I question the timing of these attacks. Just as the president's pole numbers are moving up and the Swifties are kicking ass-this happens. I am highly suspicious of this, I believe it is a distraction from the real issues of this campaign-increasing taxes on rich americans and health care for people who have lost everything due to the president's policies.

I'm going to assume Dittybopper's comments were a toungue-in-cheek poke at Democrats who refuse to believe we're at war.

Terror attacks like these are the real issues of this campaign. Not jobs, not health care, not tax or energy policy...the war against fanatical terrorists that want America dead and buried is the issue. If we don't win it, the rest is moot.

I remember during the primaries when John Kerry said (and I paraphrase), "Well, I'd like to be known as a jobs president first, then a war president blah blah blah." Exactly. Jobs, health care, higher taxes, THEN the War on Terror. At least people seem to be waking up to the fact the Dems would NOT wage an effective war against our enemies, hence the turn in the polls recently.

Russia's war against Chechnya is a dirty war on both sides with no clear right or wrong side. It has nothing to do with our war on terror, and we need to be careful to not draw any connections.

Bill, I know you can't be an expert in everything, none of us can, but like a lot of what we read here, you need to at least educate yourself a little bit about a subject before jumping in head-first. I suggest you search Google, probably "russia chechnya torture" would be a good start.

Like many assymetrical conflicts around the world, the press is interested in only one side. But the stories are out there.

Russia has committed many atrocities against the Chechens. We have done nothing to bin Laden and his crew of idiots. Well, now we have, but 1) they attacked us first and 2) we attacked them, not innocent people. (and yes, I know there were some innocents who died, as in any war, but we didn't target them)

There's no comparison, let's not try to make one.

Actually, the increasing Islamicization of Chechnya and the increasing Islamic radicalization of the "rebels" and their ties to al Qaeda does make it part of the war on terror.

Link

By December 1994, when Russia launched the first Chechen war, the Chechen army consisted mostly of volunteers led by field commanders, such as Shamil Basayev, who had gained experience fighting in other regional conflicts, including Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabagh. The first Chechen war was explicitly ethno-nationalistic. Chechen fighters were motivated by the idea of Chechnya as a sovereign state. President Dudayev succeeded in mobilizing resources and securing resistance against the federal troops.

At that point, Islam and religion, in general, did not play a significant role in military actions. But Islam was never far from the surface, and given the vacuum that followed the demise of the Soviet Union, the spread of Islam as an "official" religion was probably inevitable. Islamization was supported by foreign Islamist organizations. During the 1990s, significant amounts of money flowed into Chechnya from foreign Islamist organizations, dramatically increasing during the first Chechen war. Outside sources also partially financed the fighters. Mr. Abdullaev [Ed note: Abdullaev is the speaker whose speech is being summarized in this article] emphasized that in using the term "Islamist", he was referring to Islamism as a radical current in interpreting Islam and not to Islam itself.

After General Dudayev was killed by Russian federal intelligence services in April 1996, Chechen resistance increased. The structure of the resistance changed from a hierarchy pyramid to a network of independent warlords, leading to more attacks. Nevertheless, in August 1996, a long-negotiated peace accord was signed in Khasavyurt. The parties agreed to end military actions and to postpone the settlement of Chechnya's political status for another 5 years. Moscow secured funding for the rebuilding of the republic's infrastructure, and in January 1997, a new president, Aslan Maskhadov, was elected.

The period that followed the signing of the Khasavyurt peace accord is crucial to the understanding of the subsequent developments in Chechnya. The next three years witnessed a radical Islamization of the republic. Maskhadov put much effort into expanding his influence in Chechnya by acting as president of all Chechens. But Chechen society remained heterogeneous. A number of field commanders, including Shamil Basayev, had growing political ambitions and influence with the militants. Field commanders remained committed to continued military resistance, instead of a settlement with Moscow. There was a dramatic shift in the ideological undercurrent: now, instead of nationalistic ideas, religious and radical Islamist ideas prevailed. The sharia court system and an Islamic bank were established, and the Arabic alphabet was introduced as the script for the official clerical work. This made the shaping of a modern and secular state in Chechnya increasingly difficult.

