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Flotilla Official Was Foreign Fighter in Bosnia

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Documents On Yemen Charity Funded by U.S.

Al Qaeda Financiers Arrested In New York

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Labels: Anwar-Awlaki, Bosnia, Charitable-Society-for-Social-Welfare, Gaza-Flotilla, IHH, INTELFILES, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, National-Geographic, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Taliban, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Exclusive: Gaza Flotilla Official Was Foreign Fighter in Bosnia War

By Esad Hecimovic
SPECIAL TO INTELWIRE
A senior official with the Turkish activist group IHH who participated in the Gaza-bound flotilla boarded by the Israeli army last month served as a foreign fighter during the civil war in Bosnia.

Osman Atalay, a senior official with IHH, was on board the ship "Mavi Marmara," part of the controversial aid convoy to Gaza, which was boarded by Israeli commandos on May 31, according to published reports.

The initials IHH stand for the The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief in Turkish. The charity was created the mid-1990s, according to published reports, for the purpose of assisting Bosnian Muslims caught up in the three-way civil war between Muslims, Croats and Serbs in the former Yugoslavia. The war lasted from 1992 to 1995, leaving over 100,000 dead.

Several purported charities created to provide humanitarian assistance to Bosnian Muslims during the war were, in reality, funneling weapons and mujahideen fighters into the country, according to documents obtained during the making of the documentary "Sarajevo Ricochet", which debuts at the Kortfilmfestivalen (Short Film Festival) in Oslo, Norway, later this month.

Jihadist fighters frequently posed as employees of the charities in order to secure travel papers. Some mujahideen fighters were incorporated into the regular Bosnian army. A relatively small number of foreign volunteers bypassed the mujahideen and enlisted in the army directly.

Some IHH employees served as volunteer fighters with the Bosnian army, stationed in the town of Zenica, near the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, according to a Bosnian intelligence document obtained during research on the documentary.

The report by the Sarajevo Sector of the Bosnian National Security Service is dated November 19, 1995, and titled "Citizens, Organizations and Institutions from Afro-Asian Countries Who Reside and Operate in Our Area - A Sample of What We Have Learned and a Suggestion for Measures to be Taken."

Atalay was enlisted as a soldier of the Bosnian Army from 1992 to 1994, according to the document. After serving in the war, the document states, Atalay became head of the IHH office in Sarajevo.

A CIA report from the mid-1990s, obtained for the documentary, claims a director of IHH in Sarajevo was linked to Iranian government operatives, but does not name the person in question (read the document).

Efforts to reach Atalay for comment through IHH in Turkey were unsuccessful.

Another IHH employee, Hakan Bogoclu, was enlisted in the Bosnian army during the same period. According to the document, he served in the Seventh Muslim Brigade, a unit that included some mujahideen.

The document does not specify what unit Atalay served with, but it states both men served on the same dates, Sept. 1, 1992 through July 1, 1994.

In 1995, Bogoclu moved to IHH's Sarajevo office, where he was became deputy chief, according to the Bosnian intelligence document. Bogoclu still lives in Bosnia, where he is today an influential Sufi religious figure.

He declined to be interviewed at length, but denied any connections to terrorism and said he was an activist with IHH but not an employee.

A third IHH employee is named in the document as a director of IHH in Sarajevo but is not said to have been involved in the military.

A 2006 report written by terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann described a Turkish police raid on IHH headquarters in the late 1990s:

Security forces uncovered an array of disturbing items, including firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions, and a "jihad flag." After analyzing seized IHH documents, Turkish authorities concluded that "detained members of IHH were going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya."

According to Kohlmann, IHH phone records also showed calls to the Islamic Cultural Institute, an Islamic center linked to Anwar Shaban in Milan. Another call was recorded between IHH and Abu Maali, the leader of the Bosnian mujahideen after Shaban's assassination in 1995. Both men are believed to be linked to Al Qaeda.

Some other figures named in the Bosnian intelligence document clearly illustrate the links between foreign fighters in Bosnia and terrorism.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the September 11 mastermind, lived and worked in Sarajevo in late 1995, according to the document, which says he was employed by a humanitarian organization called "Egipatska Pomoc" or "Egyptian Help," believed to be a reference to the Egyptian Humanitarian Relief Organization (EHRA).

