I found this complilation on another blog somewhere & added my own commentsand have mailed it out to a few dozen friends who believe wringing their hands and playing with cigars is NOT a proper Presidential response to Islamic terrorism.
It really is amazing that Putin and Chirac thought they could suck up to these guys and not have to worry about terrorism at home.
Pres PUTIN, in response to 360 + DEAD children and mothers just declared "NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! We've ignored them long enough and they think we're weak. The weak are always the ones getting beaten."
PUTIN hoped that HELPING countries like Iran and Syria develop nukes and other WMD's it would keep the Islamists out of Russia.
OK then. Here are a few CLUES that Putin ignored and might possibly have indicated that his plan wasn't working all that well.
... and we thought Clinton sat on his hands and twiddled his ceegars .... geeeez!
Don't forget that incidents identical to these might have been happening (and still could) in the USA IF BUSH hadn't taken the war to THEM instead of letting them choose America for their battleground.
Actions outside of Chechnya linked to the conflict.
June 14, 1995
Chechen gunmen take 2,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, near Chechnya. After failed attempts at force, Russia negotiates the hostages' release in exchange for the gunmen's escape. More than 100 die.
Jan. 9, 1996
Chechen militants seize 3,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Kizlyar. Rebels release most, then head for Chechnya with about 100 hostages. Rebels are stopped in a village and attacked by Russian troops. At least 78 die in weeklong fight.
Jan. 16, 1996
Six Turks and three Chechens hold 255 hostages on ferry in Black Sea, threatening to blow up ship if Russia doesn't halt battles in southern Russia. The rebels surrender after three days.
March 9, 1996
Turkish sympathizer hijacks jetliner flying out of Cyprus to draw attention to situation in Chechnya. The sympathizer surrenders after plane lands in Munich, Germany.
Sept. 4, 1999
Bomb destroys a building housing Russian military officers and families in Buinaksk in Russia's Dagestan region. Sixty-four die. Russian officials blame Chechen rebels, but never prove their involvement.
Sept. 9, 1999
Explosion wrecks a nine-story apartment building in southeast Moscow, killing almost 100. Authorities suspect a Chechen bomb, although no evidence is ever provided to support the claim.
Sept. 13, 1999
A bomb destroys an apartment building in southern Moscow, killing 70. Officials blame Chechens, but nobody is ever charged in the attack.
Sept. 16, 1999
Bombs shear off the front of a nine-story apartment building in Volgodonsk, 500 miles south of Moscow. Nearly 20 are killed. Authorities again blame Chechens rebels, but nobody is charged.
March 16, 2001
Three Chechens hijack a Russian airliner leaving Istanbul and divert it to Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces storm plane, killing one hijacker and two hostages.
April 22, 2001
Some 20 gunmen hold about 120 people for 12 hours at a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, to protest Russian actions in Chechnya. The rebels later surrender to police and release the hostages.
May 4, 2002
Lone gunman holds 13 people hostage at a hotel in Istanbul to protest situation in Chechnya. The gunman surrenders after an hour.
Oct. 24, 2002
Chechen rebels seize 800 people in a Moscow theater. After a three-day standoff, Russian authorities launch a rescue attempt in which all 41 attackers are killed along with 127 hostages who succumb to a knockout gas used to incapacitate the assailants.
July 5, 2003
Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.
July 10, 2003
A Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow’s main street.
Aug. 1, 2003
50 people are killed in Mozdok, North Ossetia, when a truck bomb smashes through the gates of a hospital where Russian soldiers injured in Chechnya are treated.
Sept. 16, 2003
Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.
Dec. 5, 2003
Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections. Six people were killed in two blasts on the same railway line in September.
Dec. 9, 2003
Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow’s National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.
Feb. 6, 2004
An explosion rips through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour, killing 41 people.
June 21- 22, 2004
Chechen rebels kill at least 92 people, mostly law-enforcement officers and officials, while setting fire to police and government buildings around Nazran, the main city of the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.
Aug. 25, 2004
Female Chechen suicide bombers blamed for explosions that rip apart two Russian planes in flight killing all 90+ people on board.
Sept 3,4,5, (The "straw" that broke the camel's back as it were....as in THAT'S ENUF!!)
Chechen and Arab terrorists hold 1200 children and mothers hostage for three days without food or water or ventilation. Reports of children as young as 10 being bayonetted for crying well before full scale attack. Unknown events precipitate full scale battle around children. Suicide bomb belts and automatic gunfire kill 360+ with more expected to die soon as bomb belts exploding ruptured eyeballs, lungs, eardrums on many of the youngest hostages. Many terrorists would have escaped in the ensuing panic if not for ARMED fathers of hostages shooting everybody who wasn't a local parent!