Intervention in Macedonia
Washington's Military-Intelligence
Ploy
By Michel Chossudovsky
05 July 2001
A NATO led military intervention in Macedonia
involving American and British special forces "against
the NLA rebels" would
be a phony operation from the outset. Amply documented, the
NLA terrorists - who are directly linked to the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) - are armed and trained by Washington. So why
would the US intervene under NATO auspices to fight against
its own proxy army?
The US is once more waging a proxy war
using the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to fight the Macedonian
Armed Forces. While US
KFOR troops stationed in Kosovo are not directly involved,
American military personnel from Military Professional
Resources, Inc (MPRI) (a mercenary outfit on contract to
the Pentagon)
is advising the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and its Macedonian
proxy the NLA [1].
Albanian rebel leaders paid by the United Nations
Military
personnel of the "civilian" Kosovo Protection
Corps (KPC) (i.e. the KLA under its UN label) have now joined
the NLA. KPC Reservists have been called up and KPC Chief
of Staff Gezim Ostreni - who was on the United Nations payroll
- has been appointed "second in command" in the
NLA.
Also well established is the longstanding relationship
between KLA Commander Agim Ceku and MPRI General Richard
Griffiths.
In all likelihood, KLA Commander Agim Ceku -well versed in
the art of ground war artillery- is also playing a key role
in military planning. In fact, the personal relationship
between Griffiths and Ceku goes back to the planning of "Operation
Storm" in 1995 by the Croatian Armed Forces, which led
to ethnic massacres and the expulsion of more than 200,000
Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia [2].
In October 1998,
Griffith - who had been in charge of MPRI's "Equip
and Train" program in Croatia - was decorated upon his
departure from Croatia. A few months later, Brigadier General
Agim Ceku took leave from the Croatian military to take on
the position of Commander in Chief of the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA). These appointments took place barely two months
prior to the bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999:
MPRI sub-contracted some of the training programme to two
British private security companies, ensuring that between
1998 and June 1999 the KLA was being armed, trained and assisted
in Italy, Turkey, Kosovo and Germany by the Americans, the
German external intelligence service and former and serving
members of Britain's 22 SAS Regiment [3]
Macedonian military
brass collaborates with the rebels
Coincidentally,
General Richard Griffiths is also director of MPRI's program
in Macedonia responsible for channeling
US military aid to the Macedonian Armed Forces (ARM). Griffith
has also developed a longstanding personal relationship with
General Jovan Andrejevski who is Chief of Staff of the Macedonian
Armed Forces (ARM). These ties go back to the time when Andrejevski
was in military school in the US.
Ironically, both Ceku and Andrejevski were trained by General
Griffiths. What this means is that MPRI's Richard Griffiths
is "a go between" the two armies, collecting military
intelligence from the Macedonian Armed Forces (ARM) which
he then relays to Commander Agim Ceku and his MPRI colleagues
advising the KLA in Kosovo. He also reports back to MPRI
headquarters in Virginia which is in close liaison with the
Pentagon.
Barely mentioned by Western media, the role of MPRI was the
centre of a major scandal involving ARM Commander in Chief
General Jovan Andrejevski's was accused of:
"relaying sensitive information to Albanian terrorists " through
his 'sponsorship' of the American General in charge in Skopje Rich Griffiths,
who used those same trustworthy accounts of the maneuvers of the Macedonian
security forces to then 'relay' this information to his 'good friends',
the Albanian terrorists of the KLA-NLA [...] The retired General Griffiths
[...] directly 'supported' Albanian terrorist formations of the so-called "National
Liberation Army" with very detailed and secret intelligence obtained
from the General Staff of the ARM personally from its chief Jovan Adrejevski.
This great scandal [...] may have contributed to the delays [...] of the
expected successes in the defeat of the terrorists. Television 'A-1' claims
that other than the proof of 'secretive intelligence meetings between Adrejevski
and Griffiths (who was marked as Andrejevski's boss upon Adrejevski's completion
of military schooling in the United States), we still haven't obtained
documents concerning their 'exchange of military secrets'." The head
of the ARM General Staff Jovan Adrejevski responded today [May 22nd] in
a written statement that a 'war without scruples' was being waged against
him, not to mention the fact that the second highest ranking officer of
the ARM General Pande Petrovski has already announced his resignation [...]
as a result of the important military and command intelligence 'leaks'"[4].
The role of the OSCE
MPRI's military-intelligence ploy was carefully
coordinated with another CIA sponsored operation carried
out under the inter-governmental
umbrella
of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The
recently appointed head of the OSCE mission to Macedonia Robert Frowick,
described as a "former US diplomat," was entrusted with the task
of "brokering" an agreement between the NLA terrorists and the
Albanian parties which are part of the government coalition. Under the
OSCE "cover", Frowick's activities - consisting of establishing
a dialogue with the rebels - largely replicated the role performed by another
CIA agent William Walker when he was OSCE Head of Mission in Kosovo in
the months preceding the 1999 bombings of Yugoslavia.
