04.19.2013 07:26 AM

The Beslan massacre, and the Chechen terrorists

On the day in 2004 that it happened, I was in Kennebunk, getting some stuff at Meserve’s. We all watched it on the TV they had there.  One of the older guys there said: “When you murder children, you aren’t human anymore.”  I still remember that.

Masterful account of the Beslan murders, here, H/T to Cathal Kelly, a fine writer himself.

When you seek out children to kill them, you indeed cease to be human, and deserve to be dealt with accordingly.

 

 

27 Comments

  1. Austin So says:

    The Boston Marathon terrorists were children when they left Chechen and immigrated to the US.

    Are JTs comments so out of whack now?

  2. dave says:

    The slaying of the kids and teachers in Connecticutt is more like Beslan. I realize a little boy was murdered by the bomb blasts in Boston, but if the bombers had wanted to target kids, as in Beslan and Newtown, they would have chosen a different target than the Boston Marathon finish line.
    The only connection I see here with Beslan is that the suspects came from Chechnya to USA when they were 16 and 9 years old.
    Myself, that the suspects came from Chechnya a decade ago when they were kids, still doesn’t do much to clarify for me any motives.

  3. J.W. says:

    That sure was a dumb comment by Trudeau talking about “root causes”.

  4. Alain Boucher says:

    Bottom line is this is a very troubled part of the world – good thing no major international sporting event is scheduled to take place there any time soon.

  5. Matt says:

    Another piece certainly worth the read: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-russia-dagestan-idUSBRE87U09R20120831 There are a ton of layers to this onion with the only commonality being their tragic results.

  6. Roger says:

    Justice would have to be meted out on the spot by first responders, which of course, creates a martyr. Accordingly, there is no solution that fully addresses the situation. Again this appears to be an example of mental infirmity. One of the terrs was a medical student, for gawd’s sake!

  7. dave says:

    Waidaminute, waidaminute,…I realize all the info we have been presented with on the media from the authorities says these two are not just suspects, they are guilty.
    Just suppose they are not.
    As kids, they were taken from their homeland in Dagestan to Khazakstan, then, a decade ago, to the states. They lived in the states the past decade, in the school system, knowing darn well attitudes in Nrth America toward Muslims everywhere. They see the bombings on tv, over and over, and sense the anger growing. Then they see their photos broadcast by the authorities. They had to know how the LA police dealt with the rebellious cop over there. they had to know about similar incidents. They see the cops telling everyone that these suspects are armed and dangerous, so they must suspect what will happen when they are taken down. They are young guys likely feeling more and more alienated in their city. What are they likely to do?

  8. wsam says:

    Doesn’t justfiy setting off bombs.

  9. wsam says:

    Nothing justifies setting bombs off on busy streets – even if nobody is murdered. The fact a little boy was murdered only highlights the action’s essential, immoral dishonesty.

    It excuses nothing, but Chechnya possesses one of the world’s most violent, miserable, simply plain awful histories. It’s also confusing.

    Tolstoy, one of the greats of world literature, fought the Chechens. In a fit of pan-Slavic nationalism, the young Tolstoy joined the Tsarist Imperial Army. Serving in the Caucus as an artillery officer, the eventual writer of ‘War and Peace’ fought the Muslim tribes living there. They were daring to resist the Tsar’s rule. This was in the 1840s. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Soviets, doubting Chechen loyalty, exiled the majority of the population to Central Asia. Preferring Chechnya, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, most made their way back. They still didn’t want to be Russian. Fighters from all over the Muslim world flocked to Chechnya’s mountains in order to help ‘liberate’ it. Many claimed to be mujahedeen, Afghani veterans, including many prominent in the Chechen leadership.

    Although Russia under Putin eventually managed to re-conquer Chechnya, the country and the wider region remain ridden with warlords and mafias. It contains some of the world’s worst refugee camps. Chechen terrorism remains a constant. Chechen terrorists appear to be getting more and more radicalized and their actions more horrific. Links with other global Islamic terrorism movements are obvious. Radical Chechens appear to be involved with most Islamic terrorist groups.

