Friday, September 03, 2004

Russia

Just watching the news as it unfolds from S. Russia. I hope the sick feeling in my stomach is not right. I pray hundreds of children and their parents aren't dead by the end of today. This is the worst feeling I've had since September 11.

UPDATE 6:40pm: I knew I wasn't wrong. There was something about the scene and the intial reports that had convinced me that this was a disaster. The BBC is reporting that at least 150 people have died. But, it's probably worse than that.
Aslanbek Aslakhanov, an aide to Mr Putin who has just arrived in the region, said the death toll would be considerably higher than 150.
I'm sure later on I'll cool off, but right now all I feel is hate for the people who did this. I don't care if the Russian special forces may have bungled the operation - they shouldn't have had to do this in the first place. And, I'll be honest, I'm not that clear as to what's going on in Chechnya, but I sincerely doubt the Russians have deliberately targeted a school full of children.