by Simon 43 Replies latest social current
Such sad and tragic events for young kids to be caught up in.
Which parents dropping their kids off for school would imagine that they would never be seen alive again.
Perhaps final proof that "a hard-line approach" does NOT work. It never has and it never will. All it does is escalate the violence and inhumanity.
The captives had nothing to eat and drink. Probably, they would all have died of thirst after a few days. I think the Russians did the right thing. Atleast some survived.
That makes me so angry that children have to be caught up in the middle of such atrocities. It seems that so often the innocent ones are the ones that actually end up paying for the bad actions of others. It is such a shame...
What kind of mind has to target the defenseless children.
Did the army go in? From what I've heard the rebels detonated some explosives and initiated the whole thing. Maybe full details are still to come out though.
Whatever happened, it was the kids and families who suffered the most but it could have been much worse.
Perhaps final proof that "a hard-line approach" does NOT work. It never has and it never will. All it does is escalate the violence and inhumanity.
That's my opinion, too. If you think about the situation carefully, it proves that next move belongs to Russia, or Putin and his advisors more exactly. They can decide to continue the Chechnyan oppression thus breeding more frustrated monsters such as the Osetia hostage takers. Or they may consider political solutions.
One point most regional and global superpowers seem to miss is that no matter how big their military advantage is, they cannot eradicate or constantly humiliate entire nations in this age of suicidal terrorism.
Oppression creates frustration which is in turn given vent to in terrorist atrocities.
Peace in Russia is not possible without a fair political solution to the Chechnyan problem. Neither is peace possible in Israel as long as new Jews are settling on the West Bank of Jordan. I wonder how many Israelis and Russians will have to die before their leaders finally get it?
http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/96/382/14035_storm.html
| Federal forces storm seized school |
| 09/03/2004 15:35 |
The exact number of killed and wounded hostages is not known yet The relatively quiet situation around the school ended suddenly on Friday afternoon. An aid to the North Ossetian president, Lev Dzugayev, said at 1:00 p.m. that terrorists had agreed to hand over hostages' bodies to Russian troops. The evacuation started. Powerful explosions rocked the school, when a vehicle drove up there to take the hostages' bodies. Several hostages ran out of the school building several minutes after the terrorists started shooting. Military men carried the hostages to safety. The skirmish continued for about 20 minutes. Camouflaged men started taking women and children out of the building. Some children were covered with blood. Hostages were running out crying. Ambulance vehicles arrived immediately.
The bombs blew up in the loft of the building, near the gym, where the hostages were being kept, NTV reports. Children started running out of the building soon after that. The terrorists opened chaotic fire on people and neighboring buildings. Military structures had to act according to the developing situation, the special headquarters said. The fire resumed at 1:30 p.m. A group of naked children ran out of the school. SkyNews channel broadcast a live report of the battle: adults and children were seen running away from the school; many of them had no clothes on. According to eyewitnesses, soldiers were taking blood-stained children away from the school; they were carrying some children on stretchers. The special headquarters said that it was not the storm of the building. A group of hostages fled, the terrorists opened fire on them and the military men had to respond in return to defend the hostages. A correspondent of a Polish TV channel has been wounded in the skirmish, NTV reports. Several civilians have been wounded in the battle too. The special headquarters do not have the exact information about the number of rescued and killed hostages. Itar-Tass reports with reference to eyewitnesses. People continued running out of the building, when special services broke in. The skirmish continued from 1:30 to 1:40 p.m. Russian troops were battling the gunmen, who tried to hide in a residential area near the school. |
The images on TV showed a beefy russian soldier holding the dead body of a young child and sobbing. The child wasn't his.
It really is hard to comprehend what woudl drive people to such barbarism. I guess the only thing is previous barbarism shown to them?
Whenever we see the images of dead children being thrown into the back of some truck after an airstrike and it just dismissed as 'collateral damage' we should remember: they were someone's kids, someone is going to want revenge.
I know I would.
This whole thing is just so terrible. I understand that one woman who was released went back into the building because her children were still prisoners; I don't know if she or her kids made it out alive. A few of the people I've spoken to today have voiced the (apalling) view that at least it's way over there, and no American children are in danger. I don't care, their lives are in no way less valuable. I'm just so sad over this.
What the hell is wrong with the Russian security forces? How in the hell could they have allowed some of the hostage takers to escape? Hello? Establish perimeter? Perhaps they were short of soldiers but I'm shocked by some reports saying hostage takers were able to leave the building with children hostages.
