With "UCK" (KLA) spray-painted on a church, an Albanian Muslim in Kosovo snaps a photo of his fellow tribesman urinating on a burned-out remnant of this formerly Christian land. These are our murderous "allies", whose terrorism we will reward in the coming weeks and months with independence -- which they will unilaterally declare in any case, along with war against NATO, UN and the EU if necessary.
Below is an exclusive report from Tuesday's open hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:
At the hearing, titled "The Outlook for the Independence of Kosova" (the Islamic and dhimmi spelling of the province), Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) -- Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee -- said the following:
Just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led government[s] in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States' principles are universal, and in this instance, the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe.
In other words, all this time, al Qaeda was just looking for us to create an Islamic state in Europe, and so after such a gesture, jihadists should be at peace with us.
State Dept. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns was the special Witness. He reiterated the U.S. position that immediate independence without standards or compromise is the only acceptable solution, because the growing violence is what guides our Kosovo policy:
It's our view that we have now [to] act resolutely in the coming weeks...we looked at this very carefully with our European friends. And we said, are we better off supporting a solution in the spring of 2007 or delaying a year or two? We became convinced in looking at it, all of us, that the prospects for violence would be greater if we waited. Because 92 to 94 percent of the people who now live in Kosovo are Albanian Muslims. They have been waiting a long, long time...And so we the international community must act.
The State Dept. representative has just asserted that explosive Muslims will attack if we don't give them what they want -- now. He also didn't miss the opportunity to invoke the usual Nazi imagery in reference to the Serbs -- who have been getting hacked to pieces over the past eight years by Albanians -- while praising the Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku, an indicted Serb-slaughterer, as "impressive" and "worthy".
Both Lantos' and Burns' statements were flush with references to the long disproved ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo.
Smiling and chewing gum as he spoke, Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) was muttering unintelligibly, his mannerisms flippant and his mood inappropriate for the setting, a source reports, describing his behavior as "jarring". She was able to make out that at one point he said (with emphasis added): "The Albanians have a right to control their destinies. We are pushing them in the right direction."
Incidentally, you will never meet a Kosovo Albanian who does not support independence for the province. Because those have all been killed, and the one or two remaining know to keep their mouths shut. Such is the "democracy" that John McCain and Joe Lieberman look forward to in Kosovo.
Amid this theater of the absurd, Diane Edith Watson (D-CA) stood out as a rare voice of dissent on Kosovo, making the following stunningly sober statements:
I know the undersecretary will probably stress how unique the situation regarding Serbia and Kosovo is. But I would ask my colleagues to reflect on this for a moment and think about the reality of this statement. There are a dozen such unique situations around the globe, yet I do not see the United States advocating the independence of Somaliland from Somalia, the independence of Taiwan from China, nor the independence of Kurdistan from Iraq or Turkey.
...
There is broad international consensus that the status quo in Kosovo will ultimately lead to upheaval if not resolved. But I do not understand is why our State Department would seek to remedy the situation by accelerating that upheaval... That one word [independence] in an instant makes Kosovo's Albanian population winners and Kosovo's Serbs losers.
If the goal of our strategy in the Balkans is to promote ethnic cooperation and reduce conflict, this seems like a singularly misguided strategy...
I see the United States acting ahead of the people who share the ethnicity, share the region, et cetera. I was recently, over the last 10 days, in China, and one of the things we steered away from with great caution was ever mentioning Taiwan...they talk about one country, two systems. And I am trying to look at this situation and look at the impact on Russia and the fact that we're suggesting independence, and it just seems like we're getting into the middle of an age-old conflict.
Indeed, an Asia Times commentary this week explained that to Russia (as to Serbia), an independent Muslim Kosovo presents an existential threat. And it is to America's eternal disgrace that a country like Russia is on the right side of history on this matter while we pigheadedly pursue the path of befriending evil. Burns' appalling response to Watson's concerns:
...Kosovo is different... and we believe that achieving the independence of Kosovo will not lead others to justify similar treatment from the United Nations or from the United States itself.
