Putin's terror war. (Insider Report).

On the day after the deadly end of October's hostage crisis in Moscow, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin "empowered the military to wage a broad American-style war against terrorists even outside Russian borders," reported the October 28th Washington Post. Seemingly mimicking President Bush's "with us or against us" rhetoric, Putin "vowed to pursue not only 'the terrorists themselves' but also their ideological sponsors and financial backers 'wherever their whereabouts.' "Of course, the media devoted little if any attention to Putin's background with the KGB -- the chief sponsor and financier of international terrorism.

The two and a half-day siege began when self-identified Chechen "suicide terrorists" took control of Moscow's House of Culture, seizing an estimated 800 hostages. Demanding that Russia end its war against Chechen separatists, the terrorists killed two hostages. The standoff ended when Russian Alpha Special Forces troops used a gaseous chemical agent called Fentanyl. Fifty guerrillas and at least 117 hostages were killed in the operation. "The gas's composition ... remained a secret to medical ...