| Two years. Condolences to all the families, and hoping that the terrorists are rotting in hell. |
Relatives laid wreaths, lit candles and left photographs of the dead in the gymnasium, where Chechen-led gunmen took more than 1,100 children, teachers and parents hostage on September 1. The KremlinÂ’s envoy for southern Russia, Dmitry Kozak, also laid a floral tribute at the site of the countryÂ’s worst terrorist attack.
“The tragic events of September 2004 are another page that cannot simply be turned or not spoken about,” Kozak said amid lingering questions about the official account of events.
Many Beslan families hold the Russian authorities responsible for the high number of hostages killed, including 186 children, claiming that the crisis was mismanaged and that excessive force was used in the chaotic rescue operation.
| Mismanaged no doubt and a lesson to hostage-response teams everywhere, but put the place where it squarely belongs: on the 32 terrorists who took the children hostage. They were planning to die there and taking as many children as they could with them, and they succeeded. |
| Which they were going to do the instant the Russian rescue team moved, flamethrowers or not. |
Meanwhile, the general prosecutorÂ’s office in Moscow said the inquiry into the events in Beslan would be extended from the September deadline until January 2007.
Thirty-one terrorists were killed in the fighting, according to official accounts. The sole survivor of their group, Nurpashi Kulayev, was sentenced in May to life imprisonment despite calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Russia.
| Never forget. Never forgive. Never 'understand'. |