Egypt mediators try to remove Salafist Bedouin from MFO base. US force under siege

Debka ^ | 9/15/12

[Dave346]

Contrary to Egyptian claims to be in control of the Multinational Force in northern Sinai base after its invasion by Salafist Bedouin gunmen Friday night, all they had managed to do by Saturday morning was to mediate between the New Zealand general who commands the base and the invaders on terms for their departure. The gunmen linked to al Qaeda still control the exits and entrances to the Al Ghora base, holding hundreds of US officers, soldiers and airmen to siege.

[Tijeras_Slim]

reported locally last night, there is a several hundred strong contingent of NM National Guard soldiers there.

I hope this goes better than the NM 200th Coastal Artillery.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Here’s some info from AP via Breitbart:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/09/14/Militants-attack-peacekeeper-base-in-Egypts-Sinai

[Mister Da]

If Egypt should attack Israel, a few bombs on the Aswan dams & a sunken ship in the Suez canal will effectively return Egypt to the stone age for decades.

[Shady]

For your eyes only....

[lowbridge]

Bump

[cherokee1]

No need to sink the ships-—breaching the Aswan would return Egypt to pre-Noah, before-the-first-flood days. And those Egyptian dunderheads ought to realize how tenuous and vulnerable they really are and be a little polite/humble/responsive all around. A major part of the Aswan is dirt/rock fill and is extremely vulnerable to bunkerbuster types of shocks. Hitting that dam would get Nefertiti’s genes pretty much out of the human pool.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Dave346.

Contrary to Egyptian claims to be in control of the... Sinai base... all they had managed to do by Saturday morning was to mediate between the New Zealand general who commands the base and the invaders on terms for their departure. The gunmen linked to al Qaeda still control the exits and entrances to the Al Ghora base, holding hundreds of US officers, soldiers and airmen to siege.

[Mckenzie14]

BUMP

[Mister Da]

My thought was that blocking the canal would cut off a major source of revenue for Egypt.

[MV=PY]

Here's the google translation of that page: Link

[spokeshave]

a few bombs on the Aswan dams

Not that easy to breach an earthen dam...

See the film "Dam-busters"h to see how it was done to the two dams at the head of the Ruhr Valley in WWII

[chessplayer]

Where are the B-52s from Diego Garcia?

---

That would hurt their feelings, and Clinton has said we have to stop hurting their feelings.

[Greysard]

My thought was that blocking the canal would cut off a major source of revenue for Egypt.

AQ would consider this excellent news. Millions of young Egyptian men, all muslims of course, will be angry at the USA and will sign up en masse as suicide bombers, foot soldiers, and every other kind of AQ helpers.

Hurting them in the wallet works only with economy-oriented societies, such as democracies (who rise and fall on news from stock exchanges) and dictatorships (who always complain that the last palace is not fully gilded yet.)

A theocracy of 6^th century does not want money. Furthermore, money is dangerous to it because it separates people into classes and creates private interests. Egyptian computer scientists would want different things than egyptian goat herders. Fundamentalists want everyone to be illiterate goat herders; the only skill worth having is how to make IEDs. This is exactly why Communists were killing educated people in Russia, in China, in Cambodia... they couldn't allow smart competition.

[Mister Da]

You have the ideology right, but you forget that greed & power are based on wealth. Weapons cost money. War cost money. Rulers expect to live in luxury. Mohammed was a looter, as well as a “prophet”.

The fundamentalist crap you refer to is for the PEOPLE, not the ruling class. The Nazis, the Commies, the aristocrats of pre-modern Europe, & every other potentate have been feeding the “stupid” class this stuff since government was invented.

It is ALWAYS about the money & power for those asking OTHERS to sacrifice everything.

Egypt is no Afghanistan. People have A/C, TV, cars, cell phones, clothes & cash to spend. Take that away & their society will collapse. Egypt is definitely a economy oriented society & that economy is hurting as a result of the radicals. I expect a backlash.

In a world war on multiple fronts with multiple enemies, attacking one enemy often satisfies another. Al-Qaeda has no love of Egypt. It is the enemy until radical islam takes over. From their perspective, chaos in Egypt is good until they take over. Anything that Israel does that weakens Egypt makes the takeover that much easier. If Israel avoids war because it might strengthen AQ, then it can simply wait to be destroyed.

Furthermore, AQ is a far less dangerous enemy that Egypt. AQ has no air force, navy, or army - Egypt does. Far more people have been killed in Israeli/Egypt wars that ALL the deaths caused by AQ.

There is not much Israel can do to stop a radical islam takeover in Egypt, but it can destroy the Egyptian economy with a few missiles or bombs; & the Egyptian military knows it. Without the economy to sustain the military, it rots, quickly. I doubt AQ cares, but Egyptians do.

As for million of radicalized Egyptians, they are just cheap cannon fodder for the Israelis. I've heard that threat many times & it just doesn't cause anybody any concern. Truth is, most muslim terrorists are cowardly thugs who run like rats when confronted.

[tacticalogic]

Not that easy to breach an earthen dam...

I'd think it would be easier than a concrete dam. If you can breach it at the top (where it's thinnest) down to the waterline, won't erosion do the rest?