Frowick was instrumental
- on Washington's instructions - in arranging secret meetings between
NLA rebel leader Ali Ahmeti and the Albanian parties,
essentially with a view to including the KLA directly into the Macedonian
political scene while creating a rift in the government coalition.
Washington
acknowledged Frowick's contacts with the rebel leaders, while casually
denying US involvement:
"A special envoy from the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe ( OSCE) , Robert Frowick, a U.S. diplomat who is the special
OSCE envoy for Macedonia, was reported to have brokered the agreement.
But the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
neither confirmed nor denied Frowick's involvement in brokering the agreement.
Frowick was under pressure to leave the country, reports in Macedonia said
[...] [T]he heads of Western diplomatic missions in Skopje met Wednesday
in the U.S. embassy to 'discuss Frowick's future' and find ways to 'disassociate'
him from official Washington [...]
The Albanian agreement was signed by
the leaders of the Democratic Party of Albanians, Arben Xhaferi, the
chief of the Party for Democratic Progress, Imer Imeri, and
the political leader
of the guerrilla National Liberation Army (UCK), Ali Ahmeti. The Albanian
parties are members of the governing coalition" [5].
In the wake of the scandal, Frowick was recalled to OSCE headquarters
in Bucharest. Despite the allegations of having committed treason, General
Adrejevski has remained ARM Commander in Chief following negotiations
between
the government and military with the US and UK ambassadors.
With the Albanian parties in the coalition establishing formal ties with
the rebels, the government coalition is in crisis. The entire political
system is in a state of collapse. Moreover, public opinion in Macedonia
now knows that both the government and the ARM are collaborating with
the enemy, namely the United States. Yet in a bitter irony, the government
has not opposed Washington's diktats. Skopje has been instructed by Washington
not to pursue the MPRI matter. General Richard Griffiths has not been
ordered
to leave the country. While Washington is supporting the NLA terrorists,
it has retained a firm grip on the Macedonian military high command.
As the crisis unfolds, divisions with the ARM are developing. Military
commanders
in charge of defending Macedonian territory feel betrayed by the ARM
Chief of Staff and the government.
The IMF puts a lid on defence spending
The activities of the IMF in Macedonia
have been carefully coordinated with those of NATO and the OSCE. While
money, guns and mercenaries are
channeled towards the NLA rebels, the Macedonian government is in a financial
straightjacket. Under the "Stability Pact", its entire budget
is controlled by the IMF and the World Bank on behalf of international
creditors. In other words, the imposition of severe austerity measures
by the IMF prevents it from defending its territory.
The IMF's ceiling on
military expenditure is tantamount to a "de facto" arms
embargo on Macedonia obliging the government to use the proceeds of the
IMF-World Bank sponsored privatisation program to equip the ARM and fight
the rebels. The Minister of Finance has confirmed that "the sale of
the [government's] stake in Macedonian Telekom will be used for defence" [6].
Such events have added a new twist to the old maxim "War is good for
business": the terrorist assaults have no doubt depressed the book
value of State assets currently on the auction block.
In turn, military
expenditures are also being financed from the government's reserve fund
while budgets on all civilian programs and social infrastructure
including water, electricity and emergency relief to civilians affected
by the terrorist assaults have been frozen.
No significant influx of military
aid to the ARM has been forthcoming from the European Union. Meanwhile,
token US military assistance -channeled
through the MPRI- is granted largely to convey the illusion that "America
is helping" when in fact "America is at War with Macedonia" [7].
Meanwhile, the NLA rebels have been re-equipped with brand new weapons "Made
in America" [8].
©
TFF & the author, 2001 Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2001.
Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa,
is a TFF Associate. For more information, please visit TFF.
[1] For further
details see Michel Chossudovsky, "Washington Finances
Ethnic Warfare in the Balkans" April 2001.
[2] Ibid.
[3] The Scotsman, 2 March 2001. Recent developments would suggest that
Germany is no longer involved in supporting the KLA. See Michel Chossudovsky "America
at War in Macedonia".
[4] According to TV "A-1", quoted in Politika, Belgrade, 22 May
2001. Our own detailed analysis of the role of the MPRI first released
in early April, was published in Skopje by Dvenik on the 18th of May 2001
a few days prior to the report concerning Andrejevski on TV "A-1".
[5] Deutsche Press Agentur, 24 May 2001.
[6] See Jane Defense Weekly, 2 May 2001.
[7] See Michel Chossudovsky. "America at War in Macedonia", op
cit.
[8] According to information from Skopje, 15 June 2001
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