Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama and now remnants of Yugoslavia get the same treatment from Imperialist America.

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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 7, 1998
issue of Workers World newspaper
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U.S. BACKS MERCENARY ARMY IN KOSOVO

By Gary Wilson

The U.S. government is pushing forward its covert contra war in the Yugoslav region of Kosovo. A CIA-backed mercenary army--called the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)--has stepped up its infiltration into Yugoslavia.

On April 24, some 200 mercenaries attempted to invade Yugoslavia through the border with Albania. The U.S. State Department reported that the Yugoslav Army killed 23 of the mercenaries.

The April 25 New York Times reported that the Clinton administration is threatening to step up sanctions against the Yugoslav government if it continues its "current course of action"--that is, if it continues to resist the mercenary invasion.

The Yugoslav government warned that the mercenary attacks across Albania's border will lead to a regional war.

The United States government is covertly backing the mercenary army. While a report in the April 6 New York Times by Balkans bureau chief Chris Hedges did not mention the CIA ties, it did give details Hedges learned while traveling with the KLA.

The Times reported that the bulk of the KLA is made up of "foreign mercenaries."

Hedges reported, "The rapid and startling growth of the armed insurgency has prompted fears that the unrest in the province could explode into the next Balkan war."

According to The Times, the mercenary army "has no political wing." It has no goal other than to attack the Yugoslav government.

The mercenaries carry the latest weapons and electronic surveillance equipment. All dress in new camouflage uniforms. The U.S government covertly provides them satellite information about the Yugoslav Army.

The mercenary army first targeted Albanians in Kosovo who were considered "pro-government"--that is, those opposed to the breakup of Yugoslavia. The next targets were Serbian farmers in Kosovo. They were driven off their land.

The mercenaries have murdered Yugoslav government officials, schoolteachers and others.

CIA support is funneled through a so-called "Government of Kosovo" based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its Washington office employs the public-relations firm of Ruder Finn--notorious for its slanders of the Belgrade government.

No government in the world officially recognizes a "Government of Kosovo."

A Turkish newspaper correspondent reported in March that journalists have gone to Kosovo "with a prejudgment."

Quoted in the online document "The Media War Against Yugoslavia," (http://www.gov.yu/terrorism/) the Turkish journalist wrote: "There are in Kosovo about a dozen journalists from Turkey. When starting our journey, we were convinced that the events from Bosnia would be repeated there. Afterwards, there was no place for the objective news that we prepared. All journalists in that region are just looking for sensations.

"A joke may very well describe the situation in which the journalists who followed the events in Kosovo found themselves. A five-star hotel--the `Grand Pristina'--in which they were accommodated was called, by the journalists among themselves, Hotel Casa blanca. Anyway the surroundings reminded us very much of the scenario of the famous film `Casablanca.' Agents were everywhere.

"Before you send your news to the newspaper or to the agency in which you work, you first inform the American Information Center (USIS). In fact, the demonstrations really started in front of the American Information Center. The demonstrations organized against the Serbian leadership were not deprived of the American flag and posters with the inscriptions, `Where are you, America?'"

By pushing the region to the brink of war, the U.S. government is creating a justification for bringing its imperialist occupation army into Kosovo. Washington has been maneuvering for a military occupation of Kosovo as part of its military takeover of the Balkans.

- END -

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America equips KLA terrorists - head to toe. Baseball caps included:

The New York Times article published on June 22, 1998 has title: "Both Sides in the Kosovo Conflict Seem Determined to Ignore Reality". Unintentionally, the author of the article reveals an interesting detail. One sentence says:

"The men in the camouflage gear wear baseball caps with red patches that show the black double-headed Albanian eagle and the initials UCK, the Albanian acronym for the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army."

One should know that Baseball is NOT played in the Balkans. Baseball caps are not manufactured anywhere in the Balkans... and people generally do not wear baseball caps in the Balkans.