Albania prepares to welcome U.S. president

Clinton pulled out because of the security threat from Islamic terror cells which have been endemic in Albania since the early ninties, often in cooperation with SHISH. I'm glad I won't be in Tirana when Bush is there, apparently the entire city will be shut down. Snipers on roof tops, residents not allowed onto their own balconies, streets closed off. Albania has been flooded with CIA and MI6 for the last few weeks and the Albanian Govt has even passed a special law just for Georgie's visit so he can bring a fully armed company of marines with him. There has already been one bombing and two unexploded IEDs near the US embassy in the last couple of weeks. So altogether it should be quite a show especially if the Islamist fanatics come down out of the hills to give him a proper salafi welcome.

I don't believe that this trip will go ahead.

Jack your comment represents the usual phobias regarding Albania. I was in Tirana a few days ago on a business trip and I was amazed by how welcoming and worm the people we there. And there is nothing like religious fanatics in Albania, which was pretty easy to notice, since churches and mosques were usually only meters away from each-other and people's goal when talking about foreign issues was only for Albania to join the EU and other western organizations. There is no need to be so hostile to a country which has passed through such a difficult period and is only now progressing towards democracy and peace.
As for the bomb near the US embassy it was not directed to the Americans but to the Albanian owner of the pub on grounds of competition. If you had visited Tirana you would very well know what I know, that the foreign embassies are spread along the entire center of the city.

Coincidence that he has a stomach bug when he looked perfectly fine with blair at the g8 summit yesterday?

This is an historic trip that is long over due. I believe that the Albanian people will give Gorge W Bush a great welcome. Albanians are pro American more then most European countries.

Thanks for the tourist picture Andrew but I will take my info from investigative journalism pieces. For example:

The Albanian intelligence service, the SHISH, operates under the direct orders of the Americans and, when deemed appropriate, the British. This was not always entirely the case. In fact, ironically, the reason why Islamic extremists entered the country in the first place was due to the former head of the spy agency, Bashkim Gazidede, a devout Islamist. During the early 1990’s, the SHISH was therefore both arresting foreign extremists under CIA orders and enabling others. When terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden himself visited Albania, it was under the pretext of subsidizing the desperately poor post-Communist country. Sali Berisha, then president, was happy to accept the help, even making Albania Europe’s only member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference- without gaining parliamentary approval.

According to Albanian security expert Damian Gjiknuri, Gazidede, a former chairman of the Islamic Intellectuals Association of Albania was in the early 1990’s “working around the clock receiving official delegations from the Arab world, hence deviating from the official duties and even compromising national security.” In 1997, after the corrupt pyramid schemes collapsed and brought total anarchy to the country, the Berisha government was toppled and Gazidede fled, in July 1997. Reportedly, he went to the Middle East and was later protected and employed by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service.

What happened subsequently is opaque. It was reported that the former spychief returned to Albania in December 2005, following Sali Berisha’s re-election, on a Turkish Airlines flight. However, a European security official claims that this “sighting” was of a body double, and that Gazidede really returned via ship, from Turkish-held North Cyprus. Neither account can be confirmed. Since May 2006, German and Albanian news reports have claimed that Gazidede was given a state job overseeing property issues, but is now in Rome for medical treatment. In any case, it seems that Gazidede is no longer in a position to cause mischief.

A more perplexing disappearance has been that of Abdul Latif Saleh, once a major player on Tirana’s Islamic fundamentalist scene. This Jordanian radical employed by the Saudi government was also the business manager in Albania for Yassin al-Qadi, a Saudi tycoon was designated a terrorist sponsor by the US Treasury in October 2001. Although his American assets were frozen by the Bush administration, al Qadi’s web of business connections means he has not been touched abroad, and indeed his close connections with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan resulted in his exoneration in that country last year.

In the 1990’s, al-Qadi was one of the leading Arab investors in Albania. His 15-story business centers (they would be seized by the Albanian government in 2002) were known, ironically, as Tirana’s “Twin Towers.” Al-Qadi, the founder and chief investor in the terrorist fundraising charity, Muwafaq (‘Blessed Relief’), was alleged by the US government to have laundered $10 million for bin Laden through his business interests and charities. Investigators would also claim that Abdul Latif Saleh, the 45-year-old general manager of al-Qadi’s construction company, sugar importing firm and medical center, had been given $600,000 by Osama bin Laden for terrorist cells in Albania.

