Putin Says Russia Faces Full 'War' to Divide Nation

In a rare address to his nation, coming at a time of grave crisis, President Vladimir V. Putin said Saturday that the school siege in the southern city of Beslan was an attack on all of Russia and called for the mobilization of society to resist what he called "a total and full-scale war" to splinter the country.

Mr. Putin spoke as the death toll from the violent end of the hostage crisis at Middle School No. 1 in Beslan rose to 330; half of the dead were children. Officials warned that the number of dead would rise further in the city, not far from Chechnya, as workers searched the school's charred wreckage and as more victims succumbed to their wounds in hospitals.

"This is challenge to all of Russia, to all our people," Mr. Putin said. "This is an attack against all of us."

Welcome, Mr. President, to the War on Terrorism. I wish I could say it is good to have you with us, but I extend my heartfelt sympathies to the victims.

In America, the War on Terror is now almost three years old. We have learned a few things from our experiences, and I would like to share those things with you.

We have learned that it is better to fight terrorists where they live, rather than where you live. This will not be easy for you to do. Your terrorists are in large part already within your borders.

We have learned that expensive beaurocracies with a license to hassle provide no safety, and that treating terrorists as ordinary criminals is a license to fail. Instead, seek to intercept and attack terrorists before they strike. Terrorists can be identified by their connections to other, known terrorists. If you seek to identify terrorists you cannot treat them as individuals. Treat it as an espionage case. Trace their connections.

We have learned that it is easy to pass laws that restrict civil liberties under a terrorist threat. We have also learned that it is useless to do so. There are many protestors, dissenters, and petty criminals, but there are few terrorists. Do not be distracted by shadows, Vladimir. Focus on the terrorists.

Combine these aggressive tactics with a distributed defense by allowing your people the right to arm themselves and to carry firearms with them as protection. Soldiers and police cannot be everywhere your people are. But your people are already everywhere. You can trust 99% of your people to handle a gun for self-defense safely, if they are given simple, basic training in gun safety. The people you cannot trust with a firearm are the same people who have no intention of asking your permission before carrying one.

If you cannot summon the courage to give firearms to your people, then give firearms to your pilots and your schoolteachers. That is better than nothing. You will not regret it. Trust your people, and they will trust you.