Massacre at the Hands of a Religion ?

"BESLAN, Russia - The three-day hostage siege at a school in southern Russia ended in chaos and bloodshed Friday, after witnesses said Chechen militants set off bombs and Russian commandos stormed the building. Hostages fled in terror, many of them children who were half-naked and covered in blood. Officials estimated the death toll at more than 200. More...

"The Arab presence among the attackers would support Putin's contention that al-Qaida terrorists were deeply involved in the Chechen conflict, where Muslim fighters have been battling Russian forces in a brutal war of independence on and off for more than a decade. ITAR-Tass said Basayev received funding for the attack from allege al-Qaida operative, Abu Omar as-Saif." More...

This act of barbarism just once again underscores the mentality we are dealing with. Does anyone have any doubt what would if nerve gas, plutonium, ricin, our any other high tech weapon of mass destruction should fall into these barbaric hands ? Just imagine world blackmail on a massive scale with an entire city held hostage ?

They view it as the great equalizer of that we should all be certain. How can one not sense after the events today that PREEMPTIVE strikes and LIBERATION (not OCCUPATION) will turn out to be the civilized world's best offense in the short term. Longer term, fanatical governments and political organizations supporting religious radical extremism must be eliminated. The next move is President Putin's and ironically the American people in the next election. Appeasement does NOT work. Long term benevolent societal change does. 50 years of "cold war" should have taught that lesson to the U.N and the EU. We will not have 50 years to solve this problem. - zzb