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Beslan
,
Russia
& Islam
By:
Vernon
Richards
Extracted from his book ‘Islam Undressed‘,
available free upon request.
Aside from
India
and
Israel
, probably no modern industrialized nation has suffered to the degree that
Russians have at the hands of Islamic terrorists. Having held the “Great
Satan” title long before it was transferred to the
USA
, Muslim militants have taken particular glee in tormenting Russians.
Muslim sites have posted movies depicting the beheading of Russian
soldiers long before such acts became a spectacle to Westerns. What could
collectively be described as
Russia
’s Sept 11th occurred late Aug, 2004, when homicide bombers brought down
two commercial airliners, then a suicide bombing targeting commuters in
Moscow
, followed a few days later by a bloody hostage incident at a school
killing hundreds of women and children. On Sept 3rd, 2004, the spectacle
of children being mowed down by automatic fire forced commandos to storm
School No. 1 in the southern Russian town of
Beslan
, bringing the nation's worst hostage crisis to a shattering end of
gunfire, explosions, …and death. Ten Russian commandos also died trying
to prevent the slaughtering frenzy as crying children tried to flee
through the explosions and gunfire, some naked and covered in blood.
Though the dead Islamic terrorists will be worshiped with other
suicide/homicide extremists in large parts of the Muslim world, I suspect
that it is only those Russian commandos, with the parents and teachers who
also died trying to save the children, which will be accepted into heaven
for their bravery and good deeds. Worldly praise and worship by peers
notwithstanding, the reward waiting for the Muslim cowards for their
behavior was not 72 virgins, boys like pearls, mansions, riches, and
unbounded food and gluttony. If it takes an eternity, the unbending
demands of Justice will be fully satisfied for the horrible Men and Women,
and all others remotely culpable for acts against the innocent, divinely
created, and loved children of Beslan.
Sept 1st
2004, a gang of men and women stormed into the secondary school in Beslan
in
North Ossetia
province during a ceremony to mark the first day of the new school year.
According to The New York Times, when the terrorists took over the Russian
elementary school, they shouted "Allahu akbar" (Allah is Great).
The terrorists had previously stockpiled weapons and explosives at the
school in the well-planned operation. Regional Interior Minister Kazbek
Dzantiyev making contact reported at that time "They had said that
for every fighter wiped out they will kill 50 children and for every
fighter wounded -- 20". After the mayhem a cameraman for the British
network ITN reported seeing around 100 bodies in the gymnasium where about
1,200 hostages were held, mostly women and children.
Russia
's Interfax news agency reported the assault was triggered following
several explosions when either several hostage takers attempted escape, or
panicked hostages made a break for freedom, possibly driven by extreme
thirst. It began after militants had agreed to let
Russia
retrieve the bodies of people killed early in the raid. Explosions went
off as the emergency personnel went to get the bodies, and hostages may
have taken the noise as a signal to flee. Militants then opened fire on
fleeing hostages and security forces were compelled to returned fire. The
Interfax new agency reported some terrorists split into three groups to
blend in with the fleeing hostages and took refuge in a nearby home. Once
the hostage-takers sought to flee, commandos moved in. Huge columns of
smoke billowed from the school, where windows were shattered, part of roof
gone and another part charred. The scene around the school was chaotic,
with people running through the streets, the wounded carried off on
stretchers. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances speeding by, the
windows streaked with blood. Four armed men in civilian clothes ran by,
shouting, "A militant ran this way." Soldiers and men in
civilian clothes carried children, some naked or clad only in underpants,
some covered in blood, to a temporary hospital set up behind an armored
personnel carrier. The children drank eagerly from bottles of water given
to them once they reached safety. One unidentified woman freed Thursday
told Izvestia that during the night children occasionally began to cry,
adding: "then the fighters would fire in the air to restore
quiet". Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov said 326 hostages were
killed and 727 wounded in the attack, with some still unaccounted for.
Soon after Beslan, a message attributed to Chechen rebel leader Shamil
Basayev was posted on his Kavkaz-Center Web site. In it he proposed to
exchange Chechnyan independence for security, threatening more attacks.
"…we are not bound by any circumstances or by anybody, and will
fight by our rules, as is comfortable and beneficial for us," he
wrote. He also put the ultimate blame for the school siege on Putin, and
appealed to the world to recognize the righteousness of the Chechen cause.
Negotiators said the
hostage-takers had repeatedly refused offers of food and water throughout
the standoff. "They are very cruel people, we are facing a ruthless
enemy," said Leonid Roshal, a pediatrician involved in the
negotiations. Correspondents say many of those released were desperate for
water when they came out, and some were barely able to stand. Many of the
children were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the
gymnasium where they had been held since the militants took the building
on Wednesday.
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