World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #4.

Tehran & Damascus Move to Lebanon Lebanon-born Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Author of the recent book Future Jihad, he was also one of the architects of 2004’s United Nations resolution 1559, which called for the disarming of Hezbollah. NRO editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked to Phares about what’s going on in the Mideast, what happened to the Cedar Revolution, and this war we’re all in.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What is “Future Jihad”? Are we seeing it in the Mideast now?

Walid Phares: “Future Jihad,” which has already begun, refers to a new and potent form of Islamic terrorism, characterized by a Khumeinist-Baathist axis. These are the two trees of jihadism, so to speak — the Salafism and Wahabism embodied in al Qaeda and the sort of jihadism led by Iran and also including Syria, Hezbollah, and their allies in Lebanon.

The alliance has not been in entire agreement as to strategy. The al Qaeda branch began its “Future Jihad” in the 1990s; its efforts culminated on 9/11 and have continued explosively since then. The international “Salafists” aimed at the U.S. in the past decade in order to strengthen their jihads on various battlefields (Chechnya, India, Sudan, Algeria, Indonesia, Palestine, etc.). “Weaken the resolve of America,” their ideologues said, “and the jihadists would overwhelm all the regional battlefields.”

As I argue in Future Jihad, bin Laden and his colleagues miscalculated on the timing of the massive attack against the U.S. in 2001. While they wounded America, they didn’t kill its will to fight (as was the case, for instance, in the Madrid 3/11 attacks). I have heard many jihadi cadres online, and have seen al Jazeera commentators on television, offering hints of criticism about the timing. They were blaming al Qaeda for shooting its imagined “silver bullet” before insuring a strategic follow up. But bin Laden and Zawahiri believe 9/11 served them well, and has put a global mobilization into motion. Perhaps it has, but the U.S. counter strategy in the Middle East, chaotic as the region currently appears, has unleashed counter jihadi forces. The jury is still out as to the time factor: when these forces will begin to weaken the jihadists depends on our perseverance and the public understanding of the whole conflict.

The other “tree” of jihadism, with its roots in Iran, withheld fire after 9/11. They were content to watch the Salafists fight it out with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention within the West, as terror cells were hunted down. Ahmedinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah were analyzing how far the US would go, and how far the Sunnis and Salafis would go as well.

The fall of the Taliban and of the Baath in Iraq, however, changed Iran and Syria’s patient plans. The political changes in the neighborhood, regardless of their immediate instability, were strongly felt in Tehran and Damascus (but unfortunately not in the U.S., judging from the political debate here), and pushed the Khumeinists and the Syrian Baathists to enter the dance, but carefully. Assad opened his borders to the jihadists in an attempt to crumble the U.S. role in Iraq, while Iran articulated al Sadr’s ideology for Iraq’s Shiia majority.

A U.S.-led response came swiftly in 2004 with the voting of UNSCR 1559, smashing Syria’s role in Lebanon and forcing Assad to withdraw his troops by April 2005. In response, the “axis” prepared for a counter attack on the Lebanese battlefield by assassinating a number of the Cedar Revolution leaders, including MP Jebran Tueni. In short, the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah and the kidnappings of soldiers were the tip of an offensive aimed at drawing attention away from Iran’s nuclear weapons programs and Syria’s assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Hezbollah was awaiting its moment for revenge against the Cedar Revolution too.

What we see now is 1) a Syro-Iranian sponsored offensive aimed at all democracies in the region and fought in Lebanon; 2) Israel’s counter offensive (which it seems to have prepared earlier); and 3) an attempt by Hezbollah to take over or crumble the Lebanese government.

Phares: Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Cedar Revolution was failed. The masses in Lebanon responded courageously in March 2005 by putting 1.5 million people on the streets of Beirut. They did it without “no-fly-zones,” expeditionary forces, or any weapons at all, for that matter, and against the power of three regimes, Iran, Syria, and pro-Syrian Lebanon, in addition to Hezbollah terror. The “revolution” was for a time astoundingly successful; since then it has been horribly failed, and first of all by Lebanon’s politicians themselves. One of their leaders, General Michel Aoun, shifted his allegiances to Syria and signed a document with Hezbollah. Other politicians from the “March 14 Movement” then stopped the demonstrations, leaving them with the support of God knows what. They failed in removing the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and brought back a pro-Syrian politician to serve as a speaker of the house, Nabih Berri. Meanwhile, even as they were elected by the faithful Cedar Revolution masses, they engaged in a round table dialogue with Hezbollah, a clear trap set by Hassan Nasrallah: “Let’s talk about the future,” he said — with the implication, of course, that they forget about the Cedar Revolution and the militia’s disarming. While political leaders sat for months, enjoying the photo ops with Hassan Nasrallah, he was preparing his counter offensive, which he unleashed just a few days before the Security Council would discuss the future of Iran’s nuclear programs.

The Lebanese government of Prime Minister Seniora also abandoned the Cedar Revolution. His cabinet neither disarmed Hezbollah nor called on the U.N. to help in implementing UNSCR 1559. This omission is baffling. The government was given so much support by the international community and, more importantly, overwhelming popular support inside Lebanon: 80 percent of the people were hoping the Cedar Revolution-backed government would be the one to resume the liberation of the country. Now Hezbollah has an upper hand and the government is on the defensive.

The U.S. and its allies can be accused of certain shortcomings as well. While the speeches by the U.S. president, congressional leaders from both parties, Tony Blair, and Jacques Chirac were right on target regarding Lebanon, and while the U.S. and its counterparts on the Security Council were diligent in their follow up on the Hariri assassination and on implementing UNSCR 1559, there was no policy or plan to support the popular movement in Lebanon. Incredibly, while billions were spent on the war of ideas in the region, Lebanese NGOs that wanted to resume the struggle of the Cedar Revolution and fighting alone for this purpose were not taken seriously at various levels. Policy planners thought they were dealing with the “Cedar Revolution” when they were meeting Lebanon’s government and Lebanese politicians. The difference between the high level speeches on Lebanon and the laissez-faire approach from lower levels is amazing. Simply put, there was no policy on supporting the Cedar Revolution against the three regimes opposing it and the $400 million received by Hezbollah from Iran.

The Cedar Revolution was basically betrayed by its own politicians and is now essentially without a head. Nevertheless, as long as the international support remains, the Revolution will find its way and will face the dangers. The one and a half million ordinary citizens who braved all the dangers didn’t change their minds about Hezbollah’s terror. The resistance and counter-attack was to be expected. Unfortunately, thus far Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah have outmaneuvered the West and are at the throats of the Cedar Revolution. The international community must revise its plans, and, if it is strongly backed by the U.S. and its allies, including France, the situation can be salvaged. The good seeds are still inside the country.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.arson12aug12,0,6869766.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Last man admits to burning 35 homes
4 others convicted in Charles County arson
By Jonathan Bor
Sun reporter
Originally published August 12, 2006

A 23-year-old Waldorf man pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to conspiracy to set fire to 35 homes under construction in an upscale Charles County development, becoming the last of five men to be convicted in what authorities called the largest residential arson in state history.

