Bush's premptive strike policies have finally come home to roost! Welcome to the new world madness! from: msnbc 12/4/04:
Russia says it may hit terrorists beyond borders
Air Force official says bombers could be used for surgical strikesThe Associated Press
Updated: 9:35 a.m. ET Dec. 3, 2004MOSCOW - Russia may use its strategic bombers to unleash preventive strikes against terrorists outside its borders, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the Air Force commander as saying Friday.
Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov's comments were the most direct yet in Russia's rising rhetoric on attacking terrorists abroad. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and other top officials have said that preventive strikes against terrorists could involve all means except nuclear, but they never went into such specifics as suggesting the use of strategic bombers.
ITAR-Tass commented that Russia had initiated discussion of preventive strikes over a year ago "due to Washington's regular employment of this method in international affairs."
Neither the Soviet Union nor Russia have publicly conducted air strikes outside their borders with the exception of the war in Afghanistan. Soviet pilots flew missions in Korea and during the Mideast wars of the 1960s-70s, but that was done covertly.
`We will make use of everything'
"If ordered, our missile-carrier aircraft will attack the terrorists with long-range, highly precise cruise missiles and aerial bombs. We will make use of everything we have," Mikhailov was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Russia's Federal Security Service said Friday that an Arab mercenary who was killed in southern Russia late last month was a top representative of the al-Qaida terror network in the troubled North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya.
The dead man was identified last month as Akhmed Sambiyev, otherwise known as the "White Arab," and security officials said at the time of the killing that he was either Syrian or Turkish.
Top al-Qaida figure said killed
The Federal Security Service on Friday identified him as a Syrian called Marvan. He was killed on Nov. 25 when he put up armed resistance to arrest in the southern region of Ingushetia, which borders on Chechnya.
The security service's press office said that Marvan had been active in Chechnya beginning in 2000 and had been close to the late Arab militant leaders Khattab and Abu Walid. It said he was responsible for training young fighters, explosives training, and distributing money coming from foreign terrorist centers.
Last month, he had been identified as a top aide to Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
Russia has played up claims of a large foreign mercenary presence among Chechen rebels to shore up its argument that they are closely linked to international terrorists and justify the Kremlin's harsh response.