Leaked information from the meetings indicated that Tenet's preferred option is the removal of the Yugoslav government, either as a result of that country's election on September 24, or by a NATO military assault that would install a puppet government. Another scenario Tenet discussed was associated Montenegro's secession from Yugoslavia. If open warfare breaks out over Montenegro's secession, then the United States plans to wage a full-scale war against Yugoslavia, as it did in spring 1999.

Sofia's Monitor reported that the "CIA coup machine" is forming. "A strike against Belgrade is
imminent," it adds, and "Bulgaria will serve as a base." (1) The Italian army recently signed a lease contract to conduct training exercises beginning in October at the Koren training ground, near Kaskovo in southeast Bulgaria. The French army signed a similar agreement, in which French soldiers and tanks will train at the Novo Selo grounds in central Bulgaria from October 11 to December 12. Talks are also underway for the U.S. military to lease the Shabla training grounds in northeastern Bulgaria.

Scheduled to take place following the election in Yugoslavia, the training exercises could serve as a launching pad for NATO's planned military strike. It was recently announced that the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible is to be redeployed to the Adriatic over the next few months in support of a potential conflict over Montenegro (2)

Military force is only one component of the West's destabilization campaign against Yugoslavia. NATO's plan for military intervention emanates from a history of persistent Western meddling. In November 1998, President Clinton launched a plan for the overthrow of the government of Yugoslavia.

The initial emphasis of the plan centered on supporting secessionist forces in Montenegro and the right-wing opposition in Serbia. (3) Several months later, during the bombing of Yugoslavia, Clinton signed a secret paper instructing the CIA to topple the Yugoslav government. The plan called for the CIA to secretly fund opposition groups and the recruitment of moles in the Yugoslav government and military. (4)

On July 8, 1999, U.S. and British officials revealed that commando teams were training snatch operations to seize alleged war criminals and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. As an encouragement to mercenaries, the U.S. State Department also announced a $5 million bounty for President Milosevic. (5)

Several Yugoslav government officials and prominent individuals, including Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic, have been gunned down. Most of these crimes remain unsolved, as the assassins managed to escape. Police apprehended one assassin, Milivoje Gutovic, after he shot Vojvodina Executive Council President Bosko Perosevic at an agricultural fair in Novi Sad. During interrogations, Gutovic admitted to police that he worked for the right-wing Serbian Renewal Movement. (6)

Goran Zugic, security advisor to secessionist Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, was murdered late on May 31, 2000. The assassin escaped, allowing Western leaders to blame President Milosevic. Coming just one week before crucial local elections in Montenegro, forces opposing President Milosevic stood to gain from the murder, as the effect would tend to sway undecided voters in favor of secessionist parties. A few days after the assassination, Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran Matic held a press conference, at which he accused the CIA of complicity in the murder. Matic played a taped recording of two telephone conversations between head of the US mission in Dubrovnik Sean Burns, US State Department official James Swaggert, Gabriel Escobar of the US economic group in Montenegro and Paul Davies of the US Agency for International Development. Excerpts of the
conversations, recorded 20 minutes after the assassination and again three hours later, included comments such as, "It was professional," and "Mission accomplished." (7)

The first publicly known Western plan to assassinate President Milosevic was drafted in 1992. Richard Tomlinson, a former British MI6 employee, later disclosed the plan. His task as an MI6 agent was to carry out undercover operations in Eastern Europe posing as a businessman or journalist. Tomlinson frequently met with MI6 officer Nick Fishwick. During one their meetings, Fishwick showed Tomlinson a document entitled, "The Need to Assassinate President Milosevic of Serbia." Three methods were proposed for the assassination of Milosevic. The first method, Tomlinson recalled, "was to train and equip a Serbian paramilitary opposition group," which would have the advantage of deniability but an unpredictable chance of success. The second method would employ a specially trained British SAS squad to murder President Milosevic "either with a bomb or sniper ambush." Fishwick considered this more reliable, but it lacked deniability. The third method would be to kill Milosevic "in a staged car crash." (8)

