Posted on 08/29/2012 8:29:08 AM PDT by Nachum
Pferd schiess... ;>)
They might have been concerned by the 'image' of large numbers of uniformed armed police, but the sure as hell had plainclothes cops of state police in the surrounds. Remember that the East Germans were a daily threatening presence and I don't recall a global cease fire by terrorists being in effect. And as far as uniforms threatening the German image you've obviously never seen the German Red Cross uniforms of that period, nicely cut light grey cadet type uniforms with billed caps. In 1968 when I first saw them I asked my German host which police unit they were in. He laughed as he told me.
No friend, apologies don't work. They botched the job from beginning to end, and the real reasons have yet to be known because the living still have to fear their ties to the Stasi being exposed to this day. The true extent of Stasi and Soviet penetration is yet to be uncovered if ever.
Forgive me for starting at the bottom of your post, but yes, that is something of a self-styled byword even today. Munich: The Largest Village on Earth. Google that term and you'll find numerous hits. I spent a few years there and that's how they like to present themselves.
No point in reiterating the RAF history. Wikipedia has a lengthy article on that topic. The timeline at least (if you distrust Wikipedia on politics) is accurate.
In any case, a terrorist attack on Olympic Games had at that time no precedent. It was as unexpected as Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition. The RAF attacked industrialists, politicians, bankers etc. - but not sporting venues. And it was not the RAF, of course, that did carry out that attack.
No doubt it turned out to be a major f*ck-up by the local cops, and then the German government in the aftermath; that was the basis of my 'hindsight' comment. I have no interest in, or intent of, revising history. Nor of offending anyone on this topic.
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