1. BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 

The US Congressional Research Service report[1] states that Al-Qaeda cells have been currently  identified and have been objectively suspected in at least thirty-four countries and their affiliated geo-political territories. Moreover, this same report dated September 10th 2001, released in Washington D.C. on September 13th 2001, only two days after the September 11th terrorist attacks perpetrated against America’s World Trade Center, stated Osama bin Laden is estimated to have inherited roughly $300- million dollars.

 

Although some terrorist experts believe bin Laden actually has far less than this figure presently, and he is no longer reliant on his personal fortune to finance Al-Qaeda's activities, they claim that alternately he is employing a variety of both legal and illegal business endeavors as fronts for financing his terrorist activities.

 

Over the previous six years, Al-Qaeda’s network led by, Osama bin Laden, has evolved from merely a small regional threat beginning with USW troops stationed in the Persian Gulf, into an all out global threat to international peace and perpetual human survival, as well as including a direct threat which is especially directed against United States citizens and United States associated national security interests. In constructing Al-Qaeda, bin Laden has assembled a coalition of disparate terrorists radical Islamist groups comprised of a variety of ethnic nationalities, with a purpose to work towards one common collective goal, which is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and which should result in  total ethnic expulsion of everyone non-Muslim, so that for in that manner only Islamist racists are left as the overall controlling influence of these future ethnically pure Islamic Muslim-inhabited lands which once were multi-ethnic as America is today.

 

Al-Qaeda’s overarching ideology has been elucidated in several of their pronouncements signed by bin Laden himself and his associated allies. First, bin Laden is notably given monetary financial support for his Islamic fighters and/or terrorists against Serb forces in Bosnia; against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, against Israeli force and now against US lead forces actively fighting terrorism within Iraq. Bin Laden is also renown for his active financing of terrorist Islamist fighters trying to gain ultimate military control over Indian held Kashmir; against secular Pro-Western forces and their associated Pro-Western governments within Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and as well against the United States troops and American citizens currently residing within the geo-political terrain of the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Yemen, Jordan and against as September 11th manifested, even the United States mainland itself.[2]

 

In adition, Al-Qaeda cells have been  identified and also actively suspected within: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Mauritania, Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Metohija, Albania[3], United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States[4].

 

It is noteworthy also to comprehend that this report did not however make it clear the real home to the Al-Qaeda terrorists Cells expanding their sphere of ideological religious influence in these aforementioned areas is genuinely both Iran and Syria also.

 

Moreover, according to the newest information available from Al-Qaeda’s terrorist cells in the following countries: Italy, France, Spain, Russia, and Austria amongst many other states-fali kraj recenice. Evidently, it is not a  surprise that Al-Qaeda is obviously an extremely well organized network consisting of many diverse Islamist organizations currently acting globally. The common factor in all of Al-Qaeda’s cells and groupings is these groups use terrorism to attaining their political goals. An agenda whose main priority is to Coup d’etat the present democratically elected governments currently implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina Al-Qaeda considers currently comprised of "heretical governments" and to re-establish in their places, governments not dissimilar to the one recently controlling Afghanistan of the Taliban regime greatly violating human and civil rights of both genders and children and whose governmental regime was premised upon the Islamic Law of not democratic Rule of Law, but the Islamic Fundamentalist Law of the "Shariah[5]."

 

The following are five core political objectives of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network that can be summed up as:

 

I. Creation of  an ethnically pure Islamic religious fundamentalist states globally with an Islamic fundamentalist governmental regime existing, enabling the expansion of Al-Qaeda to be undertaken as it has been in prior Afghanistan where state terrorist training camps can be established to work towards expanding Al-Qaeda’s current sphere of political influence worldwide;

 

 

II. Establishment of a base of operation somewhere where  Rule of Law and Democratic governance is still in its infant stages, such as Iraq and/or Somalia where Al-Qaeda can setup recruit, train and equip new Islamic fundamentalists for future terrorist activities against the United States and other Western States and American allies;

 

III. Capacity of Al-Qaeda to become able to abuse, misuse and also misinterpret true Islamic doctrines in order to pervert Islam, one of the world’s largest proselytizing religions for the use of pure expansion of terrorist activities alone;

 

IV. Capability of Al-Qaeda to continue its advocating destruction of Western democratic governmental standards currently espoused within Western and Western European modern civilization. These values are perceived by Al-Qaeda as the largest obstacles blocking their overall fundamental Islamist goals;

 

V. Provision of Support to Muslim fundamentalism globally, particularly in United States, Israel, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Metohija, Japan, Chechnya, Afghanistan, China, Philippines, Tanzania, United States, Tajikistan, Sudan and also in Somalia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

           

2. OSAMA BIN LADIN’S CURRENT BALKAN TERRORIST LINKS IN BOSNIA& HERZEGOVINA

 

In his 28 September interview, Ossama bin Laden is quoted as follows:

"I can go from Indonesia to Algeria, Kabul to Chechnya, Bosnia to Sudan, and from Burma to Kashmir."

He continued…

"This is not a question of my survival. This is the question of the survival of the Jihad (holy war). Wherever required, I will be there."

 

Why is  Bosnia  listed as country with active Al-Qaeda cells? Well, this answer to this question lies partially in the fact that former Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic[6] became the first president of the Bosnian Muslims in early 1990, and by November he was the Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency. During World War Two he led the "Al Hidaya" organization, a subset of the "Young Muslims."  From 1943 onward Izetbegovic was the head organizer of recruiting drives for the Waffen SS division, "Handzar[7]," (13th Waffen-Gebirgsdivision den SS) as well as one of its founders. Moreover, Izetbegovic was associated with Hitler’s secret services (Abwehr AND the Gestapo) as well as with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, Hitler’s close associate and the founder of the "Handzar." Religion was an important motivational tool for these fascist divisions, so even Himmler  went as far as to allow each battalion to have its own "Iman" and each company had one "Mullah."

 

Books were produced and published at that time in order to  encourage the Islamic religion, and were distributed throughout its ranks. It was even reported once that Hitler himself sent each member of these fascist divisions a pendant with a miniature Koran attached to it. The 13th Waffen-SS Division committed numerous war crimes against the Serbs residing within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Owing to their many war crimes against the Jews, Romes and Serbian people, the Supreme Yugoslav Military Court (566/46, dated June 15, 1946) sentenced Izetbegovic to five years imprisonment for the many gravely vile war crimes commited against  Jews, Romes and Serbian people and the Bosnian state itself. After serving this sentence, Izetbegovic continued his work on stoking ethnic, religious and racial hatred in the Bosnian Herzegovina regions wherever it was possible. These actions eventually led to the 1990 Bosnian Civil Wars. His activities were primarily based on the spreading of Islamic fundamentalism and on the preaching ethnic and religious differences between the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Izetbegovic’s "Islamic Declaration," he wrote:

 

"There can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Muslim faith and the non-Muslim institutions, both social and political."[8] Moreover, he continued…"By laying the claim to define its own universe, Islam clearly excludes the right and possibility of any other ideology to exist in its midst. There can be no secular principle. The state should support and express the moral concepts of the faith. This is my message to all the Muslims of the world: we say clearly that there is no promised land, no miracles, no Mahdi. There is only the path of work, struggle and sacrifice."

 

Then on March 14th 1983 President Izetbegovic was sentenced by the Supreme Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to  additional 12 years imprisonment for gross violations of Article 136, Section 2 of the SFRY Penal Code (initiating grave hostilities towards and within the Country), and Article 133, Section 1 of the SFRY Penal Code (committing acts of instigating enemy propaganda). After his sentence expired Izetbegovic continued working on construction of a monolithic homogenic Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also was founder of the Political Party named, SDA (Party of Democratic Action).

 

The Presidency of the Association of the Islamic Clergy (Ilmia) for Bosnia and Herzegovina published in 1992, an enormous printing of its annual Takvim. This writings played a very important role in the Country’s libraries and owing to that Islamists would access these radical Islamic Fundamentalist writings in the state libraries and became so-called enlightened Muslims. In one of the chapter’s in this writing entitled "What is actually a Jihad"?, there were among others, these explicit Islamic religious instructions:

 

"Jihad in Islam is not only a war in the name of Allah. In reality, Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program that aims at changing the social system of the whole world and order it in harmony with its regulations and ideals. (p. 67) Islam wants to destroy all the states and governments everywhere here on earth, which stand opposed to the ideology and program of Islam, regardless of the state or the nation that lies in its power. The purpose of Islam is to establish the state based on its ideological theology program, no matter which nation becomes the bearer of Islam or which nation is undermined in the process of establishing the ideological Islamic state". (p. 68)

 

Osama bin Laden formed formal military alliances with Bosnian Muslims during Bosnia's (1992-95) civil wars. He reportedly funneled both money and arms into Bosnia's Muslim-led government and also to other followers of bin Laden whose guerrilla groupings were comprised of Muslims coming to  Bosnia from many other Islamic nations /countries in order to fight alongside Bosnia’s Muslims.

 

One should not look at the contemporary world for the roots of terrorism used as a means of fighting by Islamic extremists. Though it can be said that contributing causes of Islamic terrorism can be seen through/derived from social and economic circumstances and the ideological replacement of Communism by Islamic fanaticism, the main cause motivating Islamic fanatics for centuries has been the establishment of a global Islamic state - the Ummah. In this way, Islam itself has been abused as an excuse for the fanatics’ ambitions. There is also the issue of misinterpretation of the Koran, mostly by those Muslims who publicly declare Islam a religion of peace while in privacy , they dedicate themselves to the pan-Islamic cause that simply excludes the existence of others. Among those who engage in religious manipulation without hindrance – indeed, with an approval of the highest religious authorities – are terrorists of the Al-Qaeda network.

Bosnian Muslims’ religious authorities and the international community are ought to /should be be very concerned because Al-Hussein Hilmi Arman Ahmad, a.k.a. Eslam Durmo, was at the head of 16 madrassahs[9] during the Bosnian civil war, and six afterwards. He was identified as the ideological leader of the radical Islamic Wahhabi movement in Islamic terrorist circles. According to official Egyptian sources, Eslam Durmo is actually Al-Hussein Hilmi Arman Ahmad, born 14 January 1960 in Cannae. Egyptian authorities suspect him of felonies such as document forgery and the 1997 terrorist attack in Luxor. Durmo was also indicated as an associate of Osama bin Laden. As a member of “El-mujahid” unit of the “Bosnian Army,” which is linked to heinous war crimes and atrocities against civilians and POWs, Durmo published a religious instruction book, titled “Ideas that need to be corrected/Ideas requiering corrections” (Shvatanja koja treba ispraviti). This pamphlet was printed by the Kuwaiti so-called humanitarian NGO “Islamic Thought Revival.” What could this man, with a criminal past and terrorist ties, teach Bosnian Muslim youth about religion? Who allowed him to become engaged in religious instruction/education at all? The answer is not so elusive when one considers that many governments, Iran most of all, share Eslam Durmo’s opinions and beliefs.

