group responsible for smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs through eastern Europe, according to a Council of Europe inquiry report on organised crime.

Hashim Thaçi is identified as the boss of a network that began operating criminal rackets in the runup to the 1999 Kosovo war, and has held powerful sway over the country's government since.

The report of the two-year inquiry, which cites FBI and other intelligence sources, has been obtained by the Guardian. It names Thaçi as having over the last decade exerted "violent control" over the heroin trade. Figures from Thaçi's inner circle are also accused of taking captives across the border into Albania after the war, where a number of Serbs are said to have been murdered for their kidneys, which were sold on the black market.

What a great new addition to Europe. But then, that's what happens when Washington tries to engage in social engineering around the globe.

View all comments (20) | Leave a comment

L A Stich| 12.15.10 @ 9:12AM

The US involvement had to do with clearing a path for an oil or gas pipeline.

As you say, it made NO sense in any other regard.

Michael Averko| 12.16.10 @ 9:54AM

"Independent Kosovo" is to Western neolibs and neocons what Frankenstein was to Dr. Frankenstein.

Regarding the claims that there's no going back on tjhe independence recognition given to Kosovo and some other Kosovo realted matters:

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the majority of the world don't recognize Kosovo's indpendence. Kudos to the five (if I've the number right) EU countries which don't take the neocon to neolib leaning line on Kosovo.

Actually the EU has been more gung ho on Kosovo's indpendence than the larger (in terms of members) Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Some neocon to neolib leaning pundits are on record for saying that it's a good idea to go against the Serbs, in order to win over the "Muslim street." Talk about a Crusades mindset. Much of the OIC and the rest of the world aren't buying into that concept. Instead, they see the issue of respecting a nation's claim to its territory.

Note that Turkey and Iraq weren't told to give up land for an independent Kurdistan. FYI, the Turks and Iraqi Arabs have been noticeably worse towards the Kurds, when compared to Serb actions against Albanians. At the same time, it's grossly inaccurate to overlook the abuses of the PKK and KLA.

A good opportunity was missed in settling the dispute over Kosovo. Prior to any declared recognition of Kosovo's independence, I believe that with Western and Russian support, a practical solution was available. This settlement would've Kosovo as an irrevocably autonomous republic within Serbia, inclusive of its own UN and Olympic and other sporting delegations. There're precedents for this kind of a scenario. (Soviet era Ukraine and Byelorussia in the UN and Olympic delegations like Puerto Rico, Palestine and Taiwan - the latter as Chinese Taipei).

Like I said, the support for Kosovo's independence remains limited and there's no foolproof formula showing that the whole world should come to recognize Kosovo's independence.

Pelligrino| 12.15.10 @ 9:20AM

Those of us on the ground in Europe at the time had serious misgivings and head-scratching over Kosovo.

Particularly as it came right behind our extensive involvement in the center of Yugoslavia, Bosnia, starting in late 1995.

To those who deployed to Croatia or Bosnia in 1995-1999, well, you did a lot of wondering. Out loud questioning is/was never so en vogue.

(Note: Most don't. Sure, there's the usual bickering questioning of "Why us?" "Why now?" etc. But deep thinking on the Yugoslavia created post WW I and then since WW II, no, that's way beyond the scope of most officers -- yes, most officers don't bother with this kind of stuff.)

Most did quietly joke that the air bombings (while we underwent planning for a really half-baked ground invasion....yes ground invasion into Kosovo...just the planning but really galling stuff) were the result of Clinton-Monica.

I think there's some truth to that.

But the bigger picture for me has always been:

1) This was Europe's backyard. The protective hand of the US had shielded W. Europe for decades. So our NATO allies had years of peace and prosperity. Yet they could not handle Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade? They couldn't solve that one on their own? (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, etc.)

2. These same NATO allies begging us 1993-1995 to enter the peace mission in former Yugoslavia gave us no end of grief over forcing Sadam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1990-1991. They really wanted no part of that and moralized endlessly that this was American overreach/knee-jerk behavior.

3. These NATO allies who had practically fallen at our feet begging us to join/lead? the effort to end the "new European holocaust in Kosovo" (they claimed this daily from London to Paris to Brussels to Berlin) were nowhere to be seen when it came time to invade Iraq in spring 2003. This was once again, in their eyes, an immoral American enterprise.

