Russian Gas Attack was Opiate: US

[Guest Urbanhog]

Russian gas was opiate: US

 

AP - The mysterious gas Russian forces pumped into a theatre to end a hostage crisis was an opiate - a chemical related to morphine, US Defence Department officials said.

 

The US administration, meanwhile, refused to criticise Russian special forces for using the gas, which killed 116 of the hostages as well as the hostage takers.

 

"The president abhors the loss of life, but he understands that it is the terrorists" who are responsible for the tragedy, the spokesman for President George W Bush, Ari Fleischer, said.

 

Military officials said the US embassy in Moscow had determined that the gas used by the Russians was some sort of opium derivative.

 

Such substances not only kill pain and dull the senses but also can cause coma and death by shutting down breathing and circulation.

 

Russian authorities have refused to name the substance used, even keeping that information from doctors treating the rescued hostages.

 

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States, as well as other countries, have asked the Russians to identify the gas they used.

 

"We are trying to get at that information," Boucher said. "That knowledge is also needed by the doctors. We're awaiting (the) response, but at this point, we just don't have the response."

 

Fleischer did not endorse the tactic in remarks to reporters as Bush flew from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Phoenix, then from Arizona to New Mexico. But he made clear the administration's view that blame for the deaths lay with the captors.

 

Asked directly about the use of the gas, Fleischer wouldn't say whether the administration believed it was appropriate. "We don't know what all the facts are," he said.

 

But, he said, "As that information is developed, the president feels very strongly that the people who caused this are the terrorists."

 

©AAP 2002

 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_41595.asp

 

I wonder if these 114 lives lost can be prevented if they used cannabis type of gas??

 

Urbanhog