Seven years later, on October 3, 1999, the third method was employed against the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, when a truck filled with sand plowed into his car, killing everyone inside except for Draskovic. The temperamental Draskovic had been a major factor in the chronic fragmentation of the right-wing opposition, frustrating Washington's efforts to forge a unified opposition. (9)

During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, a missile struck President Milosevic's home on April 22, 1999. He and his wife were staying elsewhere that evening. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon was quick to announce that "we are not targeting President Milosevic." It is impossible, though, to view a missile striking Milosevic's bedroom at 3:10 AM as anything but an assassination attempt. (10)

In November 1999, members of an assassination squad, code-named "Spider," were arrested in Yugoslavia. According to Minister Goran Matic, "French intelligence was behind" the Spider group, whose aim was the assassination of President Milosevic. Planned scenarios included a sniper attack, planting an explosive device alongside a route they expected Milosevic to travel, planting an explosive in his car, and organizing 10 trained commandos to storm the presidential residence. The leader of the group, Jugoslav Petrusic, had dual Yugoslav and French citizenship. Matic claimed that Petrusic worked for French intelligence for ten years. During interrogations, Petrusic said that he had killed 50 men on orders by French intelligence. Matic announced that one of the members of Spider was a "specialist for killings with a truck full of sand" - the same method used against Draskovic the previous month. Following the Bosnian war, Petrusic organized the transport of 180 Bosnian Serb mercenaries to fight for Mobutu Sese Seku in Zaire, an affair that was managed by French intelligence. According to a Bosnian Serb businessman, Petrusic "did not hide the fact that he was working for the French intelligence service. I have personally seen a photo of him next to Mitterrand as his bodyguard." In younger days, Petrusic was a member of the French Foreign Legion. During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, the Spider group infiltrated the Yugoslav Army, supplying information to the French and guiding NATO warplanes to their targets. Yugoslav secret service sources revealed that the Spider group trained at NATO bases in Bosnia where "buildings resembling those where Milosevic lives were constructed." Money from the French intelligence service for Spider was brought to the border between Hungary and Yugoslavia by a man named Serge Lazarevic. (11) One month later, the members of a second hit team, calling itself the Serbian Liberation Army, was arrested. Their aim was to assassinate President Milosevic and restore the monarchy. (12)

At the end of July 2000, a squad of four Dutch commandos was apprehended while attempting to cross into Serbia from Montenegro. During the investigation, they admitted that they intended to kill or kidnap President Milosevic. The four said that they were informed that $30 million had been offered for "Milosevic's head," and that they intended to "claim a reward." One of the men said that the group planned to abduct Milosevic or former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and "surrender them to The Hague." The group planned to put them atop a car "in a ski box and transport them.out of the country." If the abduction failed, one of the men "had the idea to kill the president, to decapitate his head, to put it in the box and to send it home" to the Netherlands.
One of the arrested men, Gotfrides de Ri, belonged to the openly racist neo-nazi Center Party. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the Center Party sent Dutch mercenaries to fight in right-wing Croatian paramilitary units. At the time of their arrest, the four were found with several knives, including one with a swastika, and wires with hooks for strangulation. All four admitted that they had trained under the British SAS. At a news conference on August 1, Goran Matic accused the U.S of being the prime sponsor of assassinations and attempted assassinations. "It is obvious that they are recruiting various terrorist groups because they are frustrated with the fact that their military, political and economic goals in southeastern Europe have not been realized. [They are] trying to send
them into the country so that they can change our political and social environment." (13) Jonathan Eyal, an advisor to the British government, commented recently, "I can't say when it will happen, but I can guarantee that Milosevic will end up dead, and he will be followed by a more pro-Western government." (14)