Any European living in places like Germany, Austria, and Italy could have told you that Albanians were/are problematic. Any visit to Albania could tell you this. Any casual observation of Balkan affairs post 1990 seemed to provide every indication of untoward meddling by Tirana in Kosovo (while Kosovo was still part of Serbia-Montenegro).

We say "shady," our Brit friends like to describe it as "dodgy." All I can say is that Albanian crime thrives in places like Milan, Turin, Vienna, and Frankfurt. That has been so for years.

While ousting Slobodan Milosevic (and his inner circle) from Belgrade was indeed a worthy thing, much of the rest of it is -- in my mind -- still VERY questionable.

Bianca| 12.18.10 @ 1:48PM

Nothing was worth it. Instead of letting Miloshevic take on gangs, we let them fight a cartel war that Thaci won. The war for mafia supremacy cost many Albanians their lives. Nobody was safe, whole families slaughtered, and attributed to Miloshevic. Not much has changed. Now Nato presides over the independent Kosovo, having removed over 250,000 mostly Serbs and other non Albanians in process. All the crime continued under the banner of the new state. And it is no small potatoe. Albanian mafia has taken over Italy, Switzeland, Germany and UK for sure. Is is powerful in US. Over ninety percent of world's opium and heroin comes from Afhanistan, and is distributed by Kosovo mafia.
Good luck in prosecuting. As UNMIK learned earlier, they know where you live and what is dearest to you. Thaci was invited guest at John Kerry presidential convention, and many a politician depends on Kosovo "diaspora" political
donations. Now that corporations can give money, crime money can be easily laundered. Good luc Dick Marty. I do not think you know how deep the rabbit hole goes.

wronten| 12.15.10 @ 10:27AM

Our NATO allies a) did not have the stones to get their hands bloddy and b) did not have the military power to really do anything after decades shielded by US. To illustrate "a" the rules of engagement early on were so restrictive that militias were robbing UN and NATO contingent soldiers at gun-point and stealing their transport! All except for the French contingent - they sent Foriegn Legionaires and you do not mess with those people.

Jim Jatras| 12.15.10 @ 10:49AM

Mr Bandow 's analysis is entirely on the mark. One can't help but wonder how many times we have to be hit over the head before it begins to sink in that this Kosovo fiasco was based on a pack of lies from the start. The narrative of Kosovo as the great success story is: "U.S. and NATO Allies Nobly Stepped in to Stop Genocide by Evil Serbs." The reality was "U.S. Dragged NATO Allies Kicking and Screaming Into Support for Muslim Mafia Committing Genocide Against Christian Serbs."

Will the Council of Europe accusations against Hashim Thaci change the standard narrative of an intervention most Americans have long forgotten? One can hope. But did the plotted attack on Fort Dix changes any minds? No. Now we have organ trafficking. Let's remember this story first broke over a year ago and seemed to be withering away in the face of brazen stonewalling by "authorities" in Pristina and Tirana (with full backing from Washington, of course.) Now it's clear that somebody in Europe wants to jump off this bandwagon to disaster. How horrible do the facts need to be before Americans start looking behind the curtain to see what our government is so desperate to conceal?

Indeed, the only nit I'd pick with Mr Bandow (though I'm sure he'd agree) is any inference that this was just a "Clinton" problem. It was that too, of course, and most Congressional Republicans opposed the war, which our Razorback Rommel launched even though the House of Representatives had voted down the authorization to use military force. Republicans voted heavily against it, even with the neocon establishment whipping votes in support. Unfortunately, with neocon domination of the George W. Bush administration's foreign policy, and their desperation to win Islamic friends after 9/11, the Bush policy on Kosovo was even more Clinton than Clinton, leading to the decision to try to force the issue of Kosovo's independence in violation of every rule of international law and state sovereignty.

So, what will Washington do now about "our" guy Thaci? Do a Google Image search for his name with almost any top U.S. figure of either party you can think of and you'll see him in a warm handshake, often a chummy embrace: George W. Bush, Condi Rice, Bill Gates, Clinton (both of them), Joe Biden, Mad Albright, Holbrooke, Wesley Clark, etc., etc. One would like to think some one of these worthies would now have the decency to say (even if it's a lie), "What? I didn't know! I'd never have supported these guys if I had!" But the problem is, even aside from their organ trafficking peccadillos, the U.S. establishment did know -- from Day One -- that Thaci and Co. (the "Kosovo Liberation Army," KLA) were a bunch of thugs. (And make no mistake -- it's not just Thaci. Visit www.savekosovo.org) They -- our government -- knew the KLA were criminals running the drug, slave, and weapons rackets throughout Europe. And we supported them anyway, shredding every rule of law and decency in the process.

