Albania Gives Bush A Hero's Welcome

Trumpets, Banners, Commemorative Stamps Hail The First Sitting President To Visit Balkan Nation

(CBS/AP)  President Bush, leaving behind thousands of protesters in Rome, got a hero's welcome in Albania on Sunday as he became the first American president to visit this tiny impoverished nation.

When Mr. Bush arrived on his brief stop in Tirana, the hills overlooking the capital boomed as military cannons fired a 21-gun salute to the president. Thousands of people gathered in the downtown square on a brilliantly sunny day to see the president and first lady Laura Bush.

Huge banners proclaimed “Proud to be Partners,” and billboards read “President Bush in Albania Making History.” Red-white-and-blue paper top hats with stars on top were passed out to well-wishers in this Balkan nation.

A herald trumpeter sounded a salute as Mr. Bush arrived at Albania's Palace of Brigades for an official welcome, playing "The Star Spangled Banner," reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller. Mr. Bush was presented with an Albanian award - the Order of the National Flag - hailing him as a great ally of the Albanian people.

Albania has such an affinity for America that it issued three postage stamps with Mr. Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty and renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor.

Mr. Bush said he wanted to encourage Albania's free society, but it also makes good political sense on the world stage for him to stop in Albania and be seen receiving a robust greeting in the predominantly Muslim country.

“I want to make sure the Albanian people understand that America knows that you exist and that you're making difficult choices to cement your free society,” Mr. Bush said in a pre-trip interview. “I'm coming as a lover of liberty to a land where people are realizing the benefits of liberty.”

Mr. Bush met with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu and Berisha and greeted troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Albania recently decided to triple its deployment in Afghanistan to 140 troops. It also has about 120 troops in Iraq — a presence that Moisiu says will not end as long as Americans are engaged there.

Mr. Bush said he told the Albanian troops: "You are respected by our military. Your soldiers are good at what they do. They're well-trained, courageous and disciplined."

One issue on the minds of all assembled is neighboring Kosovo. The United States and key European countries are trying to narrow differences with Russia over the future of Kosovo, which has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The U.N. Security Council has been divided over the issue; the United States and key European countries support Kosovo's independence, and Russia (traditionally a Serbian ally) opposes it.

Ethnic Albanians, who say they are descendants of Kosovo's first inhabitants, want Kosovo to become an independent state. Serbs have offered it broad autonomy, but want the province to remain part of Serbian territory. Serbs consider Kosovo, the scene of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389, the birthplace of their identity and the heart of their homeland.

In Rome, where his visit was protested by thousands of demonstrators, Bush said it was time to bring the issue of Kosovo “to a head.”

Mr. Bush said he understood there were deep concerns about the plan.

“Kosovars are eagerly anticipating a decision by the world. And at the same time ... we need to make sure the Serbs see a way forward,” Mr. Bush said.

Talks on the future status of Kosovo must have the goal of "certain independence," Mr. Bush said Sunday, reiterating Washington's support for eventual statehood for the Serbian province.

"The question is whether there's going to be endless dialogue on a subject that we've already made up our mind on," Mr. Bush told reporters after meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. "I'm worried about expectations not being met in Kosovo. And therefore we'll push the process."

"Sooner rather than later you've got to say, 'Enough's enough. Kosovo's independent,'" Mr. Bush said.

The president also was having lunch with the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, which hope to join NATO next year.

[kastro71]

Its TRUE that albanians are 70% Musslims , 20% Orthodox and 10% Ctholics but remember that they are 100% like JEWs when it came to the NATION, They are 100% Albanians, Long Live ALBANIAN-IZRAEL friendship, Jews and Albanians will rule the world this is NEW WORLD ORDER, 2 oldest Races of the world, choosen by the god protected by powerful AMERICA!!!!!

[kastro71]

Dammn its so stupid to hear all this rubbish :S Albanians are not Religious their religion is Albanianizm and it was always, NATION is GOD for albanians regardless of religious afiliation, and remember albanians will be POWER in balkans with ALBANIA, KOSOVA and MACEDONIA 3 states already for such a small nation, wait another 20 years and youll see much more Montenegro, Grecce and Serbia itself WAIT in LINE.

