Customer Reviews

Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror

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Yossef Bodansky's encyclopedic "Secret History of the Iraq War" drew criticism for having no footnotes. Turns out that persons employed in a certain critical US security organization have to sign an employment contract agreeing not to publish any book with a footnote unless the manuscript is subject to serious editing, at least, by appointed officials. Fortunately, the organization is not the boring, error-filled CIA; it seems to be a quieter one that actually knows something. And so, we can see with years of hindsight, did the author.

Now this mysterious, consummately expert writer has published "Chechen Jihad," another comprehensive work. This one is on a small, combative, fearsome group that, under bombardment, dispossession, slaughter, and unceasing attack by Moscow for its intention to secede from Russia, has thrown its considerable talent and bellicosity in with the global jihad. While sullen, hormonal, anomie-laden Saudi and Pakistani rich boys may pull off ghastly stunts, the really scary guys in the game today are the Chechens.

Thank heaven for Bodansky. Always ahead of other analysts, sometimes by years, and always lavish in laying out information that almost without exception has proven accurate over time, Yossef Bodansky is a secret luminary of open-source genius.

In to the heart of the book, we see a thorough explanation of how Russia has poured men and vast monies into an inch-by-inch fight for territory and, in throwing in billions of petro-rubles for physical development, a fight toward a moderately peaceful society. A central premise is that outsiders can favorably influence a tribal society only by working respectfully through the existing structure of tribal elders and traditions. The brazen, contemporary American vision, sometimes well-intentioned, of uprooting everything familiar among the benighted foreigners in order to thrust in a fully-formed Twenty-first Century electoral system is guaranteed to fail.

As the publisher correctly states: "Drawing on mountains of previously unseen intelligence from Islamist movements and other military and intelligence sources from throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as senior officials in many of the affected nations, Chechen Jihad offers an intimate and startling portrait of the jihadist movement that is astonishing in its detail and chilling in its implications--but one that points to a new way forward in the struggle to answer the challenges of international Islamist terrorism"

For a different take on events in Chechnya, see Thomas Goltz's "Chechnya Diary" (2003). Nonetheless, the polyglot and inscrutable Mr Bodansky has elegantly caught and made available a universe of knowledge that impinges heavily on all our present and future, and probably would never have been revealed otherwise.

The first half is better than the second. As is evident from the title it is about the problem in Chechnya. I cannot dispute any of the facts written in the books. But from my personal experience in Soviet Russia, the Chechen people and other of the same ilk were (are) treated with great disdain by ordinary Russian citizens. The racism angle is not mentioned. The view is lopsided favoring the Russians; you have to give a balanced view nowadays without hiding anything from both sides. And then let the reader take the call, you ( author) may not take a call that is so one-sided. This cannot be the mark of a successful writer.

A long and almost too detailed history and review of the background, development and activities of radical Islam in the Caucasus region. While the narrative can be tedious at points, the details have relevance beyond Chechnya or the Russian Federation, as this book shows how they are thoroughly intertwined with Islamist organizations and developments elsewhere. This book shows a largely unrecognized part of the background behind current conflicts and how they are tied to other events.

The Chechens are an often ignored group, but the influence of the Mujahideen coming from that area has been huge. This book goes in great detail about their ties to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and their monstrous attacks like the Beslan school massacre that was largely ignored by the media.

The most important contribution of this book maybe that it takes the reader from thinking about the "Global War ON Terror" to the "Global War BY Terror." Yossef Bodansky, the author of Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror, begins with a review of Chechen national liberation movements beginning in the mid 19th Century through the mid 1980s. This necessary, albeit somewhat brief history, is critical background for understanding the modern Chechen wars and their significant impact on the Global War by Terror."

In Bodansky's view, the first Chechen war is primarily a national liberation movement with some Islamic influence. In contrast, the second Chechen war of the 20th Century was completely co-opted by international Islamic Jihadist elements and thus developed into more of a front in the Global Jihadist War than any national liberation movement.

Bodansky's text is at times frightening in its description of the global coordination by Jihadists, primarily Osama Bin Laden. Prior to reading this book, I thought of the foreign fighters appearing and confronting American troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan as young men who had traveled on their own volition and by their own means. After reading Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror, it is clear that these foreign fighter's are deployed, logistical supported and directed (strategically) by both a globally coordinated Jihadist movement and several foreign governments.

Bodansky also succulently describes in striking detail the duplicitous nature of the Iranian, Pakistani and to a lesser extend the Saudi governments. Iran, as described by Bodansky, clearly uses terrorist groups, alliances with Jihadist groups and directly supplies and coordinates the activities of terrorists as a means of State policy.