    Just to make things more confusing, in the recent war between Georgia and Russia, many of the Russian troops were, in reality, Chechen mercenaries. Many Chechens serve in the Russian army, speak perfect Russian and are culturally Russian. Chechens used to distill wine. In the region, many pro-Russian leaders are Chechen and/ or Muslim. Several years ago, Chechen suicide bombers blew up a Russian army barracks outside Grozny. A hundred people died. The bombers had blond hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones; they looked like Slavs – which, presumably, partly explains how they were able to drive a truck packed with explosives inside the barracks. They had probably stayed there.

  10. wsam says:

    Not that I have any idea what the young murders thought/ think about Chechnya, its history, ect … They do appear to be influenced by Islam.

    Just terrible.

  11. Cynical says:

    I have no wish to blame the victim(s) here, on either side, nor is there any forgiveness or sympathy in my heart for these deranged psychos.
    But…
    For decades Boston was, and maybe still is, a hotbed of financial support for the IRA and their spawn, who terrorized and killed a hell of a lot more people that these kids have.

    Maybe the next time the barkeep jingles the jar for collections in a South Boston pub, some of the patrons might say… Maybe not.

    Just sayin’

  12. Ted Watson says:

    Agreed, this nightmarish scenario is reminiscent of the Warrington bomb attacks, including the death of two young children, innocent women, and while fleeing the scene, the bombers shot and injured a police officer and were then caught after a high-speed car chase.

    I believe that anyone who seeks to legitimize terrorist networks through propaganda, blogs, or social media should suffer criminal penalties.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vML8VELLU-w

  13. JH says:

    Left Checnya as children, doing well in the US, one brother even won a scholarship and intended to go to medical school. Older brother was a fan of a radical cleric who preached jihad.
    ‘Root Cause’ comment so early was dumb. Cannot be defended, simply inexperience or bad advice.
    I have no problem with partisans of any stripe defending their guy under ordinary circumstances. Willfull blindness though is something else. Admit the mistake and move on.

  14. Harry Cactrenus says:

    Team Trudeau on the Chechens:

    “The forest is magical; the mountains tower above us. As the path gets steeper, we pass a few lone riders. One looks like a young Fidel Castro, with a commandante cap and scraggly beard. I begin to get a sense why legions of heavily armed Russians cannot defeat these small bands: no one masters the terrain like they can. They belong to it.”

    “The Chechen story is a romance of an old race. But never have I had so strong a sense of a people who belonged where they were. And while I’ve met fighters, there’s been nothing of the savagery of Beslan in the men and women I have talked to. But they are tough. The only way to defeat the Chechens is to exterminate them, and that is not to be: we humans are lucky to still come in such a fierce old mould.”

    • smelter rat says:

      Go fuck yourself, troll.

      • Harry Cactrenus says:

        Rat:

        Checked out the link you posted to Washington Post: “Any attempts to link Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if indeed they are guilty, are futile. They grew up in the USA, their viewpoints and beliefs were formed there. You must look for the roots of [their] evil in America.”

        In the Alexandre Trudeau quote, we find yet another poetic image of Fidel Castro; one recalls Che Guevara’s statement: “the great enemy of Humanity: the United States of America!”

        In essence, your line is the same as blaming rape victims for the way they dress or where they go – America, the Great Satan, etc., is to blame for everything evil in the world. I realize it never even occurs to you that these men are the source of evil. They planned their attacks, loaded up their crude ordnances, and killed innocents. You Liberals talk about the supremacy of the individual, but when it comes right down it you don’t: you blame America, or the Jews, or Anglos or Conservatives or whomever. Your psychopathology will be the destruction of your party and yourselves. Depend on it.

        • smelter rat says:

          I have no idea what you’re droning on about. I have no “line”, and I don’t belong to a party. Your ability to label everyone you dislike as liberals speaks volumes. As to psychopathology, your comments are classic projection.

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