We got Zarqawi and now the Russians got Shamil Basayev.
Who is Shamil Basayev? For those of you who might not know, he was one of the world's worst and evil men, a Chechen warlord terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of innocent victims. Let's just look at the short list of his resume.
June 14, 1995 – Budyonnovsk Hospital Attack – 100 Killed
Oct. 23, 2002 – Moscow Theatre Takeover – 129 Killed
Sept. 1, 2004 – Beslan School Takeover – 331 Killed
Oct. 13, 2005 – Nalchik Police Attacks – 139 Killed
This is the Bastard who masterminded the Beslan school attack and takeover with the full intention of killing every child at the school (over 1000). Just for starters they began by killing every boy over the age of 10 who could have conceivably posed a threat to the terrorists. For a chilling account of this terrible tragedy you must read, “Terror at Beslan” by John Giduck. If it had not been for the self-sacrifice and almost super human courage and efforts of the Russian Special operations units, many of whom were killed, hundreds more children would have been murdered. This man, Basayev, was a bloodthirsty, cruel and savage terrorist. The most wanted man in Russia. Shamil Basayev was the man who plotted every terrorist attack with the intent to inflict the most misery, pain, and suffering on the Russian people. That is why his terrorist plots were always designed to kill the most innocent – the women and children.
Three cheers to Russia, their intelligence operations, and to the Russian SPETSNAZ units who finally put this evil bastard in the ground.
Basayev was killed when a truck in his convoy, laden with dynamite, “accidentally exploded,” blowing him to smithereens.
It was rumored that he had intentions to attack the upcoming G8 summit.
By the way, did I mention that just like Zarqawi, someone in his personal entourage tipped the Russians to his whereabouts? I guess a $10 million dollar bounty can sway even the most loyal Jihadist.
The Chechen (Islamic) separatist movement basically started as a fight for independence from Russia but has, over the last 10 years, become increasingly dominated by Islamic extremists and is now definitely linked to and backed by, Al-Qaeda.
Chechen Jihadists are some of the hardest and most determined foreign fighters that our troops now face in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Their presence there, and their ferocity and experience in war fighting, has caused some grievous losses of American lives in both theatres.
It is evident to me and it should be now evident to all of us, that there is indeed a global war with terror. Notice that I did not say “global war on terror” as so often is used by George Bush.
I believe that this is, part of his inability to articulate to the average citizen what we (the world) now face. It is not, the global war on terror, thereby implying that we are fighting terrorism wherever it is found. It is important to understand and realize the distinction that it is a global war, (all nations) with terror. They are attacking us. The Islamic extremists are attacking the west, Christianity, Democracy, and Freedom wherever it exists.
The extreme arms of Islamic fundamentalism are bound by their belief to assail our way of life wherever we exist. Russian, Canadian, English, American or now, Indian, it does not matter. The fundamentalists do not want a democracy to succeed – anywhere. They do not want a modernization of any society – anywhere. Democracies, Freedoms, and modernizations i.e. secular education of the masses, are the greatest threats to their movement and they will not succeed where those things are present.
Therefore it is important for everyone, Liberals and Conservatives alike, to know that in order to understand the crisis that we now face, you must know the enemies intentions. Now, granted it is a far more complex issue that I can elucidate in just this article, but you can, at least, become aware of two obvious factors.
#1 Islamic fundamentalist extremists do not care if you are an American ally or an American enemy. If you are not Muslim, you are the enemy. At some point they will be knocking on your door or planting bombs in your garden.
#2 The Greater Muslim community is silent about the actions of these extremists. I don't care what any of the so-called religious leaders of the Muslim groups have publicly stated. That's total P.R. The average Muslim, the vast majority of Muslims, sympathizes with these terrorists. That is a fact. Just take a look at the polls taken in England recently in the Muslim communities. Most want to live under Sharia law and a majority thought that the London bombings were justified. If you don't believe me, just Google it. There is much more. In contrast, if a bunch of Catholic priests beheaded somebody, the entire Christian world would hunt them down to bring them to justice. There is a big, big difference between them and us. This is only one example.
It is fundamentally important to come to grips with the idea that the fundamentalist extremists do not want a truce, they don't want mutual acceptance, they don't want to peacefully coexist. They want to remove our way of life from this earth. Until they succeed or, they are destroyed – by us and by brothers of their own fellow faith – they will not relent.
If you do not, if we do not, understand this, we will not win this war. This war – the global war with terror – has only just begun and our intentions, our decisions and our actions will determine what world our children, grand children and great grand children will inherit from us.
Ernest R. Emerson
