If you can spin today's news in a way that doesn't foster paranoia, pray do write in. Meanwhile, we're following the spin on a grenade rolling into a Moscow theatre, as a mystery gas pumps through the ventilation, immobilizing captors and hostages alike.
Pity reporters assigned to this one. Whom can they trust? The Russian government has repeatedly changed its story and refuses to divulge key facts -- in particular, the identity of the gas that was used to paralyze the theater's occupants so troops could enter safely. Apparently, not even the doctors assigned to treat patients have been told what they breathed in.
Why did Russian troops choose to storm the theater when they did? The answer makes a difference to the families of victims, who are wondering aloud why the soldiers did not have medical personnel waiting outside to aid those affected by the paralyzing gas. In early accounts, officials said that troops rushed the theater Saturday morning because the Chechens had begun acting on their threat to execute hostages. At one point, it was reported that rebels had shot 15 hostages. Now, the government has scaled the figure down to two (including a woman killed for still-unknown reasons on the first day of the siege). What's more, according to eyewitness reports in various outlets (the New York Times, the Independent, the Globe and Mail), the hostages who were shot Saturday were not deliberately executed but rather accidentally hit by bullets aimed at a boy who suddenly charged for the exit.
We'll take an eyewitness account over a shifting government statement every day, but as the Washington sniper case made clear, eyewitnessings can be pretty shaky, too. In this case, take a theater crowded with more than 750 hostages and about 50 bomb- and gun-toting rebels. Multiple the fear times two days without food (and, we're guessing, much sleep). Subtract the hostage-takers, nearly all of whom were killed in the rescue. Take away at least one-seventh of the hostages -- the official body count of those who've died so far from the gassing. Remove almost all of the rest into hospitals, surrounded by troops. Add the consequences of a mystery chemical that affects memory. (One popular theory holds that the substance is a variant of BZ, which the Financial Times describes as "a colourless, odourless incapacitant with hallucinogenic properties, first used by the U.S. in Vietnam.") Throw in the global political stakes of interpreting the Russian rescue more or less heroically. Now go hunt the truth.
If we can't blindly trust someone else's eyes, surely we can trust our own? Not so, says the Wall Street Journal, which claims that Russian footage of the dead Chechen leader Movsar Barayev "reaching out to a half-empty liquor bottle" had been "clearly confected for the camera." The goal? A "taunt against Chechen hostage-takers who had cloaked their brutal Moscow raid in the rhetoric and symbols of militant Islam, a faith that prohibits alcohol." (See the BBC and Associated Press for conflicting hostage reports as to whether the captors drank or took drugs.)
One way to measure this story's importance is to watch the care with which reporters avoid the word "terrorists." Instead, in most accounts, the Chechens are described as "captors," "militants," "rebels," even, rather awkwardly, as "hostage-takers." The term "terrorists" pops up in the words of hostages (BBC) and politicians, such as a Russian parliamentarian who no longer advocates talks with Chechnya (WSJ). It's a word favored by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who insists, "This is a reminder of the
tragedy that can unfold when terrorists attack." (NYT) We didn't see Fleischer making an overt connection to Iraq, but then, he didn't have to. The Journal did it for him on its op-ed page: Now, "perhaps Mr. Putin will be more disposed to help" the U.S. push the U.N. "to disarm Saddam Hussein." You remember Saddam Hussein, the guy with the secret and dangerous weapons? - Lori Patel
The Slaughter in Moscow
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/opinion/28MON1.html
Putin's 9/11
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1035770809137999831,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)
How a frightened boy brought the drama to an end
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=346562
'All they had to do was push the button' (Globe and Mail)
http://tinyurl.com/29ey
Aftermath Shakes Support For Russia's Chechen Fight
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1035633894272033831,00.html
(Paid subsccription required)
Hostage Toll in Russia Over 100; Nearly All Deaths Linked to Gas
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/international/europe/28RUSS.html
Gas Use Questioned in Moscow Raid (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20021028_13.html
Official Silence on Gas Raises Vexing Questions
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/international/europe/28GAS.html
The Survivors Dribble Out, All With a Story to Tell
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/international/europe/28THEA.html
Putin Sees Mixed Victory Over Chechen Terrorists
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB103575441339661591,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)
Siege gas death toll set to climb
http://tinyurl.com/29bs
Speculation mounts over secret Moscow gas
http://tinyurl.com/29br
Questions raised over Moscow siege
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365461.stm
Hostages speak of storming terror
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2363679.stm