In September 2005, a US Treasury announcement reiterated its claims about the Jordanian. “Saleh has multiple ties to al Qaida, ranging from the Al Haramain Foundation to Yasin Qadi to Usama bin Laden,” said Stuart Levey, the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). “This designation identifies him as a terrorist facilitator and ensures that he will no longer be able to operate unencumbered.”
http://www.balkanalysis.com/2007/06/02/western-intelligence-services-focus-on-albania%e2%80%99s-islamist-groups-ahead-of-us-presidential-visit/

The highlight of George's trip to Europe has already taken place when he got to meet Bono.George's 2 daughters are more impressed with the fact that George got Bono to autograph a couple of CDs for them and it only cost the US a few billion dollars in promised aid to Africa(Bono's pet project).I hope the US keeps its promise and delivers on the promised aid.I am sure George would be happier to meet with Ana and get some free tennis lessons from a gorgeous woman than to have to endure more BORING speeches from boring politicians.

I dont understand something.
Why al serbian bloggers here want to splill their venom and talk trash when it comes to Albanians. It is well known from everyone that Albanians are one of the most welcoming people in Europe.
Is it because you understand that this is a sign of appreciation to the US for helping our Albanian brothers in Kosova get rid of Serbian rule?
Yes we are pro - americans

There is only one serbian on this thread hermon and that is PB whose comment had no bile in it. I am Scottish, Kate is British I believe, Luciano is Italian-American, Andrew I don't know and Frank K I don't know. So stop type casting everyone who speaks up for Serbia as Serbian. That is called 'ethnic profiling' and is a form of xenophobia.

It's nice the Albanian folks will welcome Georgie the 2nd Bush in a friendly way. Most other people - including a lot of Americans - wish he would go back to west Texas and stop mucking up the world.

It is unfortunate for you Serbs that Monica Lewinsky's name was not Monica Petrovich.i have no doubt that Clinton would have had interesting conversations with Serbs about the creative ways to use a cigar on a young woman instead of talking about bombing Serbia.Make no mistake about the fact that we Americans have no anti-Serb feelings considering the fact that 1 million Serbian-Americans have contributed a lot to America and we understand that al groups have their angels and demons but it was an unfortunate episode in Serb history to have a goofball like Milosevich suffering from the Napoleonic complex representing your people.but to Americans who have a short attention span that sems like ancient history and all the people of the Balkans must look forward to a brighter day when the children of the Balkans will live in a prosperous European homeland.For those of you who have never seen a map of Europe please take a look and see that Russia is the biggest EUROPEAN country.

Hermon, just for you, i will live upto my serb stereotype. "we are the most welcoming people in europe" - tell that to all the trafficked women you prostitute out over europe and the drug users who smoke your dope. the question you need to ask yourself is this, if the trafficking and drug dealing are not albanian dominated, then wy is it when you mention these two things anywhere in europe, the first thing people think of are albanians. i've travelled extensively in europe and i know it's true.

Sorry Jack,
From your comments I thought you were serbian.

Jack i dont belive you are Scottish at all! and your retoric is anti Albanian; I am Albanian and live in Scotland and if you want we can meet up sometime.I have a good knowledge of Albanian-Serbian relations and the coffe is on me. As for the Albanian people yes they are the most pro American people in the world and religion play no part in Albania unlike in Serbia or Scotland for that matter. thanks

Jack, point taken, but the people that are trying to put down Albania are usually the ones which stand on the Serbian side when it comes to the Kosovo issue. My question is, why take the issue to Albania? The is a whole other topic. I'm guessing they are bitter that the world's only super power supports the Albanians..

Yes we've had our share of idiots and criminals. Gazidede was definitely involved in something he should not have. And yes, quite a lot of Albanians are involved in organized crime in Europe.

But what about the serbs? What kind of bells does the name Ratko Mladic ring? Or Radovan Karadzic? Or if we really wanna find evidence to prejudice them, what about the name Gavrilo Princip? (the guy who basically started World War 1)

Stop these silly anti-Albanian prejudices because they are pointless and silly. We are a suffered people and are not as good or bad as anyone else would be in the same conditions.