Former Iranian leader and president Ayatollah Khomeini publicly advocated Iranian leadership of a global Islamic revolution. In Qom, on 14 January 1980, reviewing a company of 120 Pakistani officers training for terrorism and sabotage operations, he said: “We are in a war against infidels. Take this message with you – I ask all Islamic nations, all Muslims, all Islamic armies and all presidents of Muslim nations to join the Holy War. There are many enemies that need to be killed or destroyed. Jihad must triumph.[10]” A religious leader, a terrorist – or both? Long before anyone else, Khomeini began to attack Western targets with suicide bombers. He trained extremists, who practicised suicide attacks, in Lebanon. Thousands of young Muslims from around the world were trained for suicide attacks at the Besheshita camp near Karay, west of Tehran. In addition to men, some 300 women were taught in this very camp, under the instruction of Zahra Rahneward. There were many other camps for military and theological instructions, all in the function of pan-Islamic revolution. Former Iranian leader Khomeini is also the originator of the idea of using airplanes for suicide attacks. In the early 1980s, Iran had ordered a number of DC-7 airplanes for this purpose solely. Pilots were sent to North Korea in order to gain suicidal training, and upon their return,they were sent  to the newly established Shahid Chamran Airbase near Busheher. Members of these suicide squadrons were called the “Pasdaran pilots.”

Other nations besides Iran have accepted the ideas of Islamic revolution.

Initially, the fledgling terrorist network of Islamic extremists operated on two tracks. The first, and legal, relied on Islamic organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the World Islamic League (RABITA) and “Islamic Committee for Palestine,” who practiced influence through mutual solidarity, financial aid and a network of connections in Western Europe and the US.

The other, and illegal, focused on achieving the fundamental ideas of the Ummah through extremist groups practicing violence and terror, with the help of terrorism-sponsoring governments and the aforementioned organizations. Such groups were, for example, the “Muslim brotherhood” and “Gama’a al – Islamiyya” of Egypt, and the “Armed Islamic Group” (GIA) of Algeria. These and other terrorist groups of Islamic extremists help Muslims anywhere in the world who fight for Islamic extremist causes, offering them ideological and military assistance. That some of today’s most notorious terrorists took part in the civil wars of the former Yugoslavia – especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo-Metohia and the possible conflict in Raska – casts a new light on the nature of these conflicts and the true aims of Islamic extremists in the Western Balkans. More alarmingly, these extremists have found military and political support from the West. For example, Issa Abdullah (a.k.a. Abu Abdullah), a naturalized US citizen of Palestinian origin and a “Hamas” member, who came to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA to train mujahid’din with other US Special Forces  instructors, proceeded to conduct terrorist activities unhindered, with the full knowledge of the Clinton Administration. Other members of Abdullah’s group were assembled at a New Jersey mosque, and trained on a private property nearby. Officials who held a key role in bringing in the mujahid’din from North America to Bosnia and the Balkans are Safet Catovic[11], Ivica Misic and Muhamed Sacirbey.

 

3. LINKS BETWEEN 9/11 (MUHAMAED ATTA) AND THE AL-QAEDA NETWORK IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

 

Officials of the Muslim-Croat Federation in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA never released any information to the US investigators or lawyers representing the families of 9/11 victims, because such information would cast a new light on the entire BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA conflict. They would have made it obvious that the war was a jihad, a religious war waged against Bosnia’s Christians by the Islamic extremists.

The Interpol office in Wiesbaden, Germany sent a request to the Bosnian authorities on 18 September 2001 to verify the identity of a certain Mr. Atta, who according to their information used to reside in the hamlet of Bakotic, 8 km outside Maglaj, in 1999. Attached to the request was the photo of Mohamed Atta, and a note to verify it through a certain Mehmed Hasanic, a resident of Bakotic. This means Mohamed Atta was traine in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA; it is known that he left BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA for Hamburg, from where he proceeded to the United States and his ultimate mission – to destroy the Twin Towers.

4. FIVE KEY AL-QAEDA MEMBERS WHO DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TOOK PART IN 9/11 AND ARE LINKED TO     BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

 

• Sheikh Omar abd-al Rahman (convicted of the 1993 attack on the WTC) was connected to the so-called humanitarian organization TWRA, which was a cover for terrorists. Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic made personal guarantees for TWRA’s general director and personal friend Elfatih Hassanein, so he could open an account with Die Erste Osterreich Bank in Vienna, Austria in 1993.
• Mohammed Haydar Zammar, who recruited Mohamed Atta into Al-Qaeda, had a terrorist base in Bosnia. Zammar is also responsible for recruiting two of Atta’s lieutenants, Ramzi Binalsahib and Said Bahaji.
• Osama bin Laden received a Bosnian passport from the Embassy in Vienna, Austria. Many other Al-Qaeda members were also  issued BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA passports, which enabled them to continue their terrorist activities.
• Abu al-Ma’ali (Abdelkader Mokhtari), a senior Al-Qaeda operative, was stationed in Bosnia until recent. Just a few years ago, US officials used to call him “Osama Bin Laden, Jr.”
• Bensayah Belkacem was arrested in Bosnia in October 2001. Numbers saved in his cell phone connected him to at least one top-rank associate of Bin Laden. American investigators intercepted telephone calls and other evidence showed that Bensayah Belkacem, who was believed to be a native of Algeria or Yemen with Bosnian citizenship, had numerous conversations on cellular telephones last fall with leaders of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He was identified as an European lieutenant in Al-Qaeda who was ordered to carry out attacks on American targets in the Balkans after Sept. 11.
  
  The officials said FBI and military investigators were particularly eager to question Mr. Belkacem about the personal background and possible hiding places of Mr. Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian in his early 30´s, who is believed to be the coordinator of the terrorist attacks ordered by bin Laden.
  
  

Al-Qaeda’s role in radical Islamic activities and events in Bosnia has been frequently mentioned in US media and official government reports since the 9/11 tragedy.

 

5. MORE ON SEPTEMBER 11 AND BOSNIA’S AL-QAEDA NETWORK

Another senior commander of Mujahedeen battalion in central Bosnia-Herzegovina was Abu Zubair al-Haili (a.k.a. Mohammed Haydar Zammar, "the Bear"), German citizen of Syrian descent. He was the chief handler of the Hamburg Al-Qaeda cell responsible for September 11 suicide hijackings. He received military training in Pakistan in 1991 plied his deadly skills in what militant Islamic fundamentalists refer to as the " Jihad - holy war" which raged in ethnically strife-torn Bosnia in the 1990s.

Zammar was travelling under the cover of "Tabligh", a missionary sect of Muslims, that he conveniently used for fundamentalist recruiting purposes.

German investigators have learned that one of the individuals whom Zammar led/attached into the Al-Qaida network was Mohammed Atta, the pilot of one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Zammar also brought two of Atta's lieutenants into the al-Qaida network, Ramzi Bin al-Shaibah and Said Bahaji. Indonesian citizen Agus Budiman, who spent more than nine months in a US prison as a terrorist suspect, met Bin al-Shaibah, a Muslim cleric from Hamburg.

Ramzi Bin al-Shaibah told Budiman that he wanted to take part in the Jihad, or holy war, in Bosnia. Bin al-Shaibah is the 20th hijacker who was supposed to be onboard the plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar (American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon) were not like the other hijackers. The two Saudis militant backgrounds is more comprehensive than the others, despite their young ages. In the mid-1990s both apparently were in the Bosnia conflict, and then fought in Chechnya at various times between 1996 and 1998. This was confirmed by the Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearings.

American investigators intercepted telephone calls and other evidence showed that Bensayah Belkacem, who was believed to be a native of Algeria or Yemen with Bosnian citizenship, had numerous conversations on cellular telephones last fall with leaders of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He has been identified as a European lieutenant in Al-Qaeda who was ordered to carry out attacks on American targets in the Balkans after Sept. 11.

6. JAMAAH ISLAMIAH LINKS AND BALI BOMBING

 

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, the leader of Indonesia's most prominent radical Islamic group, Jamaah Islamiah. Admited in his interview for Australian ABC news that while in exile, he taught many of "Muslim extremists" in Islamic studies including the concepts of Jihad - or Holy War.

Abu Bakar encouraged Muslims to fight Christians on the battlefield in places where Muslims were under attack, adding it was possible some of those, whom he called his "listeners", had done so in places such as Bosnia.

Indonesia television reported that the man, known as Amrozios, had allegedly confessed his involvment in  bombing conspiracy and  owning a minivan that exploded outside the Sari Club (Bali bombing) on October 12 killing almost 200 people.

Amrozios, 30, allegedly admitted he knew JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir and the group's chief of operations Riduan Isamudidin, alias Hambali, the most wanted terrorist in South East Asia.

Police sources said in a raid of Amrozios' house  two books about Jihad in Bosnia and the Philippines were found.

A former lieutenant colonel in the Malaysian Army, Abdul Manaf Kamsuri, was arrested under suspicion of having ties to JI. Abdul Manaf, a high-flying officer who won three merit awards when he graduated from Britain's Sandhurst Military Academy, served nine months in Bosnia as part of Malaysia's U.N. peacekeeping force from 1993 to 1994. Malaysian officials say that while serving there, he befriended Al-Qaeda members fighting as support enforcment to the Bosnians.

The alleged chief of the Bali bombers who trained for Jihad under Osama bin is Laden Muklas, or Ali Ghufron, one of the most senior members of the secretive South-East Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Muklas learned his fighting skills in Afghanistan, and apparently used conflicts within his native Indonesia as well as in Bosnia in order to recruit fellow countrymen to his cause.

The "shoe-bomber", Richard C. Reid and Jamaat ul-Fuqra
U.S. officials believed Reid to be a follower of Sheikh Mubarak Ali Shah Gilalni, a leader of an obscure Muslim militant group named Jamaat ul-Fuqra ("The Impoverished"). Described by the State Department's 1995 report on terrorism as dedicated "to purifying Islam through violence," ul-Fuqra recruited devotees from as far away as the Netherlands and had sent Jihadis into battle in Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia, and Israel.

Sheikh, himself, visited Bosnia at least once, when he joined a "Caravan of Mercy," taking "relief supplies" to Bosnia.

 

7. MADRID BOMBINGS HIGHLIGHT EXTENT AND CAPABILITY OF ISLAMIST NETWORKS REACTIVATION OF BOSNIAN SUPPORT NET FOR NEW US ATTACKS[12]?

 

A series of tightly coordinated bombings on the commuter rail networks of Madrid, Spain, during rush hour on the morning of March 11, 2004, were clearly linked to the al-Qaida-related group, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which during 2003 and 2004 were engaged in geographically dispersed terrorist bombings in Ankara, Turkey, and against the UN compound in Baghdad, Iraq, in August 2003. However, more than anything else, the March 11, 2004, bombings highlighted the extensive European network of the various Islamist groups and gave various indications of further activities.

 

Today, there is a evidence indicating a pattern of terrorist attacks during 2004, designed to help removal of the governments of Spain, the US and Australia. In this context, in the US and Spanish operations, the Bosnian Islamist terror support network plays a key rôle, and GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs has continued to gain information which highlights this fact. [GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs readers are familiar with the extensive volume of intelligence material on this matter produced over the past decade; much of that is available in the Special Reports and Archival sections of the Global Information System.]

 

Operations of the magnitude of the March 11, 2004, “Operation Death Trains” (as it was described in the al-Masri communiqué which followed the bombings) require massive support infrastructures. The earlier and most recent al-Masri actions demonstrated a seamless and comprehensive capability which spans Western Europe, and involves networks which have embedded themselves into Western society over the past 15 or more years. In the case of the Iranian aspects of the support network — which not only has supported nominally Shi’i terrorists, but also nominally Sunni (Wahabbi) terrorists — the process of embedding support structures in Western Europe and North America has been underway since 1979, when extremist clerics seized power when the Shah left Iran.

