Chechen Republic of Ichkeria: Akhmadov Granted Asylum in the U.S.

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation ^ | August 9, 2003 | unknown

[USMMA_83]

Ilyas Akhmadov, the foreign minister in the separatist government of Chechnya under Aslan Maskhadov, has been granted asylum in the United States, U.S. officials said Friday amid criticism from Moscow.

Maskhadov sent Akhmadov and other members of his government abroad to promote the Chechen cause among foreign leaders in 1999, shortly after the return of federal forces to the region.

Akhmadov came to the United States in 2002 and was initially granted asylum in April by a U.S. immigration judge in Boston, Akhmadov said Friday in an interview. But the Homeland Security Department appealed the decision in June on the grounds that Moscow accused him of involvement in terrorism.

After an investigation determined that Akhmadov had no connection to terrorism, the department withdrew its appeal last month, said Ross Knocke, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of Homeland Security. The asylum request was granted last Monday.

The Foreign Ministry criticized the decision Friday. "We cannot consider the decision to grant Ilyas Akhmadov political asylum in the United States as anything other than a clear manifestation of double standards in issues relating to the fight against terrorism," it said in a statement. "Such actions are totally contrary to the partner-like spirit of Russian-U.S. relations and the objective of jointly combating international terrorism."

But John Dunlop, a Chechnya specialist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said the decision to grant Akhmadov asylum would not have any impact on U.S.-Russian relations. Moscow will "make a noise, but I don't think they expect anything to come of it," Dunlop said.

Daniel Pellathy, program director for the Washington-based American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, said granting Akhmadov asylum in the United States would "dispel the myth" that he is a terrorist.

"It legitimizes him as representative of the [Chechen] opposition here in the U.S.," Pellathy said. "He can now go on the lecture circuit, meet with members of the State Department, meet with Congress, become a public and active figure."

Akhmadov has spent the last year living in Andover, Vermont, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the homes of Nicholas and Ruth Daniloff, former journalists who met Akhmadov in 2000 when he gave a speech at Harvard University.

Source: The Moscow Times

[USMMA_83]

The Pakis have nukes on their soil, that's a given...on the other hand,we control them or have ways to make them ineffective.

Mush is a devious back-stabber who will get what's comin' to him.

[John Valentine]

Ok, this is an old article, but it only goes to point out that our State Department does no favors on the war on terrorism. Either all terrorists are terrorists or none are. You can't have "one man's terrorists is another man's freedom fighter."

You an I have reached completely opposite conclusions. To me, this is evidence that indeed, to our "State" Department one mans terrorist is indeed another man's freedom fighter.

I beleive that that this is a determination that ought to be made by Russians in Russia when it concerns their own nationals. This is not appropriate behavior for the United States. This Achmadov has no business taking shelter in the United States, and we have no business sheltering him when the Russians have unfinished business with him and the murderous Chechens in general.

We ought to be standing by the Russians if we want them to stand by us. We won't achieve that by harboring terrorists OR terrorist enablers.

[ApesForEvolution]

What about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia? They still run the terror camps and finance terrorists world-wide.

>>>

The pakis, creators and soul mates of the Ashcanistan Talibunnies, immediately took the 'plea bargain' to 'turn state's evidence'. Saudi Arabia has spent more money spreading the Muhammadan Terrorist Death Cult around the world than any other nation I'm aware of. I predict both could easily have new Islamofascist governments in the not so distant future.

[USMMA_83]

Ok Sandy...I stand corrected...it used to be the State Department before HLS came into being. My appologies!

[USMMA_83]

john buddy...we agree a 100%...

[John Valentine]

Mr. Walford, Chechnya was never one of the Soviet Republics.

That's why with the breakup of the Soviet Union it didn't go it's own way like Khazakstan and the Ukraine. It was and is part of Russia, and Russia has insisted that its territorial integrity remain intact, as is their sovereign right.

[USMMA_83]

Apes, the Pakis use smoke and mirrors to make it seem they are not islamofascist. They are....As for the Saudis...the quicker we get independence from Mid-East oil, the better for the whole world concerned.

