Children of Beslan

[shereads]

With the power out here for a day, and local news focused exclusively on our storm for days before that, I somehow missed this news. Caught some of the funerals just now on NBC.

And on the same newscast, there was the story of inner city kids from Boston whose trip to Disneyworld was disrupted by the storm.

We can celebrate the lives of children in one hemisphere and bury children in the other, and we can change channels, and learn nothing.

Wherever those babies are now, I hope they forgive us.

 

[minsue]

Edited coz my rose pic disappeared.

 

[shereads]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/photo/world/G62118-2004Sep04.html?referrer=emaillink

 

[minsue]

sigh

 

[herecomestherain]

Thoughts on a Russian School Day



Sometimes
My simple mind
Would like to know
If the human capacity for
Evil is limitless
And
My heavy heart
Would like to know
If the human capacity for
Suffering
And
Misery is finite
And
Sometimes
I wonder
What it means to be human
And
If there will ever be peace
And
If there is a God
And
Sometimes
My simple mind
And
My heavy heart
Tell me
No
And mostimes
It makes me weep

 

[Just-Legal]

This was one of those rare occasions where I actually screamed but didn't realise I was doing it...

 

[The_old_man]

I suggest a ten-megaton answer posted in Mecca.

 

[minsue]

I suggest a ten-megaton answer posted in Mecca.

With respect

Please, not here. There's enough sorrow here.

 

[shereads]

A dead child in Mecca or Russia is still a dead child.

Whatever. I imagine Mr. Putin has something planned that will add to the body count. That's how it's done, isn't it.

 

[shereads]

Thoughts on a Russian School Day



Sometimes
My simple mind
Would like to know
If the human capacity for
Evil is limitless
And
My heavy heart
Would like to know
If the human capacity for
Suffering
And
Misery is finite
And
Sometimes
I wonder
What it means to be human
And
If there will ever be peace
And
If there is a God
And
Sometimes
My simple mind
And
My heavy heart
Tell me
No
And mostimes
It makes me weep

 

[millennium_bard]

While watching it all go down on TV, I sat and wrote the poem "Why?".

I already submitted it and had it approved, but I will post it here because it sums up my feelings.

Why?

Why did they do it?
Why did those children die this way?
Here at my home I sit,
Stunned by what I have seen today.

Children massacred by terrorist scum,
For some agenda they did not understand.
By "rebels" who claim to follow some,
Nameless leader's (un)holy command.

They wanted attention and got it,
But not the way they planned.
They only smeared their cause in shit,
And forced the Spetsnaz hand.

And this will go on without end,
Where next, no one can tell.
Until the day when someone,
sends the last terrorist to Hell.

(spelling corrected from the original version)

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

The deaths of these children are inexcusable. The worse part is it makes me wonder if terrorism has gone to a new level? That scares me.

 

[shereads]

Can't help noticing the resemblance between the pictures in the Washington Post photo gallery linked above, and the familiar ones from the Oklahoma City bombing a few years ago. The fireman clutching the dead baby girl to his chest, the parents waiting for news outside. The Russian faces in the photo gallery were our enemies a few years ago, and for decades. We had missiles aimed their way. But they're us.

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

Can't help noticing the resemblance between the pictures in the Washington Post photo gallery linked above, and the familiar ones from the Oklahoma City bombing a few years ago. The fireman clutching the dead baby girl to his chest, the parents waiting for news outside. The Russian faces in the photo gallery were our enemies a few years ago, and for decades. We had missiles aimed their way. But they're us.

Very good point shereads. I spent time on the border patrol staring across at the Russians and them staring at us. But times have changed. The Russians have assisted us in the war on terror with intelligence. We should both ban together and help each other now. The cold war is over.
We need an international anti-terrorism unit. Formed of members throughout the world. They have no boundaries. They are highly trained and able to respond to incidents such as Beslan in a moments notice.
If the world would of have them I'd being willing to bet alot of children would have been saved.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

...The Russian faces in the photo gallery were our enemies a few years ago, and for decades. We had missiles aimed their way. But they're us.

They always were.

That's why we must be cautious around people telling us who to hate.

