Terrorism must not pay.
The Chechen and Arab terrorists who seized a defenseless playhouse in Moscow, set free only the Muslim attendees, tortured and shot several people, including women, and placed bombs in hopes of murdering 1,000 had hoped all along to force Russia into making concessions to the Chechen rebels. (*) Now, in the wake of the counterterrorist operation carried out by Russian forces, and the deaths of all the terrorists save those who may have run away moments after boldly stating that they never would, the leader of Chechnya calls for negotiations. (†) It seems an unlikely coincidence. He did at least condemn the hostage-taking and planned murder. Fortunately, Vladimir Putin is having none of it, and hints darkly at what may happen if the Chechen terrorists ever attack a nuclear facility. (‡) The Chechen terrorists have died for nothing. Instead of forcing Russia to negotiate and give up more leverage to such common murderers, a stepped-up military campaign against the Chechen rebels has already commenced. (§) (**) Another goal will be dismantling the stranglehold that Chechen organized crime has over the Russian economy. (††)
It has been a thirteen-month “Year of Terror.” (‡‡) The ultimate lesson for all of the world’s terrorists and all of their sympathizers should be, must be, and is extraordinarily simple: terror does not pay.