Posted on 09/15/2004 8:37:06 PM PDT by Pikamax
Urgent US military intervention needed in Grand Cayman The following is the full text of an open letter from Mr Timothy Adam Chief Executive, Cable & Wireless (Cayman Islands) Ltd
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Grand Cayman urgently needs military intervention to restore and to preserve law and order. This needs to happen TODAY.
No doubt US authorities are already aware of the widespread looting that has occurred. I have heard sporadic attempts at looting continue to occur. I got caught in traffic right beside a site where police had shot several times at a looter and had detained him, and there was a near riot - a very volatile situation to which police responded promptly with heavy assault weapon teams.
Last night there was a prison riot at HMP Northward in which a number of prisoners escaped. A prison guard was injured (I have heard it was not fatal) and a fire was started in the prison. ALL the island's law enforcement agencies had to be diverted to deal with this. The situation has been calmed down but it is still volatile, the police have had to go back there in force subsequent to the initial incident being calmed, and there now remains a serious weakness in the security force because a lot of the police and Special Constables are now diverted to handle the situation. Worse yet, there is a convicted rapist and a convicted murderer on the loose. Police have now been diverted from their already seriously stretched law and order duties to search for these dangerous criminals under difficult circumstances. The island's power supply has not been turned back on yet and even when it is, most of the electricity poles on the island have been broken, even huge concrete poles snapped, and there are NO streetlights ANYWHERE on the island. Police are operating in total darkness.
Police communication with outside law enforcement agencies have been very restricted due to the storm.
Our towers appear to have all withstood the storm and at least seven of them have anti-collision lights operating, which is great news because that means they still have electrical power. One of our top priorities is restoring the national transmission system links so that we can get those RBSs operational again. The Cable & Wireless core systems are now fully functional, including both GSM and TDMA core systems, local host exchange, ISC, internet, international submarine cable Maya 1, etc.
National transmission links have sustained damage and are out due to flooding and other physical damage inflicted by Hurricane Ivan. Restoration of national transmission links is one of our top priorities, and our teams are working day and night on this. Once we get transmission to our cell sites we are hopeful most of them will become operational again.
On-island communication is spotty. Police use cellular communication in addition to the Government radio system, but presently only a few areas have cellular coverage. There is a good Government radio communication network but in several areas the police are having to operate without any communication at all with headquarters or other units for backup.
Central Police Headquarters in George Town has been destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. The police have moved their headquarters to the first floor of One Technology Square, the island's telecommunication bunker owned and operated by Cable & Wireless (Cayman Islands) Ltd. of which I am Chief Executive.
This site is presently also housing the 911 Emergency Communications Centre, which we moved here as a temporary measure a couple of days in advance of the storm at the request of government due to their concerns about the survivability of their normal centre located in Central Police Station. Suffice it to say that proved to be a very wise decision!
I should emphasise (to the US Military) that in the present situation all the islands' internal and external telecommunications are entirely dependent on the continued operation of this site.
In summary: If we lose this site, we have lost the country. This site needs to be defended with military assistance as a matter of urgent priority. The US Military also need to know that in this site and in an adjacent building (AT&T Wireless offices in Trinity Square on Eastern Avenue) there are in total at least 25 United States citizens who in my considered opinion need their country's protection NOW, hence I believe under US laws use of the military is justified or authorised. For the most part these are people who are very necessary to help in the telecommunications restoration work. PLEASE BE CLEAR: WE ARE NOT SUGGESTING THAT THE US SHOULD EVACUATE THEM; on the contrary most of these people need to remain here because THEY ARE VITAL TO THE REBUILDING PROCESS THAT IS GOING ON SO THAT THE COUNTRY CAN RECOVER FROM THE HURRICANE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE! There are a few of this number who are spouses and children of Cable & Wireless staff, families, and/or others who have taken refuge in One Technology Square, several of whom we are planning to evacuate through existing channels and military assistance is not needed for that.
I should also mention the thousands of United States of America citizens who are located elsewhere in the island, who for the most part are also necessary for the restoration effort. A bit of US Military help is required not just for One Technology Square, but to assist law enforcement across the island, and will no doubt contribute to the safety and security of those US citizens.
This will work best if the US Military works closely with the Royal Cayman Islands Police [RCIP]. It does not need an over-reaction, a heavy-handed approach, or imposition of martial law, but rather assistance and relief for the exhausted police team and the capability to execute no-nonsense law enforcement across the island, but the US Military must make it clear to British (and if necessary local) officials that either the RCIP will let them help or the US Military will do what is necessary without RCIP cooperation. If the US do not act in a measured way and if they come in with too heavy a hand, we risk losing the island's reputation for stability, and that will destroy our economy.