Advertisement
Roy T. McCann pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson in connection with the fires in the Hunters Brooke development in December 2004. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute the drug Ecstasy in the months leading up to the arson.

"The harm suffered by the victims of this horrible tragedy cannot be erased," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said of the fires. "We hope that this guilty plea will give them some comfort, as all of the criminals charged in connection with the Hunters Brooke arson have now been convicted."

McCann, who entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, faces five to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the arson conviction and 20 years and a $1 million fine on the drug conviction. He will remain detained until he is sentenced Nov. 8 by Judge Roger W. Titus.

In the early-morning hours of Dec. 6, 2004, McCann and four other men went to the development in Indian Head, poured flammable liquids into drywall buckets, detergent bottles and other large plastic containers and placed them in and around the houses. They also poured accelerants in the entranceways, then used flares, matches and propane torches to start the fires.

The houses were not occupied.

Law enforcement officials said that no single motive could explain the crime. Witnesses and prosecutors said some of the suspects were filled with racist anger at the arrival of minorities to Charles County, while others were obsessed with igniting a blaze that would demonstrate their gang's power.

Three of the suspects have been sentenced. Jeremy Parady, 22, of Accokeek and Aaron Speed, 22, of Waldorf were sentenced to more than seven and eight years in prison, respectively. Patrick Walsh, 22, of Fort Washington was sentenced to 19 1/2 years.

Michael McIntosh Everhart, 21, of Waldorf is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 8 and faces five to 20 years in prison.

jonathan.bor@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun |

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/print.cfm?story=109137&ran=12893

Accused spy carried cash, secret files, agents say
By KATE WILTROUT, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 12, 2006
Last updated: 1:55 AM

Ariel J. Weinmann

Background: Navy will let media listen to recording of sailor's hearing

NORFOLK - When Ariel J. Weinmann stepped off an international flight into the Dallas airport on March 26, a federal customs agent was waiting for him.

Before the plane's arrival, customs had run passengers' names through a database listing outstanding arrest warrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Allen Brock knew only that the Navy wanted to arrest the 21-year-old petty officer third class on a charge of deserting the submarine Albuquerque last July.

What he found in Weinmann's backpack and pockets led to three charges of espionage against the sailor. The Navy disclosed some of those details for the first time Friday. Weinmann was carrying $4,000 cash, three CD-ROMs, an external computer storage device and a number of memory cards for storing digital images, according to testimony from his preliminary hearing.

Brock testified that he also found Weinmann carrying a piece of paper with the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of two individuals, as well as a notebook whose handwritten contents aroused his suspicion.

Brock alerted a supervisor, who popped one of the CDs from Weinmann's backpack into a computer. What the customs agents saw is now classified by the government - as is much of the other evidence against the fire control technician.

"The contents of the CD are the basis of the case," said Lt. William Tansey, one of his defense attorneys, during the Article 32 hearing on July 25. "Looking at those CDs changed the course of the entire case."

The Navy originally refused to release basic information about the Weinmann case - including the dates of his Article 32, or preliminary hearing - but reversed course after The Virginian-Pilot revealed Weinmann's confinement, and the secrecy with which it was being handled.

On Friday, the Navy played a recording of the hearing - which lasted two days, not a single day as public affairs officials had said - for the media.

Weinmann has been charged with three counts of espionage, and stands accused of passing classified information to a foreign government representative - once in Austria and again in Mexico.

Navy officials have refused to say which government they believe he was in contact with and have not disclosed what sort of information he is accused of providing.

He's also accused of stealing a Navy computer and destroying its hard drive "by smashing it with a mallet and cutting off the pins," according to the charges.

The charges could result in a life sentence if Weinmann is court-martialed and found guilty.

While desertion and espionage in times of war can carry the death penalty, "no one considers this a capital case," Capt. Max Jenkins said Friday.

Jenkins is commanding officer of the Regional Legal Service Office in Norfolk.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent Kevin Burke, who questioned Weinmann over nine days after he was brought to Norfolk from Dallas, said the sailor was found with dozens of computer files containing biographical information "at the classified level."

Burke also said the $4,000 in U.S. currency found on Weinmann was in sequentially numbered $100 bills that were "crisp and clean."

Weinmann's explanation during his first day of questioning - that the money was his savings - "just wasn't plausible," Burke testified.

"He was, in my opinion, lying about creating an explanation for where he was and what he had been doing," Burke said. "It just appeared to me that he was telling a story about thinking about writing a book."

Burke was one of six NCIS agents or employees who testified over two days. The other witnesses were Brock and an FBI agent who sat in on most of the interviews with Weinmann.

Their statements shed light on the international investigation that followed Weinmann's arrest, as well as the lengthy interrogation that followed.

He consented to the questioning and did not request a lawyer, according to testimony.

As NCIS agents in Norfolk were questioning Weinmann, other Navy investigators and FBI agents interviewed Weinmann's parents and sister in Oregon. They seized an 11-page letter Weinmann had sent to his sister and searched her computer, according to testimony.

After Weinmann told them he had been living in Austria and described his apartment to them in detail, NCIS agents were dispatched to Vienna.

There, they said they retrieved a Navy-issued laptop computer that Weinmann is accused of stealing from the bridge of the submarine. When the computer was sent to Norfolk weeks later, investigators saw its hard drive had been removed.

Agents also traveled to Mexico City to see a hotel and Internet cafe that Weinmann had supposedly frequented.

The lengthy interviews sometimes lasted all day and night, with breaks for meals.

"There was nothing about this case that was normal to me," Burke said.

It was unusual in another way, too, multiple agents said, Weinmann was not returned each night to the brig, but put up in a Navy-run lodge on the Norfolk base, where he was under constant surveillance.

Tansey and Lt. Cmdr. Karen Somers, his lead defense attorney, spent a lot of time questioning that arrangement and querying witnesses about how clearly Weinmann understood he could stop the interrogation at any time.

"The entire process was voluntary and consensual," Burke said.

FBI agent Suzanne Turnau described Weinmann as cooperative but evasive. His answers were often lengthy and detailed.

Burke said Weinmann's story changed during subsequent interviews, and he mentioned written statements that Weinmann made, without disclosing the contents.

"He had admitted to a pretty significant offense in that statement on April 2," Burke said at one point.

Burke, who works out of the NCIS' Norfolk office, described the "rapport-building process" he used with Weinmann, starting off with an "icebreaker" to gather basic biographical information.

Three days into the questioning, after getting Weinmann civilian clothing, Burke said they went outdoors for a walk to give Weinmann "an opportunity to clear his head."

"I was trying to get him to trust me," Burke said.

He described only one confrontation with Weinmann, on the fifth day of questioning. Burke said he suspected Weinmann was lying.

"I told him that we were done. We're tired of being lied to. You're making us look like fools," Burke recalled. He left the interview room, and as the door was closing behind him, Burke testified, Weinmann asked him to return.