[montag813]

Ilyas Akhmadov, the foreign minister in the separatist government of Chechnya under Aslan Maskhadov, has been granted asylum in the United States

The same Aslan Maskhadov for whom Russia now has a $10 million reward.

[fuzzy122]

Which one of our great memebers of the state department and congress has this terrorist met?"

John Kerry if Kerry is true to form. I mean he met with the VC when they were our enemies, he met with the Nicaraguan communists when they were our enemies. I suppose now that we're in the "War on Terror" he would meet with terrorist leaders. Clinton met with Arafat - AT THE WHITEHOUSE! Numerous times!

Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

[ApesForEvolution]

I totally agree on both counts.

And in the mean time, defund islamofascism by becoming custodian of the assets they use to support Muhammadanism (Terrorism) - oil.

[ApesForEvolution]

John Kerry if Kerry is true to form. I mean he met with the VC when they were our enemies, he met with the Nicaraguan communists when they were our enemies. I suppose now that we're in the "War on Terror" he would meet with terrorist leaders. Clinton met with Arafat - AT THE WHITEHOUSE! Numerous times!

>>>

It is 'their way', isn't it? Islamocommunism right here in America's DemocRAT(ic) Party.

Hey, wanna have some fun? Next sKerry/Opie for POTUS/VPOTUS sticker you in a parking lot, ask the owner why they think Communist (sKerry) leadership is what America needs right now...it's a lotta fun.

[USMMA_83]

How 'bout you and me kidnap the sorry SOB...ferry him on a boat (in a Chinese cargo container) to Russia...we can split the $10M 50-50...you game?

[fuzzy122]

I'll do that - Lord knows here in California there are plenty of Kerry bumper stickers around.

I have one that LOOKS real except that along the bottom edge in like 1/2" type it says "I voted for it before I voted against it"

I'm waiting to find just the right car to update their sticker with mine.

Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

[konijn]

You would be suprised who are teh real backers of the chechen cause in the US. This is a snippet from the Chechens American friends

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1299318,00.html


This harshness towards Putin is perhaps explained by the fact that, in the US, the leading group which pleads the Chechen cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC). The list of the self-styled "distinguished Americans" who are its members is a rollcall of the most prominent neoconservatives who so enthusastically support the "war on terror".

They include Richard Perle, the notorious Pentagon adviser; Elliott Abrams of Iran-Contra fame; Kenneth Adelman, the former US ambassador to the UN who egged on the invasion of Iraq by predicting it would be "a cakewalk"; Midge Decter, biographer of Donald Rumsfeld and a director of the rightwing Heritage Foundation; Frank Gaffney of the militarist Centre for Security Policy; Bruce Jackson, former US military intelligence officer and one-time vice-president of Lockheed Martin, now president of the US Committee on Nato; Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, a former admirer of Italian fascism and now a leading proponent of regime change in Iran; and R James Woolsey, the former CIA director who is one of the leading cheerleaders behind George Bush's plans to re-model the Muslim world along pro-US lines.

The ACPC heavily promotes the idea that the Chechen rebellion shows the undemocratic nature of Putin's Russia, and cultivates support for the Chechen cause by emphasising the seriousness of human rights violations in the tiny Caucasian republic. It compares the Chechen crisis to those other fashionable "Muslim" causes, Bosnia and Kosovo - implying that only international intervention in the Caucasus can stabilise the situation there.

[Mockingbird For Short]

Are we (the U.S.) nuts?

[nw_arizona_granny]

ping

[A. Pole]

Akhmadov has spent the last year living in Andover, Vermont, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the homes of Nicholas and Ruth Daniloff, former journalists who met Akhmadov in 2000 when he gave a speech at Harvard University.

Hey, they must like him more than Solzhenitsyn in 1978!

[MarMema]

Thanks for posting this.

[OrioleFan]

Obviously the State Department hasn't gotten the "With US or against US message."

[SevenofNine]

Whoa I didnn't know the dude got granted aslyum in this country well what do you expect Boston Judge allow it

You know how wacky Masschutuct is