Backcountry Conservative has the latest on the Russian hostage situation as well as links to commentary all over. The ending sounds about as bad as it possibly could turn out. Plenty of dead innocents is tragic but not unexpected but 12 to 13 terrorists escaping is unthinkable. Unfortunately, their escape translates into additional deaths further down the road.

The only positive out of this situation is that it seems to have awaken Russian resolve against terrorism. There may be an 9 days different, but the outcome is the same. In their post 9/02 world, Russia has now become a fully fledged member in the War on Terror.

UPDATE: Pictures of the aftermath are available here. They are somewhat graphic and not for the faint of heart.

UPDATE 2: Best analysis and an alternative source of images is here at Logic & Sanity.