Because there's no such thing as setting precedents? Particularly by rewarding violence, as the Kosovo Albanians watched the West do in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Further, Burns believes that our actions in Kosovo didn't embolden the Albanians to promptly move on to terrorize neighboring Macedonia, and Montenegro and parts of Southern Serbia.
Burns then reverted to the favorite ploy of laying the blame of "intransigence" and non-compromise on the one party that's willing to compromise, Serbia:
If we felt that there was a real prospect of reconciliation at the table, we would support it. There would be no reason not to. But the Serb government has made a political decision not to participate, and they've been very clear about that.
Rep. Dan Burton (D-IN) reminded the undersecretary that Serb concerns, objections and amendments to the proposed plan were uniformly dismissed. And Rep. Christopher Smith (D-NJ) reminded the room that "we know for a fact that even with the intervention of [peacekeepers] there has been an enormous amount of damage done to monasteries and churches that have been targeted." To which Burns offered the following punch line:
The majority leadership, the Albanian Moslems, are going to have to step up and assure everyone and the United Nations that they will commit themselves to minority rights.When I met with them, when President Clinton did the other day in New York, they signed a statement saying all -- the entire leadership team -- saying that they would do so. And we all told them that we would hold them to that standard. And I think that's fair, for members of Congress to suggest the same thing to them. It would be very helpful if you would remind them of those responsibilities.
They signed a piece of paper! That means once they get what they want, they'll do a one-eighty, and actually start prosecuting Albanians who kill the Serbs and Roma of Kosovo. (Notice that even Burns notes that they'll need "reminding.")
The piece de resistance came from Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY):
And I want to in a bipartisan fashion commend President Bush and the administration, President Clinton as well. Both presidents understand that this issue needed and needs to be resolved. And the president, President Bush, has been steadfast in saying that this really needs to be done now.
...And I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Burns, that the possibility of violence if we delay is something that increases as we delay. People there have been waiting for years, and now really is the time.
At the height of the March, 2004 Kosovo pogrom against Serbs, in which another 4,000 Serbs fled the province and scores of homes, churches and monasteries were set ablaze, Engel -- who has said he wants to be the first U.S. lawmaker to stand on independent Kosovo soil -- addressed the House of Representatives:
When there is no resolution of the final status, the people in a country become restless because they see no future... Right now there is rampant unemployment. Right now there is very little hope for a future...Self-determination and, ultimately, independence for the people of Kosovo is the only solution. When people do not see a chance for self-determination, tensions fester beneath the surface when you do not move to resolution... What we have seen...is this ridiculous plan called standards before status.
These are the same words used to excuse or justify terrorism against Israelis. For a Jewish congressman to be advocating statehood before standards is interesting indeed. Let the record show that Engel is for rewarding terror with independence. Palestine, take note.
More from Engel at Tuesday's hearing: "[T]he Kosovars are pro-American, so pro-American it isn't funny, and they will be a strong ally of the United States and of NATO and of the European Union."
But an officially sanctioned narco-terrorist gangster state that was won with material help from al Qaeda will hurt us as much as it will pretend to help. But we're supposed to operate under the "illusion that concessions to violence and the threat of violence can promote the creation of a moderate Muslim democracy," as James Jatras has put it.
Burns joined in this charade:
...There's a street named after President Clinton; there's a street named after Congressman Engel, and I hope there'll be a street... named after President Bush because this has been a bipartisan effort, Democrats and Republicans.
There are also avenues named for Bob Dole and Wesley Clark, two highly prized Albanian purchases. But when good will is acquired by doing someone's bidding, pro-Americanism is won for the wrong reasons, and the gratitude will turn on a dime the moment we stop furthering that party's agenda. In Kosovo, it began happening as early as 2000, when the Kosovars started calling for the UN and NATO "occupiers" to get out. Nor do the American and British flags hanging upside-down from Pristina's Victory Hotel bode well for the future of pro-Americanism in "Kosova". And the Wahhabi Muslims who started flooding Kosovo upon our intervention have been making sure that young Albanians sour on us anyway.
