10/9/2004
Terrorism Aims At A Younger Target
By Yaroslav Riabinin - Member of Editorial Staff, Russian Toronto:
http://www.russiantoronto.com/english/
For a long time there had been an unwritten rule among those
who wield terror as a means of persuasion - never make children
the target of an attack.
As of September 1, 2004, this rule is no longer valid. It was
broken and buried in a school gymnasium. The world watched
in horror as a series of unthinkable events took place - a
group of masked gunmen and suicide bombers seized control of
an elite school in North Ossetia, Russia, and held over 1,200
people hostage. But these weren’t arbitrary civilians,
they were children and parents who showed up for a celebration
that marks the beginning of the school year.
The terrorists issued a demand for Russia to withdraw its troops
from the war-torn region of Chechnya. Russian officials did
not immediately provide them with a response and negotiations
continued. Meanwhile, the hostages were kept in a sports gymnasium
for over 2 days, severely dehydrated from the heat and deprived
of food and bathroom breaks. Explosives were placed all around
them - some even hung on the basketball hoops. Plastic bottles
filled with shrapnel were attached to bombs, greatly increasing
the damage they could inflict.
On the morning of the third day there was an explosion inside
the gymnasium, which caused part of the building to collapse.
Chaos ensued and hostages began to flee as the terrorists opened
fire on them and threw grenades into crowds of children. Russian
Special Forces acted quickly and fired back at the hostage-takers
in an effort to save the escaping hostages. It was too late,
however, and the situation was beyond control.
Both sides traded gunfire and bodies began to pile up. The
bloodshed did not end for hours as remaining terrorists provided
resistance. When the violence did come to a halt, the aftermath
was far more horrific than anyone could have fathomed. The
death toll is estimated to be over 600, more than half of which
are children. Those that were hospitalized sustained critical
injuries - the women had bullet wounds from trying to shield
the children, while the kids suffered from grenade blasts.
This was not just an act of terrorism. It was a brutal and
profoundly senseless massacre of the innocent. Moreover, the
consequences of this attack will resonate throughout the entire
world for years to come. It sets a deadly precedent, a model
of terror for others to follow. Its success will only encourage
radical fanatics everywhere to take from us what we value most
- our children.
It’s not the first time that something like this has
happened. When Chechen terrorists took over a hospital in June
1995, Russian officials ordered the Special Forces to storm
the building. This operation was a failure and resulted in
over 100 hostage casualties. The Russian government was left
with no choice but to halt military operations in Chechnya
and begin peace negotiations. The terrorists, led by Chechen
warlord Shamil Basayev, were granted safe passage back to their
homeland and soon celebrated a victory over the Russian people.
This event has tremendous historical importance, because it
set a shining example of what could be accomplished by means
of terrorism. It clearly showed that threatening to execute
a great number of hostages puts the government in a position
where they would do anything to prevent bloodshed. As a result,
identical tactics were adopted by terrorist groups all over
the globe and a new era in terror began.
The question now is how exactly should a government cope with
terrorist pressure when children are held hostage? This raises
a serious moral dilemma - do we put the lives of children at
risk by attempting to disarm the hostage-takers, or do we give
in to their demands, no matter how unreasonable they may be?
Let us consider the first option, where the government refuses
to negotiate with terrorists and orders its troops to neutralize
the enemy before innocent hostages (in this case children)
are harmed. If the operation goes well, many lives are saved
and the world praises the nation’s courage in the face
of terrorism. If it fails, which is more than likely, children’s
lives are ended prematurely, the nation mourns in sorrow and
the world condemns the actions of the government. The global
response is anger, fear and disbelief, which is exactly what
the terrorists wanted. The success of this attack encourages
others to do the same, thus continuing the chain of senseless
violence.
In the second scenario, where the government makes the safety
of the hostages its number one priority, negotiations with
the terrorists take place and their demands are eventually
met. The children are then released, in exchange for the safe
delivery of the terrorists back to their homeland. No lives
are lost, but the terrorists achieve their goals and once again
their success encourages others to follow in their footsteps
- taking innocent children as hostages.
As you can see, there is no answer to the question posed earlier.
Governments on their own are nearly powerless against acts
of terror that involve large numbers of women and children.
Unity is the only way to battle this emerging threat - instead
of glorifying terrorists as “freedom fighters”, “rebels” or “separatists”,
we must make it known that humanity will not allow anyone to
endanger the lives of our children and use them as leverage
to achieve political goals. We must take bold measures to discredit
terrorist groups and discourage them from setting foot in a
school, hospital, daycare centre or any such institution ever
again. That is our mission.
Yaroslav Riabinin, September 4, 2004
