Child Killers of Beslan - Hang 'Em High? (The War Against Terrorism)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	The War Against Terrorism
Date:	07/09/04 (103 review reads)
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In a middle school No.1 in Beslan, North Ossetia the human soul finally died. There have been some barbarous acts committed in the name of many a just cause down the centuries but the carnage in Russia beggars belief. When incidents like this happen you start to question your own conscience.

With the anniversary of 9/11 nearly upon again, we can say with certainty that the world is a very different place. Of course, terrorism is hardly a new concept but that single act of flying planes into two towers in New York, both symbols of established capitalism, changed things forever. The ensuing consequences have swept the Globe, what with the destruction of both Afghanistan and Iraq and the ongoing struggle to root out the myriad of terrorist cells that lie in wait in so many countries.

The political justification for what has happened in the last three years is complex but the influence of groups like Al Qaeda is undeniable and sinister. The horrific bombings in Madrid affected a change in government leading to the public withdrawal of Spanish forces in Iraq ? a result for terrorism. Its seems that wholesale pest control of the like in Afghanistan and Iraq simply won?t quash the insurgent whose demands are generally not understood or sympathised with. I guess at this point I?d ask you to stop and think about what exactly it is that groups like that above want, it?s not that clear is it?

And so to the latest nightmare - An operation seemingly funded by Al Qaeda and organised by Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who will stop at nothing to secure the independence of Chechnya from it?s Russian masters. Having claimed responsibility for the Moscow theatre siege in which 129 people died, Basayev is a man with a long list of political outrages, hostage taking being his favourite tactic to mak
e his point.

Stories continue to pour out from the school in Russia. The original projections of the death toll started at 60 but now the figure is heading for 700. Not only were the mainly children treated with abhorrent contempt by their captures but now it appears that some were even raped whilst young babies were stabbed for crying. The image of children trying to escape and being shot at by other adults boggles the mind. It?s even been said that senior clergy in this country have questioned their own faith, such are the depths of depravity that have been plumbed over the last week. The future appears to be bleak if people are willing to target just about anybody to further their own cause.

President Putin has come under the spotlight as the inevitable questioning of the Chechen situation has challenged why this conflict has gone on for over 10 years with no end in sight. Rumours of outrages perpetrated by the Russian forces serve to foster a hatred that manifests itself in the form of vigilante terrorists who gain funding from sympathisers elsewhere. However, when operations undertaken by terrorists are as brutal and uncompromising as this one, you would have to wonder whether any future situation will involve any attempt at negotiation or whether it would be better to simply tackle the problem immediately accepting some loss of life to at least save the majority. After all, the hostage takers used the time allowed to booby trap the school and commit acts of shameful degradation on those inside.

Incidents like this can and maybe should question our conscience. For me personally, I?ve always been against the death penalty. Now I wonder whether I am right. The terrorists involved with this incident were either shot and killed or captured. For those that were shot then was this something that was played out in a situation of war or not? After al
l, we are loath to vindicate terrorist causes by giving them the formal label of being at war even if that was exactly what happened in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The majority of people will exclaim good riddance to the scum involved but then what happens to those that have been captured? Again, most people will see the justification in eventually executing those responsible so where does that leave us in the argument over capital punishment? If a child gets murdered in our own country we won?t execute the murderer because we feel that state sponsored execution is wrong. Then again, the majority actually do support the death penalty and it?s simply the Government applying a Nanny State that preserves the Status Quo and won?t relent on this particular issue.

Some situations appear insoluble. The Middle East is a seething cauldron of opposing views and hatred. Slap bang in the middle of a fervently Arab bloc of countries lies Israel. I can?t help feeling that those in the Jewish State will feel a ?told you so? moment having to live with the prospect of having schools attacked and it?s planes bombed every single day. The links between Israel and the US continue to fuel hatred of the West, as does the ongoing presence of US forces in this region. There appears to be no shortage of people willing to come forward and be the next suicide bomber. Some of the perpetrators in Russia were women known as the Black Widows, apparently angered by the deaths of their husbands in earlier conflicts. So where do we go from here?

The only genuine ray of light that I?ve read about revolves around education. It was a piece in one of the Sundays a few months ago about a charitable foundation in Pakistan that took the kids off the street and gave them a basic education. Funded by middle class workers in the country,
it sought to help those kids caught in the poverty trap of having to work from as young as five to feed the family. The best thing about this was that it put a stop to the cycle of children having no option but to be given a grounding in an alternative education based on a simmering hatred of the West and being brought up to have an ambition of dying for their religion. Whilst it would be a massive oversimplification to cite a lack of education as being the main reasons for the problems of this region and, hence, the world, the indoctrination of so many thousands can?t help but provide the essential ingredients for perpetual conflict. After all, so many of our own thoughts and opinions and based wholly on what we see and read in the media. Imagine what it?s like if you can?t read or write and simply get told over and over again that the foreigner in your land is evil and should be removed at all costs. Oh and if you do this you?ll gain entry to Paradise and live happily ever after in Heaven.

Ultimately, it?s not for me to say what?s right or wrong. It seems to me that by valuing differences rather than exploiting them that we can move forward. Whilst so many people live in ignorance this will prove extremely difficult. It really does seem that education is our only hope.

My thoughts are with the parents in Russia.

Thanks for reading.

Marandina

Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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