There are two caveats for reading Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror. First, it is what I would call a "point of view" text. While the terror, atrocities and abject criminality of the Chechen Jihadists and Jihadists in general are described and documented, the is no reference to crimes or atrocities committed by Russian forces or their allies. This doesn't take away from the text, but the reader should understand that this book is written with a Russian and somewhat "Western" point of view. Other stuff did happen. Second, the book is rich in detail and it is the detail which tells the story and is a strength of the book. However, on a single page the reader may go from the United States, to Afghanistan and then deep into the mountainous interior of the Caucus. The names of people and places are complex and must be followed closely. To his credit, Bodansky, does an outstanding job of keeping the reader focused and reminding him or her of why the player or location is important. But, it is not a light read.

Essentially, the book ends during the summer of 2007. What I took away from the "next wave" is that the Global War BY Terror has the means to shift troops around the various "fronts." Indeed, some of these troops (Jihadists) are battle hardened, well-trained Chechen Islamists. The seemingly random and discounted terrorist strikes and battlefield skirmishes are much more coordinated than one might presume. Lastly, that in the last few decades the Jihadist movement has shifted from destroying Western cities as a means to establish Islamist rule in traditional Muslim countries to absorbing Western capitals (and thus their people) as a means to establish world-wide Islam as interpreted by modern Jihadists.

Stunning, fresh, threatening, articulate and epic, Yoseff Bodansky's new book pulls the reader into the history and world scale virulence of the Chechen rebellion from Russia and the Soviets and the Russians again over the last two hundred years. It begins with a massive assassination and mayhem plot launched by the Chechen superman Shamil Basayev in the summer of 2006. Planned and coordinated with the jihadists of the Ummah, including Al Qaeda, Basayev and his A-Team aimed to attack the G-8 meeting at Petersburg, at the strongest concentration of security forces ever gathered, and to kill as many as possible of the G-8 leadership before taking hostages and self-destroying themselves in front of worldwide television coverage. It takes the breath. What saved the planet certain chaos and world historical terror -- it would have dwarfed even Hollywood's imagination -- was the deeply secret Russian counterintelligence force that penetrated Basayev's mad, passionate gang and struck back just days before H-Hour. This is the start of the book. What Yoseff Bodanasky then achieves is to guide the reader into the roots of the Chechen resistance, through the Chechen wars of the 1990s against Russia, to the fierce, mistake ridden, dogged Russian effort to restore order and sanity to the Caucuses. The author makes the case, using sources from a variety of unnamed intelligence services, using material never before available in English or in the West, that Chechnya is the first viable model for how nation states can confront and mitigate the jihadist poison. The jihad once threatened to engulf all the Caucuses; now, after billions have been poured into Grozny by the oil rich Russian state, the people of Chechnya have turned away from the jihadist rage and self-destruction. Yet the Russian effort is a work in progress. After Basayev, there is a new generation of Chechen jihadists who will take advantage of any weaknesses in the present fragile Caucuses. Why this story burns bright is that it is an example of what could be done in Afghanistan and Iraq -- using the conservative, native born, tribes and clans to take control of renaissance, rather than imposing Western style and ill-explained democracy on peoples who do not trust strangers.

I have spoken with Yoseff Bodansky twice on my radio shows in fascination and admiration for his work. This is a new, unpredictable, deeply researched story that brings vigor and ideas to the struggling, even jingoistic, global war on terror. I recommend it to professionals, to military thinkers, to state and finance decision makers, to the careful readers of Russian and Islamic history. Screenplay writers can study Basayev for a supremely satanic model of tragedy and vengeance and self-hatred -- and not a little irony of being a local patriot who surrendered to the sellers of mass-murder. More, it can read like a science fiction story, on planet Earth. The Petersburg plot will astonish and darken you.

The first "review" posted on Yossef Bodansky's new book was clearly written by one of the "Chechen lovers", who support the Chechen jihadists regardless of their atrocities. And the "review" was clearly written without the benefit of the "reviewer" having read the book. Just another hate piece.

The book by Bodansky, however, is his best yet (I got it the first day it was out), and, as someone working for the past 40 years on terrorist issues, I can vouch for its authenticity. One thing about Bodansky is that he tells the truth regardless of the consequences, and this has always stirred up the politically correct, and those with an ideological agenda. That makes his books exciting reading.

More than anything, however, this new book shows how superbly his writing style has matured, and how his decades of work have given him the benefit of experience and, not surprisingly, the credibility required to have people talk to him, and offer him surprising access. Moreover, and I confess to having talked for many decades to Bodansky on these topics, I know that many committed Islamists often talk with him, off the record, because he actually understands them.

So don't listen to the baying and carping lunatics of the extremist fringe. Buy the book. If you don't think it's credible, readable, and an important contribution to our understanding of the jihadi phenomenon, give me a call.

