#3 - JRL 6524
From: "Sarah Carey" <scarey@ssd.com>
Subject: Article
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002

I read with dismay the article "In Praise of Silence" quoting US Ambassador Vershbow's criticism of the Russian government for its secrecy on the gas used to break the stranglehold of the Chechen terrorists on the 700 plus innocent hostages imprisoned in the Moscow theater. The Ambassador's reproach came on the same day as the Day of Mourning declared by President Putin in honor of those hostages who didn't survive the theater ordeal.

The hostage crisis shook Moscow to its core. As everyone in the world recognized, given the fact that the terrorists had wired themselves as human detonators, drastic measures had to be taken to save as many lives as possible. The Russian government developed and executed a novel and highly effective strategy of gassing the terrorists into unconsciousness that saved the lives of hundreds of the hostages. Even though over a hundred hostages died from the same gas attacks, the overall accomplishment and the exercise of presidential leadership was impressive.

The Monday morning quarterbackers from the safety of their offices, studios -- and the US Embassy -- are now second guessing the government's performance. "The government should have had more medical personnel available, should have shared all the details of the operation including the nature of the gas used, with the USG, the press and others, should assure us they are not violating any international treaties etc., etc., etc."

A more appropriate response would have been shared sympathy and a period of silence. It is an American affliction, suffered by government officials, ambassadors and others ,and nurtured if not caused by the press, to abhor silence, to feel compelled to speak out when silence is more appropriate. Vershbow's comments, headlined in the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune and other papers, served no useful purpose. We should think for a moment how the US would have responded if the Russian Ambassador had officially criticized the US government's massacre in 1993 of its citizens living in the Waco enclave (the details of which were kept secret for a significant period of time). At times like these, life should imitate art and allow for a hiatus, a pause, a silence, which is an appropriate expression of solemnity if not sympathy.