Yelena Rudneva of Gazeta.Ru interviews State Duma deputy and an FSB reserve general Gennady Gudkov. (Transcript in its entirety can be found on mosnews.com)
Rudneva: Is it possible that gas or some other narcotic or poisonous substance will be used if the school building is stormed?Phelps insightfully ruled out this method as well:Gudkov: No. There are children in there.
Rudneva: But there were also children inside the Nord-Ost musical building...
Gudkov: For the most part, they had been released before the raid. As regards the school there are a great many children. I do not think that in this case anyone will risk using gas or other substances. They will try to use every opportunity to talk till the very end.
"Do you know why they picked a school? Body mass. They knew that any amount of gas like the Russians used in the Moscow Theater episode that would put down the terrorists would be a deadly dose for the children."A little more light was shed on the importance of Leonid Roshal
Gudkov: "I do not know how poor Dr. Roshal will hold those talks; he has already risked his life more than once. But I think that if the doctor fails to help, no other negotiator will cope."Apparently Dr. Roshal must be an invaluable negotiator, indeed.
This part really gets me...
Rudneva: According to some news reports, members of an organization called Ingush Jamaat could be involved in organizing and perpetrating the attack.Then who are they then? Gudkov asserts the terrorist network has but one aim, to intimidate. But to intimidate the Kremlin into doing just what, exactly? Though my knowledge of Russia is mostly limited to Soviet history and very little about ethnic conflict, I do know Chechens are often lumped into one big "separatist movement."Gudkov: This does't matter. Today they pose as Chechen separatists; tomorrow they support al-Qaeda; the day after tomorrow they assume some other guise. Yet, they all belong to the same group.
The problem with using such homogenizing means of defining the actors in these incidents is the simple fact that it ignores literally centuries upon centuries of georelational conflict between Russia, Chechnya and Georgia, too. The Chechen separatist movement was not merely another domino falling from the Empire after the crumbling of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Moscow-based Centre for Studies on the Caucasus, conducted a very thorough history survey of Chechnya commissioned by the UNHCR. It can be found here.
For a fairly exceptional account of the history of the Russian-Chechen conflict, written in a fairly easy to read conversational historical narrative, read:
"Today the truth is far more obvious. The main threat to Putin's presidency as a way of running the country is posed not by the economy or by widespread discontent over housing issues and pension reform. Terrorism is the real threat. [...]Does this not all sound familiar?The difference between Russia in 1999 (the raid into Dagestan), 2002 (Nord Ost) and 2004 is that, however the authorities decide to resolve the crisis in Beslan, it is obvious that the state must review and reform its anti-terrorist strategy in Chechnya, its system for combatting terrorism nationwide and the way the security services operate. The crisis has now reached a new level, requiring a qualitatively new approach.
We need to face facts: We're not conducting an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya. We're at war with terror and terrorists. And special forces units don't win wars, the people do. But before the people can rise to this occasion, they must be involved in forming the plan of attack. [...] We need to change the way law enforcement and the security services operate. Throwing money at the problem won't help. These agencies must be held publicly accountable for their performance.
Softly damning 9/11 Reports aside, the recent string of terrorist attacks and activities in Russia just goes to show how unprepared all civilized nations really are in combatting the threat of Islamo-fascist terrorism.
Remember, we in the United States are surrounded by Iberian nations in the south and a highly Europeanized nation in the north.
"Famous Russian General Yakov Kulnev, who first defeated the Swedes and Turks and then routed Napoleon in 1812, once joked: 'Mother Russia is good because somebody is always fighting in one of its corners'.”
Russia is right smack in the middle of the ethnic and religious tensions and conflict of Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and all of Asia--surrounded on all sides. Their only comfort--the chilling Artic.
(And we thought we had a problem.)
Late Wednesday night, one of the troops called his commanding officer on the radio with a grim request.Posted by Kyer at September 4, 2004 03:23 AM"Can we shoot the dogs? They are chewing on the bodies," said the man, who gave only his first name, Oleg. The officer turned down the request, saying that any shooting could alarm the hostage-takers, and they did not want to risk setting off a firefight or put the hostages' lives in danger.