BUCK PASSED

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev blames Russia's security services for the Beslan school Fiasco:

Basayev said that top security officials in North Ossetia, the region where the attack occurred, had opened a safe route beginning Aug. 31, 2004 — the day before the Beslan siege began — for rebels to reach the regional capital, Vladikavkaz. The alleged double agent was supposed to have gained Basayev's confidence and then lead his men into a trap as they were en route to seize regional government buildings in Vladikavkaz on Sept. 6.

Instead, as they were supposed to be performing reconnaissance, the militants seized the school, Basayev said. Their demands were for Russian troops to withdraw from Chechnya or for President Vladimir Putin to resign, Basayev said.

If true this makes America's security apparatus look like a Swiss watch in comparison.