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| Caucasus |
| Criticism of Mysterious Russian Lethal Gas Mounting |
| 2002-10-28 |
| Russia began a day of mourning Monday, October 28, for the victims of last week's hostage drama in a Moscow theater in which 117 people died, amidst mounting criticism of Russia's "callous" use of a mystery gas which experts believe may have been a chemical weapon developed during the Cold War. A blind man could have seen that one coming. As I've said before, it was less callous to gas them and rescue as many as they could than it would have been to allow the crazed killed to slaughter them all by dropping the building on them, or by shooting them one at a time... One hundred and fifteen people died during the special forces operation to rescue more than 800 people taken hostage by a group of Chechen That would make it a handy thing to have for antiterror operations, too. Sounds like it still needs work, though... A Russian expert on Moscow Echo radio said that the dosage of the gas used in the rescue operation had not taken into account the weakened condition of most of the hostages, and the fact that many of them would have been middle-aged, elderly or in uncertain health. On the other hand, the majority are still alive. Had it not been used, chances are they'd all be dead now. Y'pays yer money, and y'takes yer chance. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 At the end of the day, most observers will oppose the use of gas in what turned out to be fatal concentration, and not the use of gas in itself. Putin's hand was forced. God bless anyone else who is put in the same position. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-10-28 19:58:49 |
| #2 If 50 Bad Guys take 750 real people hostage, and then later discover that 200 of the hostages are packing heat, guess who's gonna be unhappy? |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-10-28 16:22:11 |
| #1 Quite so. That Russian expert failed to note that the dosage did take into account the fact that those strapped with bombs could have brought the building down if not immediately disabled. If I were in that situation I'd rather take my chances with the gas (though I wouldn't have been in that situation -- I would probably have been dead, along with a few terrorists). Arm the Russian people, and this won't happen again! (Nah, they won't listen, but I had to say it anyway.) |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2002-10-28 16:15:57 |