THE VATICAN'S "CARITAS" CHARITY TRAFFICKED NATO WEAPONS TO THE KLA
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - October 8, 2004
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
INTRODUCTION
Caritas is an old, and well known Roman Catholic charity based in the Vatican. It has branches all over the world and has been active in the Balkans for some time.
This paper will answer the following question: Is Caritas a legitimate humanitarian organization, or is it engaged in more nefarious activities, such as arms trafficking?
This paper will look into possible connections between Caritas and Iranian weapons smuggling in Bosnia. It will also explore an incident that occurred in 1999 when a Caritas convoy was caught, by Italian customs officials, smuggling 30 tons of weaponry to the Kosovo Liberation Army.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CARITAS IN THE BALKANS
In 1934 Croatia's Catholic Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac established the Croatian branch of Caritas. [1]
Stepinac has been dubbed "the patron saint of genocide" because of the role he played in the genocide committed by Croatia's World War II-era fascist regime. [2]
During the war, Caritas was active in Croatian concentration camps. The organization was tasked with forcibly re-baptizing and converting Orthodox Christians to Roman Catholicism. [3]
POSSIBLE CARITAS TRAFFICKING OF IRANIAN ARMS IN BOSNIA
In March of 1993 the Bosnian Serb Army commander, General Ratko Mladic, first accused Caritas of supplying weapons to Croat and Muslim fighters in Bosnia under the guise of humanitarian assistance. [4] [5]
Gen. Mladic isn’t the only one to claim that weapons shipments were disguised as humanitarian aid. According to a report issued by the U.S. congressional subcommittee set-up to investigate Iranian arms transfers to Croatia and Bosnia “the humanitarian aid flow to Bosnia consisted primarily of convoys, organized by Muslim humanitarian organizations that later played a significant role in the Iranian arms pipeline to Bosnia.” [6]
According to the Congressional report, the leader of the Islamic community in Croatia, Imam Sevko Omerbasic, was the “linch-pin figure in the establishment and operation of the Iranian arms pipeline.” [7]
Caritas, although not an Islamic charity, was linked directly to Omerbasic by a witness at the Hague Tribunal. Sefkija Djidic, a witness at the Blaskic trial testified that Omerbasic led a Caritas convoy to the Croatian stronghold of Vitez during the war. [8]
The effectiveness of Caritas as a humanitarian agency is called into question by the testimony of another witness at the Blaskic trial. A protected witness testified that nobody dared go to Caritas to seek assistance. The witness, a Muslim from Kiseljak, said that if they tried to obtain any help from Caritas that they would suffer reprisals at the hands of the Croatian army. The witness said, “people preferred to go hungry than go to Caritas to get some aid from them.” [9]
Caritas’s activities outside of the Balkans may also be dubious. In 1993 UN peacekeeping troops found a weapons cache at children’s hospital linked to Caritas, in Mogadishu, Somalia. [10]
So far the case against Caritas with regard to arms trafficking has been circumstantial. Nobody reported seeing Caritas delivering weapons to the children’s hospital in Somalia. Gen. Mladic didn’t provide any explicit examples of where Caritas was caught trafficking weapons in his interviews, and we don’t know if the Caritas convoy to Vitez contained weapons or not, even though the convoy was led by Sevko Omerbasic, the man identified by the U.S. Congress as the “linch-pin” in the Iranian arms pipeline.
On April 12 1999, a huge haul of arms and ammunition, destined for the KLA, was found in the Italian port of Ancona aboard trucks leased by Caritas. [11] The cargo had officially been declared as a German Caritas humanitarian aid shipment for Kosovo refugees. [12] The trucks were loaded at the Caritas center in Sarajevo. [13]
The customs officials, who searched the trucks, found 30 tons of war material, including anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and machine guns. [14]
Most of the arms were of Russian or East European origin, but many bore NATO markings. More than 1,000 mortars said to have been “stolen” from a NATO arsenal in Germany were found onboard the trucks. [15]
There was some legitimate humanitarian aid onboard the trucks, but it was of poor quality, much of the food had already passed its expiration date. [16]
Italian customs officials arrested three drivers, Robert Buellesbach, Sead Klakar, and Drasco Kovacevic. [17]
The Italian authorities claimed that Buellesbach had links to German intelligence. [18] On that basis one could speculate that he’s the one who “stole” the mortars from the German NATO base.
