Saturday, April 27, 2013

Savage Sons

by Ian Graham, author

As if by some bizarre twist of fate, my first full-length novel, Veil of Civility, was published on April 2, 2013, and deals with an organized attack on America by Chechen terrorists. CHECHNYA and CHECHEN are two new words that entered the common vocabulary of the western world with a jolt last week when the identities of the two Boston Marathon bombers were revealed.

Many of us now know that Chechnya is a land-locked territory in Eastern Europe that is smaller than Riverside County, California, and remains under the political control of Russia. Chechens, the people who live there, refer to themselves as the Nokhchi. To thriller writers like me, who always have an ear to the ground for subjects closely related to the military and intelligence trades, neither term is new. For many of us, the Chechens have been on our radar since reports came out of the two major wars fought in that country since the fall of the Soviet Union, which featured some of the most heinous and savage attacks that could be imagined. 

Chechen guerrilla fighters, who had rebelled against Russia at least five times in the last century, invaded and took hostage an entire hospital in 1995, bombed five apartment buildings in 1999, invaded and took hostage a theater in 2002, and invaded and took hostage a school full of children in 2004. These attacks, which are only a small sampling of those committed by the Chechens, were responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths and over 2,000 injuries, almost all of which were civilian. What was even more shocking than the actual attacks was the sheer savagery with which the Chechens conducted themselves. Reports of mass rape, slow and painful exsanguination, and decapitation were common.

Most Chechens are Muslims whose adherence to Islam traces back over a millennium, and they have fought vehemently against foreign forces that attempt to invade their homeland. However, unlike other Muslims, Chechens have maintained key components of their pre-Islamic identity. Prior to their conversion, Chechens lived in tribes known as tieps, and still do in some mountainous regions of their country. Within these tieps, children are taught to fight from an early age, ancient ideas of honor and warriorship remain, and bigoted intolerance of their lowland counterparts, who have become intermixed with Russians, Georgians and other nationalities, is commonplace.


Over the past two decades, Chechen Islamists have been unsuccessful in beating back the advancement of Russian forces in their homeland, but they have become hugely dependent on Islamic sources of weapons and money while trying to do so. Much like the discovery of some ancient weapon, the leaders of the worldwide jihadist movement, men like Ayman al-Zawahiri and the now deceased Osama bin Laden, have co-opted not only the Chechen struggle for independence, but also Chechen tactics for doing so.

Chechen fighters have been dispatched to conflicts around the world in order to spread their inherited savagery and intricate knowledge of IEDs and Soviet-era weapons to militant ranks in other countries and, much as they have done in the Balkans and Kashmir, the jihadists have made the North Caucasus—the region in which Chechnya is located and the historic avenue into Eastern Europe and Russia—an important theater in their desire for a worldwide Islamic caliphate. These areas have become toe-holds from which the jihadist movement can launch attacks into a world outside of the Middle East, and just such a scenario is at the heart of Veil of Civility

With the American attitude toward Russia being one of constant suspicion since the days of the Cold War, programs have been opened to accept refugees and asylum seekers from the North Caucasus region. While the vast majority of those who have come are likely innocent people fleeing the constant fighting in their homeland, it’s not hard to see how a Chechen, influenced by the ideas of radical Islam, could use such programs as an easy way into the United States and other western nations in order to commit acts of terror sanctioned by jihadist leaders. 

While the Tsarnaev brothers’ connection to Chechnya may turn out to be nothing more than common ancestry, the older brother’s six-month trip to the North Caucasus cannot be overlooked. Terrorist training camps and strongholds exist throughout that region and someone, somewhere, had to teach him to build the volatile and sophisticated explosive devices used in the Boston Marathon attacks.
 Both of my published fictional works, Patriots & Tyrants in 2012 and Veil of Civility in 2013, have featured Chechens and Chechen terrorism. I mention this to underscore the feelings I felt on Friday morning upon learning the identities of the Boston Marathon bombers. As someone who has heavily researched both the region and the people of Chechnya, my blood froze. I was frightened at the very real possibilities of what could be coming next if these men were part of a larger group. With the whole of the Northeastern US’s law enforcement chasing after these men, would they (and any unidentified allies) barricade themselves inside a hospital or school as they have in their homeland? Would the people in those buildings suffer the horrifying fates of previous hostages? 

An ancient Chechen proverb seems to indicate so: When will blood cease to flow in the mountains? When sugar canes grow in the snows.



Ian Graham was born in New Hampshire on July 4th, the third generation of his family to share a birthday with the United States of America. His three main interests are politics, religion and history. The stories he writes are centered on the explosive conflicts created when the three intersect. He has written two books; Patriots & Tyrants, a collection of short stories, and Veil of Civility, the first full-length novel in the Black Shuck thriller series featuring former IRA volunteer, Declan McIver.


