Mephisto2

I'm very familiar with the Entebbe action.

And there are many many differences. In fact, so many that the only real comparision is that they both concerned hostage situations.

1) There were, by some accounts, well over 1000 hostages in that school
2) The "resuce mission" was not planned, so criticising the Russians for the way it happened is simply ridiculous.
3) The hostage-takers included suicide bombers. Not really a "right way" to deal with them now, is there?
4) In Beslan, there were hundreds if not thousands of civilians surrounding the school, some of whom themselves opened fire on the terrorists during the initial firefight, thereby helping to precipitate the attack.
5) Everyone did not die, as you state.

A step by step analysis of what actually happened can be seen at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h...n_s/html/1.stm


What happened was a tradgedy. The Russians could have handled it better. For one thing, the civilians should NOT have been anywhere near the school and the whole area should have been evacuated. The utter confusion during the initial assault helped a few of the terrorists to escape for example. This is unforgivable.

But at a fundamental level, it's far too easy for us to criticise the Russians for what happened. They didn't plan to storm the school, and only did so after the terrorists starting shooting fleeing children in the back and a bomb (on of their bombs) had gone off causing the roof to collapse.

I really hate arm-chair generals sitting at home in the safety and security of their own living rooms, tsk-tsking and saying "We could have done better".

ANYONE, indeed everyone, could have done better. There's always room for improvement. But that's always the case, isn't it? Hindsight is great after the fact.

I think they did the best they could in an impossible situation.


Mr Mephisto

powerclown

No need to be sarcastic mephisto, we're all adults here.

You weren't there - I wasn't there. Neither of us knows exactly what happened. The scene seems to have been an extraordinarily complicated one. The Russians - historically - haven't had a very good record of success in these matters in the last 20 years. Its well-documented and there's no point arguing it further. They screwed this up, they screwed the theater situation up, they screwed up grozny, and I could keep going. I'm just going to leave it at that.

Mephisto2

Exactly where was I being sarcastic?

In fact, I worded my response above as "fairly" as I could. I believe they did the best they could, but that there were things that could have been organized better? How is that sarcastic?!


Mr Mephisto

Locobot

You weren't being sarcastic, powerclown just doesn't know what that word means. Thanks for the thorough and sincere analysis.

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h...n_s/html/1.stm

You can't plan for something like that, complete chaos.
Nine of (at least) 23 were Arab. Is there a precedent for this? I didn't think these groups mixed so freely. When the BBC says "Arab" do they mean they're from Saudi Arabia or just middle eastern? What will Putin's response be if they're all from U.S. backed Saudi Arabia? Should he follow the Bush doctrine and attack the U.S.?

Strange Famous

What can be said?

How can anyone imagine that an atrocity like this can further any political course?

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Seaver

"Arabs" are people Morocco all the way to Kuwait.

Chechnia (sp?) has been putting out time and time again for Muslim support of the infadels (sound familiar). These 9 are probably either mercs or answered the call to Jihad.

Zeld2.0

Perhaps the best way to describe it is that Chechnya started as a civil-war separatist movement that called for outside help through ties

ARTelevision

Stepping in to moderate this thread based on the exchange a few posts above.

Chill, please...get it back on track and avoid the personal.

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create evolution

pan6467

I'm just waiting for the next time the IRA does something and the UK and Bush claim Al-Quida influences the very Catholic, very Irish organization.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Mephisto2

ROFL

I know it shouldn't, but that made me laugh pan.

Mr Mephisto

Seaver

lmao THE POPE HAS TIES TO BIN LADEN!