Context of 'August 1994: Private Military Contractor MPRI Brought in by State Dept to Assist Bosnian Muslim Forces'

Context of 'August 1994: Private Military Contractor MPRI Brought in by State Dept to Assist Bosnian Muslim Forces'

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August 1994: Private Military Contractor MPRI Brought in by State Dept to Assist Bosnian Muslim Forces

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Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs Richard Holbrooke persuades the State Department to license Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a private military contractor, to provide training to the Croatian army. [Ripley, 1999, pp. 81-82, 90; Scotsman, 3/2/2001] According to MPRI information officer Joseph Allred, the firm exists so that “the US can have influence as part of its national strategy on other nations without employing its own army.” [New American, 5/10/1999; Serbian National Federation, 8/1999]

Entity Tags: Kosovo Liberation Army, Military Professional Resources Inc., Richard Holbrooke, Croatian army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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August 4-8, 1995: Croatians Launch Operation Storm, Expelling Serbs from Krajina

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The Croatian military launches Operation Storm, a massive assault aimed at seizing Krajina, a Serb-populated region located within Croatia’s borders that, a year and a half earlier, had declared itself an independent state. As the Croatian force of 200,000 approaches the city of Knin, Krajina’s 40,000-strong army quickly retreats. Over the next two days, the Croatian army fires some 3,000 shells on Knin. According to two senior Canadian military officers who are present during the attack, the shelling is indiscriminate and targets civilians. [New York Review of Books, 10/22/1998; New York Times, 3/21/1999; International Review of the Red Cross, 12/31/2000] Col. Andrew Leslie, one of the Canadians, will later say that no more than 250 shells hit military targets, leading him to believe that “the fire was deliberately directed against civilian buildings.” He will also recall seeing corpses of dead Serbians at Knin Hospital “stacked in the corridors… in piles.” [Canada National Post, 4/9/1999] The operation results in a mass exodus of as many as 150,000 Serbian residents, who flee their homes in tractors, cars, and horse-drawn carts. [New York Review of Books, 10/22/1998; New York Times, 3/21/1999; International Review of the Red Cross, 12/31/2000] This event will be remembered as the largest single instance of ethnic cleansing to have occurred during the Yugoslav war. [New York Review of Books, 10/22/1998] A 150-page report later issued by an international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, titled “The Indictment. Operation Storm, A Prima Facie Case,” finds that the Croatians were responsible for a number of atrocities. “During the course of the military offensive, the Croatian armed forces and special police committed numerous violations of international humanitarian law, including but not limited to, shelling of Knin and other cities. During, and in the 100 days following the military offensive, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily executed, and many hundreds disappeared,” the report will say. “In a widespread and systematic manner, Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts upon and against Croatian Serbs.” [New York Times, 3/21/1999] During the preceding year, Military Professionals Resources, Inc. (MPRI), a private military contractor, had been providing Croatian military officers with training—ostensibly in “Democracy Transition.” After the assault on Krajina, observers will suggest that MPRI’s team of instructors, made up of former US military generals, had actually trained the Croatians in a set of military tactics, known as “AirLand Battle 2000,” which were then used against the Serbs in Krajina. [New York Review of Books, 10/22/1998] A number of media accounts will even report that MPRI personnel helped plan the Croatian occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Serb-populated region. “Even the Foreign Military Training Report published by both the State Department and Department of Defense in May refers to these allegations against MPRI not entirely disparagingly,” UPI reports. [United Press International, 7/18/2002] There is also evidence that the US provided Croatian President Franjo Tudjman with a green light just a few days before the operation. [New York Review of Books, 10/22/1998] In September 1995, USAF General Charles Boyd, who was Deputy Commander in Chief European Command at the time condemns the Clinton Administration for having “watched approvingly as Muslim offensives began this spring, even though these attacks destroyed a cease-fire Washington has supported. This duplicity, so crude and obvious to all in Europe, has weakened America’s moral authority to provide any kind of effective diplomatic leadership. Worse, because of this, the impact of US actions has been to prolong the conflict while bringing it no closer to resolution.” [Foreign Affairs, 9/1995]

Entity Tags: Military Professional Resources Inc., Andrew Leslie, Franjo Tudjman, Operation Storm, Croatian army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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(1997): Perle Complains that Bosnia Defense Program Is Under Funded