"He was yelling to me, 'Come back, come back. Don't leave me here. I want to talk to you.' "

The testimony, and dozens of classified exhibits, is now in the hands of Lt. Cmdr. John Bauer, a Navy attorney who served as the investigating officer at the hearing.

Bauer will recommend whether to pursue charges against Weinmann in a court-martial. Decisions on which charges to refer to court martial and what sentence to seek ultimately rest with the "convening authority" - in this case, the Fleet Forces Commander, Adm. John B. Nathman.

Navy officials expect Bauer to complete his report next week.

Reach Kate Wiltrout at (757) 446-2629 or kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com.

© 2006 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com

[a post for study and research]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRITAIN_TERROR_PLOT?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME

Aug 12, 6:37 AM EDT

Brothers emerge as focus of plot probe

By ROBERT BARR
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/MATT DUNHAM
AP VIDEO

Pakistan Arrests, Bank Accounts Frozen
World Video

LONDON (AP) -- Brothers arrested in Pakistan and England emerged Saturday as key figures in a suspected plot to destroy U.S.-bound aircraft during flight, while prominent Muslims in Britain accused the government of encouraging extremism through its foreign policy.

Pakistani intelligence agents were questioning at least 17 people, including British nationals, officials said. British police released one suspect Friday night but were continuing to question 23 others suspected of involvement to bring down as many as 10 airliners with innocent-looking liquid explosives.

A senior Pakistani security official said the arrest of Rashid Rauf, a British citizen, was followed within days by a telephone call from someone in Pakistan urging the British plotters to execute their plan.

"This telephone call intercept in Karachi and the arrest of Rashid Rauf helped a lot to foil the terror plan," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Friday that Rauf was a "key person" in the investigation. His brother, Tayib Rauf, 22, was among the suspects arrested in Britain; police refused to comment on news reports that another brother was also detained.

The Pakistani official told The Associated Press that most of those linked to the plot in Pakistan had been arrested.

Among the two or three still at large, he said, was Matiur Rahman, a senior figure in the al-Qaida-linked Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose name was mentioned by one of the detainees during interrogation.

Rahman is wanted in Pakistan in connection with sectarian attacks on minority Shiite Muslims in Pakistan, in two failed attempts on the life of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, and attacks in Karachi against Westerners, the official said. Rahman is believed to have met with some al-Qaida operatives in recent years, he added.

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Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao on Saturday refused to share any information about Rahman's possible links to the failed London terror plot.

Prominent British Muslims, including three members of Parliament, said in an open letter Saturday that "current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the U.K. and abroad."

The letter, printed in several British papers, said Britain's intervention in Iraq and the failure to secure an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon were providing "ammunition to extremists who threaten us all."

"The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all," said the letter, which was signed by three of four Muslim members of Parliament and 38 Muslim groups, including the influential Muslim Council of Britain.

In Birmingham in central England, a great-uncle of the Rauf brothers described the family as deeply religious.

"Tayib is disabled. He lost his hearing in one ear because of a childhood sickness," Qazi Amir Kulzum was quoted as saying in Saturday's Birmingham Post.

"He is very, very polite, the kindest person you could hope to meet. He helps his father delivering cakes and confectionery. He prays five times a day. He has been to Mecca on pilgrimage. No one can believe that he would be involved in such matters."

Kulzum said he had not seen Rashid Rauf for years.

He said the father, Abdul Rauf, immigrated to Britain from the Mirpur district of Pakistan several decades ago, and his five children were all born in Britain.

Suspects in the alleged plot "apparently" had some contacts with Germany, August Hanning, a deputy interior minister, was quoted as telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an article to be printed Sunday. The report did not give details on the timing or nature of the suspected contacts.

The German weekly Focus reported, without citing sources, that a suspect arrested in Britain had contact with Nese Bahaji, the wife of fugitive Sept. 11 suspect Said Bahaji. It did not specify the suspect involved or say when the contact occurred.

Said Bahaji, a German national, is believed to have provided logistical support for the Hamburg cell that included three of the Sept. 11 suicide pilots. Bahaji fled Germany shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks and remains at large.

British Home Secretary John Reid told reporters officials were confident the main suspects in the plot were in custody. But authorities "would go where any further evidence takes us," he said.

The British government released the names of 19 of the 24 arrested in Britain - many apparently British Muslims of Pakistani ancestry - and froze their assets.

The record of financial transactions, along with telephone and computer records, may help investigators trace more people in the alleged plot.

Britain kept its threat assessment level at "critical," indicative of an imminent attack. Extraordinary security measures continued at British airports, although the backlog of passengers eased from Thursday's chaotic conditions, when hundreds of flights were canceled. British Airways said about 10 percent of its flights were canceled Saturday.

The alleged plot called for the attackers to assemble their bombs aboard the aircraft, apparently with a peroxide-based solution disguised as beverages or other harmless-seeming items, and using such electronic equipment as a disposable camera or a music player as a detonator, two U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

A U.S. intelligence official said they planned to deploy a couple of attackers per plane, and the two dozen plotters didn't all know one another - a typical security measure in terror groups.

The British say their inquiry began months ago - prompted by a tip from within the British Muslim community after the bloody July 7, 2005, terror bombings of the London transit system, The Washington Post reported.

There were signs preparations stepped up recently. One of the houses raided by British police this week had been bought last month by two men in an all-cash deal, in a neighborhood of $300,000 houses, neighbors reported.

---

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

From Novaya Gazeta

Timur Haziyev

The entire life of Muscovite Timur Haziyev was connected with music, and the Dubrovka theater, also known as the House of Culture of the Moscow Ballbearings Factory. He had been here since childhood, studying at the 'Lyre' music studio, and here, while a member of the orchestra performing for 'Nord-Ost', death came for him.

Timur's parents, Tukai and Roza, used to live in a communal apartment near the theater hall, and their two sons Eldar and Timur learned to play the accordion at the House of Culture on Dubrovka. The teachers advised the younger son, Timur, to continue his studies - he was talanted. After 10th grade, he passed the musical course for percussion instruments in a single year, and entered the course for wind instruments, which he completed in only 3. Later he attained his dream of attending the Gnesinski Institute. His teacher there called him 'Rafinad', meaning that he was very refined, holding his drumsticks in a special, almost aristocratic manner. Parallel with his studies at the Gnesinski, however, he performed with the symphony orchestra of the Ministry of Defense. He performed with them in Norway, and was supposed to play in Spain, but because of October 23rd, this trip was put off forever...

"Here, I got his uniform ready... and his concert frock. Heavy starch, so that it wouldn't wrinkle," says Roza Abdulovna, opening a wardrobe. "It's from the Ministry of Defense, but they never came for it."

Little blonde Sonya grabs the garrison cap with the shiny visor, places it on her head runs across the room: "Papa! Papa!" Tanya does not have the strength to endure the scene, and leaves the room.

