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The leading group which pleads the Chechen cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC). The list of the self-styled "distinguished Americans" who are its members is a rollcall of the most prominent [[neoconservative]]s who so enthusiastically support the "[[war on terror]]".

The leading group which pleads the Chechen cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC). The list of the self-styled "distinguished Americans" who are its members is a rollcall of the most prominent [[neoconservative]]s who so enthusiastically support the "[[war on terror]]".

They include [[Richard Perle]], the notorious [[Pentagon]] adviser; [[Elliott Abrams]] of [[Iran-Contra]] fame; Kenneth Adelman, the former US ambassador to the UN who egged on the invasion of [[Iraq]] by predicting it would be "a cakewalk"; Midge Decter, biographer of Donald Rumsfeld and a director of the [[Heritage Foundation]]; Frank Gaffney of the Centre for Security Policy; Bruce Jackson, former US military intelligence officer and one-time vice-president of [[Lockheed Martin]], later president of the US Committee on Nato; [[Michael Ledeen]] of the [[American Enterprise Institute]], a former admirer of Italian fascism and later a leading proponent of [[regime change]] in [[Iran]]; and R [[James Woolsey]], the former CIA director and leading cheerleaders behind [[George Bush]]'s plans to re-model the [[Muslim]] world along pro-US lines.

They include [[Richard Perle]], the notorious [[Pentagon]] adviser; [[Elliott Abrams]] of [[Iran-Contra]] fame; Kenneth Adelman, the former US ambassador to the UN who egged on the invasion of [[Iraq]] by predicting it would be "a cakewalk"; Midge Decter, biographer of Donald Rumsfeld and a director of the [[Heritage Foundation]]; Frank Gaffney of the Centre for Security Policy; Bruce Jackson, former US military intelligence officer and one-time vice-president of [[Lockheed Martin]], later president of the US Committee on [[NATO]]; [[Michael Ledeen]] of the [[American Enterprise Institute]], a former admirer of Italian fascism and later a leading proponent of [[regime change]] in [[Iran]]; and R [[James Woolsey]], the former CIA director and leading cheerleaders behind [[George Bush]]'s plans to re-model the [[Muslim]] world along pro-US lines.

The ACPC heavily promoted the idea that the Chechen rebellion showed the undemocratic nature of Putin's Russia, and cultivated support for the Chechen cause by emphasizing the seriousness of [[human rights]] violations in the tiny Caucasian republic. It compared the Chechen crisis to those other fashionable "Muslim" causes, [[Bosnia]] and [[Kosovo]] - implying that only international intervention in the Caucasus could stabilize the situation. In August 2004, the ACPC welcomed the award of political asylum in the US, and a US-government funded grant, to Ilyas Akhmadov, foreign minister in the opposition Chechen government, and a man Moscow described as a [[terrorist]]. Coming from the [[uniparty]], the ACPC members represented the backbone of the US [[foreign policy]] [[establishment]], and their views were indeed those of the US administration.

The ACPC heavily promoted the idea that the Chechen rebellion showed the undemocratic nature of Putin's Russia, and cultivated support for the Chechen cause by emphasizing the seriousness of [[human rights]] violations in the tiny Caucasian republic. It compared the Chechen crisis to those other fashionable "Muslim" causes, [[Bosnia]] and [[Kosovo]] - implying that only international intervention in the Caucasus could stabilize the situation. In August 2004, the ACPC welcomed the award of political asylum in the US, and a US-government funded grant, to Ilyas Akhmadov, foreign minister in the opposition Chechen government, and a man Moscow described as a [[terrorist]]. Coming from the [[uniparty]], the ACPC members represented the backbone of the US [[foreign policy]] [[establishment]], and their views were indeed those of the US administration.

Although the GW Bush [[White House]] issued a condemnation of the Beslan hostage-takers, its official view remained that the Chechen conflict must be solved politically. According to ACPC member Charles Fairbanks of Johns Hopkins University, US pressure would then increase on Moscow to achieve a political, rather than [[military]], solution - in other words to negotiate with terrorists, a policy the US resolutely rejected elsewhere.

Although the GW Bush [[White House]] issued a condemnation of the Beslan hostage-takers, its official view remained that the Chechen conflict must be solved politically. According to ACPC member Charles Fairbanks of Johns Hopkins University, US pressure would then increase on Moscow to achieve a political, rather than [[military]], solution - in other words to negotiate with terrorists, a policy the US resolutely rejected elsewhere.

Allegations were even made in Russia that [[the West]] itself was somehow behind the Chechen rebellion, and that the purpose of such support was to weaken Russia, and to drive her out of the [[Caucasus]]. The fact that the Chechens were believed to use as a base the Pankisi gorge in the neighboring [[Republic of Georgia]] - a country which aspired to join Nato, had an extremely pro-American government, and where the US already had a significant military presence - only encouraged such speculation.<ref>[https://archive.fo/nbTeU#selection-2287.575-2333.17 The Chechens' American friends], John Laughland, 8 September 2004.</ref>

Allegations were even made in Russia that [[the West]] itself was somehow behind the Chechen rebellion, and that the purpose of such support was to weaken Russia, and to drive her out of the [[Caucasus]]. The fact that the Chechens were believed to use as a base the Pankisi gorge in the neighboring [[Republic of Georgia]] - a country which aspired to join [[NATO]], had an extremely pro-American government, and where the US already had a significant military presence - only encouraged such speculation.<ref>[https://archive.fo/nbTeU#selection-2287.575-2333.17 The Chechens' American friends], John Laughland, 8 September 2004.</ref>

===Global War on Terror===

===Global War on Terror===