Mohammed is described as a "Pakistani citizen, born on April 14, 1965, in Kuwait, temporarily residing at 11 Bjelave Street, engineer by profession, residing in Sarajevo since September 25, 1995."

Esad Hecimovic is a Bosnian investigative journalist. You can follow him on Twitter. INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger and "Sarajevo Ricochet" producer Ola Flyum contributed to this report. A version of this story was published in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.

Labels: Anwar-Shaban, Bosnia, Esad-Hecimovic, Foreign-Fighters, Gaza-Flotilla, IHH, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Mujahideen, Palestinian-Issues, Sarajevo-Ricochet

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

American Arrested in Raid on Bosnian Village

An American citizen was arrested during a police raid on a Bosnian village populated by Wahhabis, according to Balkans media outlets.

Enis Bosnic, of Jacksonville, Florida, was among several people arrested in "Operation Light," a sting operation conducted in Gornja Maoca, in northern Bosnia. The residents of Gornja Maoca live under Shariah law.

Some members of the community are believed to have relocated there after the Bosnian government shut down a notorious village of former mujahideen known as Donja Bocinja.

According to Bosnian news outlets, Edis Bosnic is a Bosnian national who became a naturalized American citizen. A person by that name was nominated to the board of directors of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in 2004.

According to the Bosnian TV news magazine "60 Minutes" (no relation to CBS), Bosnic was in close contact with Adis Medunjanin, the Queens man arrested in the U.S. on suspicion of taking part in a bomb plot led by Afghan national Najibullah Zazi.

Bosnian journalist Bosnian journalist Esad Hecimovic contributed to this report.


Sources:

Glas Srpske

International Relations and Security Network

Washington Post

Labels: Adis-Medunjanin, American-Jihadists, Bosnia, Edis-Bosnic, Najibullah-Zazi, Sarajevo-Ricochet

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Reuters: Bosnians Arrested In Queens Raid

The item below is from Reuters. I am available for media interviews if anyone is looking for an expert on Al Qaeda in Bosnia to discuss this case. I am currently finishing work on "Sarajevo Ricochet," a television documentary being produced by Fenris Films, Oslo.

The documentary investigates U.S. policy and covert action toward Bosnia during the war. It also examines the activities and financing of foreign fighters in Bosnia. The documentary is scheduled for release in Spring 2009. I am featured in an on-camera interview and investigative role in both Bosnia and the United States.

NEW YORK: New York City police and the FBI raided homes in the borough of Queens early on Monday as part of an investigation that has tracked a man suspected of sympathising with al-Qaeda, officials said.

NYPD and FBI officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation by a joint terrorism task force, but members of US Congress briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no imminent danger.

Authorities raided the apartment when a suspect they had under surveillance met with people in Queens, the ethnically diverse borough across the East River from Manhattan.

Neighbours described an operation in which heavily armed FBI agents arrived in a phalanx of unmarked vehicles and stormed at least two apartment buildings in the early morning hours.

Four Bosnians — a couple and their two adult children — were arrested at an apartment they have shared for three years, said John Choe, an aide to City Councilman John Liu and a candidate for the seat in Queens that Liu is vacating.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Third World Relief Agency

A story in the New York Times yesterday ("Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists" by Eric Lichtblau) focused on the Third World Relief Agency, a Bosnian "charity" with links to the Saudi government on one hand, and to Al Qaeda on the other.

For several months now, I've been studying the key document for that story as part of the documentary, Sarajevo Ricochet, a Norwegian TV production dealing with the war in Bosnia and its connection to terrorism.

I am available for media outlets looking for someone who can knowledgeably discuss this document, Third World and its connection to Al Qaeda. You can contact me through the Multifaceted Media Group Web site.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Abu Mansour, American Fighting Jihad in Somalia

Abu Mansour Al Amriki is the newest American to show up in an Al Qaeda-linked organization, namely the Al Shabab militia, which was highlighted a few weeks ago in a communique from Al Qaeda's nominal No. 2, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.



Abu Mansour Al Amriki

Abu Mansour is shown speaking in English and Arabic. Published reports suggest that he may have volunteered in Bosnia during the 1990s.

