Posted on 07/29/2005 11:10:03 AM PDT by jb6
NEW YORK - The Chechen rebel leader who organized a deadly hostage-taking attack on a Russian school last year admitted he was a terrorist but said in an interview being broadcast Thursday that each Russian had to feel the impact of war before it would stop in Chechnya.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shamil Basayev, linked to a dozen deadly attacks on civilians, also said he was plotting more. "I'm making plans. We're always looking for new ways," he said on ABC News' "Nightline."
The Kremlin denounced the network's decision to run the interview, which was conducted by well-known Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky.
The interview "runs counter to the spirit of Russian-American partnership in our joint fight against the global threat of terrorism," said the Russian statement, also broadcast by "Nightline."
Basayev, who has a $10 million bounty on his head and rarely speaks to journalists, was interviewed in his Chechen hideout by Babitsky, who said the rebels live in primitive conditions, eating mainly "instant soups and canned food" and sleeping on barren ground.
Despite the hardships, Basayev struck a defiant note. "The Chechen people are more dear to me than the rest of the world. You get that?" he said.
"I admit, I'm a bad guy, a bandit, a terrorist ... but what would you call them?" he said of the Russians. "If they are the keepers of constitutional order, if they are anti-terrorists, then I spit on all these agreements and nice words."
Basayev claimed responsibility for the 2004 school attack in which gunmen held more than 1,000 hostages for nearly three days in the Russian town of Beslan. The raid ended in gunfire and explosions, killing more 330 people, mostly children.
"It's not the children who are responsible," Basayev said. But he added: "Responsibility is with the whole Russian nation... If the war doesn't come to each of them individually, it will never stop in Chechnya."
Asked if a Belsan-type attack could occur again, Basayev said: "Of course ... As long as the genocide of the Chechen nation continues, as long as this mess continues, anything can happen."
The Kremlin sent troops into Chechnya in 1994 to crush its separatist leadership, but they withdrew after a devastating 20-month war that left the region de facto independent. Russian forces returned in 1999 after blaming rebels for a string of apartment building blasts that killed about 300 people.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Russian forces of "a crime against humanity" in March, noting local human rights groups estimate up to 5,000 people have gone missing in Chechnya since 1999.
Among other attacks, Basayev has been linked to a 2002 hostage-taking assault on a Moscow theater that left 170 people dead, a 2003 suicide attack in the Moscow subway that killed 41 people, and a 2003 double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert that killed 17 people.
"I see no other way to stop the genocide of the Chechen people," Basayev said in the interview. "And I'll pull no punches to stop this genocide."
Babitsky has focused on human rights abuses by Russian troops in previous reports from Chechnya. Russian authorities accuse him of being a Chechen sympathizer.
ping
So why shouldn't ABC interview him? Because he's a terrorist? Was it okay to interview Saddam Hussein, or Arafat, etc...?
ping
I guess if BBC or some Russian TV Station published a video interview with Bin Ladin explaining how he was justified in butchering Americans, you'd be hunky doory with that? You must believe in Al Jazeer then?
This is "Why We Fight!". To prevent the jihadist monsters from destroying our children!
Scum. The day they get him I am going to be celebrating.
A chilling interview. Powerful TV. Too bad many won't see it. The calm, cool voice, the matter of factness regarding children and other justifications, the love of blood shedding, the sheer joy as the Jihad gives his life justification.
Does't he know exposure to SHS is debilitating, especially to kids.
A true psychopath, it sounds like.
Al Jazzera is one point of view. ABC news is another point of view, Fox is another.
ABC is a morality cesspool for giving this man air time, which is exactly what he wants. No different then an interview with Bin Ladin. I will never watch anything from that cesspool again.
Giving voice to the terrorist is tantimount to feeding the bear. They want media coverage, it only makes them more vicious. ABC is a cesspool.
Fine. No skin off my back. Suit yourself.
IMO, we need to hear the voice of Jihad over and over again.
Is it hard to cross the border into Ossetia from Georgia?
Maybe next year I can go to Beslan for a long day trip and kneel in the remains of that gymnasium.
Well that is a good point. Perhaps people who watched gained some understanding of the lack of humanity within Basayev.
Exactly. Nothing like the voice of a true psychopath justifying mass murder to jolt some people out of their reverie.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.