 

In the case of the latest Spanish attacks, Iran, for a quet long time, has been coordinating terrorist activities, training and other support measures which linked Spain's ETA Basque separatist terrorist organization with other groups. ETA, which was apparently not represented at the gathering of terrorist organizations in Tehran earlier in 2004, has attended in the past Iranian terrorist conclaves, convened, ostensibly, to discuss the Palestinian issue. In reality, the more-or-less annual gatherings in Tehran — addressed and most significantly supported by the so-called “moderate” Iranian President  Hojjat ol-Eslam (Ali) Mohammad, Khatami-Ardakani — are gatherings to facilitate cooperation, training, interoperability and financing of disparate terrorist groups aimed at common enemies, particularly the US.

 

ETA regularly attends those gatherings, and its members meet with other Shi’ite and Sunni (and non-Muslim) terrorists from other areas. As well, ETA has trained and used Iranian-controlled terrorist facilities in Lebanon’s Beqa’a Valley. However, it is almost certainly the case that ETA was not officially involved in the March 11, 2004, bombings in Madrid, at least from the evidence known thus far. But it is almost certain that some individuals within ETA provided some of the logistical support or local area knowledge for the attacks.

Most significant in the European capability for the range of Islamist terrorist activities is the network built up, mostly since 1990-91, in Bosnia & Herzegovina. This network has become the hub of operations extending into Germany, France, Spain, Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe and North America.

 

The Bosnian-based operations — which engage a number of different Iranian-run terrorism/insurgency cadres such as variety of Arab Mujaheddin groups as well as direct Bosnian Islamist operations — provided the essential capability for the September 11, 2001, terrorists actions. That Bosnian network extended to the use of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mission to the United Nations,in New York.

 

A September 17, 2003, report in Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, and entitled Bosnian Official Links With Terrorism, Including 9/11, Become Increasingly Apparent as Clinton, Clark Attempt to Justify Support of Bosnian Militants, noted:

 

A series of documents, just acquired by GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, highlight the links between radical Islamists in key positions in the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H) and known and suspected Islamists with terrorist links. Significantly, one of the key Bosnian Islamist officials, Huso (he later called himself Hussein) Zivalj, was B-H Ambassador to the United Nations during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York. He arrived just before the attacks and left the post shortly after.

 

Now, it is  becoming very clear that the assignment of Zivalj to the New York post just before (and his departure just after) the September 11, 2001, attacks was not coincidental. That extensive report also said: Significantly, Zivalj, who is regarded as the most important radical Islamist in the B-H networks, working closely with al-Qaida and Iranian terrorist officials, holds an US Green Card (permanent residency), and his family,as it is believed,still  lives in Florida. Zivalj now, is believed of being a director of Islamic Bank, in B-H. He spent some time, during the communist era in the former Yugoslavia, in prison with Alija Izetbegovic, who later became the Islamist President of B-H. Significantly, Zivalj used his position in Vienna to issue, in 1995, a B-H passport to Safet Catovic [Passport No. BH-46600], and GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily has the documentation on this. Earlier, he had issued a B-H passport to Osama bin Laden, head of the al-Qaida networks.

 

Zivalj had been a Vice-President and member of the governing board of the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), which had been funded by Osama bin Laden, and with whom Sheikh Omar Abd-al-Rahman (the so-called “blind sheikh”) was involved. The Egyptian Sheikh Omar was convicted for his rôle in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. TWRA was founded in Vienna in 1987 and had links with the Izetbegovic Government in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as with Dr Hassan al-Turabi and his terrorist operations in Sudan.

 

This network, which played a key and direct rôle in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, has been at the center of the so-called "green transversal", the line which runs in effect from Afghanistan through Western Europe to North America, running drugs and arms and supporting Islamist proselytization and terrorism. This network, essentially established and managed with the immense support of the late Bosnia-Herzegovina leader Alija Izetbegovic, remains in existence and is tied directly to both al-Qaida as well as to the Iranian Government, which stations Pasdaran (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: IRGC) fighters in organized groups and compounds inside Bosnia.

Over the years, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily has provided extensive reporting, with documented details and collateral on this subject  but particularly did so during the past year. However a number of US and European officials engaged in monitoringof  the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Accords in Bosnia-Herzegovina,  have consistently refuted the data, largely because it would imply a failure of their mission and, more significantly, it would imply that the current rundown of peacekeeping forces in Bosnia — to meet needs in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere — should not be undertaken.

 

Now, however, the messages emanating from Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and other al-Qaida and Islamist sources is that “al-Qaida” was now 99 percent ready for another major terrorist attack on the United States. In fact, it is not just the amorphous “al-Qaida” — which is merely a convenient catch-all name for the activities now underway — but a heavy campaign to strike at the US and its allies, including particularly Spain and probably the UK (and perhaps Australia), before the US-led Coalition succeeds in helping Iranians remove the radical clerical leaders and find and destroy Osama bin Laden himself. The attack on Madrid, timed three days before general elections, was clearly not a coincidence, but what it was instead was a direct warning to voters saying that they must pay the price for their Government’s support for the US-led “war on terror”.

 

A similar campaign was clearly planned for the US in 2004, a year which gives the Iranian clerics the chance to achieve “regime change” in the US. Only the removal of the US Bush Administration would give both the Iranian clerics and the bin Laden hierarchy the breathing space they seek.

 

GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily reported in 2003 that the Iranian clerics were known to have committed some $200-million in order to achieve “regime change” in the US. It is not insignificant that a major flow of funds through Albanian-Americans reached, now-failed Democratic candidate, Gen. Wesley Clark and not less significant funding is reaching the campaign of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry through Iranian-Americans, even though the expatriates of both those countries may in be in larg part unaware why their help had been solicited in funneling funds to the candidates. But the Iranian-bin Laden attempts will go far deeper than that; they will almost certainly include attempts at staging terrorist “spectaculars”.

 

However, the timing and success of these attacks is critical. Certainly, the attacks must be seen as being overwhelmingly successful, and therefore all planning precautions will be taken to ensure that they will not appear to be “damp squibs” which will merely embarrass the perpetrators.

 

Significantly, there are indications that the Bosnian support network in the United States remains intact and functioning. Even former BH Ambassador to the UN Huso Zivali remains at large; he has a US permanent resident “Green Card” and his family lives in Florida. One of his key functionaries in the build-up to September 11, 2001, Safet Catevic,  who was undoubtedly involved in the US Islamist operations linked to the September 11, 2001, attacks, also remains at liberty and may still be in the US.

 

But more significantly, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs on March 11, 2001, uncovered extensive intelligence material on the background to the current Bosnia-Herzegovina Permanent Representative (Ambassador) to the United Nations, Kušljugic Mirza, a committed member of the Islamist leadership which had conducted the Bosniak side of the civil war with Iranian and bin Ladenist help in Bosnia, and which later was documented of supporting the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US. A translation from the dossier is quoted at length as follows:

 

Kušljugic Mirza, ambassador of BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina] to UN, during the armed conflict in former Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a member of the highest leadership of Municipal Assembly of the town of Tuzla and the War Presidency of SDP Tuzla, where he planned, encouraged, ordered, committed or in some other way supported planning, preparations and executing the following:

 

1. Persecutions of Serbs in the municipality of Tuzla, establishing Muslim authorities based on ethnic and religious background in towns, municipalities and villages where the Serb population lived and worked;

He participated in a national rebellion in the party SDP BiH in Tuzla when Muslims in 1991 and 1992 informally took over the leadership, keeping all other Serb activists isolated from information and real activities. They created the ruling system based on national and religious background, preparing themselves to illegally attack the Serbs.¹

As a member of the War Presidency SDP in Tuzla and a member of the War Presidency of the Municipal Assembly (MA) in Tuzla, he contributed, by his deeds and actions, to the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in the region of municipality of Tuzla, which consequently led to a downfall of the number of Serbs from 22,000 to 2,000 in 1995.

Together with the other members of the War Presidency of MA Tuzla, he ordered and supported  illegal mobilization of Serbs although many of them had been incapable for military service and ill, manipulating mobilization in such a way to collect the Serbs on important scientific and professional positions and consequently changing the structure of the authorities.

 

During 1992, 1993, and 1994 he supported arresting and dismissing from work the respectable citizens of Serb nationality, and refused to protect them.

 

As a member of the highest leadership of the MA Tuzla, he supported torturing and beating of Serbs who had been regularly coming to work (for example, in the company "Solana" and salt mines).

 

Together with Ademir Mešetovic, Mevlid Vlaic, Jasmin Imamovic and the others he had been hiding those facts from the foreign politicians and officials of the International Community, humanitarian workers and foreign journalist, as well as hiding the war truth about what was happening in the municipality of Tuzla. In addition, he created a false image on Selim Bešlagic, a president of the War Presidency of MA Tuzla, glorifying his “war charisma” and falsely presenting him in public as a multi-ethnically oriented and democratic politician.

Together with Rusmir Mahmutcehajic he formed an international forum “Bosnia”, which used the motto of democracy, human rights and multi-ethnicity   to cover the position of the absolute domination of Bosniaks in BiH aimed at achieving not - democratic goals in the whole territory of BiH.

 

2. War Crimes against Serbs (illegal arrests, imprisonment, liquidations, inhuman and brutal treatments)

 

As a member of the highest leadership of the municipality Tuzla he was acquainted with the fact that the secret lists for arrests and liquidations of Serbs had been made, thus he allowed and supported establishment of private jails in Tuzla kept by jailkeepers Faruk Prcic and Ahmet Šerija Zaimovic. All the members of the Presidency knew what was happening in jails, they refused to prevent torturing and abuse of prisoners. On one occasion when Faruk Prcic shot dead a Serb in premises of the Institute where one of the jails was based, he was told not to do it in that place.

 

As a member of the War Presidency, Kušljugic knew that the arrests and liquidations of Serbs had been going on but he did not do anything to prevent it nor to take them into his protection. Serbs had been arrested and liquidated in their apartments, houses, streets and factories, and the arrested ones taken to death camps Ljubace and Kladanj. The bodies of the liquidated Serbs had been thrown into pits, and afterwards dug-out and buried in some secret places by special forces of the central party SDA.²

 

The purpose of those crimes was to eliminate Serbs from a political and public life.

 

3. Hiding traces of the committed war crimes

As a member of the War Presidency he knew that the bodies of dead soldiers in Trnovo had been dug out next to the Orthodox cemetery. The bodies were removed to different locations three times. Excavations were done by Faruk Prcic and organized by Timun Mumic from the SDA headquarters, while an advisor was Amir Meševic.

 

4.  Involvement in preparations, planning and organization of attacks on the civilians and religious sites

Kušljugic participated in making decisions on the attacks launched at Dubica and Kalesije, refusing to forbid burning and plundering of Serbs' houses and churches.

 

In addition, he participated in making decisions on the attacks and cleansing in Caklovici, Simin Han, and Pozarnica where significant numbers of civilians were murdered, houses plundered and burned down; the rest of the population fled, and the Orthodox church was severely devastated (Faruk Prcic, a member of an engineering unit of the Tuzla's brigade, destroyed it), and nothing was done to prevent or forbid such activities.

 

Together with Sead Avdic and Selim Bešlagic, Kušljugic made decisions to launch attacks on Tinj and Duboki Potok, where they burned down, destroyed and plundered everything on their way with a purpose to make a military and logistic corridor  toward the North and Croatia. Within the War Presidency, Kusljugic was one of the decisionmakers  who launched attacks on Smoluca.³

 

5. Participation in weapons supplies to Muslims- Bosniaks and preparations of attacks against Serbs

Together with Ademir Mešetovic [Kušljugic] participated in illegal weapons supplies from Croatia in 1991 and 1992, making payments by distribution of newly build flats by "Tehnograd" Tuzla.