[ellanios-2009]

Say can you see: Today Kosovo is Free!
Albanian and USA, together for freedom!

No more Milloshevics in Balkan!

[ellanios-2009]

God bless America and Albania(including indipendent Kosovo)

[lars008-2009]

no to kosovo,

no to albania for nato or eu membership,

no to turkey for eu membership and kick them out of nato...

strip all islamic countries of membership in the un... they do not grant equal rights to non muslims...

Is islam a violation of international law???

islam practices slavery on non muslims
islam practices apartheid on non muslims
islam practices rape on non muslims
islam practices rape on babies and animals
islam practices genocide on non muslims

all are violations of international law and are crimes against humanity

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/world/main2505445.shtml
Imam Khomeini - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
http://www.homa.org/Details.asp?ContentID=2137352826&TOCID=2083225445
Malaysia women 'suffer apartheid'
The daughter of Malaysia's former prime minister has launched a scathing attack on the roles and status of Muslim women in the country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.stm
A matter of tolerance
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/2006/12/matter-of-tolerance.html
Marina Mahathir
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/

[lars008-2009]

kosovo belongs to serbia not albanians... albanisns invaded kosovo, raped and terrorized the serbs driving them off their land...

the same as they are doing in thailand, philippines and around the world...

the same as what they will do in the usa...

don't reward fascist nazi islamic muslim murdering terrorists... send them to hell...

Slobodan Milosevic
It was during those early visits - two in the same week - that Milosevic rocketed to national prominence in a communist federal Yugoslavia buckling under nationalist tensions. He mesmerised the mob by assuring the minority Serbs in the ethnic Albanian province that no one would ever "beat them" again. Milosevic had already installed key aides in control of Serbian national television, and the footage of his speeches electrified Serbia. Milosevic himself, until then a dour and orthodox communist, appeared to realise his gift for rhetoric and the power of nationalism. He never looked back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,,1729646,00.html

U.N. court rules Serbia not guilty of genocide
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003590965_genocide27.html

Supreme Court upholds 13-year prison sentence for Kosovo Albanian
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/05/europe/EU-GEN-Serbia-Kosovo-War-Crimes.php

[lars008-2009]

"The Legacy of Jihad," a unique, extensive compilation includes Muslim theological and juridical texts, eyewitness historical accounts by both Muslim and non-Muslim chroniclers, and essays by preeminent scholars analyzing jihad war and the ruling conditions imposed upon the non-Muslim peoples conquered by jihad campaigns. The "Legacy of Jihad" reveals how, for well over a millennium, across three continents %u2014 Asia, Africa, and Europe (including Kosovo) %u2014 non-Muslims who were vanquished by jihad wars, became forced tributaries (called dhimmi in Arabic), in lieu of being slain. Under the dhimmi religious caste system, non-Muslims were subjected to legal and financial oppression, as well as social isolation. Extensive primary and secondary source materials, many translated here for the first time into English, are presented, making clear that jihad conquests were brutal, imperialist advances, which spurred waves of Muslims to expropriate a vast expanse of lands and subdue millions of indigenous peoples. Finally, the book examines how jihad war, as a permanent and uniquely Islamic institution, ultimately regulates the relations of Muslims with non-Muslims to this day.
http://www.savekosovo.org/default.asp?p=1&au=advisory

Muslim rapes of non-Muslim girls an epidemic
http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2006/02/muslim_rapes_of_nonmuslim_girl.html

[lars008-2009]

Should southern Serbian province of Kosovo be given a status of an independent state? Former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, James Bissett claims this would be another in the series of major mistakes Western powers committed in the Balkans:
For the past seven years, Kosovo has become one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It is the centre of heroin, weapons and human trafficking into Western Europe. Murder and abduction of non-Albanians are daily occurrences. Civil society is non-existent and living standards are equivalent to those of Haiti. There is evidence that Islamic extremists with al-Qaeda connections are a growing presence. In short, Kosovo has all the characteristics of a failed state.
Under the eyes of the UN and NATO, more than 200,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma and other non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo. Those who remain are in constant danger. And some of those encouraged by the UN to return have been murdered. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, has been accused of war crimes by the Serbs. He is the man who led Croatian forces in 1993 that overran Serbian villages protected by Canadian peacekeepers. When his fighters were driven out, the Canadians found that all of the civilians and animals in the villages had been slaughtered.
http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2006/11/joint-criminal-enterprise.html

[lars008-2009]

It is convenient for fascist nazi Islamic muslims to forget that the "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem" went to Germany as a guest of Hitler during WWII...and begged Hitler to find the "final solution" to the jewish problem. This same Grand mufti used his influence to raise Two Muslim SS Divisions in Yugoslavia (Kosovo) and Albaina. These divisions were responsible for the murder of almost 1 Million jews, Serbs and Gypsies.