If you recognize this picture or have any information on this individual, please contact me.

He's characterized as a military trainer and is shown taking part in an ambush of of what was characterized as Ethiopian and Somali troops at a location the video calls "Bardal," or Bargaal.

Abu Masnor also delivers an after-action report on the attack. "Many of them were killed and injured," Abu Mansour said.

Masnour eulogized the two fallen fighters. One was singled out as a particular inspiration.

"We need more like him. If you can encourage more of your children and more of your neighbors and even your own to send people like him to this [indiscernable] it would be a great asset."

"Our main objective, one of the things that we seek for [indiscernible] is to die as martyrs," said Mansour. "So the fact that we got two martyrs is nothing more than a victory in itself."

Mansour has been featured before in Al Shahab videos, but his face has never been shown.

The video also features another English-speaking jihadist and a brief clip of Osama bin Laden from an older Al Qaeda video.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

The Origin of 'Bojinka'?

Detail-oriented students of terrorism have often contemplated a minor mystery concerning "Operation Bojinka," a 1994-1995 plot to bomb a dozen U.S.-bound airlines by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The mystery: What does the name mean?

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed told U.S. interrogators that he had heard the word "Bojinka" while serving on or near the front lines in Bosnia and said it came from the Serbo-Croatian language (spoken by all three Bosnian peoples).

The problem is -- no one in Bosnia has ever heard of it.

However, I noticed a interesting possible explanation when I was in Bosnia this month doing interviews and research for "Sarajevo Richochet," a forthcoming documentary about the Bosnian mujahideen and their relationship to both al Qaeda and the U.S. intelligence community.

The Serbo-Croatian word for soldiers is vojnika (voy-nee-kah). Not particularly similar, of course. But if it's rendered in Cyrillic type (used by the Serbs), it looks like this:



KSM or some of his peers could easily have seen the word "soldiers" rendered in Cyrillic -- on a transport, document, barracks, etc. -- and simply read it off as it one might sound it out from its Latin-looking characters.

All this is highly speculative, of course. I haven't had it confirmed by a source ... yet. But it's the best explanation I've seen so far -- which isn't saying all that much, I grant you.

"Sarajevo Ricochet" is expected to be released in spring 2009.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Latest American Al Qaeda Was Known To FBI For Years Before Arrest

When announcing the arrest and indictment of Christopher Paul, an alleged American al Qaeda member, Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, boasted of the investigation's great success.

"Our persistence and determination in the pursuit of this case should serve as a strong warning to any American who considers joining forces with our enemy," said Wainstein.

"This case exemplifies the necessity of cooperation in order to fight terrorism," said U.S. Attorney Gregory Lockhart. "The sharing of information was crucial to this effort."

What might have been missed amid all this backslapping is the fact that Paul has been known to the FBI for at least seven years and likely longer. But the investigation only began four years ago, and Paul is only now being charged.

According to the indictment, Abu Malek has been involved with al Qaeda since 1989. In the interim, numerous al Qaeda suspects and informants have been rolled up by the FBI -- and one of them identified Abu Malek as a black American member of al Qaeda in open court in the 2001 case of U.S. v. bin Laden (excerpt below).

Kherchtou is the witness described on page four of the indictment as "a former personal pilot for Usama bin Laden." Kherchtou began talking with the U.S. in the late 1990s and formally became a cooperating witness in 2000.

But the trail goes back even further. According to the indictment, Paul traveled to Croatia at least once in 1993, and in February 1993, he applied for a passport in Vienna claiming his had been lost or stolen.

Paul's travels correspond to trips to Vienna, Bosnia and Croatia in January and February 1993 by Clement Hampton-El, a member of the Brooklyn terrorist cell responsible for the World Trade Center bombing.

Hampton-El was carrying money to and from Bosnia, which was being funneled through al Qaeda-linked charities based in Austria.

The trips received some amount of scrutiny from the FBI at the time, but according to media reports, U.S. officials were generally warned off investigating charities sending aid to Bosnia by the Clinton administration, which wanted to provide off-the-books assistance to Muslims in Bosnia who were being slaughtered in ethnic cleansing campaigns during the 1990s.


