By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
March 15, 2001
It was on the front pages sporadically, but the in the end it was only a few lines saying:
"Government soldiers in Afghanistan say they have destroyed a 170-foot-tall statue of Buddha, even though people around the world begged that the ancient artwork be left alone.
"Afghanistan is run by the Taliban, a strict Islamic group. The government has said that all statues in the country would be destroyed.
"The Islamic religion says it is wrong to create pictures or statues of God, and Islamic art usually does not show people or living things. But most Islamic groups do not support destroying art created by other religions.
"The 170-foot Buddha and another 120-foot statue were carved out of a cliff by Buddhists more than 1,500 years ago. They have been damaged over the years, but were still beautiful, important pieces of art.
"The Taliban also bans television and music and made it illegal for most girls to attend school."
The destruction of the large standing Buddhas is a tragic loss. It is, however, merely part of the Taliban, and the Mujahideen terrorism or, as they call it, Jihad or "Holy War" designed to force their particular brand of religion on the rest of the world.
In trolling the Internet on this subject I ran across an interview done in May of 1996 on a Muslim website called MSA News with Abu Abdel Aziz. In and interview Aziz was described as "one of the forerunners of Jihad in this era a Mujahideen" and was asked to describe how the "Jihad in Afghanistan" started and how he ended up in the "Jihad" in Bosnia.
One of the many questionable foreign policy moves on the part of former president Bill Clinton was allowing arms and the Mujahideen fighters through the UN blockade into Bosnia. In 1997 Sen. Larry Craig, then Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, released a statement charging Clinton with approving Iranian Arms Transfer to help turn Bosnia into a Militant Islamic Base. ""'There is no question that the policy of getting arms into Bosnia was of great assistance in allowing the Iranians to dig in and create good relations with the Bosnian government,' a senior CIA officer told Congress in a classified deposition. '
After the Dayton accord was signed in 1995 the Mujahideen forces were supposed to leave Bosnia within 30 days. Of course, many of they are still there. Others did return to Afghanistan and other nations from which they came to share in the glories of the Bosnia Jihad. What we are dealing with here is the equivalent of a Muslim Crusade against the West and other religions, although they appear perfectly willing to take any assistance from the West when it comes to getting the most up-to-date missiles and rockets. To destroy the Buddha statues, and the more than 80 churches and monasteries in Kosovo since it has been occupied by NATO and UNMIK troops, rockets seem to be the weapon of choice.
However, it appears that the destruction of more than 80 Christian churches in Kosovo is not even on the radar screen of the World media. Churches constructed in the 13th and 14th century, and which managed to survive 500 years of Muslim occupation by the Turks, have been destroyed. Indeed, throughout the Clinton Administration the Serbs, who saved the lives of more than 500 America pilots shot down over Yugoslavia in World War II, have been treated as America's worst enemies. CNN's Christian Amanpour, a Muslim, never once told the Serb side of the story in the Balkans, and consistently reported the story of Kosovo as if the Serbs, without cause, just decided to attack the poor, defenseless Muslims. She helped set the propaganda stage that allowed Clinton to bomb cities, hospitals, schools and even embassies in Yugoslavia for 79 days.
Now, all the sudden, two years after we stopped bombing the Serbs to help the KLA in its Jihad against the Christians in the Balkans, we read in today's New York Times that "Yugoslavia's Troops Return to Zone Bordering Kosovo." Tucked away on a back page of the NY Times we also learn that some American troops are being withdrawn from Bosnia.
Generals in charge of the troops are Nebojsa Pavkovic, and Vladimir Lazarevic who were in command of Serb forces in Kosovo when NATO began bombing Yugoslavia in 1999. Pavkovic had said some months ago that eventually they would be back and seemed to think that they would return at the request of NATO. While we haven't been given all the facts yet, they were escorted by into the area by KFOR helicopter.
KFOR states on its website (http://www.kforonline.com/news/reports) that the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ) on the Macedonian border "was laid out in an agreement that stopped NATO's 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Neither KFOR nor VJ are allowed access into the GSZ, and this "Hole in the wall" situation has resulted in an increase in tense clashes between the ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbian special police force (MUP). This is a development KFOR now tries to decrease by allowing Yugoslav troops to patrol the southern end of the zone to stop weapons smuggling and rebels infiltrating the area where Kosovo, the rest of Serbia and Former Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) meet. In other words, a key step in NATO efforts to reduce the threat of a new Balkan war."
Or, in other words, this is an admission on the part of KFOR that they have failed to stop the very behavior that prompted the Serbs to send the army into Kosovo in the first place. The Albanian Muslim Jihad called the KLA was busy killing off the Serb police force and demanding, at gun point, that all Albanians support the KLA.
President Kostunica, the new Yugoslavian president, elected largely with American money, has also met with United Nations representatives to insist on the rest of the "agreement that stopped the war" be respected by allowing Serbs and other non-Albanian citizens of Kosovo to return and reclaim what is left of their homes, farms and businesses.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com
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