Posted by
John David Powell on Friday, June 08, 2007 5:02:04 PM
A recent column about
the Fort Dix Six and the historic involvement of Albanians in the commission
and funding of terrorism caused quite a stir among the Albanian population in
the United
States and abroad. One could
characterize most of the Albanian response as hate mail or something pretty
close to that. A few Albanian responses
were thoughtful and expressed dismay at what they believed was a continuation
of a false belief that Albanians hate America. Then,
of course, readers of Serbian descent and those with interests in Kosovo had entirely
different views.
As I explained to
those who wrote, the column did not say all Albanians are terrorists. In
past columns, I compared today’s war with terrorists with our war with Germany and Japan. Not all Germans and Japanese were evil
during the Second World War; only those who tried to kill us. The same is
true in this instance. Not all Albanians are terrorists, and not all
Muslims are terrorists; just those who maintain ties with terrorists, and who
try to kill us.
I also pointed out that it was gratifying to see the quick response from
leaders within the Albanian community in this country who condemned the alleged
plans of the Fort Dix Six. The actions of those arrested damaged their
families, friends, and community; however, I find it difficult to believe that
no one in their families and in their Albanian community knew about their
plans. The question becomes then: Why did those who knew remain silent?
In the spirit of
fairness, I’ve included excerpts from some of the email.
“Shame on you, shame
on your false career, constructed by lies. Albanian are the most friendly people toward USA, and your disastrous article is not capable to
show anything, except increasing Serbians hopes for nothing.”
“The whole story is a
big propaganda! Nothing in there is
really true, most of the story is taken or written by some Serbian and reposted
by you. Shame on YOU! "
“You are so
disgusting, when you write so much bulls**t against Albanian. Who has paid you to write those lies . . .
Come in Albania, have a visit here, and than you will learn
that we have more real Christians that serbs (sic) have, we have more tolerance
that serbs (sic) have. We are proud to
be Albanian, and we can not let are (sic) more bulls**t emitted in internet,
without saying to you, F**k you, your family and all your paying contributors.”
“I read your analysis ‘Albanian
Terror and the Fort Dix Six’ and have to tell you that I am impressed by your
knowledge of the Balkan situation. Your
knowledge and arguments are a great surprise for me, since I have been
following what others have been writing about the area for years now. The lack of knowledge and twisting of facts in
many of the commentaries I read brought me, at times, to the point of
desperation.”
“He does not know or
pretends not to know the long drawn-out struggle of the Albanians in Kosova
against their suppressors, the Serbs who seized Albanian land when they came to
the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries, destroyed the Albanian Catholic
churches and other religious sites and on their foundations built their own
Orthodox churches and monasteries, turning Kosova into ‘their cradle of Serb
civilization’ . . . The author has the audacity to accuse the Clinton
administration of ‘turning a blind eye to the activities’ of the Kosova
Liberation Army (KLA) ‘designed to lure the Serbian government into armed
conflict, thereby forcing the West to jump in under the pretext of preventing
the slaughter of Muslims by Serbian Christians.’ With this statement, the
author questions the real mission of the West headed by the United States,
which was to save the Albanian civilians from the atrocities of the Serbian
army . . . By supporting Miloshevic’s Serbia, he also becomes a champion of
Panslavism, which has been used to justify and motivate the suppression of the
Albanians in the Balkans . . . With his accusations against Albanians in
general, the author of the article joins the anti-Albanian chorus of the most
rabid anti-Americans in Europe, who are the Serbs, the Greeks and the
Russians.”
“Thank you for your
excellent article. It is time that we
recognize that the Serbs are Christian just like you and I. The trio that led the attack in 1998 against
the Serbs (our alley in both World Wars) were Albright, Cohen and Sandy
Berger--none of whom are Christian.”
“I see in that region,
an ethnic group such as Albanians, out of whom more than 90% supports
U.S.A. and not just because of the war in Kosovo . . . I see in that
region, a group of people trying so hard to survive and make it to the
path of a civilized society . . . I see in that region a
group of people with a lot of religious differences, whom still tried at
various parts of history to live in peace, and will always . . . I see in that
region a group of people who see a brighter future ahead . . . It is the time Europe plays a role on
that.”
“Of course, the US media is apologetic about this pointing out
that these simply some odd and misguided group.
One report had interviews with their Albanian family and friends
explaining how grateful and pro-America they are in order to soften the image of
Kosovo Albanians.”
“As you know in Kosovo where I come from there
are three different religions and they are all getting along with each other. To tell you the truth Albanians are one of the
most non believers in religions. Most of
us say that Albanian religon is Albanism . . . I love this country so do my
people. We stand by USA in good and worst day. Please do not let people think that Albanians
are terrorists.”