Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings

306 Pages·2015·5.05 MB·English

by  Brian Glyn Williams

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Brian Glyn Williams is a professor THE HISTORY OF THE CHECHEN WARS brian In 2013 the United States suffered
 brian glyn williams
of Islamic history at the University of AND THE ORIGINS OF TERRORISM IN RUSSIA  glyn its worst terrorist bombing since 9/11
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Massachusetts Dartmouth. He has  williams at the annual running of the Boston
AND BEYOND
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published numerous books related   Marathon. When the culprits turned
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to terrorism and conflict in Eurasia,   out to be U.S. residents of Chechen
“Williams once again demonstrates why he is required reading for anyone serious
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including The Last Warlord: The Life about understanding the Chechens and their violent struggle against Russia.” Inferno in descent, Americans were shocked and
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and Legend of Dostum, the Afghan Lieutenant Colonel Robert Schaefer, author of The Insurgency in Chechnya n confused. Why would members of an
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Warrior Who Led US Special Forces to and the North Caucasus  obscure Russian minority group con-
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Topple the Taliban Regime; Predators:  sider America their enemy? Inferno in
 e Chechnya
“An utterly fascinating journey through one of radical Islam’s least-understood
The CIA’s Drone War on Al Qaeda; Chechnya is the first book to answer this
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Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to fronts: Chechnya and the Caucasus. Essential for anyone seeking to understand the  riddle by tracing the roots of the Boston
historical roots of the Boston bombing.” Janet Reitman, Rolling Stone magazine n 
America’s Longest War; and The Crimean  attack to the Caucasus Mountains of
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Tatars: From Soviet Genocide to Putin’s “A must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the Chechens and their involve- o  southern Russia.
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Conquest. ment in contemporary conflicts, this remarkable book provides the full sweep of the  THE RUSSIAN-CHECHEN WARS,
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Chechens’ tragic history. The chapters on Chechens in Afghanistan and Syria and on  Brian Glyn Williams describes the
 n THE AL QAEDA MYTH, AND THE BOSTON
the Boston Marathon bombings are absolutely brilliant.” Miriam Lanskoy,   tragic history of the bombers’ war-
director, Russia and Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy MARATHON BOMBINGS
  devastated homeland — including
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 tsarist conquest and two bloody wars
“A sweeping account of warfare, genocide, and conquest in other lands that 
 with post-Soviet Russia that would lead
ultimately led to America’s greatest terror bombing since 9/11.” 
 h  to the rise of Vladimir Putin — showing
Aurélie Campana, Canada Research Chair on Conflicts and Terrorism 
  how the conflict there influenced the
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“An inspiring account that captures the essence of how the Chechen highlanders c  rise of Europe’s deadliest homegrown
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have been so wrongly portrayed over the past decade in the Western media h  terrorist network. He provides a his-
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by pundits and others pretending to be experts on the Caucasus Mountains
 torical account of the Chechens’ terror
whose narratives about Chechnya have often been shaped by the Russian media n 
 campaign in Russia, documents their
machine.” Glen Howard, president, Jamestown Foundation 
 y growing links to Al Qaeda and radical
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  Islam, and describes the plight of the
“Inferno in Chechnya is a bold attempt to provide a balanced narrative about the a
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Chechen people, particularly their tragic history and struggle with Russia and the Chechen diaspora that ultimately sent
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Soviet Union. The story of the struggle for the soul of a small nation has reverberated  the Tsarnaev brothers to Boston.
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across the Middle East and onto the very streets of Boston.” 
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Dr. Lester W. Grau, senior analyst, Foreign Military Studies Office, U.S. Army  Inferno in Chechnya delivers a fasci-
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nating and deeply tragic story that has
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much to say about the historical and
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 ethnic roots of modern terrorism.
ForeEdge  
Jacket illustration courtesy of  Fore
Thomson Reuters www.ForeEdgeBooks.com  Edge  
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Inferno in Chechnya
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Inferno in
CHeCHnya
the Russian-CheC hen
WaRs, the a l Qaeda Myth,
and the Boston MaR athon
BoMBings
Brian Glyn Williams
ForeEdge
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ForeEdge
An imprint of University Press of New England
www.upne.com
© 2015 Brian Glyn Williams
All rights reserved
For permission to reproduce any of the
material in this book, contact Permissions,
University Press of New England, One Court Street,
Suite 250, Lebanon NH 03766; or visit www.upne.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Brian Glyn.
Inferno in Chechnya: the Russian-Chechen wars,
the Al Qaeda myth, and the Boston Marathon bombings /
Brian Glyn Williams.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-61168-737-8 (cloth: alkaline paper) —
isbn 978-1-61168-801-6 (ebook)
1. Chechnia (Russia) —History —Civil War, 1994– 2. Russia
(Federation) —Relations —Russia —Chechnia. 3. Chechnia
(Russia) —Relations —Russia (Federation) 4. War and
society —Russia (Federation) —Chechnia. 5. Jihad—
Political aspects —Russia (Federation)— Chechnia.
6. Qaida (Organization) 7. Terrorism —Europe. 8. Boston
Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013. 9. Tsarnaev,
Tamerlan. 10. Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar. I. Title.
dk511.c37w55 2015
947.086 —dc23 2015002114
For the resilient people of Boston and for all
my friends in the city, including Suki Soltysik,
Dana Fine, Heidi Floerke, Ozge and Eric
Getkin, Ed Fallon, Amy Beuchemin, Josh Ready,
Jenny Murphy, Jason and Molly Seto, Corey
and Leandro Lopez, Steve and Ceren Matteo,
John Lawrenz, Alan Hirshfeld, Michelle Cheyne,
Bob and Pat Getkin, Kevin McWilliams, Laura
Barlow, Brad Pinkos, Scott Gollumcan Levi,
Alan Friedman, Jim Stamos, Ona Ridenour,
Volkan and Tansel Sazak, Marc Yanniello,
Hien Cao, Michelle and Selim Gurel, Len
and Carolyn Travers, Razi Usman, Sue Foley,
Mark Santow, Tim Pakopolos, Pat Gallagher,
Chris and Jill Keough, and my wife, Feyza.
Williams - Chechnya.indb 5 7/15/2015 7:21:33 PM
This is a war for the freedom of a nation.
If the Russians want to call me a terrorist,
a hammer of God, a nightmare creature,
I am happy to be any of these things.
— Chechen field commander turned
notorious terrorist, Shamil Basayev
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 First Blood 1
2 Resistance 18
3 Genocide 35
4 The First Russian-Chechen War 76
5 Chaosistan 116
6 The Return of the Russians 153
7 The Chechen Ghost Army of Afghanistan
and Syrian Battalion 206
8 The Strange Saga of the Boston
Marathon Bombers 230
Notes 259
Index 285
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