Here's the latest speculation from a better-informed source than I (Jane's Defence Weekly), on what gas was used to knock out the Chechen terrorists, but which, alas, overdid it and caused extensive collateral damage. I thought Putin looked strained and sincere when he asked the Russian people, "please forgive us":
As Russians remain quiet, certain candidates emerge as the gas used to break Moscow hostage crisis By John Eldridge, Editor, Jane's Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Defence The Russians remain reluctant to identify the gas that was used at dawn on 26 October to overcome around 50 Chechen rebels who had taken several hundred people hostage in a Moscow theatre on 23 October. This has presented an enduring challenge to the medical services at Moscow hospitals in providing the right type of care. It is not clear from the reports emerging from Moscow whether the hostage casualty and death toll discrepancies (from �some 75� originally announced by a Russian minister to over 108 at 21.00hrs on 27 October) are due to the after-effects of the gas, to trauma injury or simply due to early miscounting in the aftermath. In order to achieve surprise, the Russian special forces would have needed three features of a chemical agent (a �gas�). The first two would be vital; the third highly desirable. The agent would need to be extremely quick-acting and invisible; otherwise some of the terrorists would have been able to see it, avoid it and detonate their explosives. Also, injury caused to the hostages would need to be temporary if the authorities were not to be accused of taking unnecessary risks. Assuming a considered reaction to the crisis, there are two possibilities. Firstly, the agent used may have been something completely new or a new combination of existing agents. This would be one explanation for the PR clamp-down and its identity would be unlikely ever to be revealed. Only the long-term victim effects would identify it over time. Secondly, the agent used could be something old but effective, such as a riot-control agent. However, there are older types of agent that have in the past been used both for riot control and for training but are now no longer used because of their toxicity. Included among these is Adamasite (agent DM). It is very quick acting and causes intense flu-like symptoms in the victim and, at high concentrations, severe respiratory distress, nausea and vomiting. In other words, most of those affected with high concentrations would have been removed by stretcher. The symptoms are likely to disappear within an hour or so, according to most sources, but in susceptible victims the effects may be more severe, requiring hospitalisation. Adamasite is thus a likely candidate for the mystery �sleeping gas�, although the hostage death toll from the event is unusually high. Even though DM is lethal in extremely high concentrations, a huge quantity would have been required to deliver this level of death and injury. However, it is by no means impossible that sarin or another nerve agent was used alone or in combination with other types of agent. The two-fold imperative of achieving complete surprise and instant incapacitation would have been the top Russian priority. A nerve agent constituent to the �sleeping gas� may have been the reluctant choice to achieve this aim. <non-subscriber excerpt from the entire article; alas, I cannot afford the �600 annual subscription to Defence Weekly!> -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland �We do not think that there is an incompatibility between words and deeds; the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated�To think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one�s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action.� � Pericles about his fellow-Athenians, as quoted by Thucydides in �The Peloponessian Wars� Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author�s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