As a member of the War Presidency he participated in planning of the attacks launched at a convoy of JNA [Yugoslav National Army] although it had been arranged in advance, on May 15 1992, that the convoy would leave the town of Tuzla in peace;

 

6. Participated in illegal production an use of prohibited weapons

As a member of the War Presidency of MA Tuzla, Kušljugic participated in making decisions on production of chemical weapons based on chlorine. Adem Tucakovic alias Tuke was in charge of production of chlorine weapons in the "HAK". Shells filled with chlorine were made under the supervision of Faruk Prcic in "TTU". The chlorine shells were produced  in premises of "UMEL" behind the UNHCR field office.

 

7. Direct cooperation with Islamic fundamentalists

During the war in Tuzla, Kušljugic established a direct cooperation with the representatives of TWRA in Vienna, known for its undemocratic, Islamist, militaristic and intelligence role in the whole world.

 

8. Other

What gives the best description of Kušljugic’s personality is the fact that in his Cabinet based in premises of Electro-technical Faculty in Tuzla, he keeps stolen paintings of an artist Nezir Corbic from Tuzla. The paintings were stolen from the artist's studio in Tuzla in 1992. Allegedly, Kušljugic has bought the paintings from Cazim Sarajlic, a manager of the gallery of fine arts in Tuzla.

 

Footnotes to the Dossier

1. The war structure of SDP party and its leadership was a such one that it included only Muslims or rather Bosniaks, having eliminated all the Serbs, Croats and Bosniak- intellectuals who had refused to abide with the policy of a national selection.

2. The list had been made by Adnan Jahic, Rifet Haskic (SDA bought him an apartment), Vedad Spahic - Vana, Salih Brkic (at the time advisor and a coordinator), Meho Krainovic (supported those activities, a refugee from Bijeljina). One of the jails was in a basement of the Institute in Miladije, where distinguished citizens from Tuzla, Serbs, had been tortured and beaten. Only two floors above the jail, in the same Institute building, the War Presidency was based, led by Selim Bešlagic. Citizens who resided next to the Institute used to hear screams and moans of the tortured people on daily basis, they were sending their children away from the Institute so they wouldn’t hear it as well . Zaimovic who  received a pension from the Government of Netherlands,  freely travels visiting his daughter in the Netherlands, remaining free from any sanctions by the Federation BiH for having committed war crimes. 

3. Immediate carriers and perpetrators of crimes against Serbs were the following persons:

(i)     ŽILIC MEHMED, Chief of Security in the 2nd Corps HQ Army FBiH, so called ABiH, in charge of the death camps in Lubaca and Kladanj;

(ii)     ENES BECIC, today employed as an engineer in Tuzla;

(iii)    JAHIC- brother of SULJO JAHIC, employed in the Headquarters in Tuzla;

(iv)     AVDO MEŠIC (company "Tuzla - Broker")  had given his minibuses for the purpose of arresting and transporting Serbs into the death camps;

(v)     TUFIK SELIMBAŠIC, an armed escort of SIFET KREKIC, used to murder some of the arrested Serbs immediately on the spot. Today, an owner of a sawmill in Brateljevici near the town of Kladanj, enjoying protection of some Cauševic from getting arrested;

(vi)     MEHO BEGIC, at the time in charge of making lists of the Orthodox churches that are to be destroyed;

(vii)    JASMIN IMAMOVIC, in charge of the action of destroying the building "Borac".

 

The situation is now that both the Iranian and “al-Qaida” leaderships must move with increasing speed and rapidity if they are to remove their major opponents before they themselves can be removed: 2004 is the decisive year for them both. Striking Madrid on March 11, 2004, was intended to help remove the current Spanish Government of Prime Minister José Maria Aznar at the forthcoming elections. If the Spanish electorate responds by overwhelmingly supporting Sr Aznar’s Popular Party (Partido Popular, PP), then the Iranian and bin Ladenist leadership could conceivably reconsider how it conducted further attacks against, say, the US in the run-up to the November 2004 Presidential and Congressional elections. But if the Spanish electorate is perceived to react in a manner which reproaches Prime Minister Aznar, then the Iranian and bin Laden team would almost certainly move to implement major terrorist “spectaculars” in the US, attempting to show how the Bush Administration had failed to protect the US from terrorist attacks.

Having said that, it is now almost inconceivable that — regardless of the outcome of the Spanish elections — the Iranian and bin Ladenist leadership would not go ahead with attacks on the US in an attempt to influence the elections there. In the same way, attacks will almost certainly be carried out in order to influence the elections which must be held in Australia before November 10, 2004.

 

In the interim, the “success” of the March 11, 2004, attacks in Madrid would provide impetus for the attacks which intelligence reporting indicates have been planned for the August 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In attacks on the US and the Olympics, as with the attacks of March 11, 2004, in Madrid, the Bosnian Islamist network plays a crucial rôle. Attacks on the Olympics would risk to a certain degree the operational planning, distribution and safe-have hub which Bosnia has provided for the Islamist push into Europe, just as attacks in Australia would end the safe-haven status of that country for Islamists who have wished to move out of sight.

 

However, given the fact that both Osama bin Laden and his team, and the Iranian clerics are fighting for their lives, the short-term objective of survival should be expected to prevail over the risk of such attacks to the long-term viability of the safe-haven bases. Indeed, if Iran and bin Laden were to be successful in removing the Bush Administration in the US, the Aznar Administration in Spain and the Howard Administration in Australia, then it is entirely likely that they would have broken the back of their opposition, and the “war on terror” would have been sidelined.

The push into Western and Central Europe by the Islamists would then move forward, including a renewed outbreak of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina — to drive the Serbs of Republica Srpska out of that remaining territory in Bosnia — and in Serbia, to remove the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija as well as the Raška area of southern Serbia; and in Montenegro, to ensure the removal of Montenegrin Christians; and in Macedonia, to ensure the geographic security of the Muslim territory which could provide a clean, almost unbroken link from Afghanistan to the heart of Europe.

 

In all of this, the Bosnian network is paramount. It has provided weapons and manpower for the conflict against the US-led Coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past year, and provided the essential infrastructure in Europe which helped the Madrid attacks. Significantly, Bosnia-Herzegovina has in place in its UN Embassy in New York a committed Islamist, already tied to major war crimes. Just as it did in the run-up to the September 11, 2001, attacks. The US did not even investigate the links following September 11; the Bosniak leadership is counting on the fact that the US will not now look into the Bosnian link.

8. REPORT OF THE JOINT INQUIRY INTO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 –BY THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

 

Page 131.

…..Al-Hazmi first traveled to Afghanistan in 1993 as a teenager and came into contact with a key al-Qa’ida facilitator in Saudi Arabia in 1994. In 1995, al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar traveled to Bosnia to fight with other Muslims against the Serbs. Al-Hazmi probably came into contact with al-Qa’ida leader Abu Zubaydah when Zubaydah visited Saudi Arabia in 1996 to convince young Saudis to attend al-Qa’ida camps in Afghanistan. Sometime before 1998, al-Hazmi returned to Afghanistan and swore loyalty to Bin Ladin. He fought against the Northern Alliance, possibly with his brother Salem, another of the hijackers, and returned to Saudi Arabia in early 1999, [page 138] where, [ ], he disclosed information about the East Africa embassy bombings. Al-Mihdhar’s first trip to the Afghanistan training camps was in early 1996. (131)

……………..

Page 134.

Mohamed Atta lived at Marienstrasse 54 in Hamburg with Bin al-Shibh, Essabar, and Bahaji. Director Tenet testified that, after Bin al-Shibh failed to obtain a U.S. visa, “another cell member,” Essabar, “tried [on two occasions in December 2000] and failed to obtain a visa in January 2001” to travel to Florida while Atta and al-Shehhi were there. Uncorroborated sources report that Essabar was in Afghanistan in late September 2001. Bahaji left Germany on September 3, 2001 for Pakistan. Uncorroborated sources also placed him in Afghanistan in late September 2001.

 

DCI Tenet testified that Muhammad Heydar Zammar was an acquaintance of members of Atta’s circle in Hamburg, where Zammar lived. Zammar, a German citizen born in Syria in 1961, was described by DCI Tenet as “a known al-Qa’ida associate,” active in Islamic extremist circles since the 1980s, who trained and fought in Afghanistan in 1991 and in Bosnia in 1995 and returned to Afghanistan a number of times between 1995 and 2000.

 

It has been reported that U.S. and German officials believe that Zammar is a pivotal figure in understanding the genesis of the September 11 attacks. DCI Tenet told the Joint [page 141] Inquiry that Zammar “was taken into custody by the Moroccans [ ]” when he traveled to Morocco to divorce his wife and that he was “moved from Morocco into Syrian custody, where he has remained.” It has also been reported that Zammar has provided details about the September 11 attacks to U.S. investigators. According to the DCI, Zammar has

said that he met Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah in the late 1990s in Hamburg’s al-Qods mosque and he “persuaded them to travel to Afghanistan to join the jihad.”

 

The NSA Director also cautioned in his testimony, “If these hearings were about the war that had broken out in Korea or the crisis in the Taiwan Straits that had taken us by surprise or if we had been surprised by a conflict in South Asia or if we had lost an aircraft over Iraq or if American forces had suffered casualties in Bosnia or Kosovo, in any of these cases I would be here telling you that I had not put enough analysts or linguists against the problem. We needed more analysts and linguists across the agency, period.”

383

TOP SECRET

 

9. The “White Al-Qaeda” in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Information available to experts on international terrorism indicate that BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA is at this time one of the most dangerous countries in Europe, as it represents a nursery for potential Islamic terrorists – the so called “white” or “European” Al-Qaeda. Money from Islamic countries that is laundered through “humanitarian” organizations finances the religious education of at least 100,000 young Bosnian Muslims. In addition to such education, which follows the interpretations of Wahhabi Islam, there is another type of “training” in various officially registered camps throughout the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation. There, the young and carefully selected Wahhabis attend “additional courses” in marksmanship, explosives and martial arts. Organizations such as “Furqan,” the “Active Islamic Youth,” the “Muslim Youth Council” and others – differing only in name and primary donors, but otherwise interchangeable – teach young Muslims computer and Internet skills, so they could establish contacts with their coreligionists worldwide. Knowing all this, the former head of UN Mission in Bosnia Jacques Paul Klein recently said that some 200 mujahid’din in Bosnia did not represent a danger, because they can be easily controlled.[13]

Klein knew it would be a lot more difficult to stop the spread of young Bosnian Wahhabis throughout Europe, youths who consider Osama Bin Laden and the mujahid’din role models.

 

10. Al-Qaeda’s Network: Iran to the Balkans, via Turkey

Investigation of the recent suicide attacks on British and Jewish targets in Istanbul has shown that some of the terrorists involved had been trained in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On the other hand, Iran has given a new identity to the spiritual leader of Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar.[14] A few months ago, Iran released from prison several high-ranking Al-Qaeda members, and there are indications they were behind the terrorist attacks in Istanbul. The Iranian regime has long been known as a financier and sponsor of terrorists exported all over the world, especially in the Balkans. It is well known that Iran had sent a Republican Guard unit to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and their secret service (VEVAK) has established and helped train the Bosnian Muslim secret service (AID). One of the key assets of the Iranian intelligence in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA is Dzemal Merdan, who had undergone military and religious training and become loyal to the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini. His loyalty was rewarded by his appointment to a liaison to foreign mujahid’din. This man is responsible for hundreds of murders of ethnic Croats.[15] Early in the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA civil war, several dozen Islamic extremists came to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA with the help of Iran and Merdan’s coordination. Together with the Cengic clan,[16] Merdan controlled Central Bosnia. 

