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| Caucasus |
| Beslan hostage-takers argued over tactics |
| 2004-09-07 |
| The guerrillas who took over a school in southern Russia last week argued heatedly with each other over whether to abandon the siege in the moments leading up to the firestorm of explosions and shooting that killed hundreds of children and adults, Russian officials said Monday. Russian special services had a surveillance tape of the militants fighting about whether to stay or flee just before a bomb they had planted in the school gym went off, prompting Russian commandos to storm the building, a senior Kremlin official said. Investigators were exploring whether the bomb detonated by accident or as a result of the internal dispute. As more details surfaced about the massacre at School No. 1 in the town of Beslan, a partial picture emerged of the guerrillas and the four men who led them into the school, where investigators say they took orders by phone from a Chechen commander, Shamil Basayev. The leaders, they said, included a bodyguard of Basayev's and a former police officer who turned against authorities and led a bloody attack in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia last June. All four leaders were killed in the battle at the school, authorities say. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Hell, I'm sorry, I thought that was purdy damn funny. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-09-07 5:48:22 PM |
| #5 Wheeeeeeeeee! I'm almost wearing a dress! Watch me spin in a weirdly arabic way! Wheeeeeeeeee! Can't wait for the train! |
| Posted by: Tool O Toole 2004-09-07 1:33:12 PM |
| #4 and who can forget the scene from Lawrence of Arabia, where Peter O'Toole claims to be Circassian to explain his blue eyes? They would be arabic speakers, but different in appearance. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-09-07 11:24:48 AM |
| #3 [S]urviving hostages said in interviews that they saw no Arabs and not one was identified as a leader to outside negotiators. Russian investigators are checking out reports ... that some of the attackers came from Jordan and Syria... These could both be true. Northwestern Arabia, including Syria and Jordan, has a sizable Circassian (Northwest Caucasian*) minority. Back in the twenties, lots of them sought shelter in Arabia after the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War. According to some sources, the late, great Khattab was a Circassian of either Jordanian or Saudi birth. *Specifically, the Adygeys, Cherkess, Kabardins, and Abkhazians all fall under the "Circassian" label. |
| Posted by: Another Dan 2004-09-07 4:40:12 AM |
| #2 ...many of them accidentally shot in the back by armed civilian vigilantes who rushed to the school to fight for their children. The proles need some firearms saftey training. How not to shoot your government military operatives in the back would be a good lesson. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-07 4:06:12 AM |
| #1 At this point I would issue internal passports and restrict movement. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-09-07 3:36:23 AM |