talk about expendable.. onthe other hand i do not know enough to saywhat they could have done instead. your training might give some insightthat you can inpart. what do you do when the hostages are beginning to be killed? -----Original Message----- From: Cleveland, Kyle E. To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 10/30/2002 1:08 PM Subject: Russians used Fentanyl Talk about pitching the baby out with the bathwater: The Russian Special Forces (ostensibly) pumped a gas containing Fentanyl into the theatre where Chechen rebels were holding hundreds of Russian theater-goers hostage. Ironically, a good number of the terrorists were in the theater's foyer, thus escaping the effects of the gas. They died anyway in a firefight with Russian police. FYI: Fentanyl is a powerful opiate on the order of magnitude of being thousands of times more powerful than morphine by volume. About 170 (and counting) out of 800 hostages died as a result of the gas attack. Most went into cardiac arrest or respiratory failure--many because they were not given adequate care after the "rescue". The rescue teams were not told of the gas and were given no instruction in triage for the victims. I'm glad I don't live in a country where saving 600 or so out of 800 is a tactical success. -Kyle