The judgment: Universal sympathy with Russia over the hostage crisis was tempered yesterday by severe criticism of those responsible for dealing with it.
Russian security chiefs last night sought to deflect blame by saying the decision to storm the school was unplanned. Critics of the operation, including former SAS soldiers, said yesterday that that was precisely part of the problem.
"The FSB [Russian security service] had no plan; they were sitting there like puddings," said Hugh McManners, a former Royal Marine commando and now writer on special forces.
What made a horrific situation worse was the lack of co-ordination between different elements of Russia's security and police, and the failure to cordon off a large area around the school, common practice in Western countries.
Anxious parents, some armed, were allowed to congregate near the school, while some hostage-takers were able to escape and take refuge in another building.
There appeared to be a complete lack of command and control, observed Eddie Stone, a former sergeant in the SAS. John McAleese, part of the SAS team which broke the Iranian embassy siege in London, said the Russian authorities had carried out one of the worst hostage rescue attempts he had seen or heard about.
He damned the Russian operation as an embarrassment. "There was no containment; people were walking about within 100m of the school, well within the range of the terrorists' rifles."
He added that Russian military chiefs had failed in their basic planning. "They should have made some plan in case it went wrong. When the shooting started, there was no military back-up. It was total chaos. Troops did not seem to have radios to communicate."
Other former SAS soldiers expressed astonishment that the Russian authorities did not seal off two separate areas, one close to the school reserved for the elite Alfa Brigade of Russia's special forces with the outer cordon reserved for the police.
Harry McCallion, a former SAS soldier turned barrister, expressed "tremendous sympathy" with the Russian special forces. He said their training was based on British principles.
The first principle was not to begin an assault unless hostages were in danger. But there should always be a clear plan, Mr McCallion and other former special forces soldiers said, precisely to cope with the unexpected.
A carefully prepared "immediate action plan" should have been executed as soon as the terrorists started killing their victims, the former SAS soldiers say. But they concede that different tactics will have to be used against the types of hostage-takers Russia is having to confront over Chechnya.
"[Russian special forces] should have planned an assault the first night and hit hard and fast," Mr McCallion added. The suggestion is that special forces in all countries, not just Russia, should rethink their tactics.