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THE WAR ON TERROR: THE WEST HAS NEITHER THE RIGHT NOR THE TIME FOR INCONSISTENCY
Moscow, September 2. (RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov.)

It seems that Russia, not America, has become the main target of terrorists. After September 11, 2001 there have been almost no terrorist attacks in the US, whereas there have been countless in Russia. However, there has never been so much grief in one week: the loss of two airliners near Tula and Rostov, a suicide bombing outside a Moscow metro station and the storming of a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, with over 100 children taken hostage.

With such rampant terror, there can no longer be any talk of a FIGHT against terrorism. Russia has embarked on a real WAR against this evil, as Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has openly declared. In this war, Moscow would like to see as sincere and unequivocal support from the West as the West has received from Russia since 9/11.

It must be acknowledged that the evidence of such solidarity has been growing in recent days. The UN Security Council, which was convened at Russia's request, condemned the Beslan hostage taking as an abhorrent terrorist attack and demanded the captives' immediate release. Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and George Bush offered Moscow their sympathy and denounced the recent attacks. In a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, Mr Bush offered any form of assistance to prevent the barbaric acts of terrorists.

Practical action seems to be backing up the words. American investigators recently identified a source financing Chechen gangs in Chicago. As a result, they closed the Benevolence International Foundation, which had already transferred over $300,000 to militants in Chechnya. A search of a Bosnian branch of this very foundation uncovered a simple handwritten order from Osama bin Laden, "It is time to attack Russia".

It seems that the Islambouli Brigades are now carrying out his order. At least, this organisation - many experts believe it to be a Chechen branch of al-Qaeda - has claimed responsibility for blowing up the Russian planes on August 24 and the Moscow bombing on August 31.

All this seems to strengthen the determination of at least the US administration, if not everyone in the West, to take Moscow's statements about a direct connection between Chechen rebels and international terrorism, in general, and al-Qaeda, in particular, more seriously.

As a result, three Chechen gangs, the Islamic International Brigades, the Islamic Task Force Regiment and the Islamic Shahid Battalion Riyad as-Salikhiin, were included on the US State Department's black list of terrorist organisations in February 2003. By the way, the "press secretary" of the school invaders called The New York Times from Beslan and said they were part of a battalion controlled by Chechnya's most dangerous terrorist, Shamil Basayev.

International arrest warrants have been issued for members of the gangs on the US black list, while their financial accounts in American banks have been frozen.

Thank you very much. But the recent tragedies have clearly shown that this is not enough.

The West has to admit clearly and publicly one important thing. Today, the blood of those who died in the plane crashes and the Moscow bombing, the tears of children captured in Beslan show that "classic" international terrorism and Chechen terrorism are one and the same thing, although the latter has for many years been called "popular resistance", "an armed struggle for independence" or "anti-colonial movement" in the Western media.

It is necessary to put an end to this ambiguity in Western minds, which makes the devil of terrorism turn into a rough, but generally nice guy, as soon as he steps from the outside world into Chechnya.

While sympathising with Russia in its hardest days, the US still believes it possible to grant a residence permit to the foreign minister of Aslan Maskhadov's government. "You know, he is such a quiet, decent guy, much better than bin Laden".

GreatBritain, in its turn, has for years seen money to finance Chechen terrorism being raised in London mosques. It acquitted and granted political asylum to Akhmed Zakayev, who personally recruited gangs of rebels, shot people and cut off the fingers of those he did not like. Before that, Mr Zakayev had been released at others' expense by the liberal Denmark.

And this is despite the fact that Russian prosecutors had brought the most serious charges against him and that he is on the Interpol wanted list.

Today, the West has neither the moral right nor the time for such inconsistency.

A zone of isolation and zero-tolerance with common political and legal standards must be established around the terrorists and their high-ranking masterminds and ideologues. A militant who hurts civilians, an ideologue who recruits him must know: no matter who they are, whom they represent, what mottos they use or where they hide, they will be served punishment befitting their crimes.

There must no longer be Western "havens", where terrorists can rest, seek treatment, use all the benefits of civilisation and even find sympathetic sponsors.

Although these truths seem obvious, Russia still has reasons to believe that the US and the EU could be more consistent in sharing them.

Here is just one example. Every year, the EU pedantically introduces to the UN Human Rights Committee draft resolutions on certain "human rights abuses in Chechnya". Their authors go out of their way to criticise Russia for what it fails to do in the republic: it does not investigate military crimes, does not provide for the voluntary return of refugees, and so on and so forth. At the same time they forget to mention the real positive changes that are taking place there.

Meanwhile, the Chechnya of 2004 is something different, apparently unknown to European functionaries.

Moscow has to a large extent managed to bring the war there down to a fading conflict. It has changed its tactics of mass mop up operations to targeted operations, and in so doing has killed over 30 notorious field commanders, including Raduyev, Khattab, Barayev and Gelayev. It has also held a successful referendum on the republic's constitution and, recently, a presidential election.

As a result, the republic's everyday life is getting better with every passing day: 70 hospitals have opened, while over 100 schools and five universities have begun teaching. A small, but telling detail: you can increasingly often see women pushing prams in the streets of Grozny.

It is these sings of stabilisation and improved life that enrage the Chechen separatist leaders residing abroad. The results of the August presidential election benefited Moscow and not these forces. Chechens are beginning to forget Aslan Maskhadov and his people. And this irritant has caused a reflex reaction from the political leaders of Chechnya's armed underground: they must remind people of their existence with new terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, the EU virtually does not cooperate with Russia on the Chechen problem and refrains from providing assistance that could help the region become more peaceful with better living standards. The only thing the EU is doing in this respect is writing anti-Russian draft resolutions.

But this is only half the problem. The key damage from such unfriendly actions is that they circumstantially play into Chechen rebels' hands. This shatters the zero-tolerance environment that should surround terrorists no matter where they perpetrate their atrocities, in New York, Madrid, Moscow or Beslan. Those that prepare new attempts on civilians get a new incentive.

Moreover, Russia is all but shown that it is a second-class partner in the international anti-terrorist coalition. A partner, with whom it is necessary to cooperate when the terrorists hit Europe and the West, but not Russia. Moscow does not want to play this role.