Flagrant Western interference is distorting the political process in Yugoslavia. U.S. and Western European funds are channelled to right-wing opposition parties and media through such organizations as the National Endowment for Democracy and George Soros' Open Society Institute. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is yet another of the myriad semi-private organizations that have attached themselves like leeches on Eastern Europe. The NDI opened an office in Belgrade in 1997, hoping to capitalize on opposition attempts to bring down the government through
street demonstrations. By 1999, the NDI had already trained over 900 right-wing party leaders and activists on "message development, public outreach and election strategy." NDI also claimed to have provided "organizational training and coalition-building expertise" to the opposition. (15)

The New Serbia Forum, funded by the British Foreign Office, brings Serbian professionals and academics to Hungary on a regular basis for discussions with British and Central European "experts." The aim of the meetings is to "design a blueprint for post-Milosevic society." The Forum develops reports intended to serve as "an action plan" for a future pro-Western government. Subjects under discussion have included privatization and economic stabilization. The Forum calls for the "reintegration of Yugoslavia into the European family," a phrase that translates into the dismantling of the socialist economy and inviting Western corporations to swarm in. (16)

Western aims were clearly spelled out in the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe of June 10, 1999. This document called for "creating vibrant market economies" in the Balkans, and "markets open to greatly expanded foreign trade and private sector investment." One year later, the White House issued a fact sheet detailing the "major achievements" of the Pact. Among the achievements listed, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporations are said to be "mobilizing private investment." By 2002, "new private investment in the region" is expected to reach nearly $2 billion. The Pact's Business Advisory Council "is visiting all of the countries of Southeast Europe" to "offer advice" on investment issues. Another initiative is Hungarian involvement with opposition-led local governments and opposition media in Serbia.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on July 26, 2000, inaugurated an investment fund to be managed by Soros Private Funds Management. The Southeast Europe Equity Fund, "will invest in companies in the region in a range of sectors." Its purpose, according to the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia, is "to provide capital for new business development, expansion and privatization." In March 2000, Montenegro signed an agreement permitting the operation of OPIC on its territory. Billionaire George Soros spelled out what all this means. U.S. involvement in the region, he said, "creates investment opportunities," and "I am happy to put my money where they are putting theirs." In other words, there is money to be made.

George Munoz, President and CEO of OPIC was also blunt. "The Southeast Europe Equity Fund," he announced, "is an ideal vehicle to connect American institutional capital with European entrepreneurs eager to help Americans tap their growing markets. OPIC is pleased that Soros Private Funds Management has chosen to send a strong, positive signal that Southeast Europe is open for business." The final text of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe suggested that a Yugoslavia that would "respect" the Pact's "principles and objectives" would be "welcome" to become a full member. "In order to draw the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia closer to this goal," the document
declared, Montenegro would be an "early beneficiary." Western leaders hope that a future pro-Western Yugoslavia would, as has the rest of Eastern Europe, be "eager to help Americans" make money. (17) Western leaders yearn to install a puppet government in Belgrade, and place their hopes in the fragmented right-wing opposition parties in Serbia.

In 1999, American officials encouraged these parties to organize mass demonstrations to overthrow the government, but these rallies quickly fizzled due to lack of popular support. When Yugoslav Federal and local elections were announced for July 24, 2000, American and Western European officials met with leaders of the Serbian opposition parties, urging them to unite behind one presidential candidate. Despite U.S. efforts, three candidates emerged in opposition to President Milosevic. At the beginning of August 2000, the U.S. opened an office in Budapest specifically tasked to assist opposition parties in Yugoslavia. Among the staff are 24 psychological warfare specialists who engaged in psychological operations during NATO's war against Yugoslavia and earlier against Iraq in the Gulf War. During those operations, the team also fabricated news items in an effort to sway Western public opinion.