Iranian authorities and radical Turkish groups have worked on two fronts. The first was establishing a “green traverse” in the Balkans, and the second a similar corridor in central Asia, through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and – very importantly – the Chinese province of Xinyang. Cells of Al-Qaeda were established in all those countries and regions. Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden were involved in setting up the network in the Balkans, along with terrorists from Saudi Arabia. Even the Saudi government funded terrorism, notably through theh High Saudi Committee for Aid to Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose representatives were granted the extraordinary privilege of diplomatic license plates (and the resulting diplomatic  immunity as well) for their vehicles, in clear violation of existing law. It is assumed that Bosnian authorities had also issued diplomatic passports to the same representatives, but such a contention is almost impossible to verify.

One noteworthy link in that chain is Jusuf Halilagic, now Minister of Civil Affairs and Communications for BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and a former high-ranking officer of the 3^rd Bosnian Army Corps, home of the notorious “El-Mujahid” unit. Halilagic was the one who drove Abu Hamza, one of the most wanted Islamic terrorists in the world, from Rijeka (Croatia) into Bosnia in 1992, in his private "Zastava 101" vehicle. Halilagic and other Islamic extremists in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA had  prepared themselves for a long time for upcoming arrival of Islamic volunteers from the Middle East, North Africa, south Asia and even Western countries, known as the “Afghans.” After fighting in Bosnia, certain Arab intelligence agencies started calling these people “Bosnians,” claiming they were far more dangerous than mere “Afghans.” were Muslim intelligence agencies in Bosnia, such as AID, usually refer to these men as the “AA factor,” noting their African and Asian origin.

Since the beginning of their involvement in Bosnia, Abu Ma'ali (originally from Algeria) was one of the leaders of Islamic extremists, and the first commander of the “El-Mujahid” unit. After the Dayton Peace Accords, a demand requesting immediate departure of Abu Maali, from Bosnia and Herzegovina , reached authorities in Sarajevo. This came as a as a consequence of his connections to Al-Qaeda.  According to the Croatian weekly “Globus,” the celebratory farewell to Abu Ma’ali as he departed for Chechnya was attended by Bakir Izetbegovic, the son of Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic. However, there are also indications that Ma’ali has simply assumed a new identity, with the help of high-ranking Bosnian Muslim officials, and continues to live in the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation.

 

Abu Ma’ ali is considered one of the closest associates of the notorious terrorist Abu Tala’t[17]. The fact that Halilagic today is a member of the Coordinating Task Force for combating terrorism in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA speaks volumes about the involvement of the Bosnian Muslim leadership with Al-Qaeda. Halilagic was delegated to that post by the Party of Democratic Action, whose founder is the Islamic extremist and war criminal[18] Alija Izetbegovic. Immediately after his death in October 2003, ICTY prosecutor’s spokesperson Florence Hartmann said that it had been a matter of days before an indictment was issued against Izetbegovic. It remains a mystery why the ICTY had not indicted Izetbegovic in his lifetime, as they had not lacked evidence. There is also a suspicion that this institution is under a strong influence of Islamic nations and interest groups.[19] Nonetheless, Izetbegovic directly participated in the cover-up and reorganization of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia. In the Dayton agreement there was a provision that all mujahid’din would leave Bosnia. That never happened, thanks to the ties between the Islamic terrorist networks and the top leadership of the Bosnian Muslims.

Turkish authorities have established the link between the suspects in the Istanbul bombings and the global network of Islamic terrorists. A year before the attacks, the ICNA (Islamic Council of North America) website stated that the greatest enemies of Islam were “Jews, Crusaders” [i.e. Christians], and especially among those, “Russians and Serbs.” Consider now the sequence of the attacks – first the synagogues (Jews), then the British consulate and bank (“Crusaders”), followed soon thereafter by a train in Russia. This has all the makings of a clash of civilizations, one that Islamic extremists are trying to impose on the world’s Muslims.

 

11. The Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Bosnia and Herzegovina

It is little known that Islamic fanatics trained to fight against the Serbs in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA in camps near Istanbul and Hamburg, Germany, particularly between 1993 and 1995. Notable Al-Qaeda members involved in this operation were: Cupic Muric, Abu el Mani, Ahmed bin Muhamed, Harmas Sami, Abdulah Hadi, Imam Zilfili, Abu Hamza, Mustafa Kamel, Karim Atmani, Faruk Besic, and Abdul Hamid. Osama bin laden’s main Balkans liaison, closely connected to the Greek terrorist organization 17 November, is Omar Alawadi. According to some sources, Alawadi is currently in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, preparing for action with local extremists and fresh arrivals from Islamic countries. This is information that ought to alarm the Greek government, especially with the upcoming Olympics.

The principle along which the terror network is established is very simple. Consider the example of central Asia, where recently a terrorist organization “LIVO” was established with the help of Iran and Turkish extremist groups. From Uzbekistan, young men were sent for training to Al-Qaeda camps in northern Afghanistan. After returning to their villages, in each village they created a guerrilla unit. These units were then sent to Afghanistan or Iraq to gain the necessary combat experience, so they would some day hopefully initiate an Islamic revolution at home.

The same exact pattern occurred in the Balkans. Young men from Kosovo went to Al-Qaeda camps in northern Albania,[20] which were visited by Bin Laden himself (according to reliable information). They returned to Kosovo and organized guerrilla bands in their villages. The same happened in Raska (Sanjak), where Muslim youths went to war in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, then returned home, and now present a threat to regional security. Given their international connections, that regional threat can easily become global.

The alarming fact is that a complete terrorist network exists in the territory of Serbia and Montenegro, ready to execute any order by the centers of Islamic extremism, while the disinterested Serbia-Montenegro authorities have behaved as if the problem did not exist-behaves as if the problem does not exist

An Islamic university was established recently. Some Serbian politicians who applauded that development obviously do not know what lies at the root of the Wahhabi teachings: extremism andspreading of Islam by     

force. Will Serbia allow its children, Orthodox or Muslim, or other, to be taught the language of hate, no matter how attractively packaged?

 

Not so long ago, an association of citizens “Furqan” was registered in Sarajevo as a “non-governmental, non-political organization.” Yet one of its goals, as the organization’s charter says, is the “establishment of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA as a state ordered under the Shari’a and true Islamic values.” Headed by Nermin Karacic, “Furqan” has offices in Zenica, Zavidovici, Konjic, Visoko and Ilijaš, where the strictest religious (and yes, political) indoctrination of the members takes place. Instructors are lecturers from Islamic universities in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Among the domestic instructors, one name stands out Nezim-effendi Halilovic Muderis, imam of the “King Fahd” mosque and Islamic center in Sarajevo, and one of the Wahhabi leaders in the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation. Halilovic is considered responsible for War Crimes his unit  committed against the Serb civilians in the municipality of Konjic[21]. Interesting as well are the topics of the “lectures,” or at least their titles: “The path of struggle for Islam”; “Obstacles on the road to Islamic revival”; “The Islamic state”; and “Allah’s will be done, whatever the infidels do.” The paths of “Islamic struggle” for Furqan’s students often lead to a camp on Lake Jablanica. As the organization’s document indicate, the camp attendees “as some of the best, should be proud they were chosen to attend the camp, and they need to justify that honor.” Similar camps have been organized in the summer at Crni Vrh and Cerovac hill in Tešanj municipality, and on the Bosnia river island near the village of Nemila near Zenica. The same sources indicate that young Islamists have organized several “camping trips” near Sarajevo, Travnik, Konjic, Jablanica, Bugojno, Bihac, Cazin and Velika Kladuša. The “campers” occasionally become members of the “Active Islamic Youth (AIO), another NGO on the American blacklist.

The AIO was established in Zenica in October 1995 by the veterans of the notorious unit “El-Mujahid.” The first president of the organization, which has offices in every Muslim-majority municipality in the B- Federation, was Nedim Haracic. Later that office was held by Ismet Fazlic, Adnan Pezo and Almin Foco. Activists of AIO can be found among the returning refugees in the Serb Republic’s border areas, especially in Kotorsko near Doboj, where the AIO is headed by Tahir Halilovic, Emir Lišinovic, Muris Sivcevic and Džemal Becic. A strong AIO presence was also noted in the village of Kamenica in Teslic municipality (RS), where the organization is headed by Mithad Topovcic, Esad Stenaklic and Mehmed Cerovac. The current seat of this radical Islamic organization is in the Sarajevo quarter of Bistrik, which explains why the focus of the AIO’s efforts has been on the Bosnian capital.

In 2000, AIO activists sent anonymous threat letters to representatives of the international community – demanding they leave BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – and political opponents of the SDA. Because of the Russian Army’s activities against the Chechen[22] separatists and terrorists, AIO also threatened to attack the Russian Embassy in Sarajevo. AIO was one of the organizers of the mass Islamic protests in Sarajevo in May 2002. AIO was also behind the notorious protests against the New Year, and against the arrest of Imad al-Misri, who was extradite to Egypt along with El Sharif Hassan Mahmoud Sad in October 2001 by the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation’s authorities, on charges of terrorism.

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, AIO increased the pace of their activities, intent on creating anti-American sentiments among the Bosnian Muslims. The organization recruited volunteers and money for the Taliban in the regions of Tuzla and Zavidovici. But the peak of their activities was surely the protest against the extradition of six arrested Algerians to US authorities in January 2003, which was put together by the member of AIO’s inner circle Jasmin Hardauš. Also notable were the posters attacking the then-Yugoslav president Vojislav Koštunica on the eve of the Sarajevo summit [of the Stability Pact?].

 

12. Humanitarian Terrorists

The “High Saudi Committee”, “Al-Haramein” and other Islamic “charities” operating in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA are the main source of funding for AIO and “Furqan.” Most of these organizations are donors and cover for international terrorists connected to Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden. One example is “Benevolence International Foundation” (BIF), an organization whose founder and director, Enam Arnaut, is on trial in the US for direct links Osama bin Laden. Proof of those links was found in 2003 in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, during a search of the “Bosnian Ideal Future” – the legal successor of the blacklisted BIF which even kept the same initials. BIF was led by former AID agent, diplomat and Alije Izetbegovic’s personal chauffeur, Munib Zahiragic. He is also on trial in Sarajevo, for espionage and illegal possession of AID documents.

BIF had offices in Sarajevo and Zenica till the end of 2001, when Arnaut managed to bail out with about $1 million (of about $5 that was laundered through the organization), with the help of his representative Mohammed Anas Talawi. During the war, Arnaut used the money to organize mujahid’din arrivals, their training in camps around Zenica and Tešanj, and their eventual transfer to other countries. It is believed that this channel was used for the escape of Abu Mali, a close associate of Bin Laden. Arnaut also helped an Al-Qaeda terrorist Mahmud Salim Mamdouh, a.k.a. Abu Hajr, to escape to Germany. Western sources indicagte Mamdouh was in charge of procuring uranium for nuclear weapons. Abu Hajr was arrested in Germany in 1998, and extradited to the US. Arnaut also collaborated with Muhammad Halifa, a cousin of Osama bin Laden, as well as with Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, leader of the terrorist group “Hizbi al islami,” which took part in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, organized by Sheikh Omar abd-al-Rahman.

Two members of the “Algerian Group” also worked at BIF: Budellah Hajj, a.k.a. Abu Omar, and Mustafa Ait Idir. They were extradited to the US in January 2003. Hajj  arrived to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA from Pakistan, and also worked for the Egyptian charity “Human appeal.” Another BIF “activist” was Hamami Muwafaq, a Syrian convicted in his homeland of membership in the terrorist group “Muslim Brotherhood.”