Clinton pulled out because of the security threat from Islamic terror cells which have been endemic in Albania since the early ninties, often in cooperation with SHISH. I'm glad I won't be in Tirana when Bush is there, apparently the entire city will be shut down. Snipers on roof tops, residents not allowed onto their own balconies, streets closed off. Albania has been flooded with CIA and MI6 for the last few weeks and the Albanian Govt has even passed a special law just for Georgie's visit so he can bring a fully armed company of marines with him. There has already been one bombing and two unexploded IEDs near the US embassy in the last couple of weeks. So altogether it should be quite a show especially if the Islamist fanatics come down out of the hills to give him a proper salafi welcome.

I don't believe that this trip will go ahead.

Jack your comment represents the usual phobias regarding Albania. I was in Tirana a few days ago on a business trip and I was amazed by how welcoming and worm the people we there. And there is nothing like religious fanatics in Albania, which was pretty easy to notice, since churches and mosques were usually only meters away from each-other and people's goal when talking about foreign issues was only for Albania to join the EU and other western organizations. There is no need to be so hostile to a country which has passed through such a difficult period and is only now progressing towards democracy and peace.
As for the bomb near the US embassy it was not directed to the Americans but to the Albanian owner of the pub on grounds of competition. If you had visited Tirana you would very well know what I know, that the foreign embassies are spread along the entire center of the city.

Coincidence that he has a stomach bug when he looked perfectly fine with blair at the g8 summit yesterday?

This is an historic trip that is long over due. I believe that the Albanian people will give Gorge W Bush a great welcome. Albanians are pro American more then most European countries.

Thanks for the tourist picture Andrew but I will take my info from investigative journalism pieces. For example:

The Albanian intelligence service, the SHISH, operates under the direct orders of the Americans and, when deemed appropriate, the British. This was not always entirely the case. In fact, ironically, the reason why Islamic extremists entered the country in the first place was due to the former head of the spy agency, Bashkim Gazidede, a devout Islamist. During the early 1990’s, the SHISH was therefore both arresting foreign extremists under CIA orders and enabling others. When terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden himself visited Albania, it was under the pretext of subsidizing the desperately poor post-Communist country. Sali Berisha, then president, was happy to accept the help, even making Albania Europe’s only member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference- without gaining parliamentary approval.

According to Albanian security expert Damian Gjiknuri, Gazidede, a former chairman of the Islamic Intellectuals Association of Albania was in the early 1990’s “working around the clock receiving official delegations from the Arab world, hence deviating from the official duties and even compromising national security.” In 1997, after the corrupt pyramid schemes collapsed and brought total anarchy to the country, the Berisha government was toppled and Gazidede fled, in July 1997. Reportedly, he went to the Middle East and was later protected and employed by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service.

What happened subsequently is opaque. It was reported that the former spychief returned to Albania in December 2005, following Sali Berisha’s re-election, on a Turkish Airlines flight. However, a European security official claims that this “sighting” was of a body double, and that Gazidede really returned via ship, from Turkish-held North Cyprus. Neither account can be confirmed. Since May 2006, German and Albanian news reports have claimed that Gazidede was given a state job overseeing property issues, but is now in Rome for medical treatment. In any case, it seems that Gazidede is no longer in a position to cause mischief.

A more perplexing disappearance has been that of Abdul Latif Saleh, once a major player on Tirana’s Islamic fundamentalist scene. This Jordanian radical employed by the Saudi government was also the business manager in Albania for Yassin al-Qadi, a Saudi tycoon was designated a terrorist sponsor by the US Treasury in October 2001. Although his American assets were frozen by the Bush administration, al Qadi’s web of business connections means he has not been touched abroad, and indeed his close connections with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan resulted in his exoneration in that country last year.

In the 1990’s, al-Qadi was one of the leading Arab investors in Albania. His 15-story business centers (they would be seized by the Albanian government in 2002) were known, ironically, as Tirana’s “Twin Towers.” Al-Qadi, the founder and chief investor in the terrorist fundraising charity, Muwafaq (‘Blessed Relief’), was alleged by the US government to have laundered $10 million for bin Laden through his business interests and charities. Investigators would also claim that Abdul Latif Saleh, the 45-year-old general manager of al-Qadi’s construction company, sugar importing firm and medical center, had been given $600,000 by Osama bin Laden for terrorist cells in Albania.

