In the wake of U.S. recognition of the Islamist Republic of Kosovo, attention has once again been focused on Muslim persecution of Christian Serbs.

International intervention to halt the persecution of Christians in Kosovo is a "complete failure," according to a former diplomat and other political analysts who briefed Capitol Hill staff late last week, pointing to the destruction of 150 churches and the simultaneous construction of 200 mosques.

The new mosques are funded by "Wahhabist nations," the diplomats said, raising the specter of radical Islam incubating on the doorstep of Europe in a province rife with illegal arms and narcotics trafficking.

The religious persecution is also part of a political strategy of violence, which if rewarded in the granting of independence to Kosovo, could trigger similar violent secessionist movements throughout neighboring states and countries, they warned.

Note what former US Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady, who testified on the rampant Jihad in Kosovo at the Congressional hearings in August 2005, said at a press conference that followed:

Those attending the Aug. 11 press conference, and a follow-up congressional briefing on Aug. 12, expressed disappointment over the lack of media coverage of the church destruction. "I've been quite disappointed," Melady told Cybercast News Service, "It wasn't a major headline story."

He compared the destruction to Kristallnacht, or "the Night of Broken Glass" -- the Nazi-sponsored violent persecution against German Jews launched on Nov. 9, 1938. Gangs of Nazi youth fanned out into Jewish neighborhoods vandalizing and burning Jewish property and businesses, including 101 synagogues.

The official Nazi government response at the time was that such outbreaks were spontaneous, not organized. In the Kosovo situation, analysts are also expressing doubt over a similar line touted by the government.

Referring to the destruction of 34 churches in March of last year Melady said, "Thanks to a few amateur films that were made when the protests broke out, we can see how things unfolded. At all the scenes someone would climb to the top and tear down the cross, then stomp on it. Then they would set fire to the church."

The bottom line comment of this CNSNews.com article was prescient then and very real now:

In the war against an expanding radical Islam, Defense analyst Frederick Peterson said, "We have three choices: convert, submit or die. But there's a fourth choice and that's to fight.

"What is going on in Kosovo today is the future of Europe tomorrow," he added.