"We went on a little bit further. I saw on the map something called a `no-go zone.' I said: 'I would like to go in to see what it is like.' They said: 'You can't do that; it is occupied by the KLA, the Albanian military, and they will kill anybody who comes in. They don't care if you are a United States Senator or someone from the press. Nonetheless, you will be dead if you go in there."

According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the "U.S. played a major role in the election of Albania's Democratic Party in 1992, and it then provided the new government with military, economic, and political support. In the 1991-96 period Washington directly provided Albania $236 million in economic aid, making the U.S. the second largest bilateral economic donor (following Italy). In early 1997 the U.S. froze its military aid and training programs." During the Clinton Administration about "two-thirds of U.S. economic aid has been directed to support privatization and to open Albania to U.S. trade and investment through U.S.-government created institutions like the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank promoted programs of privatization and price stabilization and then, together with the U.S., praised Albania as the economic miracle of Eastern Europe, even though much of Albania's growth was based on sanctions-busting in the former Yugoslavia and illegal trading of arms and drugs."

In the past few weeks, the United States has moved into Albania in force, stationing the Apache Helicopters, which are intended to be used for the invasion of Yugoslavia, at the airport in Tirane. The KLA leader, Hashim Thaci, called "the snake" by his supporters, is wanted by the Serbs who would like to arrest him for murdering policemen. This is the man who calls Madeline Albright on her private number with his cellular telephone.