Posted on 09/06/2004 2:38:56 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
BESLAN: On the charred planks of the gymnasium of School Number One, amid soot-covered children's sneakers and shell casings, Beslan's aggrieved citizens debated fighting back.
At first, parents, relatives and friends of those who perished in Friday's bloody climax to the three-day siege gathered at the gutted redbrick building to see the destruction with their own eyes.
But the afternoon soon turned into an impromptu town meeting, held in the blackened gym where many of the hostages died.
A few voices in the crowd called for calm, but many insisted that the deaths of so many children be avenged.
"Let's gather up all of the men in the villages and fight," shouted one man.
"If we don't act now, when we calm down we'll end up not doing anything at all," yelled a middle-aged woman, shaking her fist in the air.
Nikolai Betiyev, 52, urged restraint. "Let's bury the bodies first before we think of doing anything. We need to calm down."
"We won't ever forget this," shouted back Taimuraz Metsiyev, a broad-chested, 33-year-old Ossetian who lost several friends and relatives in the siege. "So don't say that in time we'll learn to accept this, and that we have to concentrate on burying our children.
"The people who don't want to fight say 'So many innocent lives will suffer if we take up arms'," Mr Metsiyev continued. "Well, we've already suffered enough. It's time to fight."
Even as the first funeral processions began wending their way through the streets of Beslan, many residents began openly talking of revenge.
They directed their anger at the organisers and abetters of terrorism in the volatile Caucasus region, and said they could no longer rely on local or Russian law-enforcement for protection.
President Vladimir Putin's image as an iron-willed, no-nonsense leader, relying heavily on his KGB past, now counts for little in many people's eyes.
They are furious with what they see as his inability to shield the nation from terrorism and from the fallout of the decade-long conflict in the northern Caucasus. Now, Mr Putin's calls for restraint appear to carry little weight with so many touched by the crisis.
In Beslan, Fatima Ganukova scoffed at the President's surprise visit to the town early on Saturday to meet survivors, saying he should have instead visited the morgue to view the scope of the tragedy.
"Of course, after the funerals our men will try to take matters into our hands," Ms Ganukova said. "And of course, this is the right thing to do."
Paris objects...
Good. It's time to attack Islam, preferably at it's core in Mecca. Russia may be weak, but it can still turn Mecca into a crater.
It is not a good time to be a Muslim in the Caucasus region right now ...
Hey, you folks have to go to the UN first. Putin has been going on your behalf and they told him to sc***. Do you think you will even get to the door of the UN?
This is exactly what Putin was trying to head off.
Will Putin continue to try to stem a reaction from the public? Or will he throw his lot in with them?
These are men calling for calm?
G-d help them!
"Let's gather up all of the men in the villages and fight," shouted one man. "
Good idea. It's what it will take to wint the war on terror since our PC governments won't exterminate the extremist hordes.
if you will not buy knocking down all mosques how about using them for pig pens/houses??
Unfortunately for the Russians, the French, and the Spanish, they don't seem to understand the causal relationship between "shielding" and "FIGHTING."
the best answer yet
My sentiments exactly.
That's been a dream of mine for a long, long time!
Yes, and we also hear a lot of that here on FR, too. I stand with Mr. Metsiyev. He has a right to go after them.
The Muslims really blew it this time. There going to get less sympathy and more hostility.
Good one. Also like your tagline. And then there's: Democrats--they'll take the shirt right off your back.
Beginning with the radical mullahs. Bug the mosques. Advocate violence against the "infidels" and get yer knees broke.
I hope that if such a thing were to happen here, we would not stand aside and cry like children.
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