When he was done with the Gnesinski, Timur was offered a spot in the orchestra for 'Nord-Ost'. It was his third job, but he agreed: he had a family, a tiny child, and his wife Tanya had taken a low-paying job at their daughter's kindergarten, instead of continuing her career as an actress and director.

Of course, one can, perhaps, not believe in mysticism, or in forbodings. But...

"A month before the terrorist attack, Timur started sleeping poorly," Tanya recounts. "I'd wake up in the morning, and he'd be sitting there. I'd ask him: 'Lay down, what's bugging you?' and he'd say: 'Something is making me scared'."

His family decided that Timur was just tired. His day always began early: he'd take Sonya and Tanya to the kindergarten, then over to his parents' place to practice. His instruments were there: lately he had sprained his left arm, but was happy that it was better. He'd practice awhile, then once again he would jump in his car and drive to the military orcestra for practice, and from there to the 'Nord-Ost' musical. He would return home close to midnight, and early the next day it would start all over again. They say that he gave one the impression of a person who was in a hurry to live. Why? He was only 27... But no one can answer this question. Nor another: why was Timur even at 'Nord-Ost' on the 23rd of October? Once again, mysticism...

"It was Wednesday," explains Tanya. "This was supposed to be our family day off. On Wednesdays a different drummer worked at 'Nord-Ost', but he asked Timur to switch with him, because his girlfriend just had to be with him that night. She saved the fellow... But mine swtiched shifts, and died."

"You know, we didn't want our son's things to just be laying around. That's normal, isn't it?" Asks Roza Abdulovna. "And so we went THERE..."

Of course, the cell phone was gone. Timur was just starting to get his head above water, and had bought one. Not a new one, though.

THERE, next to Timur's belongings, Roza went into hysterics. They only gave Timur's relations his old jacket, with the print of an army boot on the back, and his t-shirt. Nothing else.

Judging from the shirt, Timur had been laying in the street. Roza Abdulovna was never able to wash out the Moscow street dirt, a mix of gasoline and oil.

When Timur went to work for the last time, he carried with him ten different picture IDs: as a musician with the 'Nord-Ost' orchestra, his passport, his driver's license, and others. When his family received his body on October 27th, the only ID was a tag, attached to his arm by a rubber band: '2551 Hamiyev U/I'.

"How could this happen?" asks Roza Abdulovna. "Why did we have to look for him for SO LONG?"

The mother is referring to the day after the storming of the theater, that long day of October 26th, which the Haziyevs would never forget.

"From morning until 4 PM, his name was not on a single list," explains Tukai Valiyevich. "While we were going around all the morgues and hospitals, suddenly there was this little list, with about 20 names, and it said that Timur was alive at Hospital No. 7. We cried from happiness, and our friends congratulated us... Tatyana and I hurred to No. 7."

A security guard at the gates would not let anyone in. He said that it was forbidden by the Moscow authorities, but he told Tukai that it was bad. That if 'his' were there, it meant that the situation was hopeless. Tanya started asking questions, and the guard felt sorry for her and let them in. Once inside, they were met by a policeman with an assault rifle.

"You know, he was a fellow with no heart," says Tanya. "Not a single word, such as 'bear up' or 'hold on'. He just said it straight out: 'He's dead, get out of here'. I cried for 20 minutes, then some doctors ran up and demanded: 'Who let you in?'."

When Tanya got ahold of herself, she begged them to let her bid Timur farewell, before the autopsy. She begged and begged. The policeman said sarcastically: "Go ask Putin for permission." Then a trio from the government showed up, and asked: "Well, why are you in such a hurry? You'll still be able to close the coffin!" This was followed by: "What was the last name? Haziyev? The Chechen?"

Here was the crux of the matter. The family is certain that the reason for Timur's death from lack of medical assistance, was that he was mistaken for a Chechen. When the Haziyev men took his body from the morgue, in large letters on his chest was written '9:30', the time of death at Hospital No. 7. No other marks were on the body: not a single trace of medical intervention, no IV, injection, or intubation. Here was the whole story of the 'rescue'.

...And the last bit of family news: not long ago Tanya got Kiryusha and Frosya, a turtle and a cat. She did this so that there would be someone to come home to. Sonya still does not understand what happened to Papa, she is very young, but she does not like to go home after kindergarten when there is no Papa.

[a post for study and research]

Explosives found in Chechnya were meant for high-profile attack

11.08.2006, 18.25

MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) - The finding of a large cache of explosives in Chechnya helped prevent a high-profile terrorist attack," spokesman for the republic's Interior Ministry Magomed Deniyev told Itar-Tass on Friday.

"A well-camouflaged cache in close proximity to the Rostov-Baku federal highway, was found earlier on Friday by personnel of the Groznensky police precinct," Deniyev said.

It contained five bags of TNT weighing 180 kilograms.

"According to the information available to police, the explosives were meant for a large terrorist attack," Chechen police said.

At present, efforts are underway to identify the persons who had stashed away the TNT.

It was the largest batch of explosives found in Chechnya since the beginning of this year.

In January, a cache with more than 100 kilograms of explosives was turned over to law-enforcement bodies by a detained member of Doku Umarov's gang.

In March, a resident of the Itum-Kali district voluntarily led police to a cache with 90 kilograms of TNT he had found.

In June, police in the village of Starye Atagi found 142 kilograms of TNT blocks in a yard of a house.

On Thursday, three roadside explosions occurred near the village of Gansolchu. Nobody was injured in the blasts. A home-made bomb that failed to detonate was found at the scene of the incident.

On Thursday morning, interior troops during a reconnaissance and search mission near the village of Agishty, Vedeno district, encountered and engaged a group of eight militants. One gunman was killed in the shootout and the others managed to escape. There were no casualties among the servicemen.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10700464&PageNum=0

News - English
News numbre: 8505210205
2006-08-12 - 12:03

Iranian, Russian Presidents Concerned about Human Tragedy in ME

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian and Russian Presidents in a phone conversation on Friday discussed the latest Middle-East developments and Israel's continued invasion of Lebanon and exchanged views about the possible ways of ending the current war.

A report released by the Presidential Press Office said that during the phone talk, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad noted the scores of Lebanese citizens who are killed during the Zionists' brutal strikes on their country on a daily basis, adding that Israel mainly targets innocent women and children.

He further lashed out at the United Nations Security Council for its inaction in the face of the human catastrophe in Lebanon, saying that the UNSC has never been so much paralyzed as it is now.

Ahmadinejad also said that the United States and England are buying more and more time through their political games and maneuvers in order for the Zionist regime to continue with its aggressions.

Stressing the need for increasing and reorganizing joint efforts by independent countries to end the Israelis' unjust war against the Lebanese nation, he expressed regret at the opposition of some western states to the resolution Russia proposed for the establishment of an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon.

The Iranian President warned that if the present attitude of the international bodies, specially the UN Security Council, towards the current crisis is continued, such bodies and organizations would be fully discredited, "meaning that in future we will have to face problems galore in establishing global security."

