Posted on 10/27/2002 4:51:11 PM PST by Pokey78
The horrific siege of the Moscow theatre has been brought to a swift, decisive and costly end. Around 120 hostages have died, most of them, it seems, from the effects of the gas pumped into the building before the Russian special forces stormed in. More than 600 people are still in hospital, many in shock and suffering from the noxious and mysterious cocktail used to overcome their captors. All Russia is also in shock at the barely imaginable horror of the past four days, the scale of the bloodshed in the heart of the capital and the numbing realisation that the Chechen war has now spawned a deadly new enemy more commonly associated with the Middle East, the suicide bomber. Already Russians are comparing the attack with September 11; and the long-term consequences could be almost as profound. President Putin has, so far, survived this severe test of his leadership. Despite insidious questions about the appalling intelligence failure, the clumsy handling of the negotiations and the huge risk of using a highly toxic gas on exhausted and innocent captives, Mr Putin’s decisiveness and cool nerves were admirable. Few people in Russia or outside believe he had any alternative but to end the horror as rapidly as possible. He has wisely acknowledged the cost, however, asking forgiveness for his failure to rescue all the hostages. In the relief that many were eventually saved, the Government’s blunders have, for now, been downplayed. But the extraordinary failure to stop such a brazen attack, the lapses in intelligence that allowed so many known terrorists and militants to slip out of Chechnya, and the apparent lack of co-ordination by the authorities during the siege all demand immediate investigation. Of far more urgency is the treatment of those who were rescued. Many remain gravely ill because the special forces have refused to reveal precisely what kind of gas used. This is a disgrace, a throwback to the worst of Soviet military secrecy and a callous disregard for human life. So, too, is the virtual imprisonment of hundreds of victims while the military try to ensure that none of the terrorists escapes. The victims’ relatives must be given immediate access to them. The greatest failure, however, is the old Russian nemesis: the failure to be honest. No one expects total government openness during the tense hours of negotiations, but what desperate relatives and an angry nation have a right to know is how and why decisions were taken and by whom. The use of gas has been shrouded in secrecy and misinformation. If most of the hostages were killed by being poisoned, this terrible fact must be acknowledged. Did the special forces know what they were doing? Had they calculated the risk? Had they foreseen the scale of the disaster? It may be that, after all the details are known, the tactic will be justified as the only one that could be used. But Mr Putin must now firmly demonstrate that the lies and cover-up that turned the Kursk tragedy from a naval disaster into a political scandal will not reoccur. Like September 11, this barbarity has raised a terrible anger within the Russians. It was always clear that capitulation to the Chechens was out of the question: Mr Putin voiced national feeling when he insisted that “Russia will never be brought to its knees”. His capture of the presidency was based on such an uncompromising line. After this outrage he may feel justified in venting Russian anger on Chechnya with new airstrikes on rebel strongholds, brutal round-ups of civilians suspected of militant sympathies, and a scorched-earth policy that would make Chechnya uninhabitable for anyone, militants or moderates. This would play into the hands of the terrorists. Already most of Chechnya has been radicalised by clumsy Russian military repression. The danger of the hostage disaster is that it will evoke exactly the admiration among Islamist extremists that al-Qaeda inspired. Foreign terrorist infiltration must be uncovered and stopped. But unless Mr Putin can open a back-channel to moderates to discuss the political future for Chechnya, there will be more hostage-taking, more suicide bombers and more suffering for ordinary Russians.
But unless Mr Putin can open a back-channel to moderates to discuss the political future for Chechnya, there will be more hostage-taking, more suicide bombers and more suffering for ordinary Russians.Yeah. Just like we opened a back-channel to moderates within the Taliban.
Remember that more than 300 glass vials of nerve gas - russian nerve gas - were brought out of tora bora. And that there seem to have been a number of Arabs among the the hostage takers.
Thanks. I had forgotten that. I think the Russians should expect a gas attack next!
Communications through back channels with moderates is a great idea in no way at all, for there ain't no moderate Chechnyans, they've all been al-queda-ized. Time for them to die.
Wonder how good they feel, seeing the pics of their terrorist bitches, dead in the theatre seats, asleep at the wheel. Those pics sure made me feel good. Empty husks, disgraced in death, already through the Gates of Hell. Yeah!
From this point on Islamic states will either be outposts of IslamoFacism or the targets of IslamoFacism.
The global Jihad is underway and it may very well become World War III.
No. Chechnya has been radicalized by terrorists, their repression/murder of moderate Chechen voices, and their brainwashing of the young.
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