Free Republic

September 4, 2004 -- There was a plan, a careful plan of delicate negotiation. But then there were two loud explosions, the plan was blown clean out of the window, and chaos reigned. For what happened next, there was no plan. Ten thousand Russian special forces and Interior Ministry troops ringed Beslan Middle School No. 1. They had been there for three days, and hoped for a peaceful outcome. So, too, did the hundreds of distraught parents held at arm's length by the security cordon. There were already a dozen or so dead within the school, victims of the opening...

[snip]How is it possible that human beings can use the lives of children, hundreds of them, as tools to achieve their own personal political aims? The truth is, the perpetrators of the school siege were not human. They were beasts — savage, bloodthirsty animals. For no human being, no matter how legitimately aggrieved, could so savagely open fire on innocent, helpless kids. It is beyond cowardice. Beyond depravity. By the same token, how is it possible that any nation that considers itself civilized can still ignore — even excuse — the use of terror as a political weapon? And yet,...

September 4, 2004 -- Tragic, despicable, inhumane, cowardly, barbaric, evil and astonishing — the deaths of a hundred or more people including children in a siege at a Russian school sparked strong words for the hostage-takers from world leaders. "This is yet another grim reminder of the lengths to which terrorists will go to threaten the civilized world," President Bush told a campaign rally in Wisconsin yesterday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "It is hard to express my revulsion at the inhumanity of terrorists prepared to put children and their parents through such...

Putin sees Russian tragedy September 4, 2004 - 2:19PM Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the town where commandos stormed a school in which militants were holding hundreds hostage in a chaotic battle that left at least 95 people dead. "All Russia grieves with you," Putin said during a meeting with local officials in Beslan in the North Ossetia region, broadcast on government television. He said targeting children made the hostage crisis worse than other acts of terrorism: "Even alongside the most cruel attacks of the past this terrorist act occupies a special place because it was aimed at children."...

[snip]As they inevitably do, the terrorists reminded the world of their heartless barbarism. Even if France manages to beg the release of its kidnapped journalists in Iraq, it has begun to sense its vulnerability. And all Europeans with a vestige of sense will recognize that the school seizure in Russia could easily repeat itself in Languedoc or Umbria, Bavaria or Kent. An attack on children is an attack on all of humanity. No matter what differences Western states discover to divide them, the terrorists will bring us together in the end. Their atrocities expose all wishful thinking for what it...

RUSSIA'S NIGHTMARE TWO DAYS OF SHEER TERROR By PAUL THOMPSON and JAMES CLENCH THE full horror inflicted on hostages inside the sweltering school gym was revealed by shellshocked survivors last night. For two days 1,200 children and adults stared death in the face after being herded into the gym by terrorists. First, the captors planted two big bombs in the basketball hoops, then trailed cables to smaller devices around the building. Windows were smashed out to restrict the effect of any knockout gas, which was used to end the Moscow theatre siege in 2002. And male hostages were regularly put...

Notorious Chechen Rebel Masterminded School Seige — Report Created: 03.09.2004 19:27 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 19:41 MSK, 13 hours 7 minutes ago MosNews Rebel Chechen leader, Shamil Bassayev, was the mastermind behind the school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, ITAR-TASS news agency reported quoting spokesmen of the Southern Federal District secret service. The operation was organized by Bassayev’s subordinate, Magomet Yevloyev. He is also suspected of having organized the attack in Ingushetia in June. Another infamous Chechen rebel, Doku Umarov, was among the rebels who attacked the school. He was the only one not to wear a...

BESLAN, Russia - The three-day hostage siege at a school in southern Russia ended in chaos and bloodshed Friday, after witnesses said Chechen militants set off bombs and Russian commandos stormed the building. Hostages fled in terror, many of them children who were half-naked and covered in blood. Officials said the toll was at least 250. Early Saturday, 531 people remained hospitalized, including 283 children _ 92 of the youngsters in "very grave" condition, health officials said. Sixty-two hours after the hostage drama began during a celebration marking the first day of the school year, the Russian government said resistance...

They are not "seperatists", they are not "rebels" - the murderers are ISLAMIC TERRORISTS.BESLAN, Russia (AP) - Commandos stormed a school Friday in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding 1,200 hostages, as crying children, some naked and covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. An official said the death toll could be significantly higher than 150. Hours after the midday assault, three of the separatist rebels were reportedly still blockaded in a school basement, trading fire with security forces. A Federal Security Service official said militants were still holding hostages - children among them. The school was largely...