Now what? In all probability, circle the wagons, hope it will blow over, and keep twisting arms around the world in support of the illegal separatist terrorist entity "KosovA."

Keep up the good work, Mr. Bandow!

Pelligrino| 12.17.10 @ 1:55AM

"dragged NATO allies kicking and screaming..." No, Jim, I don't think so. Very very liberal political leaders throughout Europe (Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands...) accepted as whole truth the genocide issue within Kosovo, a genocide perpetuated by the Serbs.

And...these European NATO member states could have easily acted on their own initiative; it needn't have included any active US military hardware or personnel.

None.

But you do remember Tony Blair and even Gerhard Schroeder (Germany's chancellor at the time and a total lib) imploring US leadership to lead the effort.

It was bizarre. Little Serbia with Kosovo attached needing the combined might of NATO?

No, Kosovo was very much the "Cause Celebre" in all the big European capitals. You could hear heart-tearing "Never Again!" cries from London to Paris to Berlin.

It was baffling. Total pinko libs -- the academic, well-heeled elite of Europe -- screaming for aggressive military action to oust Milosevic, punish Serbia, and emancipate the Kosovo Albanians.

Cris Worth| 12.15.10 @ 11:14AM

Bill's Kosovo intervention put another left wing ideological piece into place. A rogue state doing harm to Western interests just as the leftists planned it. W. was just a plain fool like all other interventionist do gooder liberal Republicans.

Chuck| 12.15.10 @ 11:18AM

When is Congress ever going to enforce the 1973 War Powers Act? Clinton's intervention into Kosovo is prime example of this. Funny thing for a man who loathed the military and dodged the draft three times Clinton sure liked to push the military buttons.

Casey Abell| 12.15.10 @ 12:13PM

Shows what happens when you stick your face into a fight between two thugs.

J. P. Maher| 12.16.10 @ 3:48PM

No. It's what happens when Super-Thug takes the side of the last savages in Europe against an old freedom-loving and slandered ally. Belgrade is home to about 100,000 Albanians, who live unmolested in Serbia's capital.

1389AD| 12.29.10 @ 10:11PM

Hi Pete! I remember you from 1999 in Chicago. I don't use my real name on the blog. Glad to see you're still online. Are you blogging anywhere? If not, I'd like to invite you to join us on http://www.theblogmocracy.com - it's a group blog, very good on the counterjihad, and we support the Serbs.

Red Phillips| 12.15.10 @ 1:18PM

Just as a reminder, neocon interventionists fully supported US intervention in the Balkans. Paleocons, especially those associated with Chronicles Magazine, did not. Hmmm...

El Dorado| 12.16.10 @ 10:24AM

For these criminals Clinton bombed Serbia which was American ally in both world wars. Albanians, both in Kosovo and Albania, were Nazi supporters in WWII.

Bill Dorich| 12.16.10 @ 4:46PM

If it were not so outrageous the article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday would be laughable, including the really stupid picture of Holbrooke sitting shoeless next to a KLA terrorist. And the Times wrote this obituary in such glowing terms one would assume our illegal war and the manhandling of the Serbs was some kind of success? We now have 1.2 million Serbian refugees displaced from their homes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo that are not permitted to return to their homes and land. This hideous number is twice the combined number of Croat, Bosnian Muslim and Albanian refugees, so it is obvious who was the most successful at ethnic cleansing. The U.S. also helped to ethnically cleanse Serbs from their land in Kosovo and without any compensation built the single largest American military base in the world since Vietnam... And we had the biggest lie in the media by none other than morons like William Walker the CIA spook who told the world "He only cried twice in his life... when his mother died and when he saw the victims of Racak" the pretext to bomb Serbia for 78 days... Walker cried for 45 victims that turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by the KLA mafia in which the bodies were moved to the near bloodless crime scene, their military uniforms exchanged for street clothes and the bodies mutilated after their deaths as confirmed by a number of international pathologists. Why did Walker not cry when thousands of Salvadorians were decapitated, their heads placed on pikes that dotted the countryside when he was the Ambassador? The answer is clear, the thugs, were trained on US bases. American hands are covered in those Salvadorian human rights violations as much as they are covered in the blood of the Serbs. I close with a quote by Richard Holbrooke spoken in Pristina in 1999 and reported by journalist Russell Gordon: "Richard Holbrooke cut an imposing figure. The 'Balkan peace negotiator' whose bloody legacy stretched from Vietnam and Indonesia to Belgrade minced no words about US policy for the region. In front of the five heads of UNMIK he bellowed: “Forget multi-ethnic Kosovo. Forget Resolution 1244. We only signed that to get rid of the Serbs.” It was a warm August 1999, and the official representatives of the “international community” remained coolly silent. Only one official, Dennis MacNamara, head of UNHCR spoke up, questioning why the UN took on the mission if the expulsion of the Serbs was a foregone conclusion. Holbrooke brushed off his inquiry; the other “dignitaries” remained quiet."

