A man rushing a child away from gunfire
Today is the second anniversary of the bloody end to the siege of school number one in the North Ossetian town of Beslan. The website PravdaBeslana ("Beslan Truth") has posted in its entireity C.J. Chivers' article "The School" from the June 1, 2006 issue of Esquire magazine. I hope Esquire's editors will understand that this is a public service and will allow the whole text to remain freely available on the web.
For anyone still wondering how the terrorists carried out this atrocity or why the response from Russian security forces was agonizingly slow for the hostages held captive for over 48 hours, it is useful reading. I got the same sickening feeling in my stomach when I started to read this piece as I did watching United 93's depiction of the beautiful, uneventful dawn of September 11, 2001.
A Spetznaz soldier carrying a child to safety
Russia's war of necessity against jihad terrorism is not over by a long shot, but many Russians would prefer to forget the events of Beslan just as so many Americans have forgotten 9/11 and say that the threat from Islamic fascism is just a myth created by people in power to control oil and oppress the Muslim world.
A symbol of America - worn by one of the stretcher bearers
Besides this game of denial, here is also the continuing problem in D.C. of our relations with Russia being stuck in the past. Many politicians from both parties prefer to focus on Russia and America's differences rather than common interests and adversaries. I am thinking in particular of politicians and pundits who claim to carry on President Reagan's legacy today - let them read the conciliatory words Reagan delivered to students at Moscow State University in 1988, when the dedicated Cold Warrior saw clearly that it was time for reconciliation:
I've been told that there's a popular song in your country — perhaps you know it — whose evocative refrain asks the question, "Do the Russians want a war?" In answer it says, "Go ask that silence lingering in the air, above the birch and poplar there; beneath those trees the soldiers lie. Go ask my mother, ask my wife; then you will have to ask no more, 'Do the Russians want a war?'"
I think here at Russia Blog and other sites enough has been written about how Russian security forces could have responded more quickly to the attack. Instead, today I wanted to provide links to organizations commemorating this event and still working to help the victims.
Hope for Beslan
International Foundation for Terror Act Victims
Charities Aid Foundation Russia
International Orthodox Christian Charities and the Orthodox Church in America
Comments
[NOTE TO SITE ADMINISTRATORS: please contact me if you have any questions about this message and/or NEVER FORGET BESLAN. I apologize in advance, if you feel this message is inappropriate for your site or if my request for assistance could be directed to another site connected with Beslan. I have sent a similar message through UNICEF and moscowhelp.org and had no response as of yet.]
I wanted to share with her my experiences there and let her know about NEVER FORGET BESLAN and it's just-launched website; www.neverforgetbeslan.com
I hope someone can forward this to her. I do not object if you post this (lengthy) message on the forum itself. It is a message of hope in a world that desperately needs every glimmer of hope available.
The message follows:
I am so glad to have discovered your terrific website. I hope you will be able to help me.
I have been trying, unsucessfully, to contact Ms. Kasumova-Ganieva, the Assistant Principal of Middle school Number One in Beslan. I am unable to reach her with th email address I have.
**********************************
The following is the message I am trying to send her:
Dear Ms. Kasumova-Ganieva,
My name is Kenneth Lockerman, I came to Beslan from the state of Texas in the United States in late October of 2004. Lynn Lansford, from a town near me, also made the journey.
We brought several thousand teddy bears, and other stuffed animals with us that had a tag attached to each with the senders name, age, and a personal message. We also brought medical supplies, hand-written cards,posters and banners from concerned people in my town, school children, and entire school classes.
My all-too brief time in Beslan affected me very deeply. I was received with open arms and open hearts by those who had suffered and still suffer, a loss so great that it is unimagineable to me.
The moment I walked into the bullet-riddled, burnt-out shell of the school gymnasium I told myself : "I will never be the same again". Only later would I begin to understand what I felt.
I could barely breathe as I walked through the shadow of the terror and the horror and the tragedy that occured there. I felt wave after wave of tears as I walked through the hallways and into the classrooms and back into the gymnasium.The tears that came have never truly been washed away.
I kept asking myself what right did I have to be there? What good would my being there accomplish? By the time I returned home, I knew the answers to those questions. I would do everything I and my community could do to honor the memories of those who died there, help the survivors, and find a way to keep this tragedy from being forgotten by the world.
While visiting one of the survivors, a grandmother, brought another change to my life. Through a translator she began to tell us about her daughter's death. Her grief and sorrow came out and she began to cry. I don't remember how or why, but I walked over to her and reached out to her. I held her as she cried and felt the first of a growing connection to Beslan.
Later that night, I felt the tears she cried had soaked through my shirt and into my heart and into my soul. Everyday I carry the tears of Beslan in my heart and soul.
I have thought of my experiences nearly every day since I returned. Upon returning I started thinking about ways to help the survivors and their families. The website details five programs under development.
In the past year and nine months I experienced a numbing and frustrating variety of setbacks, failures and stumbling blocks in following through with what I knew had to be done. They were the result of my inexperience, ineptitude, and inital lack of focus. I've also come to understand that there is an emotional toll that I wasn't aware of.
As soon as I returned home, I started NEVER FORGET BESLAN.
The goal of NEVER FORGET BESLAN is to honor the lives of all those lost and to extend care, compassion and hope to the survivors. I will do everything I can, and my community can, to make certain they are never forgotten. It is my most sincere hope that you and your community will understand and accept my efforts.
Three days ago I was able to launch a website for NEVER FORGET BESLAN. I met a true angel of a person. He is a professional website designer and donated his expertise and time because he remembered and cared about what happened in Beslan.
The website address is:www.neverforgetbeslan.com
The website is not completely finished and will be under going revisions/ additions/deletions/and so on for a while. Please share with me your, and others thoughts on the website.
If there are photographs you or any of the families do not want to be shown in the website, please let me know. I will remove them. I do not want to offend or cause any hurt or aggravation.
I hope you and all of Beslan will accept the offer to help and the programs to be put into action. I hope you will forgive any mistakes, misjudgements or errors in courtesy I may have made following my heart in this. Please, let me know how else I might help and any suggestions or ideas you have.
Also next year, with your and the people of Beslan's permission I would like to sponsor a public Day of Rememberance on September 1, 2007. There would be a reading of the names and ages of the victims at the ceremony there. A college student- a graduate student - studying Russian at the University of Texas would provide the reading to ensure proper pronunciation.
I have come to understand that this is my life's work.
Thank you, Beslan for opening your hearts to me. I hope
sincerely,
Kenneth Lockerman
NEVER FORGET BESLAN
www.neverforgetbeslan.com
Posted by: Kenneth Lockerman | September 14, 2006 3:04 AM
this is a sample of wat happening to the chechen kids ... we used to had "beslan" everyday ..
russian kids are not better than chechens ones .. neither are chechen kids ...
but this is a result of the russian crimes ... call it terrorism or call pedophilia lol ..
WE CALL IT REVENGE ...
and the best is yet to come
Posted by: pride | November 29, 2008 5:50 AM