Wolfgang, I guess what I'm wondering is: why is this connection so important to you? What difference does it make where they were trained and for what purpose? If they had gone to Chechnya, it would have been to fight a guerrilla war against the Russians, not to fly planes into buildings or blow up discos. To claim that someone is a terrorist (as Bush does) when one recieves aid from a terrorist organisation is like saying one becomes a baker when one buys some bread. Life isn't so black and white. I mean, if I were a Muslim rebel leader in some oppressed nation, pre-9/11, I would have been more than happy to accept financial or military aid from al Qaeda.

And Greg: Do you really think Putin was wringing his hands, sobbing about the potential loss of life, when he ordered them gassed, as one victim said, "like cockroaches?" The Russian leadership, now, as always, is cold-blooded, and their citizens are little more than pawns to them.

Oh, and "cold-blooded" could also be used to describe the summary excecutions of the Chechens in the theater, who were gunned down while they "slept."

---Lepus Rex