Excerpt:


1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
2 ------------------------------x

3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

4 v. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023

5 USAMA BIN LADEN, et al.,

6 Defendants.

7 ------------------------------x

8
New York, N.Y.
9 February 26, 2001
9:50 a.m.
10

11



2 Q. What about, there were a number of black Americans who

3 were in Khartoum in those years, is that correct?

4 A. Americans?

5 Q. Some black Americans?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. One of them was Abu Malek?

8 A. No, he wasn't in Khartoum.

9 Q. He was not in Khartoum?

10 A. I don't know him.

11 Q. Was he in Afghanistan or Pakistan?

12 A. I knew a guy called Abdouh Malek, an American, but he was

13 in Pakistan and since then -- he didn't visit Sudan.

14 Q. Was he Al Qaeda?

15 A. I believe so.

16 Q. But you are not sure?

17 A. No.

18 Q. In fact, you told the agents when they asked you about Abu

19 Malek that you did not know whether he was an Al Qaeda member.

20 A. Abu Malek or Abdou Malek?

21 Q. I guess there might be two people. There is an Abu Malek?

22 A. Abu Malek, I don't know him.

23 Q. There is an Abdou Malek?

24 A. Abdou Malek yes.

25 Q. Did you tell the government when you first were talking


SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS (212) 805-0300
1378
12qkbin1
Kherchtou - cross

1 about different people who were members of the Al Qaeda, who

2 you did not think were members of Al Qaeda, who you did not

3 know were members of Al Qaeda, you said to the government that

4 you did not whether Abdou Malek was a member of Al Qaeda, is

5 that correct?

6 A. I don't remember that. If I said, that is correct.

7 Q. So you don't know if he was, is that correct?

8 A. Yes.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Gitmo Detainees Vol. 1 Sourcebook Released

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

The Gitmo Detainees Sourcebook, Volume One, contains more than 200 pages of tribunal transcripts related to high value detainees at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, as well as an unclassified list of all known detainees. Transcripts include Mustafa Al-hawsawi, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Walid Bin Attash (aka Khallad), Al Nashiri Abd Al Rahim Hussein Mohammed, Ammar Al Baluchi, Hambali (rjduan Bin Isomuddiiu), Mohd Farik Bin Amin (aka Zubair), Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (aka Lillie), and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

The INTELWIRE Sourcebook Series provides collections of documents, court records and exclusive material. INTELWIRE Sourcebooks are ideal for counterterrorism professionals searching for primary source data; authors and journalists seeking to fact-check stories and books; and involved terrorism readers who want to get their information straight from the souce. INTELWIRE Sourcebooks provide professional research products at a price anyone can afford.

Current titles include Ali Mohamed, The Siege at Mecca, the Benevolence International Foundation (The Creation of Al Qaeda) and the Who's Who in Terrorism (Winter 2006).

Sourcebooks scheduled for later this year include: Al Qaeda's Millennium Plot, The Anwar Sadat Assassination, U.S. intervention in Bosnia, Siege at Mecca Vol. 2, and more.

Labels: Benevolence-International-Foundation, Bosnia, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Sarajevo-Ricochet

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Richard Perle, MPRI and Bosnian Arms Shipments

Connoisseurs of elaborate Bosnia conspiracy theories will love this (and don't think I don't know you're out there).

Controversial neocon philosopher Richard Perle led an obscure nongovernmental organization tasked with hiring a private company to run the U.S. State Department's "Train and Equip" program in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996.

Perle's group, the "Acquisition Support Institute," hired Military Professional Resources Inc., essentially a professional mercenary company nearly as controversial as Perle himself. It's not at all clear what or whom is responsible for the Institute, or why a "non-governmental, non-profit organization" would be responsible for selecting the recipient of a massive State Department contract on one of the most sensitive issues of the day.

Equipped with a collection of retired military officers, MPRI set itself up as a virtual extension of the U.S. government in both Croatia and Bosnia, as documented in an extensive set of Freedom of Information Act documents I will be publishing over the next several weeks.

MPRI operatives were given the run of the country -- receiving payments and arms from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Muslim countries, which underwrote operations to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

In many cases, these payments were brokered directly by the State Department. In some instances, funds and arms were routed into Bosnia without State's explicit approval but often with its knowledge, as documented in the newly declassified records. Unauthorized assistance appears to have come from Pakistan, UAE and Turkey, among others.