The “High Saudi Committee” (HSC) may be difficult to shut down, despite the explicit demands from the US. That organization is under direct patronage of the Saudi royal family, and her activists use the previously mentioned diplomatic privileges, including the 24 vehicles with diplomatic license plates. Furthermore, this is the organization that has channeled the yet largest sums of money into BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, for the Saudis did not spare the expense with the purpose of establishing a Shari’a state on European soil. In Saudi Arabia, the Committee is officially run by Naser el Saed. His student, Elfatih Hassanein, was a personal friend of Izetbegovic and founder of the banned Third World Relief Agency (TWRA) in Vienna. The Bosnian Muslim leadership used the TWRA to “import” most of the mujahid’din into Bosnia and fund their travel and stay. One of the directors of the HSC Zenica office was Abdul Hadiyu al-Gahtani, who was arrested in 1994 for the abduction of three and murder of one British citizen, employees of the ODA. Mujahid’din, however, organized Gahtani’s jailbreak and escape from Bosnia. He was later convicted, in absentia, to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Ahmed Zuhayr, a.k.a. Handala, is another terrorist who worked for the HSC and managed to “escape” from the Bosnian Muslim authorities. Thus Sudanese, who was mentioned previously, is considered responsible for the murder of UN mission worker William Jefferson in Tuzla.

The HSC employed two members of the “Algerian Group,” Saber Lahmar and Mustafa Abdul Kadr. Lahmar was sentenced to five years for assault on Western aid workers near Zenica, but was pardoned in 1998 by a special decree signed by the Federation president       Ejup Ganic. It is believed that Lahmar and Kadr, who later worked at the “King Fahd” Islamic center in Sarajevo and the “Taibah International” foundation, were part of the terrorist GIA’s European network. In late 2001, a joint operation of SFOR and local authorities resulted in the arrest of Majed Karoub, another employee of the HSC, believed to have worked closely with Lahmar and Kadr.

The “Global Relief Foundation” (GRF), accused in the US of financing terrorist activities, was also active in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. The GRF in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA had relatively modest funds, which did not stop the organization to spend $100,000 for the camp at Lake Jablanica.

Amongs  the organizations of interest in the struggle against terrorism are also the Saudi charity “Igassa,” which smuggled weapons and ammunition into BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA during the war and “Al-Muwfaq,” as well whose member  Safiq Iyadi (of Tunisia) had made a $.5 million transfer to an account at the SAB Bank in Sarajevo in 1996. Iyadi is on the American blacklist, and his accounts in the US and UK have been frozen. It is believed the money was approved by Salem bin Makhfouz, a relative of Osama bin Laden. Another suspicious organization is the “Charity of the Iranian People,” which is under control of the VEVAK secret service, and had helped train Islamic terrorists and militants during the war and immediately after Dayton.

The aforementioned organizations are just the tip of the iceberg.

The fraud Islamic “charities” in Bosnia-Herzegovina, along with the extremists and terrorists, have begun returning to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA after the victory of the SDA[23] in the October 2002 general election.

 

13. Other forms of terrorist organization in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

NGOs that have been clearly identified as conduits for terrorism have begun to reappear in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. Sometimes they change their names. Some of the most extremists NGOs are the already mentioned Saudi Relief Committee, then Global Islamic Relief, International Aid Organization, Egyptian National Aid, Saudi Islamic Committee and the Islamic Institute. All of these organizations are known to anti-terrorism experts.

In addition there is an issue of the orphans taken to              Al-Qaeda’s terrorist camps in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.  There are videotapeps, testimonies and documentary evidence of this particular matter. One example is the case of Ahmed Zuharir, a.k.a. Handala, whose main contacts in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA are Omer Stambolic of the Federal police and Haris Silajdzic. This terrorist had the official ID card of the organization called “Charitable Community for Orphans,” but who was he? Zuharir, a Sudanese, is a member of the terrorist group “Gaama’a al Islamyya,” and a former member of the “El Mujahid” unit of the “Bosnian Army.” He was convicted in absentia by the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation authorities for a car bombing in western Mostar in September 1997. Other participants in this terrorist attack were Ali Ahmadom al-Hamadom, a.k.a. Ubayda, of Bahrein; naturalized BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizen Saleh Negil Ali El-Hil, a.k.a. Abu Yemen; Abdullah ba’Awr, a.k.a. Husayfa; and Kal-al-Sheif, a.k.a. Suleyman.All of formentioned names are suspected of being associates of Osama bin Laden. Handala was never caught, due to the Bosnian Muslim authorities connections to the global Islamic terror network. So, the Bosnian Muslim authorities – headed by the late Alija Izetbegovic – entrusted this notorious terrorist with the care of war orphans. Another not less important issue of the similar nature in total is a metter of mujahid’din wives, trained for years in various terrorist camps.

Citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina need help, because they cannot fight against this pestilence alone. One should be careful to distinguish the extremists from the Muslim population in general; one of the extremists’ goals is to foment conflict between all Muslims and modern civilization.

This is what the leaders of Al-Qaeda in Kosovo are doing. According to expert information, the top extremists in the area are: Ramush Haradinaj, Hashim Taqi, Ilaz Selimi, Ahmed Krasniqi (Haradinaj’s enemy), Setmir Krasniqi (organized crime) Muxhar Basha, Snu Lumaj, Ismet Bexhet, Remi Mustafa, Nazmi Bekteshi, Xhimshit Osmani, Ramadan Dermaku, Luzim Aliju i Baylush Rustemi. Every each of those individuals is connected to imam Omar Behmen. Their funding comes from various sources, but all have in common the Swiss enterprise called “Phoenix,” owned by Qazim Osmonaj. Another man worth mentioning is Abdullah Duhayman, a Saudi citizen, the founder of the “Islamic Balkan Center” Zenica, Bosnia. Duhayman is one of the main contacts and financiers of Ekrem Avdiu of Kosovska Mitrovica,       a veteran of the Bosnian war and the founder of UCK’s mujahid’din unit “Abu Bakr Sadeq.”

If Turks, who are regarded as secular Muslims, were capable of mounting suicidal terrorist attacks on Turkish shoil, one can only wonder what the Balkans Muslim extremists are capable of. Europe and the world are wondering who the next target might be. New warnings keep coming of impending attacks in Europe and the US, although most terrorist attacks are currently limited to the “borderlands.” Right now, the most endangered European nation is France, an unwilling host to a strong Islamic movement driven primarily by the Algerian GIA and its network of North African immigrants. France’s commitment to freedom and tolerance has led it to extend tolerance onto some people who do not deserve it. Unless French authorities take preventive measures, the risk of attack is great. Even though France opposed the war on Iraq, many countries that supported the war have property and interests in French territory. Certainly, they have property and interests elsewhere – but what other European nation has such a widespread terrorist network?

Italy is in danger as well, as it also has a strong terrorist network, focused in Milan. This is confirmed by the recent arrest of four men who were recruiting Islamic militants for Al-Qaeda. Besides, some Italian politicians support terrorists. Emma Bonino, currently the EU Commissioner for Human Rights, used to be in the management of the NGO “No Peace Without Justice.” This organization declared Bosnian Muslim militant and war criminal Alija Izetbegovic as “peacemaker of the year” once upon a time, and has spread false information about the wars in the former Yugoslavia for years, supporting Islamic fanaticism.

 

14. Bosnian Official Links With Terrorism, Including 9/11, Become Increasingly Apparent as Clinton, Clark Attempt to Justify Support of Bosnian Militants[24]

A series of documents, just acquired by GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, highlight the links between radical Islamists in key positions in the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) and known and suspected Islamists with terrorist links. Significantly, one of the key Bosnian Islamist officials, Huso (he later called himself Hussein) Zivalj, was BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ambassador to the United Nations during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York. He arrived just before the attacks and left the post shortly thereafter.

It is now becoming increasingly clear that the movement of Zivalj to the New York post just before (and his departure just after) the September 11, 2001, attacks was not coincidental.

Significantly, the clarity of the links between the Bosnian Islamists and anti-US terrorism is now becoming apparent at a time when former US President William Clinton and his former military appointee and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Gen. Wesley Clark (now a Democratic Party presidential aspirant for the US 2004 elections), have begun with actions aimed to justify their military support for Bosnian and Kosovo Islamists in acts which will almost certainly lead to a new wave of ethnic division in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA and in neighboring Serbia. [See Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, September 8, 2003: US Official Implicated With Bosnian High Representative Ashdown in Attempting to Force Fabricated Report on Srebrenica.]

 

Earlier, between 1992 and 1995 Zivalj had been BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ambassador to Vienna, Austria. At that time, he approved a significant number of visas and passports to radical Islamists of non-Bosnian origin. Afetr that appointment of his, he proceeded in becoming the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the most senior Muslim position in the Ministry. He maintained a constant shuttle during his appointment as Deputy Minister from Sarajevo to Vienna, the United States and a number of Arab countries.

 He ensured that the Vienna Embassy became a key location for ongoing support of radical Islamists, and a wide range of visas and passports were granted to non-Bosnians in the time following his own term there as Ambassador. A list of visas approved for Muslims at the Embassy between 1997 and February 2001 appears below as Appendix (i).

Significantly, Zivalj used his position in Vienna to issue, in 1995, a BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA passport to Safet Catovic [Passport No. BH-46600], and GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily has the documentation on this. Earlier, he had issued a BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA passport to Osama bin Laden, head of the al-Qaida networks.

 

Zivalj had been a Vice-President and member of the governing board of the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), which had been funded by Osama bin Laden, and with which Sheikh Omar Abd-al-Rahman (the so-called “blind sheikh”) was involved. The Egyptian Sheikh Omar was convicted for his rôle in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. TWRA was founded in Vienna in 1987 and had links with the Izetbegovic Government in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as with Dr Hassan al-Turabi and his terrorist operations in Sudan.

Yossef Bodansky’s seminal work, Some Call it Peace: Waiting for War in the Balkans (ISSA, 1996), noted: “In mid-January 1996, the Islamist leadership released a sermon of Sheikh Omar Abd-al-Rahman made on the eve of his sentencing (for his leadership rôle in the Islamist terrorist networks in New York in 1993). This sermon stressed the centrality of Bosnia and the Islamist cause and specifically threatened the US with terrorism in retaliation.”

When Zivalj became Ambassador to the UN in January 2001, he secretly and illegally gave special UN status to Catovic in New York, giving him the status and UN yellow pass [red passes are for attachés and other diplomats, up to first secretary; yellow is reserved for the Ambassador or Permanent Representative (PR) or Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR)]. This allowed him free access to the UN buildings. Zivalj kept this appointment secret, largely because it was illegal. Even under BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA laws, the post of DPR was reserved exclusively for Croats or Serbs in the event that the Ambassador (PR) was a Muslim.

Catovic’s UN pass was known to be due to expire in October 2003 [ie: it was current at the time of this GIS report]. It is important to note that the background of Catovic is not clear. He may not (in fact, is probably not) be Bosnian by origin, having obtained his passport outside the country (in Vienna). Catovic, using his UN cover, acted as spokesman for two radical Islamist groups in the US; both groups were later shut down by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Significantly, Catovic has not been declared as a diplomat to the US State Department. It is understood that he has either a US Green Card or US citizenship. Before obtaining his UN cover, Catovic worked in the US. Given his known connections with the radical Islamist organizations, it has been suggested that he was involved with a number of Islamist training organizations which operated in New Jersey, on private property close to Trenton and Clifton.

