We need to take the cuffs off Vlad the Mad and let him do his work on the Chechens. They have been adverserial to us in the past, mostly on differences of economic systems and egotistical politicans on both sides. That aside, there has never been any clash betweeen Russia and America, nonewhatsoever, that would justify war, and they have been fighting Islamic terrorists dating back to the Khanate of the Golden Horde. The Russians are, in the fight against terrorism, the Watchmen on the walls of freedom. Let them do what they should have done all along, decimate the Chechens, leaving only a few to tell the tale (an effective tactic fighting Islamic terrorists, used also by Pershing in North Africa in the years leading up to WWI).
As for the insurgent battle in Iraq, the majority of the so-called insurgent are displaced Sunni nationalists (Saddam loyalists) displaced in the current political order--partially of their chosing, but mostly because the Shiites have downplayed what little remaining clout they had. They are fighting for a place at the table for the most part, and while a black mark on them, they are almost exclusively attacking Americans. The Jihadi terrorists, led by Zarqawi et al, are the ones attacking Iraqi police forces, Iraqi military forces, and Iraqi civillians. The Sunni insurgents have pretty much left their Shiite and Kurdish countyrmen alone.
Well that is kind of what I was implying. They are closer than us to the source of the "problems" of late.