Bosnia was a hotbed for al Qaeda in the early 1990s. I am still tracing the extent of how al Qaeda-linked people and groups operated after the T&E program launched in 1996. However, al Qaeda-linked mujahideen were trained by former American military officers prior to the T&E program's launch.

Train and Equip was (nominally) intended to marginalize extremists and Islamic radical networks by replacing them as the primary source of weapons, training and funding to Bosnians. Instead, the program ran parallel to somewhat lower-profile extremist networks over the course of several years, and al Qaeda still maintains a strong presence in the country.

Look for more documents in the near-term future. There are more than 500 pages total. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser:

State Department Cable, 5/21/96: Demarche to Bosnian Federation on Train and Equip Training Contract (Richard Perle, MPRI)

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Another Old Bosnia Hand Joins Bush Intel

I shouldn't find this surprising after George W. Bush named Michael Hayden as CIA director, but the administration has tapped yet another old Bosnia hand for to lead the entire intelligence apparatus of the United States -- retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell. According to AP:

McConnell was tapped to lead U.S. eavesdropping efforts as director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996. Aid suggested his record there was mixed. McConnell allowed Congress and the White House to slash NSA funding after the Cold War at a time when Aid said the government should instead have been ramping up for challenges posed by cell phones, the Internet and fiber optic cable.

Yet, on McConnell's watch, the agency also became central to providing intelligence on the war in Bosnia, shipments of weapons-grade technology to Iraq and other tough national security issues of that era.

I am not sure why one would cite intelligence service in Bosnia in the "pro" column, since the U.S. was essentially in league with al Qaeda during that conflict. On McConnell and Hayden's watch, the Clinton Administration allowed arms and money to reach the the Bosnian network that was being used in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Military trainers sponsored by the U.S. Special Forces -- and in some cases still employed by them -- traveled to Bosnia in trips coordinated by known terrorists to teach and observe at al Qaeda-linked training camps.

The failures of Bosnia are among the most grevious in U.S. intelligence history. Yet McConnell and Hayden are now on the front lines of the War on Terror -- not to mention some U.S. military officers -- now near the top of the heirarchy -- who are arguably even more culpable for the Bosnia debacle.

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

New Document: 1996 CIA Report on Terrorist Abuse of Islamic Charities

UPDATED JUNE 14, 2010

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

INTELWIRE is publishing a landmark 1996 CIA report on the misuse of Islamic charities by terrorist networks, including the al Qaeda-linked International Islamic Relief Organization and IHH, the Turkish organization linked to the Gaza flotilla (related story).

Click here for the full document

The document also links the Third World Relief Agency to Al Gamaat Al Islamiyyah and other extremist networks.

More on the Third World Relief Agency

Additional reports are being prepared by INTELWIRE on both of the above topics.

The CIA document was provided to INTELWIRE by the Motley Rice law firm, which has been involved in a civil lawsuit against a host of individuals and organizations believed to have some responsibility in the September 11 attacks.

Editor's Note: Some pages were omitted from the copy of this document presented to INTELWIRE. A more complete version is here (external link).

Labels: Bosnia, Gaza-Flotilla, IHH, IIRO, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Third-World-Relief-Agency

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

CIA Chief Hayden Turned Blind Eye To Arms For Al Qaeda In 1990s

Hayden's European Command Failed To Interdict Military Supplies To Bin Laden Terror Network, Didn't Share Bosnia Intel With Allies

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

READ FULL STORY



From 1993 to 1995, money, arms and expertise flooded from the United States to al Qaeda military networks in Bosnia-Herzegovina -- all under the watchful eye of Gen. Michael V. Hayden, then chief of U.S. military intelligence in the region, today named by President Bush as his nominee to take over the CIA.

Hayden served as director of the U.S. European Command Intelligence Directorate, based in Stuttgart, Germany, from May 1993 to October 1995. He subsequently went on to lead the secretive National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005.

Hayden's role in Bosnia is far from clear. His name has been linked repeatedly to allegations the American government supported al Qaeda-linked militants inside Bosnia – support which continued even after the Bosnian network was openly tied to terrorist attacks on American soil.

