[Lady Jag]

The mysterious gas Russian forces pumped into a theater to end a hostage crisis was an opiate -- a chemical related to morphine, Pentagon officials said Monday.

[antidisestablishment]

Hmmm..that means I would have died (hyper-sensitive to opiates). But, I still support the action.

Never give up! Never give up! Never give up!

[Dog Gone]

I figured there was little chance for ANY of the hostages to survive the incident because it was obvious that Russia would not meet the demands, and there were too many terrorists with bombs.

It's a shame so many died, but it's a miracle so many lived.

[DainBramage]

Wouldn't a shot of Narcan have saved some?

[MarMema]

The Bush administration, meanwhile, refused to criticize Russian special forces for using the gas

Thank you President Bush.

[dfwgator]

Too bad it wasn't from a pork derivative just to really throw in the terrorists faces.

[strela]

Bet you a big silver dollar that the next group of terrorists who try a stunt like this bring gas masks.

[joesnuffy]

Hey those werent @Butterball frozen turkeys those berka bimbos had strapped around their waists..those were 15-20 blobs of Semtex...
Any of which detonated would have made hostage rescue moot...

[trebb]

I hate the fact that so many innocents died, but I refuse to miss the miracle of those that survived (it probably would have been the other way around - over 700 dead and only around 100 alive - if the gas wasn't used).

I hear some people are complaining that some of the incapacitated terrorists were executed via head-shots (the soldiers on the raid didn't want them to wake up and try to kill more people and shooting them seemed to be the most expedient method of control) which also makes sense to me.

[Aquinasfan]

"The president abhors the loss of life, but he understands that it is the terrorists" who are responsible for the tragedy, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday

It's pretty sad that this statement even has to be made.

[angkor]

Although its tragic that 100+ died, anyone who blames the Russians is totally ignorant of the way that Chechnyan jihadists treat their hostages.

Not so long ago, we were talking on FR about the Chechnyan snuff flicks being sold in American Islamic mosques, not to mention on jihadist Web sites. These videotaped murders and killings are favorite fare of the Islamist psychopath (of which there are all too many, inspired by their Satanic moon god).

These "rebels" were set to inflict death upon 750 innocent people. No doubt they had a few videocams on scene for the planned slaughter.

The Russians did the right and the best thing possible under the circumstances.

[Bad~Rodeo]

Closest thing i can find is -quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB, BZ) although i'm still researching