He also reiterated that an immediate ceasefire should have been called and established since the very beginning of the crisis, and continued, "The more Zionists continue with their war and invasion of Lebanon, the more wrathful regional nations, specially young Muslims, will grow, and we are deeply worried about an incoming typhoon of anger in the region, since it would make the present crisis uncontrollable."

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed deep regret about the deteriorating conditions in the Middle-East, particularly Lebanon and Palestine, and the killing of civilians and innocent lives.

Describing establishment of truce as the most crucial priority for the present time, he stated that his country sought the same goal in presenting a draft resolution to the UN Security Council.

"Russia presented a draft resolution to the UNSC in a bid to put an end to the ongoing war and prevent further killing of innocent people, but our initiative faced opposition of the western countries," Putin said.

He also underlined that the UN Security Council is necessitated to adopt a decision to end war and resolve the issue through political means in a balanced way acceptable to both party.

The Russian President also stressed that such a decision should provide for the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Lebanon as well as security of all regional states, adding that Russia welcomes the proposal extended by the Lebanese government for the deployment of 15 thousand military troops in the southern parts of that country.

"We believe that the deployment of a part of the Lebanese army in the southern parts of that country must take place simultaneously with the establishment of the ceasefire, and we believe that this must precede discussion of other issues, including the swap of prisoners," he mentioned.

He also confirmed President Ahmadinejad's concerns about the fact that regional countries might burst in uncontrollable anger in case Zionists' atrocities are continued, and further underscored that the world concentration on the Zionist regime's war against Lebanon must not result in heedlessness towards the current conditions in Palestine.

Putin called for increasing contacts and exchanges of views with Iran about the settlement of the Middle-East crisis, saying that both countries are endeavoring for an exalted common goal which is preventing any further massacre of the innocent people.

He also reiterated that both Iran and Russia must make their utmost efforts to reach this end.

To conclude their phone talk which took place at the initiative of the Iranian President, the two senior officials stressed the need for continued contacts and intensive view exchanges for exploring ways of resolving the issue and establishing a truce.
www.farsnews.com
©2006 Fars News Agency. All Rights Reserved

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8505210205

http://english.farsnews.com/NewsV.php?news=all

Quake Hits Northwestern Iran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale jolted the city of Kashksara in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan Saturday morning. ( 19:11:44 - 2006/08/12)

MP:
Iran Will Never Submit to Force
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Member of the Parliament's majority fraction, noting the UN Security Council resolution 1696 on Iran's nuclear case, stressed that Tehran may never give in to force or threats. ( 19:01:45 - 2006/08/12)

Former US Defense Secretary Official Calls Iran Major Regional Actor
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Advisor to the former US Secretary of Defense, Alexander Clinton, termed Iran a crucially important Middle-East actor whose role would still be promoted much beyond the present level. ( 18:30:29 - 2006/08/12)

Javad Moghimi
Sand Statutes Festival
Second National Sand Statutes Festival was held on the northern Iranian Babolsar beach of Caspian Sea with participation of artists from different parts of the country. ( 17:56:11 - 2006/08/12)

Javad Moghimi
Iranian Motorcycle Riders Condemn Zionists
Iranian motorcycle-riders gathered here in Tehran to condemn the Zionist crimes in Lebanon and support the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Forces ( 17:35:58 - 2006/08/12)

Hossein Fatemi
Etekaf Spiritual Ceremonies
Iranian Muslims stay three days in mosques and devote themselves to worship and prayers in form of a spiritual ceremony called "Etekaf". ( 17:32:24 - 2006/08/12)

Javad Moghimi
Iranian Students Support Lebanese Hezbollah
Members of 10 major student groups in Iranian universities gather in front of Tehran University to express their support for the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance against Zionist crimes. ( 17:24:25 - 2006/08/12)

Protestors Call on Gov't to Withdraw from NPT
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A large group of students who had congregated in front of the United Nations' Tehran office here on Saturday demanded Ahmadinejad's administration to immediately withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in accordance with article 10 of the treaty. ( 16:57:08 - 2006/08/12)

Bird Flu Warning
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian academic center raised the warning status for regional bird flu contamination in northern Iran. ( 16:31:12 - 2006/08/12)

Quake Jolts Western Iran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale hit the city of Malayer in the western province of Hamedan Saturday morning. ( 16:12:49 - 2006/08/12)

Defense Minister Lauds Lebanese Popular Resistance
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Defense Minister said here on Saturday that in their war on Lebanon, the US and Israel have failed to achieve their strategic goals due to the Lebanese resistance and regional nations' vigilance. ( 16:08:53 - 2006/08/12)

MP Terms Nuclear Suspension Demolition of Iran's Nuclear Technology
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian MP informed of Iran's full preparedness to attend nuclear talks with the west, but meantime stressed that Tehran may not accept to suspend its enrichment activities, because such a move could end in a demolition of its nuclear technology. ( 12:45:26 - 2006/08/12)

Iranian, Russian Presidents Concerned about Human Tragedy in ME
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian and Russian Presidents in a phone conversation on Friday discussed the latest Middle-East developments and Israel's continued invasion of Lebanon and exchanged views about the possible ways of ending the current war. ( 12:03:57 - 2006/08/12)

Iraqi Oil Minister Arrives in Tehran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, heading a 6-member delegation, arrived here on Friday afternoon. ( 10:26:37 - 2006/08/12)

http://english.farsnews.com/NewsV.php?news=all&i=2

Friday Prayers Leader:
US, Israeli Plots for Lebanon Defused
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran's interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani stressed here today that Hezbollah has defused all the plots the United States and Israel hatched for Lebanon. ( 18:21:02 - 2006/08/11)

Malaysia, EU Selected for Partnership in Iran-Made Cell Phone Production
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian telecommunications official said here on Friday that Malaysian and European companies have been chosen to be Iran's partners in the production of home-made cellular phones. ( 17:17:04 - 2006/08/11)

Mirdamadi Elected as Secretary-General of Mosharekat Party
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Mohsen Mirdamadi won a landslide victory and became Secretary-General of reformist Mosharekat (Participation) party Thursday night. ( 17:02:22 - 2006/08/11)

IAEA Inspectors Due in Tehran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Two Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are due to arrive in Tehran Friday night. ( 16:49:31 - 2006/08/11)

MP Praises Journalists for Informing Public Opinions of Zionists' Crimes
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian member of the parliament said here on Friday that the public hatred for the world Zionism is a result of proper dissemination of information by the journalists. ( 16:47:00 - 2006/08/11)

Conditions Provided for Use of Nuclear Technology in Power Facilities
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Power Minister said his ministry has planned to generate 1000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear technology this year. ( 16:18:39 - 2006/08/11)

Masoud Yarazavi
Darzin Terrorist Hanged in Iran
One of the terrorists involved in the massacre of Iranian passengers in Darzin near the country's southern city of Kerman, was hanged where the attack took place. ( 14:05:54 - 2006/08/11)

