The Wolves of Islam

Description:

At a little past 9:00 p.m., on October 23, 2002, nineteen young women and twenty-two men bounded from minivans and sprinted through the front doors of the sprawling Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow. Once inside, the troop hurriedly changed into their costumes and, following a well-rehearsed script, took their designated places for the evening’s dramatic finale. These people were not, however, actresses and actors starring in the hit musical Nord Ost, which was entertaining a sellout crowd of 711 spectators in the concert hall. They were Chechen Islamic terrorists-suicide hostage-takers who had come to Moscow to die and take their audience prey with them, unless the Russians immediately withdrew from Chechnya.

The Dubrovka theater siege ushered in a new hostile escalation in the fanatical Islamist Chechens’ ten-year fight against the Russian state. The "wolves of Islam" have adopted terror with maximum civilian casualties as its strategic weapon of choice, are employing the Palestinian model of suicide terror against civilians, and may be plotting with al Qaeda to conduct international terrorist operations abroad.

In Wolves of Islam Paul Murphy tells the story of the principal cast of characters. To drive Russia out of the North Caucasus, Chechen terrorists carry out horrific acts of unimaginable terror. Individually and collectively, they have led Chechnya down the road to chaos, political anarchy, economic ruin, and physical destruction, as they continue to prosecute their Islamic holy war.

Reviews/Endorsements:

Murphy's analysis is 'no holds barred' in describing the brutality of the Islamic warriors. Kidnappings, torture, and mass slaughter are all part of their method of operation. . . . I only hope the American people will be afforded the opportunity to listen to him.
-- Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO, Free Congress Foundation

This is a powerful, impressive, and frank book, one in which the author paints a tough and objective picture of the Chechen conflict. While it is difficult to write about Chechnya without bias, Murphy shows no favoritism. His 'Chechen wolves' are merciless, as is life in this strange enclave of the North Caucasus. The author climbs into the skin of the 'wolf,' not to justify or idealize him, but to explain the true source of the beast's viciousness. The attentive reader also gets a genuine feel for the character of Chechen society and the contradictory consciousness of a people who, in spite of many myths, are prepared to embrace the rule of law, the path to which has been blocked by two wars. Murphy writes in the prologue that his book 'portrays a grotesque and bizarre world of crime, religious extremism, war, and terror in Russia.' That, in fact, is the reality.
-- Aleksei Malashenko, co-director, Ethnicity and Nation-Building Program, Carnegie Moscow Center, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

"An impressively involving, frightening, informative, and thought-provoking survey of immense importance."
-- Bookwatch

". . . .an insightful account of the prolonged Chechen insurgency in the Caucasus. Relevant to both the long war and the ongoing counterinsurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, it looks at a ruthless insurgency animated by nationalism and a radicalized Wahabbist version of Islamist ideaology."
-- Military Review, March-April 2007

Table of Contents:

Prologue

Part I Shamil Basayev: Russia’s Osama bin Laden—the Beginning

Two Grenades for Yeltsin
In the Footsteps of Imam Shamil
Establishing Terrorist Credentials
Drinking Georgian Blood
Jihad Training with International Terrorists
Doing Dudayev’s Dirtywork and the First Chechen War
The First Suicide Mission to Moscow
Enter Arab Fighters and a Dirty Bomb
The “Grozny Offensive”
A Terrorist Turns Reluctant Politician

Part II The Black Arab and the Wahhabi Factor

Embodying the Islamic Warrior Persona
Khattab’s Real Combat Movies
Slaying Armed Russian Infidels—A Religious Calling
Suspect in the Red Cross Murders
Khattab’s Terrorist Schools
The Closed City and Wahhabi Subversion
The Little Wahhabi Republic

Part III Two Presidents and Two Armies

Raduyev the “Lone Wolf” Terrorist
Wolves Have Come to You!
Rising from the Dead
The Thorn in Maskhadov’s Side
Shootout at Teatralnaya Square
The Jamaat Military Alliance and the Berezovsky Hostage Deals
What Raduyev’s Islamic Manifesto Had to Say

Part IV The Godfather of Kidnapping and the Ideologist of Apocalypse

People for Sale
Mutiny in Gudermes
The Akhmadov Brothers
Beheadings and Betrayal
The Many Faces of Movladi Udugov
Udugov’s Respectable Day Job
The Great Chechnya Ideologist
Another Maskhadov Betrayal

Part V Holy Wars in Dagestan and Bombs in Moscow

The “Brothers” Basayev
The Holy Mission
Ganging up on Maskhadov
Establishing the New Imamate
Khattab’s Bombs in Moscow?

Part VI The Wars that Shamil Started

A War to Establish Islamic Rule Everywhere
Wolves are Trapped
Planning How to Fight the Jihad
Basayev’s “Bee Sting” Guerrilla Tactics
Targeting Civilians in the Terror War
Basayev’s First Suicide Battalions
Did Basayev Really Sink the Kursk?
Udugov’s Information Wars
The Maskhadov-Udugov Internet Wars

Part VII The Chechen Money Tree

The Chechen Mafia Branches
From Oil Theft to the Sale of Nuclear Materials
The Captives for Sale and Berezovsky Branches
Pakistan and the Noble Cause of Chechen Muslims
Saudi and Jordanian Branches
Chechnya’s Turkish Commissars
Azeri Traditional Routes
The Shevardnadze Trail
International Islamic Branches and Other Assistance
Personal, Internet Appeals and Video Sales
The Osama and Afghan Branches

Part VIII Hunting Down Terrorist Wolves

Sinking the “Titanic”
The Trial and Sentencing of Raduyev
Dancing with Wolves
Khattab’s Poison Letter
Death of the Messenger and Terror Retribution
Is Basayev Dead or Alive?

Part IX Nord Ost

A Leaderless Jihad?
The Summer of Radicalization
Military Offensives and Planning Terror
The Dubrovka Siege

Part X The Third War

A New Terror War
Recognizing Terror as the Greatest Threat to National Security
Who Are the Real Masters of Chechnya?
What’s Ahead: Are Wolves Thinking Globally Too?

Part XI Epilogue

The Summer 2003 Whirlwind