In September 2005, a US Treasury announcement reiterated its claims about the Jordanian. “Saleh has multiple ties to al Qaida, ranging from the Al Haramain Foundation to Yasin Qadi to Usama bin Laden,” said Stuart Levey, the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). “This designation identifies him as a terrorist facilitator and ensures that he will no longer be able to operate unencumbered.”
http://www.balkanalysis.com/2007/06/02/western-intelligence-services-focus-on-albania%e2%80%99s-islamist-groups-ahead-of-us-presidential-visit/

The highlight of George's trip to Europe has already taken place when he got to meet Bono.George's 2 daughters are more impressed with the fact that George got Bono to autograph a couple of CDs for them and it only cost the US a few billion dollars in promised aid to Africa(Bono's pet project).I hope the US keeps its promise and delivers on the promised aid.I am sure George would be happier to meet with Ana and get some free tennis lessons from a gorgeous woman than to have to endure more BORING speeches from boring politicians.

I dont understand something.
Why al serbian bloggers here want to splill their venom and talk trash when it comes to Albanians. It is well known from everyone that Albanians are one of the most welcoming people in Europe.
Is it because you understand that this is a sign of appreciation to the US for helping our Albanian brothers in Kosova get rid of Serbian rule?
Yes we are pro - americans

There is only one serbian on this thread hermon and that is PB whose comment had no bile in it. I am Scottish, Kate is British I believe, Luciano is Italian-American, Andrew I don't know and Frank K I don't know. So stop type casting everyone who speaks up for Serbia as Serbian. That is called 'ethnic profiling' and is a form of xenophobia.

It's nice the Albanian folks will welcome Georgie the 2nd Bush in a friendly way. Most other people - including a lot of Americans - wish he would go back to west Texas and stop mucking up the world.

It is unfortunate for you Serbs that Monica Lewinsky's name was not Monica Petrovich.i have no doubt that Clinton would have had interesting conversations with Serbs about the creative ways to use a cigar on a young woman instead of talking about bombing Serbia.Make no mistake about the fact that we Americans have no anti-Serb feelings considering the fact that 1 million Serbian-Americans have contributed a lot to America and we understand that al groups have their angels and demons but it was an unfortunate episode in Serb history to have a goofball like Milosevich suffering from the Napoleonic complex representing your people.but to Americans who have a short attention span that sems like ancient history and all the people of the Balkans must look forward to a brighter day when the children of the Balkans will live in a prosperous European homeland.For those of you who have never seen a map of Europe please take a look and see that Russia is the biggest EUROPEAN country.

Hermon, just for you, i will live upto my serb stereotype. "we are the most welcoming people in europe" - tell that to all the trafficked women you prostitute out over europe and the drug users who smoke your dope. the question you need to ask yourself is this, if the trafficking and drug dealing are not albanian dominated, then wy is it when you mention these two things anywhere in europe, the first thing people think of are albanians. i've travelled extensively in europe and i know it's true.

Sorry Jack,
From your comments I thought you were serbian.

Jack i dont belive you are Scottish at all! and your retoric is anti Albanian; I am Albanian and live in Scotland and if you want we can meet up sometime.I have a good knowledge of Albanian-Serbian relations and the coffe is on me. As for the Albanian people yes they are the most pro American people in the world and religion play no part in Albania unlike in Serbia or Scotland for that matter. thanks

Jack, point taken, but the people that are trying to put down Albania are usually the ones which stand on the Serbian side when it comes to the Kosovo issue. My question is, why take the issue to Albania? The is a whole other topic. I'm guessing they are bitter that the world's only super power supports the Albanians..

Yes we've had our share of idiots and criminals. Gazidede was definitely involved in something he should not have. And yes, quite a lot of Albanians are involved in organized crime in Europe.

But what about the serbs? What kind of bells does the name Ratko Mladic ring? Or Radovan Karadzic? Or if we really wanna find evidence to prejudice them, what about the name Gavrilo Princip? (the guy who basically started World War 1)

Stop these silly anti-Albanian prejudices because they are pointless and silly. We are a suffered people and are not as good or bad as anyone else would be in the same conditions.