This same Grand Mufti was the maternal uncle of Yassir Arafat! The Mufti's war continues today worldwide.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/nazi_arab.htm
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id4/mufti.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=grand+mufti of jerusalem

[rhs648]

Wake Up! The Muslim religion preaches Jihad and world domination by the Muslims. You can sugarcoat this anyway you want. The enemy (extremists) use men, women. and children as shields. They hide in hospitals ans mosques. Further, they blow-up their own people. Yes, get them wherever and whenever we can before they destroy us. As for the herdsmen, Muslims are resonsible for killing many thousands of their own. Seventy herdsmen is unfortunate but nothing compared to what the Muslims do to each other.

[rhs648]

Look at a map. The Muslims do not need Israel's land. The Muslims have more land than they need. Muslims will bet their whole future on war with tiny Israel. The Muslims should try moving away from war and developing what they have, which is plenty.

[zootallures2]

One should always stay where they are welcome. To bad the don't have a big enough military, huh?

[randalds]

"Albania has such an affinity for America that it issued three postage stamps with Mr. Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty and renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor."

I love it! A stamp with Bush on it! Now rickky and lars will REALLY be able to lick Bush's backside! Their dream *** true!

[samthetvcat]

"The president also was having lunch with the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, which hope to join NATO next year."

Ahhh, so they have an agenda . . . that explains it . . . you just know there had to be a reason ( lol! ;) )

[jdweymouth]

It's not just Albania. It's all the ex-Soviet nations-including Poland, Romania, The Ukraine, the Baltic States, and even Mongolia.

Germany is also very pro-American (especially the northern half), and so is Israel.

[lastdance2]

RE:
firststate

The initial posting of Iars 008
It was made as a redress :
To keep the troops - In Iraq ! ! !
But ! That's not the issue

Any person who enter into the military.
Must take a "Oath of Loyalty " to the Military and
to the Constitution.

In the chronic - habitual use of : Racist, anti-Semitic.
All of the slander, babbling, incoherent and irrelevant
postings by : lars008

Is evident that - lars008 - Has never taken a "Oath of Loyalty"
to the Military or to the Constitution.

To impersonate a member of the military is :
Identity theft of an Federal Employee
To indicate falsely to being a Military Officer is :
To indicate - Identity theft of a Federal Employee

The Dod Directive 1325.6 - was put into effect.
To address the individual hardships of a single
military person.
Assignments - deployments - ect
Example : "Mother has terminal cancer.
She is not expected, to live much longer.

Dod Directive 1325.6 - Was "not" put in
effect to encourage : Mass political mailings
with form letters.

That type of an endeavor is against the orders.
That are decreed within the : Oath of Loyalty.

There's no excuse. There's no defense.
For anyone who violates that : Oath of Loyalty.
It didn't work, during the Vietnam War.
"It won't work now."

The DoD offered up as protection, for violation of :
The " Oath of Loyalty"
Has already been proven, to be fraudulent.

Lastdance

[jerr11]

The Hero (aka. Decider and Liar-in-Chief) finally comes home!

The Albanians love dictators, Bush should feel right at home there.

[cdfoxtrot]

You know the chimp is in trouble when it takes a cr*ppy, backward little country like Albania to be the only one in the world that sees him a "hero".

[jerr11]

Very appropriate that a former communist country would appreciate our DICKTATOR so much!

I hear Albania is a beautiful country, perhaps the Decider, Dicktator, and Liar-in-Chief will consider moving there after 2008. He will feel right at home there!

[j-whitman]

Lars,,, Name one person who actually made it to heaven & came back to tell you what it's like -- Don't mention Jesus, he was Jewish & fairly liberal for his time.