Finally, toward the end, came an impressive, unexpected, long overdue smackdown, from Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL):
You're saying it's taken a long time, but it does seem to be a rush towards a so-called solution, independence. I don't understand what independence solves. You talked about abandoning the premise of standards before status. And if a provisional government has been unable or unwilling to move forward on achieving those standards that would protect ethnic Serbs in their own country, I don't know why they would feel safer in an independent Kosovo.
...You talked about compromise, in that the Serbs were unwilling to compromise. And I guess I'd ask what compromise[UN envoy Martti] Ahtisaari was even willing to consider, given that there's pretty much been an attitude of a foregone conclusion that independence is what it's about, and if the Serbs want to talk about that then they can talk about that. But what other options [were] even raised or considered ...How are you not concerned about the precedent of severing a historically significant portion of a sovereign nation because of an ethnic majority -- (audio break) -- majorities that exist in other countries?
And how are we, as an international community and as a country, going to respond to when other communities choose to sever themselves from their countries towards independence?...how does this move us forward? We talk about -- I think our nation has been a beacon of hope for democracies around the world, where diversity works. And instead of making diversity work in this country or helping and assisting as an international community, we're saying it can't work, so let's just separate. And I'm also concerned about that precedent...
But without the provisional government demonstrating an ability to meet the standards that you're now hopeful that they're going to achieve independently, what gives you any confidence that that's going to change? Two hundred thousand Serbs have been driven out of their homes, while returning ethnic Albanians were brought back safely under the eye of the U.N. troops. But those Serbs have not been given the right to return. They have not been made to feel safe...
Fourteenth, 15th century cathedrals and monasteries were destroyed while our troops were there, and they said, "Well, we're here to protect people, not property." And how -- help me understand how the Serbian people are going to feel [safe with this] sort of solution, given this recent history.
To which Burns replied, "The Serbs are welcome to return. Most of the Serbs who left after June of 1999 left it of their own accord." (Former KLA commander Hashim Thaci last month told a Vienna paper: "We expelled Serbs at that time together with NATO.")
Burns also pointed to "the great job that our troops have done with very little loss of life. It's been a peaceful environment, relatively speaking, over the last eight years."
Then again, for Kosovo killing a Serb a week is a relatively peaceful environment.
"The United States Should Welcome a New Era for Kosovo", reads a Heritage Foundation headline by Sally McNamara -- a testament to the cluelessness that has guided the Right's default to the deadly and disastrous Clintonian-jihadist policies in the Balkans.
Toward the end, Burns said that "we'll celebrate the 60th anniversary [of NATO] two years from now -- our finest moment was stopping two wars, bringing about two peace agreements and freeing the Muslim populations of Southeast Europe from potential annihilation in two wars. It's a very proud accomplishment of NATO."
There was never any intended annihilation of Muslims in the Balkans. There was a crackdown on terrorism, something that we didn't understand yet and therefore precluded, so that the accomplishment was actually this:
In the eyes of the radical Islamic circles, the establishment of an independent Islamic territory including Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania along the Adriatic Coast, is one of the most prominent achievements of Islam since the siege of Vienna in 1683. Islamic penetration into Europe through the Balkans is one of the main achievements of Islam in the twentieth century. (Israeli Colonel Dr. Shaul Shay, author of Islamic Terror and the Balkans)
Some people from the European parliament popped in and took a bow.
In closing, Lantos said, "And let me just add, as one who still passionately believes in bipartisan -- in the bipartisan foreign policy, this is an outstanding example of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy succeeding. I want to salute you and the secretary, and we are assured of our full cooperation in bringing about this result."
When there is this kind of bipartisan consensus and bipartisan back-patting on an issue as terrifying as Kosovo -- the origin of the explosives used in Madrid and the February attack on the U.S. embassy in Greece -- something is rotten in Denmark indeed.
Believe me, Mr. Lantos, jihadists have taken note.