chicot

Right, like the Russians and Israelis are going "easy" on the Chechens and Palestinians at the moment. And why on earth should what happens in Afghanistan and Iraq make so much difference to stateless Chechens and Palestinians? Do you expect them to say "well, our circumstances haven't improved, but Afghanistan and Iraq are democracies so that's alright then" ?

I don't think anyone argued that there would be no terrorism whatsoever if Iraq was not invaded. As other posters are pointing out, Chechnya is unrelated to Iraq and what happened with Iraq was unlikely to have much effect as regards that problem.

Huh? What exactly was debunked and how?

I love the way that France's refusal to go along with the US's adventure in Iraq is somehow interpreted as "caving in". When exactly did France "cave" before? I doubt there's much chance of the French reversing this policy. I wouldn't be too suprised if these French journalists were released in much the same way as the British journalist kidnapped a couple of weeks ago was released when Al-Sadr intervened (not saying Al-Sadr is going to get the French hostages released but someone may well lean on them to let them go).

Congratulations.