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Understanding Terrorism
NY Times - Letters to the EditorAs someone who has devoted many years of his life to fighting terrorism and who is personally familiar with changes in the Chechen Republic, and more broadly in the North Caucasus, over the past two decades, I would like to comment on some points raised in the article What makes Chechen women dangerous?' by Robert A. Pape, Lindsey O'Rourke and Jenna McDermit (Views, April 1). Throughout the article there is an attempt to present female terrorists as heroic freedom fighters against foreign occupation,' and to depict recent terror attacks as a reaction against allegedly gross violations of human rights by the government of Ramzan Kadyrov. It would seem that researchers of the University of Chicago should especially appreciate the need for balance when publicly discussing so complicated an issue, as well as a mature understanding of international law, moral decency and sensitivity at least toward the victims of last month's and, alas, future terror attacks. But the article has nothing of the kind. Instead it has a fixed course, which we fail to understand, narrow and politicized, and, in essence, an anti-Russian bias from which stems an astonishing unwillingness to understand that terrorism, whatever clothes it wears, or of whatever gender, is always a crime punishable by law and cannot be justified for any reason. This is recognized by the entire world community and affirmed by the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly. Yes, I agree that the appearance of female suicide bombers in Russia is not accidental. But one should at least be consistent: The situation in Chechnya is not that different from the 1990s, when there were no female suicide bombers; nor were there any in the early 2000s. Thus what brought about this barbaric phenomenon is not home-bred but imported to our land from outside as an example for imitation and is obviously borrowed abroad. Only deliberate tendentiousness can explain the fact that the article is silent about the well-known media reports about the ruthless methods, including psychological, to turn women into suicide-terrorists. Finally, and most importantly, nowhere in the world not in Iraq, nor Afghanistan, nor the North Caucasus is it possible to resolve the problem through appeasement of terrorists or through diplomatic negotiations' with them. By the way, a question to the authors what or who (to use the language of the authors) renders Afghan or Iraqi women dangerous? Anatoly Safonov, Moscow, Special representative of the president of Russia for international cooperation in the fight with terrorism and transnational organized crime. Posted by: john frum 2010-04-23 |
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