Satyar Imami
Iranians Meet their Leader
Iranian Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed the Lebanese crisis in his meeting with Iranians from different social classes. ( 14:03:15 - 2006/08/11)

Mehdi Mehrizad
Iranian children support Lebanon
Children and teenagers demonstrate in the Iranian city of Qom to express their support for Lebanese people. ( 13:58:31 - 2006/08/11)

Ali Agharabei
Assefi holds his weekly briefing session
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hamidreza Assefi holds his weekly briefing session to answer questions and clarify country's position about different issues. ( 13:55:10 - 2006/08/11)

Hassan Ghaesi
Larijani holds News Conference
Secretary of Iranian High National Security Council, Ali Larijani held a news conference to answer question about his country's nuclear programs. ( 13:53:16 - 2006/08/11)

Iran Condemns Blast in Najaf
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Reza Asefi here on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist bomb blast in the Iraqi city of Najaf. ( 17:45:44 - 2006/08/10)

Parliament Speaker to Leave for Damascus
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel is to leave Tehran on Saturday for Damascus to attend the extraordinary meeting of the Parliament Speakers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). ( 17:09:12 - 2006/08/10)

FM Criticizes US for Violation of NPT, Int'l Criteria
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki lashed out at the US for violating NPT rules and other international criteria, saying that the US seeks to deprive Iran of its inalienable nuclear rights. ( 16:58:30 - 2006/08/10)

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8505180444

News numbre: 8505180444

17:03 | 2006-08-09
ECONOMICAL
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Cuba Stresses Development of Industrial Cooperation with Iran

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Cuban Minister of Basic Industries Garcia Jadira, in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Havana Ahmad Edrisian, voiced her country's preparedness for the promotion of mutual cooperation.

A report released by the Information and Press Bureau of the Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting, the two officials reviewed the latest status of the two countries' technical and industrial cooperation and reached an agreement on the development of the existing level of cooperation.

The Iranian Ambassador and the Cuban Minister also reviewed the two countries' previous cooperation in power, oil and cement industries.

Voicing her country's preparedness for the promotion and expansion of mutual cooperation, the Cuban minister pointed to a recent visit to Iran by a number of her country's industrial managers and praised Iran's scientific and industrial progressions.

Mrs. Jadira pointed out to the two sides' abundant cooperation grounds and said that these areas have remained unheeded.

She also said Cuba seeks to develop cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all the different grounds.

Also during the meeting, the two sides agreed to prepare some joint industrial plans in those areas already identified as proper grounds of cooperation. They also vowed to receive the approval for the said plans from the two countries' officials as soon as the plans are prepared.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Cuba+seeks+to+develop+cooperation+with+the+Islamic+Republic+of+Iran+&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US

Bio and Qutar:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Cuba%2C+Iran+to+Expand+Cooperation+in+Biotechnology&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US

http://www.google.com/search?q=CUBA%2FIRAN%3A+%24%24%2C+TERRORISM&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US

Cuba signed deal with Iran to explore for oil:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Cuba+seeks+to+develop+cooperation+with+the+Islamic+Republic&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?q=ran+and+Cuba+have+signed+an+agreement&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US

http://www.google.com/search?q=Cuba%2C+Iran+to+Expand+Cooperation+in+Biotechnology&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US

Sveta is very appreciative of you giving these lost souls a little publicity.

Here is something from the Russian version of 'My Space', narod.ru. It was written by a young lady who also mourns the loss of a friend at 'Nord-Ost':

Olga Romanova

'Olya' was the first victim of the terrorists at 'Nord-Ost'. She was a classmate of mine, and I felt very bad for her and her family.

October 23rd... I'm sitting at home... my friend calls me up and says that they had taken 'Nord-Ost' hostage... this is only 300 meters from my house on Proletarka...

The 24th... daytime... they show a Jordanian doctor and our Roshal dragging away a girl who was killed earlier. The terrorists gave her body up that morning. Her face wasn't visible, just her pants and black jacket. Her head fell back... later they showed how the body was carried on a gurney to an ambulance. Covered under a blanket, the body seemed large.

I start to cry, I understand that it's all really serious. All day and night I'm worried. The TV never shuts up, I just keep changing channels. On the internet they publish the first lists of those who are there. I search for names I might know. Uff, no one I know... The whole time I think about the murdered girl, who is unidentified. She didn't have any documents with her. The first victim. It's frightening.

A terrible night passes. Then it's the 25th. Morning. Something in my soul alarms me. It's horrible, almost to the point of panic.

Daytime of the 25th, and the TV talks about the unidentified girl who was murdered the day before. ROMANOVA OLGA NIKOLAEVNA, born in 1976. My hands start to tremble and there's only one thought running through my brain - PLEASE GOD DON'T LET IT BE OUR 'DAISY'. I tear myself from the TV, my arms and legs tremble, and my teeth chatter. I start to cry, I can't believe, I still hope THAT IT ISN'T HER. I call up Natashka, she's not there, she's at work, I talk with her brother and he calls her himself in order to find out if it's our Olga. I can't find Natashka, so I call Olga at home. My fingers won't work right, I can't call, but what if it's her and I can't talk?

I turn on the computer... Yandex... the news...

How much I would have paid then in order NOT TO READ THAT... She worked in a perfume store, lived on Dubrovka. ALL. STOP. END. PERIOD.

IT'S HER.

Still hoping... I start to call others.... Well, anyone, tell me that it's all a lie. Anyone.

I've known her since 1984, when I first started school, we were in the same classroom. Romanova, I called her 'romashka' (Daisy), Olga, Olka, Lolka... it's so painful now to say these words. Kind, eccentric, candid, simple, and always merry. ... You little fool, why did you go there???

She was sitting at work, that evening, and said to the girls she worked with, almost like a joke: "I'll go there, they'll kill me there."

Who could have stopped her? Who could have believed her? Who could have forseen it?

She went home, late... She sat up with her mother, then suddenly she started getting dressed: "I'm going there, Mom. They're people, they have kids, they'll understand. They'll let the women and children go." Her mother yelled at her, begged her, and cried. She couldn't hold her...

All that happened next is just conjecture. Even the hostages can't agree on just what happened.

We only know that no one noticed her, or knew how she got through the cordon at 4 in the morning. We know that they broke her fingers, and that she had powder burns on her arms because she covered her chest when they started shooting at her. They hit her on the head, and broke her arms, and dragged her from the hall.

I know how her mother cried. I couldn't tear myself away from Olga, either. I kissed her forehead for the last time at the cemetary. It was painful... I tossed clumps of earth on her coffin and heard how they thudded, how they crumbled.

I know how we all cried while the rain fell when they carried her from the cathedral to the grave... And I know about a heap of naked, gutted terrorists laying on the floor in the Baumansk morgue.

And I also know that I'll never forget her... We weren't best friends, but I'll never forget her voice... her smile... her eyes... They shined... She was always smiling... She was always glowing... everything... Such a lively girl, a bit eccentric, perhaps... But a tender, loving daughter. As much as I remember her her, the whole time I thought about her parents and brother. She wanted them to live well and be healthy...