Hayden accompanied U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke on a trip to Croatia in November 1994, during which Holbrooke told the Bosnian government that the U.S. would encourage third-party countries to make covert shipments of arms and supplies for the use of al Qaeda's Bosnian network, in violation of a U.N. embargo.

Three months after the meeting, mysterious nighttime airlifts of arms and supplies to Bosnian Muslims began to pass through Hayden's intelligence apparatus unhindered, prompting U.N. observers to accuse the U.S. of deliberately allowing the so-called "black flights" to pass.

The official representing Bosnia at the November 1994 meeting (in which Holbrooke gave explicit approval to violations of the embargo) also sat on the board of a Vienna charity funded by Osama bin Laden. That charity – the Third World Relief Agency – directly shipped arms from the Sudan to Bosnian militants and also sent more than $40,000 in cash to the New York terrorist cell responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

READ FULL STORY

Related Story: U.S Intel And Srebrenica Massacre


Technorati Tags: Database, Wiretapping,
CIA, Hayden, Michael Hayden, Michael V. Hayden, NSA, Bosnia, al Qaeda, Bush

Labels: Bosnia, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Secrets-Scandals

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Was Hayden Warned of Srebrenica Massacre?

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

Nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslims (according to the official count) were killed in a shocking genocidal attack by Serbian forces at Srebrenica in July 1995, as Western forces looked on -- apparently helpless, amd apparently caught by surprise.

"It is to the shame of the international community that this evil took place under our noses and we did nothing," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, at a recent commemoration of the event. "I bitterly regret this and I'm deeply sorry for it."

One of the most culpable observers was Gen. Michael V. Hayden, whom President Bush relected yesterday as his nominee to lead the CIA. (See INTELWIRE story, "Bush CIA Nominee Stood Watch While U.S. Armed Al Qaeda In Bosnia")

The following excerpt is from "Intelligence and the war in Bosnia 1992 – 1995: The role of the intelligence and security services," Chapter 8, "Was 'Srebrenica' an intelligence failure?" The chapter (available in full here) addresses General Michael V. Hayden's role as commander of America's European intelligence directorate overseeing Bosnia.

Moreover, the intelligence community did not assign top priority to supplying military intelligence support to UNPROFOR (UN peacekeeping force). According to [General Michael V.] Hayden, in the summer of 1995 the provision of support for UN operations took fifth place in the list of priorities for military intelligence. In this context it is not surprising that 'a senior intelligence official' at SHAPE (NATO Headquarters), Mons stated that General Rose 'lost ownership of the picture of the battlefield to the point where it was irrecoverable'. According to this official, this resulted in decision-making on military operations that was based on a non-objective picture. What was not stated here was that the US services did not trust Rose and thus slowly cut off the supply of intelligence.

Another important factor was that US analysts did not expect that the VRS (Serbian Army) would wish to take the enclave due to the risk of high losses, air strikes and the problem of the refugees. CIA director John Deutch emphatically denied that his organization was forewarned and also pointed to the difficulties experienced in finally discovering the photographs of the mass graves. Deutch's claims were confirmed by others. The Intelligence Head of the US EUCOM and later Director of the NSA, General Michael Hayden, concluded in the Defense Intelligence Journal with respect to the attack on Srebrenica: 'The quick fall of Srebrenica was as significant as it was unexpected. It was brought about by the “massing” of a force that would have been a disappointing crowd at many high school basketball games.' The major strategic changes that were usually generated by long-term processes were in this case, according to Hayden, the result of just a few tanks.

And Hayden was in a position to know because he had access to virtually all intelligence. His Yugoslav Joint Planning Cell at US EUCOM interpreted 'the gathering of groups of people in school yards in connection with the capture of Srebrenica as being “in the nature of a demonstration” when these had in fact been troops belonging to the Serb Army in Bosnia'. There was a consensus at the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA: the VRS would never want to conquer the entire enclave. Following the assault the US intelligence community established that intelligence was indeed available, but that the indications were too vague to be analysed effectively and in time. The journalists Stephen Engelberg and Tim Weiner of the New York Times were told more or less the same at a confidential briefing at the State Department and NSA. They were reportedly presented with a very accurate picture in which the Americans held nothing back. A former director of the NSA declared: 'Gleaning hard facts from the avalanche of information was like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose.' It transpired that the best information was obtained from NGOs, the UN and the press.