Let me emphasise that what is needed is for the US Military to provide the necessary relief to the limited and over-extended local authorities, and the local authorities need to accept that help. While the local law enforcement authorities seem to be "holding strain" and are maintaining peace and stability, this is not sustainable without some relief from the outside whether it is British or US but I am concerned that at this point the British are too far away.
Cayman Airways ran "first-come, first-served" evacuation shuttle flights to Miami yesterday from the time the runway opened up until nightfall prevented airport operations. The airport has NO navigational aids, NO PAPI, and only partially functional runway lights. They are hoping to have PAPI operational again by the end of the week. Air Traffic Control is operational, and inbound aircraft can use RNAV for approaches and landings. Kingston ATC is coordinating the air traffic. Grand Cayman ATC has had very limited outside communication due to storm damage to telecommunication faculties, but I have received word that that has been restored overnight.
The British appear to be "playing politics". The police force is a dedicated team of professionals who are determined to do their job - and do it on their own if they get no help - but they are very limited in number, they have been part of this tremendous group of people across this island who have brought us through the worst storm ever in these islands' known history without ONE SINGLE reported death so far, but the police are very limited in number and they are exhausted yet reports are that the British have refused to send in Royal Marines or Military Police to help. HMS Richmond and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tanker Wave Ruler are here, the navy has sent ashore several of their crew from the ships, but they are unarmed and not prepared to engage in law enforcement. We understand the civilian Governor Bruce Dinwiddy has asked the British for military assistance in maintaining law and order, but so far it has not been forthcoming and so far as I have heard, there is not even a promise that it will come. There may be some reluctance at the higher echelons of the Government and Law Enforcement as to the need for outside assistance, but at the senior operational leadership level my sense of the situation is that the police are desperate for outside help.
Please know that I don't want to criticise anybody who is here in Grand Cayman. We have been through a living nightmare, we have done this together, we are determined, willing, competent and know what it takes to work together to put this country back together FAST, we are not at present in a total breakdown of law and order, but we are very much on the edge right at the moment and we do need some help NOW.
If I do not see a positive response by US Military to help us get our country's law and order stable which will also protect US citizens and US interests, I will assume this message has either not reached the right people or that they do not believe or understand it. We will then have to rely entirely on US and international public pressure to have the US give us some assistance immediately and for the local officials to accept it. Therefore I have already provided a copy of this to a local publisher, and to his webmaster who is located overseas. This person is a personal friend of mine, a ""fellow believer", who is one of the over 460 people who took shelter in this one building during the onslaught of Hurricane Ivan. He has sworn an oath to embargo this until noon today, however if I do not advise him to the contrary (and/or if we lose contact with his webmaster) this will appear on a website that is receiving hundreds of thousands of hits a day from people wanting to know what's happening in Cayman right now. Yesterday it received 509,000 hits.
Miami is one hour by jet away from here, Guantanamo Bay about 30 minutes, British forces are too far away to be of use now even if the British make the decision to intervene.
BUT MY AIM IS THAT THIS IS NEVER TO BE MADE PUBLIC - it would cause a lot of unnecessary panic, it will get blown way out of proportion and so will the response. it's not that the situation is out of control right now: with some help the RCIP can keep it under control, but we have to have a bit of military help to give us a margin of safety as a temporary measure, and hence my precaution to use publication as a "last resort" to see that we get some help. I just pray that it works.
Trust me and listen loud!
Timothy Adam Chief Executive, Cable & Wireless (Cayman Islands) Ltd
I'm shocked I tell you...Just shocked! Stuned beeber even!
Shame.....it's sure infected the white underclass here in Nashville.
Aw cmon...you just gotta keep saying to yourself "ghetto is cool!, ghetto is cool!, ghetto is cool!". /sarcasm
(snicker) Yeah...ghetto is real cool until your neighborhood becomes one.
Just noticed you are Tennessee...hope the rains will spare you.
Yes, along with many fine folk, there's also plenty of rednecks around the Southern backwoods that'd just as soon shoot you as look at you.
I've been wondering recently if that phenomenon exists in the backwoods of New England or the rest of the country, or is it just a Southern deal. Don't know the answer.
Hope everything for your family is about to be squared away.
I'd freak if I my kids were there right now.