She WAS... How horrible it is to say WAS... A somewhat hopeless, quickly-ending WORD...

WAS....

On the night before her death she had a dream in which she was combing her hair, throwing her head back. Her hair was long and heavy. Her mother told her then that "the dream is of a long road." Who would have known that this road would be her last... A few earlier she had dreamed of tables in a big hall, covered with white tableclothes. The tables were arranged like the Russian letter

. She sat at a table and it was as if it were some kind of holiday, or a party, the tables were set and covered with foods.

I saw these tables... the same ones she dreamed about. I saw them in the club of the 'Red October' factory were she used to work. The tables stood in a big hall and covered with white tableclothes, and there were drinks and food...... and memorial garlands. This was on October 30th, 2002. The day of her funeral.

The next day was already the 9th day since her death, the day when the soul finally departs the earth. That morning I laid the baby on the balcony to sleep. The windows of the enclosed balcony were shut tight... I started to adjust the matrass in the baby buggy, when suddenly up from underneath flew a little bird, and it started to beat itself against me and the glass. It was small and black... I opened the window and in an instant it flew out and settled in a tree opposite the window. A second latter I looked at the spot where it had perched, and it had disappeared.

At first I didn't know what to do... But later I broke down and cried... I don't know, perhaps I think too much, but at that moment I took it to be a sign. From Olya. On that day friends were at the cemetary with Olya's parents. A little titmouse caught their attention. The bird kept flying about the people's legs, taking crumbs from the food they'd left on Olya's grave, and looking into the eyes of Olya's parents... Later, when everyone started to leave, it flitted away.

That day other friends went to see Olya. And once again the same little bird flew up to meet them. It persistently tried to attract their attention.... It fluttered about their legs, then landed on a girl's shoulder....

Merely a bird, but one wishes to believe that Olga's soul was bidding us farewell.

She'll be in paradise, like all innocents who are murdered... But what are we to do... here? How can we not become bitter, or frightened? I'm scared for my son... for my parents and friends... How can one learn NOT to hate those who did this? A former hostage who was talking with journalists from Finland said that she saw how the Chechen women-terrorists were crying. They also didn't want to die, but they made their choice. As did Olga. And we should just excuse Olga for leaving us. She left her elderly, handicapped parents, and her brother, also handicapped since childhood. She left friends and loved ones, people who loved her. She went there, not thinking about WHAT she was leaving behind. She went there in order to rescue children, believing that she could carry out perhaps one child.

I only know that I'll never be able to forget her, and that I bow down before her outburst of the heart, her deed. I don't care what our leaders think, or the opinion of those who could care less upon whom they toss their dirt....

Rest in peace, dear. Let the earth be as soft as down.

Natalya Shcherina

Here's another 'bystander', who decided to try and free some of the 'Nord-Ost' hostages on his own. He went inside, pretending to be a distraught father searching for a missing son. None of the hostages was quick or clever enough to grasp what he was trying to do, so Mr. Vlakh's death, like Olga Romanova's, was in vain.

Condensed from Kommersant.ru and Memo.ru.

Gennady Vlakh

"Gena and I met outside our apartment building in 1984," Galina Vlakh told me. "And we got married. A year later Roman was born. He was named by his father. Three years later, however, we separated. Like they say, our personalities couldn't get along."

Right after the divorce, crane-operator Vlakh moved to Armenia, in order to assist with the reconstruction of the cities of Spitak and Leninakan after the earthquake there. He worked there 3 years, and in 1991 he was presented with a watch and an automobile by the city of Moscow for his efforts. Yuriy Luzhkov, back then just a representative of the city mayor, personally gave Vlakh the certificate for the Zhiguli. Gennady, however, refused the car. According to his wife, Gennady felt that his co-workers in digging out the collapsed Armenian cities should also receive such awards. Gennady's friends did not receive cars - just certificates of appreciation.

Vlakh regularly sent the money he earned in Armenia to his son. He even sent money for their apartment, but as for himself he lived with friends. He did not drink, or smoke, and he worked out. His health was remarkable.

Gennady Vlakh with his wife Galina and son Roman, 14 years before 'Nord-Ost'

On October 24th, according to Galina Vlakh, Gennady called her during the latter part of the day, and ask for his son. Galina told him that Roman was outside with friends.

The last person who spoke with Gennady was his friend, Aleksei Landyshev:

"He called at about 10 at night, and we talked about my remodelling of my apartment. I didn't notice anything special in his tone. Later I thought, that it was because of the television. All the stations were showing Dubrovka non-stop. So he must've decided that he had to save someone. What else could it be?"

According to witnesses, at 11:22 PM on October 25th, 2002, Gennady Vlakh showed up in the theater. Within 50 minutes the terrorists had shot him. Gennady Vlakh was one of the two people killed by the terrorists. The second was 26-year-old Olga Romanova, a consultant in the perfume department at L'Etual fashion store. The girl came to talk the terrorists into releasing some hostages. She lived next to the theatrical center and since childhood knew all the back alleys and shortcuts. It is possible that she helped Vlakh find his way through the police cordon as well.

Galina Vlakh searched for her husband for about a month, combing through hospitals and morgues. Later she gave up looking: "He just left and didn't say where he was going."

They called Roman Vlakh at home. The caller identified himself as a detective and invited Roman to come in for questioning to 'the Dubrovka Commission'. Roman told his mother about the call, and 3 days later, after they had received official summons, they made their way to Balakirev Alley, where the commission was meeting. The Vlakhs arried at 10 AM, and left for the last time 9 hours later. At first they answered all the investigator's questions: who they were, what kind of a surname they had, was there any other supporting documentation that they were really named Vlakh.

When Roman left to get a drink of water, the investigator quietly asked Galina how she felt about viewing pictures of corpses. "Not too bad," she replied. "They're shown on TV every day."

When Roman returned, the investigator laid before Roman and Galina 2 color photos, frontal and side views, and Galina recognized her former husband, while 17-year-old Roman - his father.

When they had gathered their wits again, they asked the investigator where the body was.

"There is no body," he answered. "Cremated. But how and where to get ahold of the ashes, give us 3 days."

The investigator gave Roman a legal document that named him as a victim, and sent the Vlakhs to Old Arbat, to the Center for Social Defense, in order to collect money for the funeral. Once there, Roman was asked to present a death certificate, and so the Vlakhs were compelled to return to Balakirev Alley. "Go sign in at the Housing Office, and get a copy from their records," advised the detectives, handing them a medical certificate that read that the cause of death of "Citizen Vlakh was shock, hemorrhage, contusions, fractures, and a multitude of bullet wounds." The certificate was dated October 26th, 2002.