19 comments:

  1. Welcome to CFC, Ian! This timely, well-written, informative article on Chechnya and Chechens was a chilling eye-opener for me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fascinating information. The more I read about this tiny county, the scarier it is. Yet, I try to remember that the actions of a few don't represent the whole. Still, we should taker a closer look at any Chechens who want to immigrate here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A closer look is exactly what is needed, LJ. There are a lot of innocent people caught in the crossfire throughout the North Caucasus and they certainly shouldn't be punished for the actions of others. Guarding ourselves is absolutely necessary though and a sign of the times we're living in. Thanks for commenting! :)

      Delete
  3. A useful informative piece...I suspect most Europeans were a little better informed about Chechnya than those in the USA...their theatre & school sieges made headlines here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most here in the US have no idea about attacks like Nord-Ost and Beslan, Andrew. Even school administrators and teachers have received shockingly little preparation for such an event. I fear it is only a matter of WHEN, not a matter of IF it is going to happen here.

      Delete
  4. Thank you for having me Jodie and CFC! It's a pleasure to be here and very exciting!

    Chechnya is an issue that has been on the horizon for a long time and unfortunately, just like Islamic terrorism as a whole before September 11th, the United States and most of the western world haven't taken the Russian warnings seriously. Instead we've opened a virtual thoroughfare into our countries via Asylum, refugee and student visa programs that could very well be leaving us wide open to the type of attack we experienced in Boston or worse.

    I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter...

    ~ Ian

    ReplyDelete
  5. Excellent piece, Ian. I share your interest and well-founded anxiety about Chechen jihadists.I've written about Chechen organized crime, another revenue stream to perpetuate the conflicts in Rip-Off.

    By no means have we seen the last of Chechen terrorism.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I started reading Veil of Civility right before the Boston bombing. I love the book. It is gripping and obviously dealing with the trend of current events. Your character development is wonderful. Purchased this book on Robert Bidinotto's advise and now want to read your other book. Can't wait for your next book to see if you have the ability to "predict" what might happen next in world events.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! Thanks for the compliments, Gay. I'm really glad to hear you are enjoying Veil of Civility.

      I'm beginning work on Book 2 very soon with a Winter release in mind. :)

      Delete
  7. Informative and well-written post, Ian. Must have sent a chill up your spine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jenny.

      The lack of value placed on human lives within some of these idealogies and the banality of out right murder is definitely chilling.

      - Ian

      Delete
  8. A thought-provoking and educational post (but I expect no less at CFC). Given your research and your comments, do you think what happened in Boston should impact U.S. immigration policy? Or foreign policy, for that matter? I don't mean in a reactive manner, but in a proactive manner.

    Much success with the book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi David,

      Thank you for the comment. If by "proactive" you mean a war, as in Afghanistan or Iraq, my answer is no. After a decade in each of the above I don't think we are any closer to solving the issue of Islamic terrorism. This problem is worldwide and I believe each country is going to have to combat it from within.

      While no one wants to see the type of internment that we saw with Japanese Americans in WW2, we are going to have to begin taking a very close look at people who have immigrated and are immigrating from areas where these Jihadists are known to be active. We are also going to have to find a way to keep track of them and their activities once they are here. This may mean some uncomfortable situations for Muslims. In addition, we're going to have to begin keeping a close watch on mosques as reports from Boston indicate that these two men belonged to a mosque with numerous ties to radicals.

      For America specifically this is no small task. America is the land of opportunity and the land of those who are free to worship who and what they will...how do we protect ourselves from an un-uniformed enemy that walks among us without sacrificing our freedom or changing the very ideas this country was founded on?

      One of the biggest dangers I see with the Jihadists is that there is absolutely no way to negotiate with them. Unlike other terrorists groups that have been dealt with in recent times (the IRA, the ETA, the NVA,) the Jihadists are not nationalists who want to see the freedom of a homeland or some other corporeal objective. They are aggressively pursuing world domination in the name of Allah and anyone seen as an infidel is a potential target. From school children attending daily lessons to evening theater goers to other Muslims who don't believe as they do, in the eyes of a Jihadist, an infidel is an infidel.

      I certainly don't have all the answers or even all the questions, but I think world leaders are going to have to get very serious about solving this problem. No more politics, no more old grudges.

      Delete
  9. Great post, Ian - articulate and informed, just like your book Veil of Civility. I read VoC a few days before hearing about the Chechen connection to the Boston bombings. As you say, my blood froze. I hope lots of people read VoC; it's an education, not just terrific entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for the kind comments, Linda. :)

      ~ Ian

      Delete
  10. This is a link to an excellent article from the United Kingdom that talks about defending the majority culture of England against the encroachment of Islamic culture.

    The most important thing I would like to point out though is this: Look how the UK has tried to make allowances for Muslims in their country. Has it stopped the Jihadists from attacking them? No. Not at all.


    http://www.eutimes.net/2010/04/uk-allows-muslim-nurses-to-not-wash-to-protect-their-modesty/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ian, thank you for this informative post. I'm grateful for the men and women who are willing to go into harm's way, who think about terrorism 24/7, so I don't have to.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.