Thoughts On Terrorism, War On Iraq, And Gun Control
Andrei Vorobyov
Issue date: 11/11/02 Section: Worldview
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A terrible tragedy occurred in Moscow, Russia a couple of weeks ago. Armed Chechen terrorists took over 800 spectators hostage during a musical performance. Threatening to blow up the theater and kill all the hostages, the terrorists were demanding an end to war in Chechnya.
Officially, the Russian government started negotiations with the terrorists, while unofficially (and supported by public opinion), the government was preparing to storm the theater. After several days of "negotiations", the government's Special Forces stormed the theater, killing all the terrorists and inadvertently killing 118 hostages with poisonous gas. Many of the hostages are still in hospitals suffering from gas poisoning, and the number of hostage deaths is expected to rise.
While there were some anti-war demonstrations in Moscow and official inquiries have been opened into the usage of the poisonous gas during the storm, the prevailing mood is the jubilation of "kicking terrorists' ass". Thus, Russian president Vladmir Putin's popularity has soared and many war hawks are urging for even tougher measures in Chechnya and against Chechens.
It is impossible to make "should have, could have" arguments about the Moscow hostage crisis. We do not know whether the 118 hostages could have been saved, or how the events would have unraveled had the government decided to continue negotiations. What is possible though, is to use the Moscow crisis as an example in trying to understand the dangers our country is facing and how these dangers should be dealt with.
Normal human reaction, when faced with the events of September 11th or the Moscow hostage crisis, is shock. To those of us who were raised believing in the utmost value of a human life, it is impossible to understand how somebody could try to reach their goals by destroying thousands of human lives.
After shock comes anger. If they do it to us, we should do it to them – we think. The mentality of playground-fighting kids eclipses logical adult thinking process: they hit us hard – we should hit them even harder. Actually, we should hit them so hard, that they won't think about ever hitting us again. I admit, my first reaction after the initial shock, to both September 11th and the Moscow crisis, was to use the most elite Special Forces to inflict pain on those who harmed us.