It has also approved other similar operations, having just passed a law which gives the Russian president the right to use the armed forces and special units to fight terrorism abroad. The approval of this law was expected for a long time. As distinct from other nations, which are not particular in their choice of the means they use to defend their citizens anywhere in the world, the Soviet and later Russian secret services did not resort officially to such methods. But in the Soviet era this problem was not so urgent. Today, the situation has changed dramatically.
All 429 deputies voted unanimously to approve the bill. Vladimir Putin instructed Russian secret services to do everything possible in order to find and destroy the terrorists a week before the Duma endorsed the bill. Having made his initiative public, Putin assumed responsibility for its implementation. Now that the law has been approved, he has all the necessary legal powers for the operation.
Experts cite different reasons for the Russian tragedy in Iraq. Some claim it was a political contract (the struggle between world powers for spheres of influence in the region); others think it was a primitive settling of old scores, while still others believe that a terrorist organization is waging a persistent and uncompromising struggle against Russia.
This is a very important issue. With whom is Russia dealing? Is it a limited group of hired terrorists, who fulfilled their contract? Or is it a terrorist organization? Many Russian experts think that it is the latter, and that its commandos have left a trail of blood in Chechnya. If that is true, Russia will have to continue its Chechen anti-terrorist campaign, but this time outside its national territory.
Hopefully, Russian secret services will track down the hit men and those who hired them (if anyone). The KGB and the GRU are not likely to have lost their skills since the Soviet era. When there is a political will, there is a way.
But there has been one substantial change since the times of the U.S.S.R., and it involves international cooperation.
Needless to say, as the occupying power in Iraq, the U.S. is directly responsible for its failure to protect the diplomats in Baghdad. It is also true that the U.S. committed an obvious blunder, having started its military operation in Iraq without regard for the UN Security Council. As it transpired later on, Iraq is very different from Afghanistan - there was no international approval for the invasion, and, more importantly, no backing from the local population. In Afghanistan, for one, the local people support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition in spite of all their mishaps and mistakes in bombings and other operations.
As it happens, the operation in Iraq was not well planned and has turned out to be quite an ordeal. But how many times should one repeat the obvious? Russia, the U.S. and Europe have become the targets of thoroughly planned terrorist aggression, which rules out any spontaneous action. It is time for them to stop endlessly communicating their mutual grievances. This situation is a good chance to pool efforts in resisting al-Qaeda and its affiliates, such as the Mujahideen Shura Council of Iraq. Or else we may fail to prevent another September 11 or Beslan.
In any event, the Shura Council, which took responsibility for abducting the Russian hostages in Iraq, has nothing to do with Iraqi resistance. It is an Iraqi affiliate of the international al-Qaeda network. Its demand to the Russian authorities regarding Chechnya was patently unacceptable. When a clip showing the execution of the hostages appeared on the Internet, the word "Chechnya" was mentioned again.
In the fall of 1999, the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met Russian generals during an inspection trip to Dagestan. They were about to start an anti-terrorist campaign in the republic. They gathered in the officers' cafeteria for dinner and somebody suggested a toast to the successful start of the campaign. "We'll drink when we finish them off," said Putin abruptly. After a pause, the generals put down their vodka shots.
But this pause has become too protracted. The execution of the Russian diplomats in Iraq is a challenge to Russia. The terrorists are fully confident that we cannot protect ourselves. This is a response to our indignation at the tragedies in Beslan, Dubrovka, Budenovsk, and the Moscow metro. If the find-and-destroy operation succeeds, we can all take a sip from a full glass.
