I thank you, G. My 15 year old son and his mother thank you too. I suspect he might have to bear part of this burden in the future if the action you are taking now is left incomplete by our leaders' timidity, whoever they may be, in the near future. Tell those with whom you serve (both civilian and enlisted) that this family, and this Cascadeclimber is truly greatful.
As for Chechnya, I hope our nation will turn its back and allow Putin to crush these muslim baby killers. How long is the world going to put up with their shit? How much credence will we continue lend thier liberal apologists here at home who are unable to see the affront to free western liberal thought these very people represent?
Just the more recent deeds:
June 14, 1995
Chechen gunmen take 2,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, near Chechnya. After failed attempts at force, Russia negotiates the hostages' release in exchange for the gunmen's escape. More than 100 die.Jan. 9, 1996
Chechen militants seize 3,000 hostages at a hospital in southern Russian town of Kizlyar. Rebels release most, then head for Chechnya with about 100 hostages. Rebels are stopped in a village and attacked by Russian troops. At least 78 die in weeklong fight.Jan. 16, 1996
Six Turks and three Chechens hold 255 hostages on ferry in Black Sea, threatening to blow up ship if Russia doesn't halt battles in southern Russia. The rebels surrender after three days.March 9, 1996
Turkish sympathizer hijacks jetliner flying out of Cyprus to draw attention to situation in Chechnya. The sympathizer surrenders after plane lands in Munich, Germany.Sept. 4, 1999
Bomb destroys a building housing Russian military officers and families in Buinaksk in Russia's Dagestan region. Sixty-four die. Russian officials blame Chechen rebels, but never prove their involvement.Sept. 9, 1999
Explosion wrecks a nine-story apartment building in southeast Moscow, killing almost 100. Authorities suspect a Chechen bomb, although no evidence is ever provided to support the claim.Sept. 13, 1999
A bomb destroys an apartment building in southern Moscow, killing 70. Officials blame Chechens, but nobody is ever charged in the attack.Sept. 16, 1999
Bombs shear off the front of a nine-story apartment building in Volgodonsk, 500 miles south of Moscow. Nearly 20 are killed. Authorities again blame Chechens rebels, but nobody is charged.March 16, 2001
Three Chechens hijack a Russian airliner leaving Istanbul and divert it to Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces storm plane, killing one hijacker and two hostages.April 22, 2001
Some 20 gunmen hold about 120 people for 12 hours at a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, to protest Russian actions in Chechnya. The rebels later surrender to police and release the hostages.May 4, 2002
Lone gunman holds 13 people hostage at a hotel in Istanbul to protest situation in Chechnya. The gunman surrenders after an hour.
Oct. 24, 2002
Chechen rebels seize 800 people in a Moscow theater. After a three-day standoff, Russian authorities launch a rescue attempt in which all 41 attackers are killed along with 127 hostages who succumb to a knockout gas used to incapacitate the assailants.July 5, 2003
Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.July 10, 2003
A Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow’s main street.Aug. 1, 2003
50 people are killed in Mozdok, North Ossetia, when a truck bomb smashes through the gates of a hospital where Russian soldiers injured in Chechnya are treated.Sept. 16, 2003
Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.Dec. 5, 2003
Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections. Six people were killed in two blasts on the same railway line in September.Dec. 9, 2003
Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow’s National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.Feb. 6, 2004
An explosion rips through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour, killing 41 people. June 21- 22, 2004
Chechen rebels kill at least 92 people, mostly law-enforcement officers and officials, while setting fire to police and government buildings around Nazran, the main city of the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Aug. 25, 2004
Chechen suicide bombers blamed for explosions that kill 90 people on board two Russian planes.
....And meanwhile in Sudan the UN is taking FIRM action while followers of the "religion of peace" march on:
More Darfur villagers forced from homes
U.N. receives reports of more clashes in Sudan region
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:03 p.m. ET Sept. 5, 2004
KHARTOUM, Sudan - A U.N. spokesman on Sunday said the world body keeps receiving reports of clashes continuing throughout Sudan’s Darfur region, where up to 4,000 people are believed to have been forced from their villages in recent days.
The Sudanese government has been under intense international pressure to do more to end the violence in the western region, where a 19-month ethnic conflict has killed an estimated 30,000 people and driven more than 1 million from their homes into displacement camps inside Sudan or into neighboring Chad.
“We keep receiving reports of insecurity in Darfur that is leading to the further displacement” of Darfurians from their homes, U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told The Associated Press in Egypt during a telephone interview.
Her comments follow the release of a report by the U.N.’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which says violence in North Darfur has forced thousands from their homes since late August.
The report said attacks on villages south of Zam Zam, 10 miles south of the regional capital, Al-Fasher, “have resulted in a population movement of around 3,000-4,000 persons,” adding that about half of the people have been settled in a displacement camp in Zam Zam.
The United Nations describes the situation in Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It has also called on the Sudanese government to do more to disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for attacking African villagers.
The United States accuses Sudanese authorities of backing the militia, a claim Khartoum denies.
A Security Council resolution gave the government 30 days — or until Aug. 30 — to work to disarm the Janjaweed or face possible diplomatic or economic sanctions.
After the deadline passed, U.N. envoy to Sudan, Jab Pronk, delivered a report to the Security Council this week concluding that the time for sanctions “had not yet arrived and that we should give the government a few more weeks.”
The United States reacted angrily to that recommendation, and EU foreign ministers on Saturday reaffirmed that they would push for U.N. sanctions against impoverished Sudan — including a possible oil boycott and cutting EU financial aid — if the government does not take action.
Achouri, the U.N. spokeswoman, said the United Nations keeps receiving regular reports of violence involving warring tribes, government troops, the Janjaweed and rebels in areas outside zones that the Sudanese government had designated as safe areas where displaced people could go to for protection.
She added, however, that U.N. organizations have received no reports of Sudanese government forces instigating any of the violence.
Sudanese authorities say they deserve credit from the international community for trying to bring the Darfur crisis under control through improving security conditions and the passage of relief aid to the region.
The United Nations has credited Sudan with improving the security situation but urged that more be done.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally, on Sunday called for the Darfur crisis to be solved without foreign interference, saying he was concerned about Sudan’s territorial integrity, the official Petra news agency reported. He did not elaborate.
Sudan’s foreign minister has said his government is willing to allow increased numbers of foreign forces and monitors into Darfur to observe a rarely adhered to April 8 cease-fire between Sudanese authorities and rebels, provided Khartoum has the final say in choosing which countries provide more forces.
His comments follow U.N. calls on Sudan’s government to allow more than 3,000 troops enter Darfur, something Khartoum has not sanctioned.
Sudan has been cool on allowing Western nations deploy forces to Darfur, but has shown more support for troops and monitors being sent by the African Union, which currently has about 80 military observers in Darfur protected by just over 300 soldiers