The 15-meter-long trucks had been rebuilt to transport illegal cargo. [19] One truck was fitted with a double floor, while another one had a secret closet behind the driver's cabin big enough for six people [20].
Italian authorities said that the arms were destined for a training camp of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in Scutari in northern Albania. [21]
The name of the consignee on the export documents, was one Father Luciano Augustino, a parish priest in Scutari. [22]
General Alberto D'Amico, the military commander in charge of customs for the region that includes Ancona, confirmed claims by Italian security sources that it was impossible that British and American intelligence could have been unaware of the smuggling. [23]
A NATO spokesman said that while the Alliance had no contact with the KLA. "Some individual countries which are member countries of NATO may have some contacts. Of course that is not a guarantee that such things are not happening, smuggling and so on." [24]
Caritas denied that it had any role in the arms smuggling. It issued a statement saying, "These trucks are not from Caritas, even if the logo (on the trucks) is the same." [25]
The trucks were leased by Caritas, and loaded at the Caritas center in Sarajevo, and we’re supposed to believe Caritas when it says that it had nothing to do with this? Just like were supposed to believe that somebody managed to walk onto a German NATO instillation and steal over 1,000 mortars?
The conclusion is obvious. The Vatican was using its Caritas “charity” to provide a cover for NATO, or at least German, arms smuggling to the KLA. They may also have provided Iran, the world’s leading terrorist state, with the same cover in Bosnia when Omerbasic led the Caritas convoy to Vitez.
The Vatican’s goals are the same now as they were when Stepinac founded the Croatian branch of Caritas, and had it forcibly convert Serb inmates held in Croatian concentration camps to Roman Catholicism.
The best proof of this is the fact that Pope John Paul II, rather than distancing the Catholic Church from Stepinac, did the opposite. The Pope beatified Stepinac on October 3, 1998. [26]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Press Office of the Croatian Conference of Bishops -
Catholic Press Agency IKA-Zagreb; http://www.pope.hr/katolicka_crkva_u_hrvatskoj_caritas.html
[2] "The Patron Saint of Genocide: Archbishop Stepinac and
the Independent State of Croatia" by Bill Stouffer;
http://www.pavelicpapers.com/features/essays/psg.html
[3] "The Vatican's Holocaust," by Avro Manhattan, Ozark Books, Springfield, MO.1986 (Chapter 8)
[4] Serbian Radio, Belgrade 1545 gmt 26 Feb 93 / BBC Monitoring “Gen. Mladic
Assesses US Aid Plan, Says Serbs Doing Everything to Help Convoys”
[5] Yugoslav Telegraph Service in Serbo-Croat 2026 gmt 26 Mar 93 / BBC Monitoring “Bosnian Serb Commander Mladic on Cease-Fire, Humanitarian Aid, Tuzla Serbs”
[6] Final Report of the Select Subcommittee to Investigate the U.S. Role in Iranian Arms Transfers to Bosnia and Croatia (“The Iranian Green Light Subcommittee) - U.S. House International Relations Committee; October 10, 1996 - 104th Congress; 2nd Session; Page 85
[7] Ibid.; Page 81
[8] Blaskic ICTY Trial Transcript - 31st July 1997 – Witness, Sefkija Djidic – Pages 1468-1469
[9] Blaskic ICTY Trial Transcript - 19th March 1998 – Protected Witness, “JJ” – Pages 7403-7407
[10] Agence France Presse - “Malay soldiers damage children's ward in arms search” August 17, 1993
[11] Agence France Presse - “Arms, munitions seized from Caritas shipment: report” - May 03, 1999
[12] Deutsche Presse-Agentur – “Italian police seize arms shipment designed for Kosovo separatists” - May 3, 1999
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Scotland on Sunday - “NATO Linked to KLA Weapons Smuggling" - May 9, 1999
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Deutsche Presse-Agentur – “Italian police seize arms shipment designed for Kosovo separatists” - May 3, 1999
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Scotland on Sunday - “NATO Linked to KLA Weapons Smuggling" - May 9, 1999
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Agence France Presse - “Arms, munitions seized from Caritas shipment: report” - May 03, 1999
[26] Pope’s Speech at Marija Bistrica, Croatia - October 3,
1998 (Press Office of the Croatian Conference of Bishops - Catholic Press Agency
IKA-Zagreb);
http://www.papa.hr/pope/english/news/govor/bistrica/emb.html