Maskhadov succeeded neither in consolidating Chechen society nor in building a viable state. The state machinery was not able to keep Chechen society together. Maskhadov's authority within the republic was undermined by his efforts to keep a peaceful relationship with Moscow. As a result of these developments, the idea of Islamic statehood prevailed over the model of a secular state based on the rule of law. Instead of consolidating the nation-building efforts, Chechnya became an outlaw area. One of the reasons for the difficulties that Maskhadov faced was the absence of a local, Chechen political elite. Members of the Chechen diaspora were reluctant to return to Grozny, Chechnya's capital. As a result, the Chechen nation did not have sufficient intellectual and organizational resources to build a sustainable state. An increase in the tensions between Chechnya and Moscow became unavoidable.

In the meantime, field commanders Omar bin Khattab (a Saudi-born guerrilla with likely al-Qaeda ties) and Shamil Basayev established war courts. With the support from radical Islamists from the Middle East, they created military camps within Chechnya and built an army consisting of guerrilla fighters from Chechnya, Russia, and other states. In August 1999, a large group from this army invaded adjacent regions of Dagestan, ostensibly claiming to create an independent Islamic state of Chechnya and Dagestan. Chechen fighters counted on support from the Dagestani population. Mr. Abdullaev pointed out, however, that there were no cheers for the Chechens in Dagestan: against the Chechens' expectations, Dagestanis fought against them on the side of the Russian federal troops.

In essence, the second Chechen war started as a religious war aimed at building an Islamic state in Chechnya. Radical Islamism succeeded in taking over the real power in the republic from the elected president, Maskhadov. Maskhadov had almost no influence over the events in Dagestan: the first invasion was followed by another operation led by Basayev's and bin Khattab's military units. The invasion of Dagestan was heavily supported by outside sources. Mr. Abdullaev played videotapes and showed photographs that demonstrated evidence of this connection. He pointed out that the most militarily effective part of the Chechen resistance led by Basayev and bin Khattab became part of the international terrorism network—ideologically, if not organizationally. After several years of his rule, President Maskhadov turned out to be manipulated by radical fighters representing a radical current within Wahhabism; a puritanical Islamist school of thought. In 2002, Maskhadov was forced to change the Chechen constitution into Nizam, a Wahhabite set of rules, the rebels' media sources reported.

The sooner we understand that Islamist ideology is embarked on a global project aimed at the defeat and subjugation of all non-Islamic nations, the sooner we'll more forcefully respond to it.

And the planes are now reportedly to have had explosives in the bathrooms. Two women bodies remain unclaimed from the flights. Remind anybody of Anything? A Syrian band perhaps, and a guy who emerged from the bathroom smellign strongly of toilet-chemicals? A recent FBI alert about AQ recruiting women ops?

Right, Bill, and the sooner we realize that most "terrorism" has preventable root causes, the sooner we'll truly defeat it.

You want to swat mosquitoes, I want to drain the swamp. Same goal, only my way actually includes an end game where we win, rather than dealing with this in perpetuity.

The bottom line is that Russian atrocities paved the way for al Qaeda, the sooner you understand that the better off we'll all be...

Michael Chaney is 100% correct.

The terror in Chechnya is a result of Russia---of the unrepentent rememnants of the USSR we fought a decades-long Cold War against.

Our inaction and acquiescence to Russian terrorism---for the third time in a century---laid the foundations for Chechen terrorism today. We sat on our hands and did nothing while the Russians murdered the democrats in Chechnya, murdered the moderates, murdered the ordinary patriots and reasonable people. And now we're surprised that the fundamentalist loonies---the only ones left, together with their Jihadist friends from Saudi Arabia---are committing murderous terrorist actions of the type they prefer?

Wahabi Islamist terrorism is an importation from Saudi Arabia, alongside the money and weapons that no one else would supply to the Chechens in their defense of their own country. It was a completely alien theology to the Chechens, until the Wahabis became the only people willing to help the Chechens.

Our desire to play Realpolitik games rather than do what is morally right is what has given the Wahabis power in Chechnya.