Finally it has surfaced such a comprehensible book to make one understand, once and for all, what's been going on in Chechnya and in the North Caucasus over the last years. It just had to be an author like Mr. Bodansky to explain the facts to the core, leaving no room for biased opinions, prejudiced statements, made-up stories or truth concealing. For sure, talking about the Chechen conflict may lead to polemic and sometimes hot-headed discussions. Mr. Bodansky knows that, but fends off unfair criticism by delving deep into facts, not fantasy. If people like it or not, that's another matter. Unfortunately, there were some "readers" who `ve rated the book with just a single star, without having actually read the book. They simply put out a rosary of opinions, allegations and falsehoods based on their fondness for "freedom fighters" like Dokku Umarov or Osama Bin Laden. They simply disregard the sad reality that there's no other way out for Russian leadership but eliminate those jihadists in their hide-outs, if they don't give up fighting and resort to amnesty. What's interesting to note is that Bodansky affirms that the Russian strategy under Putin-Medvedev in the Caucasus is working, with its highs and lows, albeit some criticism from Human Rights Groups and Western-based NGOs. Anyway, the situation in Chechnya today is far better if compared to the 90's,when it used to be under the anarchic rule of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbyev and Aslan Maskhadov, with several other ruthless warlords pinpointing the region and destabilizing it as Shamil Basayev, Khattab, Arbi Barayev or Salman Raduyev. Fortunately, all of them have been flat and fairly sent to Gehenna. Certainly it's questionable the way Ramzan Kadirov rules the republic, but there seems to be no other reasonable alternative to Moscow. To Kadirov's side counts the fact that Grozny has been nearly rebuilt, as well as other Chechen cities. Unemployment rate is still high, but is decreasing, and other urban services have been gradually restored or rebuilt.
If you are looking for just one single book to read about the Chechen conflict and all its ulterior implications, that's the ultimate story. If you want something that comes close, but doesn't equal Bodansky's work, then try the British author James Hughes.

This book is similar to , and overlaps some of his other books, in particular The Secret History of the Iraq War. The most notable feature, similar to his other books, is the total lack of footnoting. He claims his information is based on public knowledge and announcements, as well as his own network of contacts in government. military and intelligence services, in particular the Israeli service. He says he cannot reveal many sources for confidentiality reasons, which makes sense, though it would be nice to know which information was from public and which from private sources.
The book follows the two phases of the Chechen war, the first in which Yeltsin essentially gave Chechneya independence, and the second when Jihadists tried to use Checneya as a base and training center for global (Or at least Caucasus) jihad and Putin felt compelled to re-establish Russian control to protect Russia's influence in the neighboring states. He indicates Russia's success in phase 2 was due to using Chechen forces as much as possible and supporting the population, who had quickly learned how bad it was to live under an Islamic regime. I feel this bears a strong resemblance to the recent success of the surge in Iraq. It would not have worked earlier, the Sunnis needed to see for them self how bad it was to be controlled by Al Quaida in order to support the Americans in suppressing the insurrecton.

The book provides a continuing narrative full of amazing detail, especially of the Islamic's inner workings - their announcements, meetings, motives. On the whole it seemed to ring true, painitng a picture of an enemy obcessed with dominating the Islamic world, and eventually the whole world. This meant no peace could be meaningful with them, it would just be a period of re-armament for the Jihad.

He leaves a few loose ends, pehaps because he doesn't know, but a statement to that effect would have been welcome. In particular, he claims Al Quaida obtained two suitcase nuclear bombs from Russia and hired former Russian specialists to arm them, but does not tell there current status. He also claims that Islamic terrorists brought down the American Airlines flight to The Dominican Republic in 2001, although that explanation was rejected by the NTSB; they claim over-maneuveering the rudder caused the plane to break apart. He does not give any explanation with his disagreement with the official findings. Conspiriacy theory anyone?

This and his other books combine to show an implacable enemy whose leadership generally has no interest in co-existence and peace. According to him there is no such thing as a spontaneous demonstration, or an independent attack such as a suicide bombing(Used frequenly in Russia in the name of the Chechen Revolution); they are all orchestrated by leaders.

He frequently mentions the use of Georgia as a staging area/safe haven for Chechen Jihadists. This may explain Russia's heavy-handed treatment in the recent border war with Georgia; they were taking an opportunity to eliminate the Jiahadis's haven.

Overall, the book fills in and explains an otherwise little understood but highly significant piece of recent history. This is its primary value, as he has brought out the nature of the enemy in his other books, and this just re-inforces it.

As a retired person I have been getting most of my info on Chechna from the newspaper. This book dramatically opened my horizon in thinking in terms of global terrorism. It was difficult to read about the details of the Beslan incident and how the civilians understandably charged the terrorists and in so doing created a snafu for the special forces.
It seems that the Russians and Chechens are going to have to learn to live together if for no other reason than business. The author states that the Grozny-area refineries furnish 90% of the aviation fuel for the entire Soviet Union.
Based on the author's reference I have ordered the book The Sabres of Paradise which describes the times of the Imam Shamil.
Overall I considered the book a very informative read, my only negative criticism being a lack of maps. I read the book with an atlas in my lap.