 

[millennium_bard]

Very good point shereads. I spent time on the border patrol staring across at the Russians and them staring at us. But times have changed. The Russians have assisted us in the war on terror with intelligence. We should both ban together and help each other now. The cold war is over.
We need an international anti-terrorism unit. Formed of members throughout the world. They have no boundaries. They are highly trained and able to respond to incidents such as Beslan in a moments notice.
If the world would of have them I'd being willing to bet alot of children would have been saved.

The author Don Pendelton postulated such a unit in his "Phoenix Force" series of novels years ago.

I thought then, and I think now, that such a unit is a damn good idea.

 

[pop_54]

The author Don Pendelton postulated such a unit in his "Phoenix Force" series of novels years ago.

I thought then, and I think now, that such a unit is a damn good idea.

There already is such a unit, on standby and willing to help out anywhere in the world, and it's been used in many terror stituations around the world to assist foreign governments... but understandably some governments of large nations feel embarrassed asking for such help in public, they feel they should be able to look after their own interests.

It is debatable whether much could have been done in this case anyway, as a whole section of the building was blown up as soon as trouble flared, the rescue attempt was more forced on the Russian's than intended as well it appears, when someone inside the school began shooting... allowing no time for proper planning.

This episode just goes to reiterate the lengths some sub-human classes will go for their own ends, and yet again hiding within a so called religious base, and with help from that religious base outside.

No matter how badly Russia has behaved, these children were not responsible, and there can never be any excuse for this vile act of murder by these lunatics.

I am very sad indeed that we, humankind, have not been able to drag ourselves out of the jungle yet and stop perpetrating this kind of evil.


For the lost souls

 

[dr_mabeuse]

It's terrible, subhuman, and despicable, but I'd like to know the difference between the innocent Russian victims and the 10,000 innocent Iraqi victims of our invasion.

Is it more excusable if you kill under the pretext of removing a dictator? Or are the Iraqi deaths easier to take because there are no front page photos?

---dr.M.

 

[rgraham666]

I want to correct a grievous mistake I made.

I mourn deeply for the dead, and send prayers to the survivors.

 

[lewdandlicentious]

And........

People STILL believe in god?????

 

[Octavian]

Originally posted by dr_mabeuse

It's terrible, subhuman, and despicable, but I'd like to know the difference between the innocent Russian victims and the 10,000 innocent Iraqi victims of our invasion.

Irrespective of whether the invasion of Iraq was justified or not, no right thinking person would believe that the coalition forces deliberately targeted children.

Whereas the despicable atrocity at Beslan was all about killing children; killing as many as possible. Bear in mind the youngster who was bayoneted to death, merely for asking for water.

The rescue was a disaster but some lives were saved. These sub-humans had already killed a number of people at the outset. Does anyone seriously believe that a negotiated settlement was a genuine possibility.

Octavian

 

[minsue]

Without wanting to detract from honest mourning the children of Beslan, I want to ask a question.

Why no tears for the children of Chechnya? Far more of those have died.

RG, Doc, I cry for them all. I cannot believe I'm the only one. Some grieve in silence. That is all.

http://photos.avianto.com/photos/the_whiterose.jpg

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by lewdandlicentious
And........

People STILL believe in god?????

Yes.

 

[Pure]

I'm with rgraham on this. When did shots of devastation in Chechen cites ever get this amt of publicity? 1000s of men women and children. no bloody act excuses another; most bloody acts provoke another.

 

[Liar]

I'm with rgraham on this. When did shots of devastation in Chechen cites ever get this amt of publicity? 1000s of men women and children. no bloody act excuses another; most bloody acts provoke another.

Agreed. The russian army did not specifically target children, which the Chechens in Beslan did. But that, to me, is just a fine print issue, when reading about the utter disregard for civilians, children and elders alike, that the russian army have had in their devastating near obliteration of an entire region and people over there.

Over what? Prestige? In my book, Putin is as much a murderer as Hussein ever was against the kurds. He just don't slaughter political opponents on his own back yard as blatantly. I'll see if I can dig up the report I read (from the Red Cross, I think it was) about the use of excessive gratious force and systematic targeting of civilians from the russian side in the Chechen war.

Not that it excuses Beslan, but there are always ten silent victims to everyone that gets evening news time.

#L