The way Russia spells it caused 117 Dead, 150 in intensive care, and 45 in grave condition.
The Russian Special Forces ended the 2-day takeover before dawn Saturday with a raid on the theater shortly before the hostage-takers, rebels from Russia's embattled Chechnya region, had threatened to begin killing their more than 800 captives.
The mysterious gas Russian forces pumped into a theater to end a hostage crisis was an opiate — a chemical related to morphine.
CNN reports on the anger felt by the Russian people because officials wouldn't tell the doctors what kind of gas was used.
"Alexei Arbatov, head of the Russian parliament's defence committee, told CNN: I blame the authorities for not providing the doctors with antidotes and instructions on how to use them. "
What do you think? Was it okay for Russia to respond to the Chechen threat this way? Even though many innocent lives were lost?
Is Chechnya trying on terrorism because it has proven successful for Palestine?
Yes, I said successful.
Alan Dershowitz explains it from Salon.com: " You can't think about terrorism without thinking about Palestinian terrorism. Palestinians began international terrorism. It started with them in 1968. They used it as the first resort, not the last resort. They invented it, they perfected it, they benefited from it and they taught the world how to use it and that it would be successful."
"Everybody knows of the plight of the Palestinian people. And yet when you put the Palestinian situation in comparison to, say, the Kurds, the Tibetans and the Armenians, those claims are certainly no greater. In fact, they're probably considerably lower; the Tibetans have been under occupation for a far longer time period, there are many, many more of them, and they've never been offered a state. The Palestinians were offered a state in 1948 and they turned it down. They could have had a state between 1948 and 1967 and they turned it down. They were offered a state at Camp David and they turned it down.
So when you do any kind of a moral comparison, you ask yourself, why has the Palestinian cause leapfrogged over all other causes? Why has the pope met with Arafat seven times and never met with a Kurdish leader or an Armenian leader? It's a reflection of the success of Palestinian terrorism. Now, that doesn't mean that it's the only way of achieving success; my own personal view is that the Palestinians would have actually achieved a state had they engaged in civil disobedience, Martin Luther King-like. But they opted for the tactic of terrorism and for them it has worked. "
I've thought (and said) the same things many times.
The main lesson Arafat has taught the world is that terrorism works.
At least, so far. Is it too late to undo that lesson? That's the only real question in my mind.
Great post!
There is going to be plenty of bloodshed for a long time. Sometimes I honestly believe that terrorists get hooked on the "terror" aspect and miss their original intent. There are truly evil people; the sad fact is that someone actually had to teach them to hate.
The Russians are going to make Israel look easier than a high school substitute teacher on a friday afternoon in May. My fiance is in Russia waiting for her interview at the embassy. I'm going to be in friggin Moscow in December!!! I used to fear the cold weather. Now I only fear that the Russian SWAT team might come to my rescue...my plan is: Airport, hotel, embassy, hotel, airport, America...(avoiding the theatre and any McDonalds at any cost)
Question: How'd you and Dean get so damn intelligent? Your website is like a narcotic...I could only dream to be invited to dinner with you....(that is my number three dream actually)
btw, I live in west texas and would bring dinner rolls.
Given that the terrorists had the place, and themselves, wired to blow up, and that the Russians thought (because of the gunshots they heard from the theater) that the terrorists had started killing hostages and they had threatened to do, I don't see that they had any choice but to pump in that gas.
They appear to have miscalculated the effects, but they could have easily lost the whole building and everyone in it (including the troops going in) without the gas.
It appears that the people who lost family in the raid are calling the soldiers killers, and the relatives of the survivors, and the survivors themselves, are calling them saviours. All in all, it was bad, but it would probably have been a hell of a lot worse if they had not done as they did.
Also, I suspect that the amount of terrorism we see in Russia is going to be less than we see elsewhere, given that Russia apparently shoots hostage takers on the spot.
I just can't help remembering the old days when the policy was that you NEVER negotiated with terrorists.
[I think that went out the window after the Iran-Contra affair...]
Anyway, it was Kissinger, I believe, that said then if he were to be captured by terrorists ("captured"..! what an anachronistic idea!) he said that the US should just presume him to be dead and proceed to deal with the terrorists accordingly.
Dunno why I thought of that this when I heard about the denoument of this incident.
Question: How'd you and Dean get so damn intelligent?
Mine's natural...Dean works very, very hard at his. ;-)
Your website is like a narcotic...I could only dream to be invited to dinner with you....(that is my number three dream actually)
btw, I live in west texas and would bring dinner rolls.
Ah, many people dream that dream - I am an excellent cook. Polish women usually are but I am better than most. ( Patting self on back)
Of course, you might have trouble keeping your food down - we have a letter from GW Bush in a frame, and a photo of he and Nancy Reagan christening USS Ronald Reagan hanging in our living room.
It would be a bit of a drive for you...the rolls would get stale. Besides, we only drink English and Irish brew in our home.