These organizations participated in Zima 94-95 (Winter 94-95), which was labeled as an humanitarian operation, but which in reality was an operation initiated by Zivalj to provide logistical support for the Bosnian Muslim Army and foreign jihadists fighting in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA against Serbs. This operation, in which Catovic was specifically listed [with his telephone number at the time: 908-874-8434] as one of the representatives, was specifically designed to provide all logistical support except weapons. As well, the operation was designed to funnel finances to public relations organizations to ensure that the Muslims were presented during the operations — which included the military operations in and around Srebrenica — in a positive light.

One of the funds with which Catovic was linked was The Global Medical Relief Fund, which actually gave its address as that of the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mission to the UN: 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 585, New York, NY 10017. The use of legation offices for private charities is in itself a violation of the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic missions. [This particular data from Islamic Fundamentalists’ Global Network and Modus Operandi: Model Bosnia study, produced by the Documentation Centre of Republic of Srpska, Bureau of Government of RS for Relations With ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia), September 2002. (hereinafter referred to as “Model Bosnia Study”).]

Catovic was also linked as a spokesman to Benevolence International Foundation, based in Palos Hills (Chicago), Illinois, in the US. BIF was founded by Enaam (or Ennam) Arnaout to raise funds for various causes, many linked to terrorism. In November 2002, the US Treasury designated BIF and two closely-linked groups as “financiers of terrorism”, and blocked the organizations’ accounts. In February 2003, Enaam Arnaout pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. [See Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, July 7, 2003: Al-Qaida-linked Terrorist Operations Escalate in Bosnia as US, International Officials Turn a Blind Eye.]

Catovic also organized a “Summer jihad camp in Pennsylvania” only a month before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Importantly, one of Catovic’s interlocutors was Imam Siraj Wahaj, the spiritual father of the first (1993) attack on the New York World Trade Center. [Ref. “Model Bosnia Study”.]

Also listed as a key participant in Zima 94-95 was the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Consul-General in New York, Cemalovic Asim, who remains in New York, even though his duty was supposed to expire in 2001. Despite being replaced as Consul-General in 2001, he remained in the mission. His telephone number, listed in the Zima 94-95 documents, was shown as the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mission to the UN [212-751-9015], not the consular number. 

Catovic ,as it was believed, was being been paid a secret salary while residing in New York, and the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mission to the UN paid his healthcare insurance until January 2002. The Bosnian-Serb First Secretary of the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mission to the UN after Zivalj left the post, discovered the fact that Catovic had the UN “yellow badge” and was using the UN as a cover. He also discovered the use of the Mission as a cover for the “charities”. This person reacted by raising this particular the matter with the new Ambassador, Mirza Kusljugic. Shortly after, (indeed shortly, two days only) he brought these facts to the attention of the New ambassador, he was dismissed from the post.

As a result, Catovic remains “protected” by BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ambassador to the UN Kusljugic, who took over the post after Zivalj. Significantly, Kusljugic was in the military presidency of the city of Tuzla during the war, and in 1992, during his term in Tuzla, military and Mujaheddin units under the control of the Presidency of which he was a member killed at least 200 captives from the then-Yugoslav Army (JNA). Kusljugic went on, subsequently, to participate in the preparatory commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was subsequently to be used to attempt to bring United States officials under its authority.

The “Model Bosnia Study” noted of Kusljugic: 

“As a member of [the] Military Presidency [of] SDP [Social Democratic Party] Tuzla and member of [the] Military Presidency of the city of Tuzla, Mirza Kusljugic contributed with his treatments and actions to ethnical cleansing of Serbs and other un-Moslem population in [the] Tuzla region. Number of Serbian citizens depopulates from 22,000 in 1991 to 2,000 in 1995. ... he participated in making [the] decision on prohibition of Serb return to Tuzla, 1992. ...Mirza Kusljugic participated [in the] planning of attack on JNA convoy that was according to an agreement to leave Tuzla peacefully on 15 May 1992. On that occasion more than 200 officers and privates of former JNA were massacred. During the war, Mirza Kusljugic had directly cooperated with TWRA from Vienna. ... Mirza Kusljugic was engaged [in] misinformation and spreading [a] fake picture about [the] civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As member of military headquarters, Mirza Kusljugic is responsible for crimes committed by units in which complement were Mujaheddins-Islamic fundamentalists, warrior of jihad.”

Equally, given the background of ambassadors Kusljugic and Jivalj, the original BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ambassador to the UN, Muhamed Sacirbegovic, who also served as Foreign Minister for the Izetbegovic Government, was reported by GIS sources to have brought in substantial amounts of cash, using diplomatic privilege, to the US to use to fund Islamist causes. Significantly, he allegedly appropriated some $2.5-millions of the illegal funds for himself, causing the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ministry of Internal Affairs to request from Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for Mr Sacirbegogic. He was dismissed as Ambassador in 2000, but allegedly still lives in the US. Sacirbegovic’s actions merely highlighted the fact that substantial funds were being transferred to Islamist movements using the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA diplomatic cover.

Much of the new material unearthed by GIS remains to be translated, but this work is underway. The attached appendices, however, give some idea of the extent of the use of diplomatic channels of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA by the Islamists to provide visas and passports to radical Islamists. GIS has a copy of an instruction from former BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA President Izetbegovic — a radical Islamist, who met several times with Osama bin Laden, and who pointedly represented only the Islamists in the new country, not the moderate Muslim community, nor the Croats or Serbs — in which he instructs Muslim ambassadors from BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA to give passports to anyone who would support his cause. These actions, quite apart from supporting international terrorism, directly polarized the new, delicately-balanced multi-ethnic state of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.

[One case, cited below in Appendix (iii), is an application for passport by an individual listed as Abdulkarim Meslat, in which he said: “I hereby state that I feel as a citizen [italics added] of the Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, that I am prepared to obey the Constitution, laws and other regulations of the Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, practice all the rights and obligations of a citizen of Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and protect the sovereignty and integrity of the Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA and its reputation in the international community. This statement is a freely given expression of my loyalty to the Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and desire to become a citizen of the Republic BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.”

Within this framework, apart from the links between the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA officials and the original bombers of the New York World Trade Center in 1993, five of the known terrorist attackers on the US in 2001 had direct links through and with Bosnia, and literally all of them were supported by Bosnian-linked Islamist “charities”. The significance of the placement of Amb. Zivalj in New York in the brief period leading up to the September 11 attacks, and his departure shortly thereafter also cannot be overlooked. Nor can the links between the bin Laden and Iranian terrorist organizations with the Bosnian Islamists and the 1993 bombers who — as Yossef Bodansky pointed out in 1996 —  promised terrorist retaliation against the US.

Despite the clear warnings during the 1990s, however, the US Clinton Administration supported and encouraged the radical Islamists who were bent on attacking the US. 

 

14-1. Excerpts from report in English by the Croatian news agency HINA

Sarajevo, 24th September: The most wanted terrorist in the world, [Osama] Bin Laden, was issued a Bosnia-Hercegovina passport, Sarajevo weekly `Dani'writes  in the issue which hit the news stands on Thursday [24th September]. Laden was issued a Bosnian passport by the Bosnian embassy in Vienna in 1993, the source maintains.

According to `Dani', the Bosnian Foreign Ministry was seized by panic when Mehrez Aodouni, another Bosnian passport bearer, was arrested in Istanbul on 9th September. The consequence  was the destruction of all documents which might connect Bosnian Muslim authorities with the outlawed Saudi millionaire.

Bin Laden allegedly obtained the Bosnian passport when the Bosnian Muslim side was making desperate attempts to collect financial assistance from Western and Arabic countries for the War in Bosnia. During the Bosnian War, Vienna was considered the most important Western destination where to obtain logistic support necessary for the defence of the country.

Source: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1000 gmt 24 Sep 1999.Main Muslim party says Bin Ladin associate obtained passport as Bosnian soldier.

 

14-2. Text of report in English by Bosnian news agency Onasa web site

Sarajevo, 23rd September: The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) [Bosnia's main Muslim party, led by Bosnian Presidency member Alija Izetbegovic] said on Thursday [23rd September] that terrorist Mehrez Audouni, arrested on 9th September in Istanbul, obtained the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship and passport as member of the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Army and not as a person registered as a criminal.

"Audouni was member of the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Army from 1993 to 1995 and the warrant arrest by the Italian Interpol was announced after the mentioned date, on 1st April 1999" Jahic said.

According to Jahic, it is unacceptable and immoral for SDA the fact that the case is instrumentalized with the aim of discrediting BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA authorities and the entire Bosniak [Muslim] politics.

"One intends to give a negative presentation of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA and its aims in this way. Audouni also woke up the latent Islam-phobia which lives in particular structures of the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA political and public life," Jahic said.

"The Bosniak side immediately showed readiness and appointed persons who will participate in the work of the commission for investigating the issue. We do not know why neither Croat nor Serb representatives did not do the same," Jahic said.

Source: Onasa news agency web site, Sarajevo, in English 23 Sep 99

 

 

 

14-3. Appendix (i): Visas Granted to Muslims at BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Embassy, Vienna, October 1997-February 2001

1.      Imad Fayrouz El-Hamaoui - 18 April, Lebanon

PI 0340903 visa issued 22-28 October 1997

2.      Khelili Mohamed – 5 March 1953, Algeria

Diplomatic Passport D0004663, visa issued 23 January - 23 July 1998

3.      Jandali M. Murhaf - 12 December 1965, Syria

PI 2539185, visa issued 4 February - 4 March 1998

4.      Amrmouti Sirsa M. – 1950, Jordan

Diplomatic Passport 005441, visa issued 10 March – 10 September 1998

5.      Amjuti Mazen, 1950, Jordan

Diplomatic PI 005440, visa issued 10 March – 10 September 1998

6.      Dadoukh Mohamed – 1941

PI H521131, visa issued 30 March – 30 April 1998

7.      Nouridine Fath El Khair – 24 December 1964, Morocco

PI H809824 visa issued 30 March – 30 April 1998

8.      Mohame Abdelati – 11 September 1955, Egypt

PI 5044525, visa issued 6 May – 11 May 1998

9.      Raza Nadeem – 2 August 1970, Pakistan

PI 003263, visa issued 2-31 July 1998

10.  Mohamed Elasoud – 11. September 1955, Egypt

PI 5044525, visa issued 10-13 August 1998

11.  Farhat Ireille Antoun – 15 November 1954, Lebanon

DPI[25][1] 1201690, visa issued 2-5 September 1998 (private visit)

12.  Naoufal Halim Khazen – 1948, Lebanon

DPI 0137983, visa issued 2-5 [September?] 1998 (private visit)

13.  Al Faom Ghazi – 14 March 1962, Jordan

DPI 005682, visa issued 4 September – 4 December 1998 (official)

14.  Dananatta Liyanage Chandradasa – 17 February 1939, Sri Lanka

Visa issued 18-28 September 1998

15.  Muneeb Hassan Mohammed – 24 February 1966

PI 0847507/57, visa issued 10 October – 30 December 1998 (private)

16.  Elafi Mustafa – 15 September 1937, Libya

PI675157, visa issued 5-11 October 1998

17.  Abdulmogni Hasan – 15 April 1973, Yemen

PI 0135314, visa issued 1 November - 31 December 1998

18.  Kugeprasahatam Sivapragasam-10 March 1960, Sri Lanka

PI M1490594, visa issued 23 February – 15 August 199[] (gratis visa though not DPI)

