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| Caucasus |
| Gordievsky's Perspective on Beslan |
| 2004-09-05 |
| EFL The truth is that he [Putin] is at least partially responsible for the fact that the siege ended in so horrible a blood-bath. The Russian siege negotiators and the Spetsnaz (there were several thousand of them) who had surrounded the school were totally unprepared for what happened. They knew that the terrorists had mined the school and had strapped bombs to themselves and its roof, but they had no contingency plans if one of those bombs went off. That was what actually happened: in the chaos which followed the explosion, there was a break-out by some of the children, followed by some of the terrorists. Yet the Spetsnaz had failed to seal off the school, with the result that some of the terrorists managed to get away. There weren't even any ambulances waiting to take the wounded hostages to hospital. Many of the children who died will have been shot by Spetsnaz officers because they were caught in the crossfire between the terrorists shooting at them, and the Spetsnaz shooting at the terrorists. It is distinctly possible that the roof which collapsed and buried many more of the captured children under a pile of rubble was destroyed by a rocket fired by one of the besieging Spetsnaz... Putin believes he can bludgeon the Chechens into submission. Hundreds of dead children from a school in North Ossetia won't be enough to persuade him to change that policy. He may never accept that it has failed. And yet Russia has very little reason to continue to be so intransigent on the issue of greater autonomy for Chechnya. Chechnya's oil reserves are almost spent; the country has few other natural resources; and its "strategic" importance to Russia is largely a myth. Most Chechens are not Islamic fundamentalists, or even seriously Islamic at all. Al-Qaeda is not welcome there, and I regard it as almost inconceivable that there was any serious al-Qaeda involvement in the hostage-taking in Ossetia, despite the claims from the Russians that they have identified 10 "Arabs" among the dead. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #5 OF: "The fact that the Russian military and police are not up to an event involving these people is not such suprise. I expect there is about only three groups that could counter these tactics, SAS, Delta Force and what every Isreal has. " I would add France's GIGN and Germany's GSG9 to your list. Also, FBI's Hostage Response Team is probably underrated. For all of the silliness of Europe's governments, they have some decent ops, developed in responce to Munich, the RAF/SPK,etc. I don't know if EUROPOL has an anti-terror unit- wouldn't suprise me. OF:"Get real folks, as long as you are only reacting to these shits, you are going to be behind the curve." Agreed... |
| Posted by: Anonymous6035 2004-09-05 2:10:26 PM |
| #4 bleh. Judging from the comments of my leftie friends, the distraction from blaming terrorists to blaming Putin is effectively giving them talking points that allow them not to dwell on the obvious - that we are involved in a war for our very survival. |
| Posted by: B 2004-09-05 9:40:11 AM |
| #3 It was the German police in 1972 and they had absolutely no training in hostage rescue. Nobody did really. 1972 was the event that lead to HRT's being created and trained around the world. I even saw an interview were one of the Israeli's they talked said that it was simply assumed that Germans being German, meant the police would take them out easily, but since WWII, Germany really didn't have any kind of special forces. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2004-09-05 3:39:57 AM |
| #2 Oleg Gordievsky: Only part of the Spetsnaz's reputation is justified. They are certainly brutal. But they are not efficient, and never have been - even in the old days of the Cold War, when they were well financed. I'm not sure it is entirely fair to blame problems with rescue operations on the Spetznaz. Hostage rescue is a whole different undertaking from traditional commando operations, where the mission is either surveillance of enemy operations or lightning attack and retreat. Soldiers are trained to kill people. Getting people out alive takes special skills that require a lot of preparation. It's not clear that the Spetznaz was prepared for hostage rescue ops. Note that Germany's commandoes weren't able to rescue any of the athletes held hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics either. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-09-05 2:14:53 AM |
| #1 The deaths were a fore ordained fact. The terrs had no intention of leaving that school and leaving anyone alive. The fact that the first thing they did was kill a number of men to insure there was no resistance in the school was but a prelude to their main intention. They wanted to drag it out as long as possible, killing as many as needed to keep the TV cameras and reporters in the number one spot on every outlet in the world. I am sure they intended to go out in a blaze of glory taking many "infidels" with them to be their servants in heaven. The fact that the Russian military and police are not up to an event involving these people is not such suprise. I expect there is about only three groups that could counter these tactics, SAS, Delta Force and what every Isreal has. Get real folks, as long as you are only reacting to these shits, you are going to be behind the curve. |
| Posted by: Old Fogey 2004-09-05 12:24:33 AM |