Ejército de Liberación de Kosovo
The United States (and NATO) directly supported the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The CIA funded, trained and supplied the KLA (as they had earlier the Bosnian Army). As disclosed to "The Sunday Times" by CIA sources, "American intelligence agents have admitted they helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia". In 1999, a retired Colonel told that KLA forces had been trained in Albania by former US military working for MPRI. James Bissett, Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, wrote in 2001 that media reports indicate that "as early as 1998, the Central Intelligence Agency assisted by the British Special Air Service were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. (...) The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene ...".