After getting a document from the housing office, the Vlakhs went to the Registration Office for the Khoroshevski region. There instead of a death certificate, they were given a voucher for compensation of funeral expenses, but after filling out the form, they were refused money for a pending funeral: "Funds can only be disbursed after the funeral ritual, but you've buried no one, you don't even have a coffin!" Back at the Social Defense center, they were also refused compensation, so the Vlakhs once again returned to the Dubrovka Commission. "Go to the cemetary," they were told. "Find out what kind of funeral papers they need. We'll help you."

The Vlakhs went to the Khikinski cemetary, where they asked for a certificate of cremation, but in order to get this, they had to go back to the commission yet again. In Galina Vlakh's words, they made so many trips there that "we can find Balakirev Alley from the other side of Moscow with our eyes closed."

For the murder of Gennady Vlakh by terrorists, compensation in the amount for 100 thousand rubles ($4000) was at last paid to Roman. Now he is trying to obtain compensation for the loss of a breadwinner.

On June 30th, more than 8 months after Gennady Vlakh's death, the director of the Khimkinski cemetary finally allowed an urn containing Vlakh's ashes to be interred within the grave of Vlakh's mother.

The funeral service was held in the cathedral of Father Sergey Radonezhki, in Bivirev. Father Sergey blessed a handful of soil, and said: "Strew this on the grave." Vlakh's relatives left with this, in order to meet the next day in section 39 of the Kimkinski cemetary, where Vlakh's mother was buried.

On Monday, when Gennady's relatives gathered together, his photographs were already in frames on a grave marker. His mother-in-law, Galina Petrovna, showed some family pictures: "Here he is just born, here he is on the first day of school, his wedding picures, with his son, with friends..."

When it was explained that Vlakh's relatives were not even burying an urn, but a brown ceramic vase, purchased for 350 rubles ($14), our reporter was interested in finding out what was inside.

"They never gave us the ashes. They wouldn't even say where he was," Galina quietly said. "We couldn't bury it empty, so Mom and I decided to put his soccer shirt in there. He loved to play ball. Also a tea bag, and two candies - truffle and chocolate. We decided not to put any cigarettes in, however. He loved candy with his tea, but he wanted to quit smoking."

The grave digger arrives with his shovel. He enters the flower box and starts do dig. When the shovel hits something solid, the digger gets excited: "What's that, a tomb?" A neighbor friend of Vlakh calms the worker: "There used to be a path here, a paving stone is still there."

The little grave for the urn was dug to shovel-blade depth, and the urn was wrapped in scotch tape and laid on the bottom of the hole. Everyone in turn placed a bit of holy soil upon it, and the grave digger, after packing the urn under clay and specially purchased potting soil, stepped aside.

In time the farewell ended. Torn up carnations were placed in a jar of water and left on the grave, and artificial flowers were poked into the ground. "We'll plant some real flowers, come Autumn," said the mother-in-law.

At that moment, from the other end of the cemetery ,were heard the three rifle volleys. "This is for some soliders being buried in section 78," explained the grave digger. "They were killed in the Caucasus."

Prelude to War
BY JOHN BATCHELOR
August 9, 2006

Why is America waiting to be attacked by Iran? Why do we sit on the sidelines while Tehran makes war on our ally Israel in order to provoke America to join the fighting, first against Syria and then against Tehran itself? Why do we listen to the European appeasers as they pretend the Lebanon front is a regional conflict, a national liberation contest, when it is demonstrably the prelude to the wider war — the Spain 1936 to the continental war of 1939? What is the explanation for America's willful fiction that the United Nations Security Council can engineer an accommodation in Lebanon, when it is vivid to every member state that this is a replay of September 1938, when Europe fed Hitler the Sudetenland as the U.N. now wants to feed the jihadists the sovereignty of Israel?

The most threatening answer is that America waits to be bloodied because it has lost its will to defend itself after five years of chasing rogue-state-sponsored gangsters and after three years of occupation in failed-state Iraq against Tehran- and Damascus-backed agents. A grave possibility is that America is now drained, bowed, ready to surrender to the tyrants of Tehran.

Then again, perhaps America has been here before, and it is part of America's destiny as the New Jerusalem that we rarely start wars but that we are unusually good at finishing them.

There is a strange parallel right now to the first days of December 1941, before the Japanese sneak attack. America was still not in the war in Asia and Europe, but it was busy getting ready for a momentous calamity and was filled with the presentiment of doom.

My treasured evidence that America knew what was coming is Life Magazine, Volume 11, No. 23, dated December 8, 1941, which means it was printed and distributed a week before Pearl Harbor.

The astonishing 13-page cover photo essay by Clare Boothe on Commander of the Far East General Douglas MacArthur is complete with maps showing America's strategic challenges at Manila, including the daunting air and sea mileage from San Francisco to Manila and from "Tokio" to Manila. "Will the Island of Luzon then become the great theater of war, and General MacArthur the outstanding khaki-clad figure in it?" asks Boothe. "Or will peace descend upon the Pacific while the U.S. plunges into the war across the Atlantic?"

Remember, this is before Pearl Harbor. The Atlantic theaters are much on display as well: not only a photo essay about a four-year-old London blitz refugee in New Jersey, but also two essays with photos and maps of the North African front in Libya and another photo essay of the U-boat sinking of a U.S. merchantman off Sierra Leone.

The China front is featured in a photo essay about the Chevrolet trucks maneuvering the 1400-mile Burma Road to keep Free China in the fight against the Japanese. And there are many photos of Japanese war industry, including a shot of 860-lb bombs lined up "for shipment south to the war zones" — which means America may have glimpsed the very bombs to be dropped on its fleet.

For confirmation that America was ready for action on two fronts, there is a photo essay about traffic jams to and from the Martin bomber plant in Baltimore; another photo essay about the "Navy Air Force" on board the (destined for glory) Pacific carrier Enterprise, and a report with photo on WMD, the Japanese using poison gas in China.

Even 1941 Hollywood knew what was coming, for this Life includes a rave review with production shots of Errol Flynn as Custer in "They Died with Their Boots On," as well as snapshots of Sgt. Sidney Avery of the 162nd Signal Photo Company who, with Life's help, was entertained on the West Coast by Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Ann Rutherford, Linda Darnell, and Lana Turner at the Palladium Ballroom.

What this all means to me today is that America was expectant of the crisis that fell on December 7, 1941; and yet America remained reluctant to say out loud that war was unavoidable, inevitable, already under way — the nation holding back as if the obvious war plans in Berlin and Tokyo were going to vanish like a lightning storm. When the Japanese fleet did maul our Pacific fleet, the Roosevelt administration was rattled and the public was grim. It will be the same for us when this premonitory waiting lifts and the main action begins, both frightful and logical. The Lebanese Front, the Iraqi Front, the Afghan and Kashmir Fronts, or the Haifa blitz will no more solve themselves than did the China-Burma Front, the North African Front, the Atlantic Front, the London blitz of 65 years ago. Who will publish the last magazine before the day of infamy comes again?

Mr. Batchelor is host of "The John Batchelor Show" on the ABC radio network.The show airs in New York on 770 AM from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=37560

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