The author makes no bones about it, and his assessment has been confirmed many times over by the FBI – we will suffer a massive, simultaneous, multi-site terrorist attack on our schools, and likely very soon. Beslan, in all its horror, degradation, and suffering, was merely a trial run for what Islamic terrorists intend to visit upon American children. There is no more room for pallid hopes that they will “see the light” or grant mercy upon the innocents. Islamic terrorists have already attacked the schools of other nations (not just Beslan), they have said they will attack our schools, and they will. Lieutenant Colonel John D. Grossman, who wrote the forward for this book and is himself an expert on terrorism, has an axiom that states that the best predictor of future conduct is past behavior. In the case of terrorism against children, to plan for anything less than a full-out, multi-site assault on our schools would be criminally negligent.
In Part One, The Long Road To Beslan, Giduck does an excellent job of sketching the history of terrorism in Russia leading up to the Beslan siege, the two recent Chechen Wars, and the fractured history of the Special Forces Counter-Terror units in Russia.
Part Two, Attack on the School, is the play-by-play account of the actual assault, the three-day siege, and the resultant conflagration. This information is critical to our law enforcement today, and there is no other accurate accounting of it available other than this book. The publishers of this book, Archangel Group, have prepared conferences for military and law enforcement to benefit from the lessons learned in the wake of so much tragedy. They also present training for school administration and municipalities to help them evaluate and asses their vulnerabilities and risks. Much of the insights presented in the training have been learned directly from Giduck’s involvement at Beslan on the last day of the siege and the resultant aftermath.
In Part Three, Dissecting a Terrorist Siege, Giduck draws upon his years in Special Operations and counter-terrorism to analyze the siege, starting with the terrorists’ original plan, their execution of it, and the government’s response. Of most value to Americans is the hindsight and lessons learned from the assault. If we, as a nation, do not take to heart the insights gleaned from the debacle of Beslan, then we remain powerless to prevent anything, and the innocents will have died in vain.
Finally, in Part Four, Preparing America for Battle, Giduck lays out a very comprehensive plan to prepare us for the inevitable. There is much to do to prepare, and not much is being done about it. When John asked Russian experts what the most important things were for America to learn from Beslan, it was to prepare – physically, tactically, and mentally.
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