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Bosnia has so far raised only $200 million for its defense program budget. Half of that amount exists in the form of refurbished US military equipment given to the Bosnians. The other half has been donated by Muslim countries for training and additional weapons systems. Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI) of Alexandria, Va. is providing the first year’s training at a cost of $40 million. Richard Perle complains to the APF Reporter that the Clinton administration’s “equip-and-train” program in Bosnia is “too feeble an effort,” and questions the administration’s sincerity. In 1996, the Institute for Defense Analyses estimated that Bosnia would need about $700 million to meet the first stages of its defense program. [APF Reporter, 1997]

Entity Tags: Richard Perle

Timeline Tags: Neoconservative Influence

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Shortly Before February 1998 and After: KLA Receives Arms and Training from US and NATO

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The US and NATO provide the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) with arms and training. [Wall Street Journal (Europe), 11/1/2001]

Entity Tags: Kosovo Liberation Army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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October 1998: Islamic Conference Calls KLA Struggle ‘Jihad’

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An annual international Islamic conference in Pakistan formally characterizes the Kosovo Liberation Army’s struggle as a “jihad.” [Wall Street Journal (Europe), 11/1/2001]

Entity Tags: Kosovo Liberation Army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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1999: US and British Special Forces Train KLA Operatives in Albania

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British SAS teams, US Special Forces, and representatives from Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI) are actively training KLA fighters at bases in Northern Albania (see Late June-Early July 2001). [Daily Telegraph, 4/18/1999; Herald (Glasgow), 3/27/2001]

Entity Tags: Military Professional Resources Inc., Kosovo Liberation Army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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February 2-4, 1999: KLA and Serbia Agree to Attend Peace Talks in Rambouillet

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The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) says it will send representatives to the peace talks in Rambouillet, France on February 6 (see February 6-23, 1999). Representing the KLA, will be Supreme Commander Hashim Thaci, also known as “The Snake,” and four other Kosovars, all militants. [BBC, 2/3/1999] On Febuary 4, the Yugoslav government (essentially Serbia) agrees to join the peace talks. [US Information Agency, 4/13/1999]

Entity Tags: Hashim Thaci, Kosovo Liberation Army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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March 15, 1999: KLA Accepts Rambouillet Accords

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The Kosovo Liberation Army agrees to the provisions of the Rambouillet Accords proposed during last month’s peace talks in Rambouillet (see February 6-23, 1999). [Guardian, 3/16/1999]

Entity Tags: Kosovo Liberation Army

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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April 2, 1999: Bosnian Muslim Army Caught Smuggling Weapons to KLA in Kosovo

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The US State Department temporarily suspends cooperation between the Bosnian army and the US private mercenary company MPRI. No official reason is given, but media reports indicate that the Bosnian Muslims being trained by MPRI were caught sending weapons to Muslim rebels in the regions of Kosovo and Sandzak in Serbia. Supposedly, millions of dollars of weapons were smuggled to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in Kosovo. [BBC, 4/5/1999; Progressive, 8/1/1999; Center for Public Integrity, 10/28/2002]

Entity Tags: US Department of State, Bosnian army, Kosovo Liberation Army, Military Professional Resources Inc.

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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Late June-Early July 2001: KLA Forces Are Rescued by US in Macedonia

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At the end of June, the KLA had captured the Macedonian town of Aracinovo on the outskirts of Kopje. However, within a few days 500 KLA fighters are surrounded by the Macedonian military and elite police units, cut off from re-supply and hopelessly outnumbered. The Macedonian forces are closing in and could easily capture or kill the entire KLA force there, except NATO intervenes. NATO brokers a deal with the Macedonians, under the threat of extreme economic sanctions, under which NATO would oversee the demilitarization of Aracinovo and transport the captured KLA members to internment camps in Kosovo. US troops then enter Aracinovo with 15 buses to evacuate the trapped KLA fighters. They are escorted safely away from the surrounding Macedonian forces, and then, contrary to the agreement, the KLA members are released to rejoin other KLA forces and fight again. The American forces involved in the rescue include 16 members of MPRI (see August 1994) (see 1999), who had been assisting and training the KLA forces. [Taylor, 2002, pp. 120-121]

Entity Tags: Kosovo Liberation Army, United States

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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March 2006: Wanted War Criminal Becomes Ruler of Kosovo; Charges against Him Dropped

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Agim Ceku is elected prime minister of Kosovo. Kosovo is still part of Serbia but is veering towards independence. Ceku was reportedly responsible for many atrocities while a Croatian general in 1993-1995 (see 1993-1995). He then became a top leader of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group, the Kosovo Liberation Army. Interpol removes Ceku from its list of wanted persons simply because of his new status as prime minister. [Associated Press, 3/24/2006]

Entity Tags: Agim Ceku

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

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