Waco, whatever the politics involved or perceived, was hardly a classic hostage situation, with bad guys holding a gun on good guys a rescue was effected by other good guys. Which is not to say that the feds handled it well...
As to Grenada, I supported (and still do) the invasion, but the 'hostages' were clearly an excuse as opposed to a reason. Ways could have been found to get them out without fighting. Again, it hardly fits the classic hostage situation.
But thanks for mentioning them.
There is no argument that the Russian handling of Beslan was a Class A Gong Show, but it is far from certain that another agency (SAS, GSG-9, Delta Force, your choice) could have done substantially better. Huge numbers of captives, large numbers of willing-to-die fanatical captors armed with suicide belts, automatic weapons, grenade launchers, etc, the place wired to blow - it was a recipe for a poop sandwich no matter how you look at it.
|