If President Milosevic is re-elected, then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expects street demonstrations to overturn the election results and topple the government. In meetings held in Banja Luka in spring 2000, Albright expressed disappointment with the failure of past efforts to overthrow the legally elected Yugoslav government. Albright said that she had hoped sanctions would lead people to "blame Milosevic for this suffering." An exasperated Albright wondered, "What was stopping the people from taking to the streets?" Indicating that the U.S. was casting about for a pretext for intervention, she added, "Something needs to happen in Serbia that the West can support." (18) The paths of Yugoslavia's two republics are sharply diverging. Only Serbia stands in the way of the West's grand scheme to integrate the Balkans into an economic model in which the region's economies are subordinated to Western corporate interests. While Serbia's economy includes a strong socialist component with large and medium sized firms socially owned, Montenegro has embarked on a program to place its entire economy at the service of the West. November 1999 saw the introduction in Montenegro of the German mark as an official currency and the passage of legislation eliminating socially owned property. One month later, several large firms were publicly offered for sale, including the Electric Power Company, the 13th July Agricultural Complex, the Hotel-Tourist firm Boka and many others. (19)

The republic's privatization program for 2000 calls for the privatization of most state-owned industries, and includes measures to "protect domestic and foreign investors." Three hundred firms will be privatized in the initial stage of the plan. In early 2000, the U.S. signed an agreement to provide Montenegro $62 million, including $44 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the agency, it will also undertake "assistance programs to support economic reform and restructuring the economy … to advance Montenegro toward a free market economy." U.S. policy advisor on the Balkans James Dobbins indicated that the U.S. viewed the "market-oriented reforms of the Djukanovic regime as a model and stimulus for similar reforms throughout the former Yugoslavia." The U.S. is also offering guarantees for private investors in the republic. Additional aid is provided by the European Union, which has approved $36 million for Montenegro. "From the first day," admitted Djukanovic, "we have had British and European consultants." (20)

The Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is providing support to the Center for Entrepreneurship (CEP) in Montenegro. According to the center's executive director, Petar Ivanovic, the organization "focuses on elementary and high schools," establishing entrepreneurship as a new subject to be taught in schools. As Ivanovic explains it, "Introducing young people to the concept of entrepreneurship will make them less resistant to the private sector."

The CEP also intends to "educate government officials about the potential rewards of the private sector," and to help them "understand the benefits of economic reform and privatization." (21)

According to Djukanovic, when he met with President Clinton on June 21, 1999, the U.S. president gave the privatization process a push by telling Djukanovic that the U.S. planned to "stimulate the economy" by "encouraging US corporations and banks to invest capital in Montenegro." (22)

Djukanovic has moved steadily toward secession from Yugoslavia, indicating that he will push for separation if the right-wing opposition loses the September 24 election. In a phone call to Djukanovic in July 2000, Madeleine Albright promised that the U.S would provide him with an additional $16.5 million. That same week, Djukanovic blurted out that Montenegro "is no longer part of Yugoslavia." He also made the astonishing claim that he considered it a "priority" for Montenegro to join NATO, the organization that had bombed his country only the year before. The next month, Albright announced that she and Djukanovic "try and talk to each other and meet on a regular basis," and that the "United States is supportive of the approach that President Djukanovic has taken in terms of democratic development and his approach to the economic reforms also." (23)

Western support for secession extends beyond Albright meeting and talking with Djukanovic. More than half of the population of Montenegro opposes secession, and any such move is likely to explode into violence. In preparation for that rift, Djukanovic is building up a private army of over 20,000 soldiers, the Special Police, including special forces armed with anti-tank weapons. Sources in Montenegro revealed that Western special forces are training this private army. Djukanovic has requested that NATO establish an "air shield over Montenegro" as he moves toward secession. One member of the Special Police, named Velibor, confirmed that they were receiving training from the British SAS. "If there is a situation where weapons will decide the outcome, we are ready," he said. "We are training for that." At a press conference on August 1, 2000, Minister Goran Matic declared that the "British are carrying out part of the training of the Montenegrin special units. It is also true," he added, that the Special Police "are intensively obtaining various kinds and types of weapons, starting with anti-aircraft and anti-helicopter weapons and so on, and they are also being assisted by Croatia, as the weapons go through Dubrovnik and other places." Furthermore, Matic pointed out that, "last year, before and after the aggression, a group from within the Montenegrin MUP [Ministry of Interior Affairs] structure left for training within the U.S. police structure and the U.S. intelligence structures." In August, two armored vehicles bound for Montenegro were discovered in the port of Ancona, Italy.

