The Siege Quotes

“Terrorist schemes are usually plotted by clever people, and then carried out by manipulated morons.”
― Ben Macintyre, The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World

“The siege was one of the biggest and most costly operations ever mounted by the Metropolitan Police, requiring 5,000 meters of cable, more than 30 TV monitors, 20 tape recorders, 60 pencils, 20 rolls of Sellotape, 818 ballpoint pens, 1,098 sheets of graph paper, 1,900 envelopes, 20 wastebins, 4 easels, 4 blackboards, 60 industrial gloves, 400 plastic bags, 2 beds, 12 pairs of scissors, 44 blankets, 3 pencil sharpeners, 72 toilet rolls, 10 bottles of Tipp-Ex correction fluid, 2,000 plastic cups, and 30 plastic handcuffs.”
― Ben Macintyre, The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World

“CR gas, nicknamed “firegas,” is similar but far more potent. A report from Porton Down described the effects as “like being thrown blindfolded into a bed of stinging nettles.”
― Ben Macintyre, The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World

“Through training, the SAS troopers were partially inured to the flash-bang’s effects, but to anyone within range, unprotected and unprepared, the effect was instant and dramatic: temporary loss of hearing and sight, along with dizziness, disorientation, and nausea. Standing beside a flash-bang when it goes off is like dying for about five seconds.”
― Ben Macintyre, The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World

“The team was entirely composed of men, except for one woman police constable, who was there to make the tea.”
― Ben Macintyre, The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World