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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 06/28/2006 : 20:38:09
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This, from an article at CNN.com:quote:
Putin orders diplomats' killers 'destroyed'
Wednesday, June 28, 2006; Posted: 10:28 a.m. EDT (14:28 GMT)
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russian agents to hunt down and "destroy" the killers of the four Russian diplomats taken hostage in Iraq early this month, Interfax news agency reported.
Interfax said Putin issued the directive at a meeting in Moscow with visiting Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
"The president ordered the special forces to take all necessary measures to find and destroy the criminals who killed Russian diplomats in Iraq," the Kremlin told Interfax.
"Russia will be grateful to all its friends for any information on the criminals who killed the Russians in Iraq," Putin said, according to the press service of the Kremlin.
A group linked to al-Qaeda said it has killed four Russian diplomats it had held hostage, according to a statement on a Web site. The group -- the Mujahedeen Shura Council -- said it had beheaded three of them men and shot one to death.
A video also posted on the Web site appeared to show one of the men being beheaded, another man already beheaded and one of them while he is being shot in the head. The fourth man did not appear in the video.
The same group posted a statement last Monday demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Chechnya and "release all our brothers and sisters" from prison within 48 hours.
In the statement last week, the group added, "God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth," alluding to an attack June 3, when a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Iraq came under fire.
Embassy official Vitaly Titov was killed in the attack, and diplomats Fyodor Zaitsev, Rinat Agliuglin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev were kidnapped.
Their claims could not be verified, but the Web site has been used by insurgent groups in the past to post messages.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday issued a statement of condemnation, calling the act "criminal" and "cowardly" -- aimed at hurting Iraq's relations with Russia.
"This atrocious act of terrorism which is in violation of all concepts of religion, humanity and honor mirrors how dangerous terrorism encountered by Iraq in particular and by the whole world in general is, which makes imperative that efforts of the international community be mobilized to uproot this cancer which has killed thousands of innocent people."
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It should be interesting, to put it mildly, to see how Putin and his Spetznaz fare against al-Qaeda in Iraq, assuming they actually go there.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/29/2006 : 07:07:04 [Permalink]
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They will fare no better than US troops.
Recall the 80's in Afganistan for the USSR. They lost 100,000 troops there fighting the same kind of insurgency we are now fighting in Iraq. The scale may be different for us in Iraq, but the concept (and the people/culture we are fighting) are the same as they were for the USSR in Afganistan.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 06/29/2006 : 09:54:16 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
They will fare no better than US troops.
Recall the 80's in Afganistan for the USSR. They lost 100,000 troops there fighting the same kind of insurgency we are now fighting in Iraq. The scale may be different for us in Iraq, but the concept (and the people/culture we are fighting) are the same as they were for the USSR in Afganistan.
Big diif from now until then. The US was supplying the rebel forces with arms during the Afghanistan campaign.
They'll tear up some real estate and get both the hostage takers and their diplomats killed. The insurgency will live on. |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/29/2006 : 16:02:52 [Permalink]
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In the event Putin was not just making noise to sooth his outraged public, there are probably negotiations underway right now for the introduction of Spetznaz commandos into Iraq. I cannot imagine that the new Iraqi government would be inclined to allow this new foreign intrusion. Whether the US would cooperate is difficult to know.
At any rate, I highly doubt any Spetsnaz force large enough to do the job could operate in Iraq without at least a wink and a nod from the US, if not the Iraqi government, no matter how covert the mission might be.
I've strong doubts about this being a serious threat on Putin's part. But if it does happen, expect to see the hallmark of Spetsnaz, massively ruthless bloodshed, and no prisoners.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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