Showing posts with label riot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label riot. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Egypt and Libya Protesters are Part of a Larger Military Attack

Despite what many are reporting, it is difficult for me to believe this is a simple mob or riot.  The video that was referred to was nearly two months old.  It gives me pause that the protesters would wait for 9/11 in order to produce maximum effect.
It is clear the intent here was a military action.  This was not a simple protest about a film.  Not only did al-Queda make the claim the attack was revenge, but again the video was two months old.  If this was about outrage over a video, the attack would have come sooner.  I'm not going to believe these people waited until precisely the anniversary of the attack on the WTC to voice their grievances.  Simultaneously, do you expect me to believe a simple uncoordinated mob knew where the safehouses for the embassy officials were
Furthermore I am outraged at the bifurcation given by the Egyptian prime minister, Hisham Qandil, on this issue.  Take this choice quote.  About how the west needs to:
strike a balance between freedom of expression and to maintain respect for other people’s beliefs.
I am referring to third party reporting from the New York Times. In that article, the PM of Egypt quote continues.  It as if he treats the "protesters" response as appropriate to the film makers work.  Now I have my problem with the film maker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, (he is a scumbag, drug dealing, criminal that should have been deported long ago,) but that juxtaposition is completely inappropriate.  In fact who cares really since it is now clear that this is no longer about a film.  This leads me to conclude that the PM is on the enemies side.  That would make him an enemy to this country.
Over the past 30 years we have made friends with those that should have been our enemies.  We have forged alliances with nations that do not believe in our way of life.  We should have been busy wiping off the face of the earth.  I know our military forces our stretched, and our boys are stretched out.  But I also feel we have no other choice based on the information we have.  At this point I support military action against Egypt.  It has been shown without a shadow of a doubt that they are no longer our ally.  I don't believe they ever were.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Concerns About the Security and US Response to the Situation in Egypt and Libya

I have several concerns about the current situation with Egypt.  I am concerned about the lack of passive and active defensive systems in place to handle these situations.  I am wondering where the embassies security forces were.  It concerns me that the US response so slow.  We already have forces in place to immediately respond, so why send in a warship?   I am concerned about the ease and speed that the protesters had getting through these.
The embassy is located in a troubled region.  From anecdotal observation, US embassies in conflict areas generally have passive physical barriers in place to safeguard against just this sort of occurrence.  I am very surprised the mob was able to get through them as quickly as they did.  I am also surprised that an rocket-propelled grenade round was able to get through and actually make kills.
Military Grade Active Denial System (ADS)
I would have also assumed that in the event of the failure of a passive defense system like a high wall or reinforced doors, there are sufficient numbers of trained armed security forces in place to protect diplomats and other civilians present in the facility.   What happened to these forces?  Also there are so-called "Active Denial Systems" or ADS that can be used against mobs of people.  They are already being used domestically by police departments on Occupy Wall Street protesters, who comparatively speaking pose much less of a threat.  Why aren't these systems in place at a US embassy where it is likely to have large congregations of people during conflicts?  Especially in regions like this.  How is it possible that the protesters managed to kill three people, and are still hanging around?
There are already forces in place in the middle east in granting the failure of any of these passive and active defense systems.  Deploying any number of these forces would have had a response team in place much faster than two days after the fact.  This is a grievous failure on our part.  In order to ensure stability in the region the response has to be rapid.  Our enemies know that we are already over stretched in multiple countries.  By delaying the response, we simply psychologically reinforce the resolve of the rioters.  Why are we taking our time by sending in a warship that will take days to get into position?