I strongly disapprove when attempts are made to whitewash terrorists somehow. Those who deliberately attack innocents, place themselves beyond moral justifications and become dangerous animals to be hunted down. Certainly, I'm for a thorough inquiry how authorities acted in Beslan, but I reject any attempts in the press to treat terrorists like respectable "experts".
From what I saw, there was a break down in effective command and control, quite the opposite from the military operation in Moscow. Here you had the local cops, the local militia, the local military detachments, the special forces and they all seemed to be acting or reacting on their own without effective central control. This is something to fire some generals/colonels over. Of course the fact that some use this as an excuse to "forgive" the terrorists is a crime. Of course, most of these same people don't consider this terrorism since it was only Russians and their children dieing. No one important you see.