>Chris Doss wrote:
>
>>Chechnya again helps Russia's Putin polish image
>
>So what do you think, Chris? Were the 115 necessary casualties, or were the
>authorities too brutal with the gas?
>
>Doug
I hate to say it, but I really don't see how special forces had another option. Realistically, the only other outcome was probably to have everybody in the building die in the explosion the hostage-takers were going to set off (I have little doubt that they would carry through on the threat). Hard for me to imagine another tactic. If they'd just gone in shotting, they would have gotten the entire place blown up, and you would have 800 dead hostages instead of just about 155.
Whether or not the gov. should have given hospitals details of the gas so they could better treat people is another story.
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