9/4     Open ended question for you military guys. If the British SA agents
        or the American Delta Force/Special Forces were involved in the
        now Russian debacle, would it have helped the situation, given that
        the special forces had better tactics, technology, and experience
        in hostage situations than say, the Russian army? I mean, we've had
        technology like Counter Strike to train kids as early as say, 5
        for heaven's sake.
        \_ Answer:  you can't know.  If you check the chest tags of some
           of the Russians involved, you'll note "Spetsnaz", which are highly
           trained for counterterrorism.  The only antiterrorist operations
           I can think of that went flawlessly are GSG9 storming an airliner
           in Mogadishu, and the 1984 London Libyan embassy siege, along
           with some major cockups in many countries.  -John
                \_ HEIL John! Der Spezielle Kraft Deutch Agent! HEIL!!!
        \_ HAHAHAHA CS train kids?!?! CS teaches nothing about how to hold
           the weapon, proper breath control, or even how to clean the
           weapon (yes, that is very important). Also, look at the #s of
           hostages, size of the buildings, and you can see why the Russians
           sent more than one. Most SF/SWAT units do not operate in such
           large numbers. In any case, 8 KIA of FSB's elite Alfa. . BTW GSG9
           can no longer operate outside of Germany, KSK has taken overn.
           You forgot OPeration Jonathan in Entebbe, only 1 KIA operator.
           By Israeli Sayaret Matkal : alums include Benjamin Netanyahu (his
           bro was the KIA in Entebbe), Ehud Barak and Danny Lewin (who died
           in 9-11, co-founder,CTO of Akamai.