 IN a controversial interview on British television, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has vowed further attacks against Russia similar to the Beslan school siege that claimed 344 lives, half of them children.
| Of course, if he's titzup then it's still not gonna do him any good... |
The exclusive interview aired yesterday on Channel 4 news despite protests by the Russian Government that the broadcast would amount to terrorist propaganda. Sitting calmly behind a laptop computer and clutching a grenade launcher, Russia's public enemy No1 said he would fight on because of Moscow's refusal to withdraw troops from Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic in southern Russia.
| The grenade launcher's a homey touch. Why, Patton used to... Ummm... No. He didn't. Forget it. |
"We are planning more Beslan-type operations in the future because we are forced to do so," the bearded militant said, adding he wanted to "show the world again and again the true face of the Russian regime".
| You mean weeping, because their army's not competent enough to hunt down and kill the terrorists infesting their country? |
Wearing a black T-shirt with the slogan "Anti-Terror" written in white Cyrillic letters, Basayev said he believed the Kremlin, not himself, was responsible for terrorism. Behind him, a banner in Arabic read: "There is no God but God, Mohammed is his prophet."
| That kind of negates that stoopid comment, doesn't it? |
Referring to the Beslan siege last September, which ended in a gunfight that Basayev blamed on the Russian authorities, he admitted: "To be honest, I am even shocked by what happened there and am still in a state of shock after it."
| "Not that that'd stop us from doing it again if we get the chance..." |
Channel 4 defended the broadcast of Basayev's first interview since the hostage-taking drama, arguing it was in the public interest. Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "Such an irresponsible move to offer a wide audience to the threats of a bandit ... is counter to the efforts of the international community in the fight against terrorism."
| On the other hand, it's going to make a certain number of the audience look at each other and say "What's it matter what the Russers do to a bunch of Chechens when they produce slime like this guy?" |
But the broadcaster said airing the piece did not amount to condoning its contents and pointed to how the media regularly runs videos and audiotapes by Osama bin Laden. The interview is a scoop for Channel 4 that took months of covert preparations, involving secret meetings in undisclosed locations in Europe and the Middle East. It said the footage was filmed at an unknown location by Basayev's men. The British Government sought to distance itself from the broadcast. "The decision to feature this interview is for the broadcaster to take. It has nothing to do with the Government," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
| It doesn't, unless Beebs runs it. That's the advantage and the disadvantage of a free press. |
Basayev, believed to be hiding in the mountains of southern Chechnya, spoke of more mayhem similar to Beslan, warning that all Russians remained a target. "They are not peaceful people for us. Peaceful people for us are those that do not pay taxes for this war, people who do not participate and who speak out against this," he said in reference to Russia's military campaign in Chechnya. |