A nation that has suffered through a decade of atrocious acts of terror now faces the agonizing aftermath of another attack that claimed the lives of more than a hundred of its citizens.

Today, Russia observes a national day of mourning, and we ought grieve with them.

Last week?s terrorist attack was an outrage, and its consequences remain a tragedy.

Over 850 ordinary citizens endured 57 hours of terror. Inside the theater, the hostages had only chocolate bars for food, and the orchestra pit was their only toilet. They witnessed executions and were told that they themselves would soon die. As their mobile phone batteries wore down, they prepared for death, overcome by a sense of helplessness.

Outside the theater, officials grappled with another kind of helplessness. They desperately tried to manage a situation they could not control. As with any terrorist attack, the officials could only seek to minimize damage. This attack, however, played out over days instead of minutes, forcing these officials to struggle to prevent loss of life in the face of those indifferent to it.

Any reason for optimism died with the terrorists? first victim, shot shortly after the initial occupation. The negotiations and hostage releases did not alter the reality of the situation: 50 devoted suicide bombers led by a thug with a propensity for kidnapping threatened the obliteration of the theater and demanded the abdication of Russia.

As the terrorists shot a man and a woman in advance of their Saturday morning deadline to begin executions, Russia?s government made the decision to rescue the hostages. Special forces would storm the theater — they would, as Russian president Vladimir Putin phrased it, fight to save lives.

Avoiding civilian casualties is at the heart of Alpha, Russia?s elite anti-terrorist unit. This strong ethic has evidenced itself in the past. During the 1991 collapse of the Soviet state, Alpha refused an order from hardliners to assassinate Russian president Boris Yeltsin. And two years later, the unit rejected Yeltsin?s demand that it storm Russia?s ?white house? to end a parliamentary standoff. The loss of life would have been unacceptable.

But not all situations are so simple. Alpha has intervened in other hostage crises, saving thousands of lives at the cost of hundreds. It is far too familiar with tragedy.

Moscow?s health authorities now blame virtually all of the hostage deaths on effects of the ?special gas? pumped into the theater before it was stormed. The growing death toll will give rise to the temptation to replace talk of tragedy with talk of failure.

This would in itself be tragic. Guilt is part of grief, and we all should mourn for those who were killed. ?We failed to save everyone,? said President Putin. ?Forgive us.?

But Putin also noted that ?we managed to achieve the near impossible, to save the lives of hundreds.? His assessment was correct: By any measure, the situation was hopeless. If the government did not act, the terrorists would continue to execute their captives. If it did act, the terrorists would slaughter all 850 hostages.

Yet Russia?s officials, police, sappers, and special forces rejected the notion of hopelessness. The nation would not be brought to its knees, and the hostages would not be abandoned. The theater was gassed, it was stormed, and some 750 people expecting death were rescued. In the midst of a tragedy it did not create, this was Russia?s victory.

It would be a perversity to accord blame for the casualties to anyone but the terrorists. It was, after all, their failure to respect human life that caused the tragedy — and the deaths. And so it is appropriate that they also met with failure. Putin expressed it best: ?They have no future. We do.?

Still, it is difficult to mix triumph with such great tragedy. The victims we mourn wanted only to see a hit musical, a love story that confronts death and duty. The book on which it is based appropriately ends with an epitaph: ?To strive, to seek, to find, and to never yield.?

Death cannot be avoided. Russia chose to fight for life.

Bryant Walker Smith (bsmith@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in civil engineering.