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Europe
Invisible war underway in Bosnia
2004-06-28
In mosques and storefront Muslim charities, U.S. and European intelligence agencies are engaged in a covert conflict in postwar Bosnia, tracking up to 300 suspected Islamic militants and shutting down those financing them. Hundreds of CIA and military intelligence agents work out of a well-protected compound in the Sarajevo suburb of Butmir, leading the high-intensity effort to neutralize terrorists and their backers, European and Bosnian officials said.
"Shoot them. Shoot them both." Goon, Raiders of the Lost Ark
Col. Stephan Thomas, the commander of the German-Italian contingent of NATO-led peacekeepers, describes Bosnia as a "transit country and possible refuge" for Islamic extremists. Lt. Col. Julian Bauer, also with NATO, said, "We are vigilant, because there is a (terrorist) potential here." A senior European intelligence official stationed in Bosnia as part of the republic’s war on terror described the international undercover effort as an "invisible but real struggle with the bad guys that could ultimately stop bombings elsewhere in Europe, or the U.S."

Almost 10 years after a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people died, Bosnia still lacks strong domestic law enforcement. But it has been spared the kind of terror that has hit Madrid and Istanbul. The reason may be the lack of attractive soft targets - U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert, and foreign embassies are fortified.

According to an AP investigation, proven or suspected links between Bosnia and worldwide terrorism include:
* Osama bin Laden associates who learned military skills helping Bosnia’s Muslims fight Serbs in the 1990s - among them Saudi al-Qaida leader Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, killed June 18 after his group claimed responsibility for beheading American Paul M. Johnson Jr.

* About 300 Arabs or others from Islamic countries who are among 700 mujahedeen fighters in Bosnia. An intelligence official told AP that the 300 had "suspicious" backgrounds and were under investigation, but didn’t elaborate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

* Evidence that Bosnia still figures in terrorist recruiting. A videotape seen by AP includes footage of mujahedeen training camps in Bosnia, scenes of urban combat, fields strewn with Serb bodies and a radical Muslim cleric recently extolling the virtues of suicide bombers.

* Bogus Muslim charities suspected of collecting millions of dollars to finance radical causes that operate despite efforts to shut them down.
Although most Bosnian Muslims are moderate or secular, the republic’s links to Islamic radicalism precede the 2001 twin-tower attacks. Hundreds of mujahedeen fighters from Islamic countries moved on at the end of Bosnia’s war of independence from Yugoslavia to other wars in Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere. Testifying in May to the congressional Sept. 11 commission in Washington, George Tenet, the outgoing CIA chief, said that the Islamic fighters, financed by bin Laden, returned home as "a ready supply of manpower for terrorist operations." Others stayed, mingling with locals who adopted the fundamentalist Wahhabi strain of Islam practiced by bin Laden. They are closely watched by peacekeepers, local and international police.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#3  U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert

Seems I remember a comment printed a few years back about European troops shaking their heads at their U.S. counterparts for going out into the country heavily armed/armored. Heh.
Posted by: Pappy   2004-06-28 12:16:43 PM  

#2  Secular or moderate, no matter. As long as a community of real islamist are allowed to function, even a little, it's "lights out".

Or am I missing something? Nope. Wapo that.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-06-28 4:04:42 AM  

#1  This is a great place for us to work on non-military techniques to split the normal Muslim community from the Islamists. Although, from this article, it seems like we're just playing reactionary defense and Cold War era spy games. I understand the reasons for doing these particular things, but why can't we expand our horizons.

Apart from that, there seems to be a typo:

"The reason [for lack of attacks] may be the lack of attractive soft targets - U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert"

Uh, since when do non-US troops deter any violence? Especially under the aegis of peacekeeping missions.
Posted by: beer_me   2004-06-28 2:05:00 AM  

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