One of the vehicles was fitted with a turret suitable for mounting a machine gun or anti-tank weapon. Italian customs officials, reports the Italian news service ANSA, are "convinced" that arms trafficking to Montenegro "is of far greater magnitude than this single episode might lead one to believe." Revelling in anticipation of armed conflict, Djukanovic bragged that "many will tuck their tails between their legs and will soon have to flee Montenegro." (24)

A violent conflict in Montenegro would provide NATO with its long-desired pretext for intervention. As early as October 1999, General Wesley Clark drew up plans for a NATO invasion of Montenegro. The plan envisions an amphibious assault by more than 2,000 Marines storming the port of Bar and securing the port as a beachhead for pushing inland. Troops ferried by helicopters would seize the airport at Podgorica, while NATO warplanes would bomb and strafe resisting Yugoslav forces. According to U.S. officials, other Western countries have also developed invasion plans. (25)

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the UN declared, "We are in constant touch with the leadership of Montenegro," and warned that a conflict in Montenegro "would be directly affecting NATO's vital interest." (26)

NATO General Secretary George Robertson was more explicit. "I say to Milosevic: watch out, look what happened the last time you miscalculated." (27)

President Milosevic and the ruling socialist-led coalition in Yugoslavia enjoy considerable popular support, and many Western analysts admit they are likely to emerge victorious in the September 24 election. A socialist victory could precipitate a NATO strike, launched from Bulgaria within months, to overthrow the legally elected government of Yugoslavia. If the coup attempt fails, then Montenegro could declare independence, setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to a second all out war by NATO against Yugoslavia. The war in 1999 brought immense suffering to the Balkans. The next war promises to be catastrophic.

NOTES

1) "Bulgaria - Press Review" BTA (Sofia), August 12, 2000
"Bulgaria - Us CIA Director's Visit," BTA (Sofia), August 15, 2000
"CIA Did Not Tell Us the Most Important Thing," Trud (Sofia), August 16, 2000
"Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA (Sofia), August 14, 2000
"Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA (Sofia), August 16, 2000

2) Mila Avramova, "Italians Lease Training Ground for 400,000 Leva," Trud (Sofia), August 9, 2000
Michael Evans, "Balkans Watch for 'Invincible'," The Times (London), August 26, 2000.

3) Paul Beaver, "Clinton Tells CIA to Oust Milosevic," The Observer, November 29, 1998.
Fran Visnar, "Clinton and the CIA Have Created a Scenario to Overthrow Milosevic," Vijesnik (Zagreb), November 30, 1998.

4) Douglas Waller, "Tearing Down Milosevic," Time Magazine, July 12, 1999.

5) Michael Moran, "A Threat to 'Snatch' Milosevic," MSNBC, July 8, 1999.

6) "Yugoslav Police Say Killer of Local Leader Worked for Opposition," Agence France-Presse, May 15, 2000.
"Arrested Assassin Gutovic Member of Otpor and SPO," Tanjug (Belgrade), May 15, 2000.

7) "Yugoslav Official Accuses CIA of Being Behind Montenegro Murder," Agence France-Presse, June 6, 2000.
Aleksandar Vasovic, "Serb Aide Says CIA Behind Slaying," Associated Press, June 6, 2000
"Yugoslav Information Minister Accuses CIA of Complicity in Zugic Murder," Borba (Belgrade), June 6, 2000

8) Statement by Richard Tomlinson, addressed to John Wadham, September 11, 1998.

9) "Serb Consensus: Draskovic Crash Was No Accident," Seattle Times News Services, October 13, 1999.

