> >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).
>
>what did you base that 'lack of doubt' on?
>
>~M.E.
The general record for ruthlessness Chechen militants have, the bombings that take place in Russia all the time, the al-Qaeda rhetoric, the fact that the rebel website called them "smertniki" (suicide soldiers), that they said they had come to take as many infidels with them as they could. The apparent (pop psych diagnosis here) attempt on the part of Barayev Jr. to die a great hero like his uncle.
Chechen warlords are ruthless mo'fos.
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