After the fall of Srebrenica the Netherlands MIS started an investigation into what its foreign partners knew. It transpired that in June 1995 the CIA and SIS received indications that the VRS was planning to start operations. The CIA had a 'variety of reports' which stated that an offensive would start in June 1995. According to the CIA the ABiH offensive around Sarajevo had caused a temporary delay in the VRS operations. A CIA report of 10 July, that was first received by the MIS/CO after the fall of Srebrenica on 12 July, also showed that the aforementioned 'variety of reports' never reached the MIS. The British foreign intelligence service is also said to have had indications that the VRS would attack the enclave with ethnic cleansing as the ultimate objective. The report itself was dated 15 June but (just like the CIA report) it was first received by the service on 12 July. Due to a misunderstanding it remained at the British embassy. The report was in fact not dated, had no attached evaluation, no indication of the reliability of the source, etc. The news of the attack had, according to a senior British intelligence official, been passed to SIS by a source close to Mladic. This possible attack was the subject of discussion within the British intelligence community, where opinions were divided as to the reliability of the source. In the first week of June the British Joint Intelligence Committee repeated the expectation that 'on balance it is judged that the Bosnian Serbs will probably not seek to over-run the "safe areas" for the moment'. It must be doubted whether this US and British intelligence about an imminent attack was 'hard', as Mladic first decided at the end of June to set the operation in motion.

Technorati Tags: CIA, Hayden, Michael Hayden, Michael V. Hayden, NSA, Bosnia, Srebrenica, Bush

Labels: Bosnia, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Sarajevo-Ricochet

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Benevolence Foundation Founder Added To Designated Terrorist List

By J.M. Berger

INTELWIRE.com



The Treasury Department has banned Americans from doing business with a founder of the Benevolence International Foundation, Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee.



Batterjee was today added to the Specially Designated Nationals list maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department, a legal move that also allows the U.S. to block the assets of named "individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific."



Batterjee is a wealthy Saudi national born in Jeddah in 1946. In 1987, Batterjee founded the Islamic Benevolence Committee in both Saudi Arabia and Peshewar, Pakistan. According to the U.S. government, one of IBC’s purposes was to raise funds in Saudi Arabia to support the efforts of the mujahideen in Afghanistan.



Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s former roommate and current brother-in-law, created the Benevolence International Corporation in the Philippines in 1989. BIC purported to be an import-export company and later repositioned itself as a charity, according to the Far East Economic Review.



The Far East Economic Review (a publication of the Wall Street Journal) cites BIC as the direct predecessor to BIF. The U.S. indictment of BIF’s executive director makes the same claim about IBC. Both statements are very likely correct.



Batargy, the founder of IBC, and Khalifa, the founder of BIC, were each known associates of Osama bin Laden, and moved in the same circles and cities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and in Pakistan. Two BIF-related indictments (U.S. vs. Benevolence International Foundation, and U.S. vs. Arnaout) make it clear both men had very close ties to the U.S. Benevolence International Foundation.



In 1992 or 1993, Benevolence incorporated in Palos Hills, Ill., outside Chicago. where it would eventually move. Sheik Adil Abdul Galil Batargy dropped out of the organization around this time, after questions began to arise overseas about the nature of Benevolence’s operations. Benevolence opened offices in Pakistan, Bosnia, Canada and Azerbaijan, and possibly elsewhere.



With Batargy’s departure, Enaam Arnaout formally took charge of Benevolence. According to the government, Benevolence engaged in a pattern of fraud, diverting funds raised for charitable purposes to terrorist activities around the world. Arnaout pleaded guilty to misappropriating funds and received an 11-year jail sentence. As part of his plea deal, Arnaout did not admit to aiding and abetting terrorism.



Spellings and aliases, according to the Treasury Department, include: BATARJEE, Adel Abdul Jalil (a.k.a. AL-BATTARJEE, 'Adil; a.k.a. BATARJI, 'Adil 'Abd al Jalil; a.k.a. BATTERJEE, Adel).

Labels: Benevolence-International-Foundation, Bosnia, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Sarajevo-Ricochet

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