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ABCNEWS.com : U.S. IDs Gas in Moscow Hostage Crisis
When this crisis drug on for a couple of days, I was convinced that hundreds of hostages were going to die. I expected the terrorists to blow up the building and the people inside and I kept checking the news to see if it had happened yet.
I think it is a credit to Russia that they saved as many lives as they did. It's tragic that so many hostages died, but it's not fair to blame the rescuers. Would it have been better for even one of the bomb-laden women to have detonated her explosives? Or for a couple of terrorists to empty their clips into the crowd? Of course not.
The only criticism I can understand is that they should have prepared the hospitals and doctors better with details of what the gas was or at least how to treat it. But there may be reasons they didn't or couldn't that I know nothing of.
Barring that, I can't imagine a smoother rescue and I think the Russian government is to be commended.
Posted by Robert at October 28, 2002 01:27 PM | TrackBack