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9/11?
Foreword
Few experts are as well qualified to write about Russia and Chechnya as John Dunlop. Along-time observer of Russia and author of numerous books on this important country, Dr.Dunlop has spent the past five years studying the Kremlin’s confrontation with Chechnya. As the former editor of
Chechnya Weekly
, he has been a close observer of this bloody warbetween Russia and Chechnya which to date has cost more Russian lives than the ten-yearSoviet occupation of Afghanistan. In 2004 Dunlop authored a highly detailed report on theOctober 2002 Dubrovka theater seizure by Chechen militants distributed by Radio FreeEurope. Now he has undertaken another major study in cooperation with the AmericanCommittee for Peace in Chechnya and the Jamestown Foundation. This report is part of our continuing struggle to provide in-depth analysis of the war in Chechnya and its spilloverinto other parts of the North Caucasus. The timing of this report is especially important in light of the recent one year anniversary of Beslan. While much about Beslan has been written in the Russian press, remarkably little infact has been published in the U.S. media about an event that the
Washington Post
likened toSeptember 11. Investigative reporting by the German magazine
Der Spiegel
and the coverageon Chechnya provided by
Guardian
correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has ensured thatcoverage of Beslan and the war in Chechnya has not diminished. Yet the most courageousgroup in the effort to shed light on this tragedy is the Mothers of Beslan Committee, whichhas bravely challenged official accounts of the crisis. They also sought to hold local andfederal officials accountable-both for their failure to prevent the attack, and for an apparentdisregard for the lives of the hostages. As Dunlop's report demonstrates, their grief ismatched only by their determination to find the truth. What is the purpose of this report? Coming on the heels of the one year anniversary of Beslan, our chief goal is to provide the U.S. policymaking community, as well as westernresearchers and journalists, with a detailed account on what happened in Beslan. Moreimportantly, we wish to document the subsequent cover-up by Russian officials. To datethere has been no major study of Beslan in the United States. The only objective accountpublished in Russia is that conducted by the Mothers of Beslan. Its conclusions differmarkedly from the Russian procurator’s initial findings. With the official investigation yet tobe finalized, Dr. Dunlop’s report makes an invaluable contribution to Russia observersseeking the truth about who bears responsibility for the Beslan tragedy.Drawing on official Russia documents – including statements and interviews by members of the Torshin commission, as well as a broad survey of indigenous sources—Dr. Dunlopprovides an exhaustive analysis of these issues. Many of his conclusions are startling: first,the majority of the terrorists were Ingush not ethnic Chechens. Second, many of thecasualties resulted from a Russian attack on a sniper’s nest constructed near the roof,resulting in its collapse. This detail is important, as it dispels the Kremlin-backed notion thatthe blast erupted as result of the death of a Chechen militant whose foot set off theexplosives. Third, none of the terrorist ringleaders involved in the takeover of the schoolhave been identified among the dead at Beslan. Fourth, the hostage negotiations undertaken
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