Chechnya

Re “Misguided War on Chechnya,” editorial, Oct. 7: Your criticism of Russian foreign policy is absurd. You suggest that the “sensible” thing for Moscow to do was to work with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov to bring the Wahhabi militants “under control.” Yet, it was Maskhadov’s inability to keep Shamil Basayev and his followers in check that precipitated this conflict to begin with.

Your indignation over Russia’s handling of the war smacks of self-righteous hypocrisy. Where was your outrage when elderly women and their grandchildren wound up on the receiving end of U.S. cluster munitions in Yugoslavia? Please come down off of your moral high horse and take a long look in the mirror.

SCOTT M. PATTERSON

Ontario