19.  Hadjnoukhal Mohamed – 1955, Morocco

PI K094754, visa 24. February - 24 March 1999

20.  Bakri Dalati – 20 April 1964, Syria

PI 392278, visa 28 March – 28 April 1999

21.  Draia Abdelmadjid – 26 March 1952, Algeria

DPI 0001181, visa 10 May – 10 November 1999

22.  Saadi Abdellatif – 14. January 1953, Morocco

DPI A001168, visa 10 May – 10 November 1999

23.  Sakander Javad – 2 February 1965, Pakistan

PI 982367, visa 28 May – 28 June 1999

24.  El Sayed Mohamed – 24 April 1946, Egypt

PI 10162230, visa 14. June – 14 July 1999

25.  Sardar Javed - 18 March 1968, Pakistan

PI F069384, visa 25 June – 25 July 1999

26.  Mokadem Ghayas Knalona – 26. June 1970, Lebanon

PI 1136123, visa 10 July – 1 September 1999

27.  Raza Nadem – 2 July 1970, Pakistan

PI A761462, visa 6-16 August 1999

28.  Kazi Mustack Ahmed – 22 July 1979, Bangladesh

PI 0144193, visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

29.  Unus Hussain – 10 March 1970, Bangladesh

PI M027739, visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

30.  Monaj Mohananda – 5 March 1970, Bangladesh

PI 358629 visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

31.  Mizanur Rahman – 23 August 1972, Bangladesh PI 358629,[26][2] visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

32.  Masud Rana – 7 November 1965, Bangladesh

PI 363914, visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

33.  Monsin Hazi Abdul – 1 March 1973, Bangladesh

PI 568192, visa 27 July – 27 August 1999

34.  Marty Adani – 23 March 1970, Indonesia

PI 446097, visa 30 July – 30 August 1999

35.  Uttam Kumar – 1 January 1970, Bangladesh

PI 0777177, visa 7 August – 7 September 1999

36.  Batchu Abul Hasem – 9 May 1968, Bangladesh

PI 0585838, visa 7 July – 7 August 1999

37.  Khander Sofiul Alam- 7 May 1965, Bangladesh

PI 0583436, visa 7 July – 7 August 1999

38.  Rafiqul Haque – 14. October 1970, Bangladesh

PI 0005362, visa 7 July – 7 August 1999

39.  A. H. Pinto – 10 may 1968, Bangladesh

PI 0307644, visa 7 July – 7 August 1999

40.  Yaseen Youst – 1 January 1962, Iraq

PI 0042256, visa 13 September 1999 – 3 January 2000

41.  Murhaf Jandali – 12 December 1965, Syria

PI 3437730, visa 8 September – 8 December 1999

42.  Khelili Mohamed - 5 March 1952, Algeria

PI D0355991, official visa 24 September 1999 – 24 March 2000 [diplomat]

43.  Hassan Mohammed Muneeb - 24 February 1966, Iraq

PI 0847507, visa 12 November 1999 -  12 May 2000

44.  Mowad Joussef – 9 December 1963, Egypt

PI 822090, visa 28 December 1999 -  12 January 2000

45.  Wasan M. Abbas – 24 June 1971, Iraq

PI 1000554, visa 25 January – 25 July 2000

46.  Hussain Syed Atif – 1 September 1986, Pakistan

PI A103350, visa 17 May – 17 August 2000

47.  Hussain Syed Asif – 26 December 1987, Pakistan

PI A103349, visa 17 May – 17 August 2000

48.  Waseeq Talat – 28 July 1959, Pakistan

PI A103348, visa 17 May – 17 August 2000  

49.  Klelili Mohamed – 5 March 1952, Algeria

DPI 0006178, visa 10 July 2000 – 10 January 2001 (official)

50.  Jasem A.M. Al Masri – 28 February 1952, Jordan

PI 477238, visa 1 August 2000 – 1 February 2001

51.  Kanim Ahmad Jussein – 5 February 1961, Iraq

PI 082753, visa 3-31 August 2000

52.  Raza Nadeem – 2 August 1970, Pakistan

PI A761462, visa 30 August – 30 September 2000

53.  Tepe Erdal – 1 January 1971, Turkey

PI ROO150478, visa 4-13 September, 2000

54.  Sultan Afsar – 1 April 1958, Pakistan

PI 097455, visa 27 September – 27 December 2000

55.  Amjad Shahzad – 28 October 1972, Pakistan

PI 161693, visa 30 October -15 November 2000

56.  Mohammad Ishthaq – 11 September 1965, Pakistan

PI FOO6533, visa 30 October -15 November 2000

57.  Hussein Abdallah Aoun – 18 December 1943, Lebanon

PI 1140280, visa 3-17 November 2000

58.  Ra Ed Mahmoud Mohammad Abu Yousef – 12 January 1973, Jordan

Pi T010085, visa 13 November -13 May 2001

59.  Hamza Michel – 1 February 1976, Lebanon

PI 1568498, visa 20 December 2000 – 20 February 2001  

[1] Code for “Diplomatic Passport” (tr.)
[2] Identical to previous passport number! (NB- tr.)

 

14-4. Appendix (ii): Embassy of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, Vienna

EMB-AT-VIE 
Number: 203-02-1840-1/00 
Vienna, 24 August 2000. 

To Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo

Subject: Omar Hatib [sic], verification of decision’s authenticity, information – relayed Re: Your memo number MFA-BA-VPP-18021-03-11759/2000 dated 22 August 2000. 

Following the instructions from your memo, date and number referenced above,we inspected the documentation in the possession of the Embassy and established that the decision #564/95 dated 25 December 1995, granting BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship to Omar Habit [sic], son of Sufijan [sic], born 15 July 1975, is authentic. The entire documentation related to this case is at this Embassy. Because of a clerical error, the name of Mr. Hatib was left out from the list earlier submitted to the MFA. On this occasion, we are also sending you the complete list of persons granted BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship by this Embassy.

Respectfully, 
Prof. Dr. Emina Keco-Isakovic, Ambassador 

[signed]  
Attachments: List 

14-5. List of Citizenship Requests

11 July 1994, B002B702.PSK

 Translator’s note: The list contains one Moroccan, one Iraqi, and one Muslim living in Bijelo Polje (Sandzak, Serbia); all others are Albanians – 9 from Kosovo, one from Macedonia (Struga). With the exception of Isa Zeka and Becir Zekovic, all are of military age.

14-6. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sarajevo

Number [handwritten] 5794/95

Date: [handwritten] 11/24/1995

Subject: Response to your memorandum # 08-02-11856/95 dated 10/28/1995

Regarding your memorandum (reference number above) we inform you of the following: per our decision 105/93, dated 10/19/1993, Mr. Attar Ahmed, citizen of Syria, was issued a Republic of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA travel document (#BH-479474) after he paid the proper consular fee, according to regulations at the time.

On 12/12/1993, all the requests for citizenship up to that point were sent to you, at your request, by diplomatic post. After we received from you the Instructions regarding practical implementation of BH citizenship admission procedures dated 6/28/1994, we sent you a list of all citizenship requests processed by our Embassy and Consulate (our document #06.1548/94), and those lists were again given to Mr. Mirica  during his control visit, and personally taken to Sarajevo.

Since we were not receiving decision from you regarding the new requests, to which the new regulations were applicable, and which we had been sending to you regularly, we assumed that you would legitimize the RBOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship cases resolved here on an individual basis, after the receipt of travel document renewal requests.

According to then-valid Decree with Legal Standing regarding the citizenship of the R BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, the DKPs [N.B.: diplomatic/consular offices] could issue decisions based on conditions specified therein. Given the existence of such a decree, and the fact that the entire procedure of issuing travel documents for the specified persons was handled by the DKPs, we consider it enough for you to perform the legalization and entry into the R BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship rolls based on the lists we have attached (then, as well as now); we would charge the administrative fees upon the issuance of travel documents.

This way, we can avoid putting the applicants into position, yet again, to lose status in the countries of residence and therefore face deportation.

Ambassador,

Mr. Huso [sic] Zivalj

[signed]

14-7. List of foreign citizens (including children) granted citizenship of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA between 1992 and 1995 by the Embassy of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA in Vienna

 

 

 Translator’s Note: There are 372 names on the list. The ones translated were the above-listed individuals of Middle-Eastern origin. Most others are Muslims and Albanians from Yugoslavia (Sandzak, Kosovo) and Macedonia. Original document spelling has been preserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14-8. List of Applications for REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Citizenship issued the REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA travel documents

 

* This number was handwritten next to the name (N.B)

14-9. Appendix (iii)

Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina
Ministry of Internal Affairs [MIA]
Security Services Center Sarajevo

Number: 19/05-1-200-142

Date: 22 August 1995

Based on Article 12 of the Birth Registry Books Act (“BH Official Gazette number 20/92), and Article  202 Section 1 of the Transferring the Law on General Administrative Procedures Act in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (“BH Official Gazette” number 2/92), in official proceedings regarding the application for addition to the Birth Registry Books for BEN AYADA FAOUZI , the Security Services Center Sarajevo issues this

D E C I S I O N

Approving that the Center municipality birth registry books, maintained for the city of Sarajevo, add to their records the name of BEN AYADA FAOUZI, male, born 23 October 1962 in EL SEM, TUNISIA, citizen of RBOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, of father SALEM and mother SELMA. Date of birth will be registered as 23 October 1962, and the place of birth EL SEM, TUNISIA.

EXPLANATION

The BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ministry of Internal Affairs, through its act 07/2-204-2072 dated 15 August 1995, has notified this Center that BEN AYADA FAOUZI received RBOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA citizenship by the MIA Decision 07/2-204-2072 on 5 August 1995, hence his application was resolved as indicated above per Article 12 of the Birth Registry Books Act (“BH Official Gazette number 20/92).

This Decision can be appealed to the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA MIA headquarters in Sarajevo, at the expense of 600 BH dinars in administrative fees following Schedule Two of the Fees and Administrative Taxes of the Republic Act (“BH Official Gazette” number 24/92, 6/94 and 13/94), and must be received at this Center within 8 days of receipt of the Decision.

 

Attention:

1. Named
2. Registrar, Center municipality
3. File

Section Superintendent
Mirsada Beganovic-Zutic
[signed] [stamped with official seal]

(Attachment: photocopy of passport E986991, issued to Ben Ayada Faouzi-b-Salem, student, Tunisian nationality, expired 15. June 1993)

14-10. [Document: Form #4, printed by the REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Embassy in Vienna]

[portion of document obscured by what appears to be an Austrian banking receipt]

Date: 16 August 1996

REQUEST FOR ISSUANCE/EXTENSION OF TRAVEL DOCUMENT OR ISSUANCE OF VISA

[handwritten] 685139

Family name, father’s name and given name: Rekik (Ahmed) Mohamed

[obscured – assumed: Date of Birth] 18 July 1966

[obscured – assumed Birthplace] SFAX – Tunisia

[obscured – assumed Occupation] Waiter

[obscured – assumed Current Residence] Cela, Prijedor [northern Bosnia, Serb Republic]

[Other information, explanation obscured]

-          Cela 131, Prijedor

-          K 088019, 5 May 1992 Embassy Vienna

-          Austria, 12 November 1990

-          Gainfeldweg 4/2, Bischofshofen 5500

-          Grand Park Hotel 5630, Kurgarten Str. 26 Bad Hofgastein

-          Yes, 4 March 1986 to 28 February 1987, Marina [female name?]

-          [Seal on the left]:  
56 BAWAG KASSA 2, 16 August 96 RD  
Schoenbrunner Strasse 238