Sounds like things'll be OK soon, though.
Why don't they ask the French to help them.
Thanks Sam, it's still a "go" as I type this.
What a compassionate bunch of conservatives we have here. Instead of stepping back and looking at the big picture how bout you take a step forward and look at the little picture for a change. Whose suffering in an ungodly fashion right now in Cayman? The fat cat? Hardly. They are not even there. More like some 20 something girl from California who wanted to work in the dive business or a 30 something Brit doing some time as a part of his apprenticeship with a holding company. Or some dirt poor girl from Nicaragua holding down a job as a payables clerk. These people are up shit creek without a paddle right about now. They are crying themselves to sleep, scarred and scared shitless.
Get them some no strings attached security and round up the people who have decided might makes right and put em up in a prison for a while to consider their deeds. Help the desperate in this desperate hour.
I don't understand, the Brits could ask for our help in two seconds and we'd be there.
British and French are not traditional friends.
British and the USA are. Check the war in Iraq.
Even so, I like your home page.
Well said....
I'm from Jackson Mississippi.....I have seen my hometown become a ghetto largely...it ain't pretty.
And they injuns have raiding parties that venture out into suburbia when they feel the urge.
Thanks for your concern about the rain....which is indeed falling.
Actually the whole redneck-deliverance movie myth is way way overblown and out of date by a generation.
The great white threat in the south today are young white males who imitate the black urban thugga lifestyle down to ebonics and crack dealing and serial illegitimacy and violence even more so perhaps than their black underclass counterparts.
Here in Nashville, there are few young redneck ruffians. Nearly the entire white trash element are now what they call themselves "wiggaz" and they are a threat.
I'm not talking about comical Beverly Hills wannbees....I'm talking pure straight hooligans with no moral compass whatsoever....like the drooges in Clockwork Orange.
They are the product of white trash parents and the lowest common demoninator of our culture and I loathe them.
Oddly, in my hometown of Jackson Miss which is nearly 80% black in the city proper, this sort of garbage is less common than here which is about 75% less black. I wonder why that is.
It pains me to see poor black folks scratching to get outta the hood and perfectly sound peckerwood boys diving right back in. It's baffling.
This thuggery personified by elements of the hip-hop kulture knows no bounds...started black but is now white, asian, latino etc ....all the underclass punks must find identity there.
...until they get to the joint which is where most are headed and they quickly learn the bros don't much care that they are "down"....lol
I own car washes and storage facilities and deal with all societies cretins....the "wiggaz" (their words) are by far the worst.....I can talk straight up with crips, bloods, and la eme or latin kings etc and they are cool enuff....they got bigger fish to fry crime wise than hassling some middle aged car wash owner....but the "wiggaz"...they have no decency or manners. I can't imagine geeking up a fight with a man my dad's age back in the mid 70s....I would have been scorned by my peers as a punk. They suck...I hate em.
LOL...bet you wish you hadn't asked....I've had one fistfight, one guns drawn incident and countless lesser "encounters" compared to only one minor black incident in the past 7 years here....never any beef with the latins or asians.
I think they can sense I don't like them.
The Brits need to take care of this. Why US Military? NOT!!!
Red necks are most certainly not a southern phenomena. In fact they're right here on Long Island. In fact one was so outraged at my mom driving a car and talking on her cell phone (to me at the time) that he called her a nigger to her face right in the middle traffic. Had to be on old angry sonufagun too. The young ones didn't need any help listening to gangsta rap to increase their brand of thuggishness hehehehe.
Something smells funny - very fishy about this. Sounds like someone is setting up the Government - big time.
Now that's funny.
Those two Royal Navy ships were following the storm so they could arrive ASAP after Ivan had passed.
I grew up in rural Virginia, and still get back there from time to time. I've never seen Deliverance, but I can tell you that there're alot of really mean rednecks in the countryside. They'll walk right on your private property during hunting season, and if you say anything about it, they don't hesitate to point a gun at you and vandalize your property when you're not around.
Whether this is related to the hip hop thing, I couldn't say, it makes sense that it would be, I'm inclined to think you are right in what you say. OTOH, I remember that mean rednecks were around when I was a kid, too. However, you're probably right that they are worse now.
I've got plenty of theories as to why our society is degrading, but I guess this thread is not the place for that discussion.
Sure it's funny, if you are ignorant and selfish.
"This person is a personal friend of mine, a ""fellow believer"..."
This bothers me for some reason. Sounds as though he is threatening to harm someone.
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