Photo: AP
Posted on 09/13/2004 3:11:12 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
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Photo: AP |
Russia has the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad, Russia's defense minister said Sunday, citing the school hostage crisis. He said Moscow and the United States see eye to eye on fighting terrorism.
Sergei Ivanov did not say what countries might be possible targets for a strike, but Russian officials in the past have said Chechen separatists have bases in nearby Georgia, and Moscow has had friction with that country's pro-U.S. government over the issue.
President Vladimir Putin has blamed international terrorism for the school hostage crisis at Beslan in southern Russia where at least 330 hostages died on Sept. 3. He lashed out at those in the West who continued to advise Russia to conduct peace talks with rebels in Chechnya, sneering that they should negotiate with Osama bin Laden.
President Bush visited the Russian Embassy in Washington on Sunday, signing a book of condolence for victims of the school hostage seizure and expressing outrage at the actions of "evil terrorists."
"The atrocities that took place in the school were beyond comprehension," the president told reporters.
Ivanov told the NTV television channel he had spoken twice with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, adding the U.S. administration was more receptive to Moscow's arguments on how to fight terror than some European officials.
"The Americans and the U.S. military have a better understanding of the seriousness of this threat since we and the United States have both been targeted in powerful terror attacks," Ivanov said in the television interview.
"In that sense, it has been easier for us to find a basis for mutual understanding with the United States than with some of the European nations."
There was no immediate U.S. comment on Russia's right to pre-emptive strikes. Speaking Sunday on Fox television, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the school seizure and other recent attacks in Russia highlighted the need for stronger global anti-terror efforts.
"We have to do even more together to make sure the civilized worlds join together in the war against terrorism," Powell said.
In Sunday's interview, Ivanov repeated an earlier statement that a "pre-emptive strike may involve anything, except nuclear weapons."
"They have declared a war on us, we have come under attack, so all means are good in a war," he said. "We have permanent readiness units, precision air-launched weapons and so on."
Officials have identified some of more than 30 attackers in the school seizure as Chechens, and have said that others included Arabs and citizens of other nations.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the school hostage-taking was directed by Shamil L Basayev, the most notorious of the warlords leading Chechen rebels who have been fighting Russian forces for five years.
Lavrov also said Aslan Maskhadov. Chechnya's president from 1996-99, was connected to the hostage-taking.
An envoy for Maskhadov, Akhmed Zakayev, told the German magazine Der Spiegel that he and Maskhadov had offered to negotiate during the crisis and Maskhadov's followers have no connection with Basayev.
Ivanov said many of the hostage takers had been eager to save their own lives and "Not all of them were suicide attackers. In the first night after the seizure ... some of the terrorists left the school to explore possible ways of retreat."
In an apparent attempt to exploit reported dissension among Chechen rebels, a Russian security official said Saturday that Chechen militants are eligible for a $10 million reward for information about top rebel leaders.
On Saturday, the newspaper Gazeta reported that the hostage-takers' leader was believed to be Ruslan Khuchbarov from neighboring Ingushetia.
The newspaper said the raiders' leader has not been identified as being among the dead militants, but deputy prosecutor-general Vladimir Kolesnikov said the leader was among the dead.
On Saturday, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian health ministry as saying 353 people wounded in the attack remained hospitalized, including 216 children.
"Other nations" . . hmmmm.....
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Well, well, well . ..
Onward Muslim Soldiers - ping.
"Russia Says It Can Hit Militants Abroad"
I think the headline meant to say TERRORISTS abroad
(funny how that word is so rarely used in the MSM anymore-might be construed as being anti-Islamic or something.)
Freepers were high-fiving each other over this kind of talk made by a russian honcho last week.
The obvious question is, what if a Russian Hit Team attacks and destroys a terror cell in the USA?
What if civillians are harmed.
We arrest the Russian Hit Team, of course, if we can catch them. Then what?
Russia must keep its cool and work with sympathetic nations - USA, UK, Italy, Australia, etc. As more and more nations suffer hits from Islamic terrorism, they will come into the fold.
Battle lines are forming.
The Bear is awake...
France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Germany,Saudi Arabia, all come to mind as places that either harbor or hide terrorists...some more willingly than others...
imo
How long are the Ruskies going to rant about this pre-emption business? Come on, Russia, less talkie more walkie.
Highly unlikely, but let's play along anyway.
"What if civillians are harmed."
Colateral damage.
"We arrest the Russian Hit Team, of course, if we can catch them. Then what?"
Feed them and see if we can help in their next assignment.
"Russia must keep its cool and work with sympathetic nations - USA, UK, Italy, Australia, etc. As more and more nations suffer hits from Islamic terrorism, they will come into the fold."
Sounds kinda sKerry to me. I'd rather we not wait till they hit and go after them now.
The strategic hotbed is the choke point between the Caspian and the Black Seas. Strange bedfellows are forming
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At first I laughed when I saw this question. Then I thought about it . .
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I think they'll start closer to home - say Syria or Iran.
Good. Let Russia do some work for a change. They'll do well to go after some of their neighbors.
> Russia Says It Can Hit Militants Abroad
Well, I say Less talking, more "militant hitting."
hehe . . let's put it this way. If Putin doesn't act, his days are (severely) numbered.
Terrorists, militants, whatever term is used to describe them, they are now on notice that they may run, but now there is absolutely NO sanctuary in this world where they may hide.
Russian Federation hit teams, operating in the manner of the old KGB, will be infiltrating and pulling down these cells of jihadists from the inside, penetrating and subverting them in a manner not permitted in US law.
Somebody raised the possibility that some of the "sleeper cells" within the US could be targeted by such a hit team. The ACLU may cry and scream, but the Russians may find themselves doing the job that American agents cannot do.
The Ruskies had to have a terrible wake up call before they decided to stop sleeping with those EU whores, France and Germany.
fyi
Sounds good to me!
Australia started out as a penal colony and now it is a nation of essentially good people ... a little too socialist for my taste, but good none-the-less.
Now, with that in mind ... wouldn't the world benefit by eliminating vast expanses of real estate a-la Anchor Hocking and, after the ticks slow down on the Geiger counter, re-populate those areas with people that could really benefit from a social structure and politic based on individual liberty and freedom?
Would we do damge to the scriptural dictum to subdue and re-populate the world?
God help us, we need Your wisdom.
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