Pelligrino| 12.17.10 @ 2:08AM

Bill, your comment about a lot of Serbs now outside of not just Serbia but also all of former Yugoslavia is not an all-bad story.

Not at all.

Sometimes good comes from the bad or an injustice.

Having been in many quarters of Europe, I can say that the new generation of Serbs in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, and England perhaps have

They have full rights to citizenship in their new lands. That is why we have these incredible accents when a Serb child speaks Swedish or Danish.

Their kids, already now teens and those getting ready to start university, seem happier.

In fact, many of the Yugoslavian refugees that began pouring westward into "Old Europe" starting in 1992 landed -- I would say -- better on their feet.

No, not at first. The moms and dads had to struggle. But their offspring has every -- I would argue far more -- chance at successes in life.

Piotr Bein| 12.17.10 @ 1:21AM

Right on? I thought Albright had to coerce European NATO allies into joining the illegal, immoral and brutal air raids 1999. Nobody begged on their knees, it was all neatly prepared by the neocons. Read what greater power masterminded the Balkan conflicta and what for -- and stop talking nonsense, most of you:
http://piotrbein.wordpress.com.....entionism/

Heather| 12.17.10 @ 4:44PM

I think the Yugoslavian refugees were shattered by the fact that they were forced to leave their families and even though they found better opportunities in the west many of them now seriously contemplate coming back to their native countries. The politicians involved in preparing the war in Serbia were so eager to see a free Kosovo that they agreed to negotiate with only twenty-nine-year old KLA commander Thaci having only little knowledge about his background. Now evidence is coming to light that many of the decisions taken at that time were unwise and wrong.

Mike Peles| 12.19.10 @ 11:20AM

Excellent article! Why the U.S. decided to endorse the creation of this illegal abomination we may never know. There is however some likley reasons. First, a strong desire to justify keeping NATO alive and well(this was their big chance to actually use NATO for something other than show). Second, to show the Muslim world that we are not anti-Muslim and intervene on the side of human rights and not religon (note: most Muslim countries don't buy the hype,they hate us anyway). Third, a desire to rub Russias nose in the dirt a bit and show them that we can come into their neck of the woods and call the shots. Fourth, certain segments of our intelligence services rely heavily on drug revenue to fund "black ops" throughout the world, money that can not be put into the official budget for the world to see but is needed to acomplish certain goals around the world (i.e. regime change,fund revolutionaries, etc.) It is no accident that we just happen to be in every hellhole in the world that happens to either grow or transport drugs along with a military base with plenty of flights in and out that do not have to go through customs.Hmmmm!?!? At the end of the day it needs to be understood that the U.S. has no long term friends or enemies just long term interests. The Serbs were just victims of circumstance.We get into bed with whoever serves our purposes at any given time. If you don't believe me just ask Osama, Saddam, Noriega and a long list of other monsters we have created to do our bidding and who have lost their status as friend and become our enemy when they stop taking orders from their masters in Washington and thus outlive their usefullness. I am an American of Serbian heritage and proud of being both, but that does not mean that the U.S. is incapable of doing evil and that I am equally incapable of calling it like I see it. The plan is simple you see, keep us stupid, sell us lies on TV, make us more and more dependant on the govt., get us to argue among ourselves about left vs. right politics and while we are doing that, they are frying bigger fish throughout the world. If the American public really knew what was going on under their noses they would be shocked. Bush and Clinton are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get, but on Kosovo and almost all other foreign policy issues they operated as one. This is by design not accident. God help us!