10) "NATO: Milosevic Not Target," BBC News, April 22, 1999.

11) "Serbs Allege Milosevic Assassination Plot," Reuters, November 25, 1999.
"France Plots to Murder Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, November 26, 1999.
"SFOR Units Involved in a Plot to Kill Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, December 1, 1999.
Gordana Igric, "Alleged 'Assassins' Were No Stranger to France," IWPR Balkan Crisis Report (London), November 26, 1999.
Milenko Vasovic, "Belgrade's French Connection," IWPR Balkan Crisis Report (London), November 26, 1999.

12) "Lt. Testifies at Milosevic Trial," Associated Press, April 26, 2000.

13) Aleksandar Vasovic, "4 Accused of Milosevic Death Plot," Associated Press, July 31, 2000.
"Dutchmen Arrested, Accused of Plotting Against Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, July 31, 2000.
Email correspondence from Herman de Tollenaere, quoting from NRC- Business Paper of August 1, 2000.
"Arrested Dutchmen Admitted Plans to Kill, Kidnap Milosevic," BETA (Belgrade), August 17, 2000.
"Dutch Espionage Terrorist Gang Arrested in Yugoslavia - Minister," Tanjug (Belgrade), July 31, 2000.
"Yugoslav Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'," BBC Monitoring Service, August 1, 2000.

14) "West Sees Noose Tightening Around Milosevic," Reuters, June 9, 2000.

17) "Final Text of Stability Pact for Southeast Europe," June 10, 1999.
U.S. Embassy, Skopje, Macedonia, "Southeast Europe Equity Fund Launched July 26," July 27, 2000.
White House Fact Sheet, "The Stability Pact for Southeast Europe: One Year Later," July 27, 2000.

18) Borislav Komad, "At Albright's Signal," Vecernje Novosti, May 18, 2000.
"US Anti-Yugoslav Office Opens in Budapest," Tanjug (Belgrade), August 21, 2000.

19) Ljubinka Cagorovic, "Montenegro Assembly Scraps Socially-Owned Property," Reuters, November 13, 1999.
"Montenegrin Government Prepares to Privatise Economy," Tanjug (Belgrade), December 25, 1999.

21) Petar Invanovic, "Montenegro: Laying the Foundation of Entrepreneurship," Center for International Private Enterprise.

22) Statement by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, "Important Step in Opening New Perspectives
For Montenegrin State Policy," Pobjeda (Podgorica), June 22, 1999.

23) "Albright Renews Montenegro Support," Associated Press, July 13, 2000.
"Montenegro Wants to Join NATO and the EU," Agence France-Presse, July 10, 2000.
Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, "Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and
Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic," Press Stakeout at Excelsior Hotel, Rome, Italy, August 1, 2000.

24) "Montenegro Ahead of Elections: Boycott and Threats," BETA (Belgrade), August 9, 2000.
"Montenegro and Elections - Boycott Becomes Official," BETA (Belgrade), August 17, 2000.
Phil Reese, "We Have the Heart for Battle, Says Montenegrin Trained by SAS," The Independent, July 30, 2000.
"Yugoslav Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'", BBC Monitoring Service, August 1, 2000.
"Yugoslavia Says British SAS Trains Montenegrins," Reuters, August 1, 2000.
"Information Minister Sees Montenegrin Arms Purchases, Croatian Assistance," BETA (Belgrade), July 31, 2000.
"Foreign 'Dogs of War' Training Montenegrin Police to Attack Army," Tanjug (Belgrade), August 9, 2000.
"Montenegro: Camouflaged Military Vehicles Seized in Ancona," ANSA (Rome), August 21, 2000.
"Montenegro: Traffic in Camouflaged Armored Vehicles: Investigation into Documentation," ANSA (Rome), August 22, 2000.

25) Richard J. Newman, "Balkan Brinkmanship," US News and World Report, November 15, 1999.

26) "Clinton Warns Milosevic 'Remains a Threat to Peace'," Agence France-Presse, July 29, 2000.