Posted on 07/06/2015 2:33:42 PM PDT by pabianice
ISIS has announced that it is setting its sights on Egypt’s pyramids, the Sphinx of Giza, and the country's unique historic monuments in general, after its savage vandalism and looting of other precious world heritage sites.
The Islamic State is rushing reinforcements to Egypt from Libya and Iraq for its battle with Egyptian forces in northern Sinai, which went into its fifth day Sunday, July 5, and other offensives, debkafile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources report. After sustaining hundreds of casualties, both sides claim to have won the upper hand but the tenacious struggle is not over.
An Islamist manpower pool is provided by Egyptian extremists who crossed into Libya in the past and settled in bases around Benghazi. Last week, ISIS summoned them to take up positions in Cairo and the Suez Canal and wait for orders to go into action. They crossed back with the help of smugglers. Those rings, dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood underground, with branches controlled by Hamas and Hizballah, bring illicit weapons and ammunition supplies to Sinai from Libya via Egypt.
President Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi is therefore obliged to earmark substantial military and intelligence resources for defending the Suez Canal and Cairo – more even than the Sinai front.
(Excerpt) Read more at virtualjerusalem.com ...
I agree about their importance ... but they are not worth one single American life.
And, if we send monetary or military aid to Egypt, it will mostly likely end up in the hands of ISIS or ISIS supporters ... to that avenue is out too.
The Egyptians are going to have to get some backbone and defend not only these monuments, but their entire civilization. I’m rather doubtful if they will be up to this, but will be happy to give them all the credit if they manage it.
We don't have to send ground troops over there. Obama uses drones all the time. With the technology and and sophisticated weaponry available today, we and other allies should be able to protect those monuments from these crazy, subhuman savages. Egypt needs to step up, like you said, but they'll need help.
The civilized world can't just stand by and watch these ancient structures destroyed by these uncivilized barbarians. It's not an option. (I've argued recently with some folks on FR who seem to think the US is no longer "civilized" because we are not perfect and there are some vicious criminals among us who can create chaos around us and injury to us. I disagree. America may not be perfect but we are exceptional. Compared to ISIS, we are the most civilized nation in the world, contrary to some of these anti-American voices.)
Yes we can stand by. And we should.
If we get involved it will mean one thing and one thing only ... we’ll be blamed for ‘interfering’ in the Middle East and any collateral damage and there is bound to be some.
And I can guarantee you 100% that the Egyptian people would not be grateful for any ‘help’ that we give. We already give them tanker loads of money and most of them hate our guts and are not grateful at all.
So, no. No help. None whatsoever. I’m done.
Well, good bye then.
At some point I think the rest of the world, meaning Europe and the U. S. will have to step back in and put this down.
The world is venturing into a terrible dark alley, if it thinks we escape the downside of this by not engaging.
I agree fully with your post #46.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I meant I’m done with the middle east, not with you.
Sorry, but I am fed up with the entire region and its people. They are just not worth our young people dying over.
I didn’t mean to take it out on you but I do not understand why people are so hot to get us even more involved with these people. They are not worth our young people’s lives unless there is a clear and present danger to our country. The pyramids, which I admit would be so horrible to lose, is not that clear and present danger.
I have never seen the pyramids of Egypt other than in pictures, since when has tourism been the yardstick by which we measure the value of a historical or cultural monument?
We value them based on their significance to the people who created them and the perceived reasons for their creation.
Grave robbers and builders have been stealing the contents and structural materials from the pyramids since the day they were built; not saying that makes it right, but it is not our obligation to protect them.
That obligation rests squarely on the shoulders of the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people.
NOT WESTERN TOURISTS>
The pyramids are a great cultural treasure for EGYPT, not the UNITED STATES.
LET THE EGYPTIANS PROTECT THEM.
This is the same logic that says, don’t take action to save that person on the street from two hoodlums, if you have the capability to save them.
Something that has been around for thousands of years, is not something we should surrender to terrorists.
Your comment that we shouldn’t let tourists guide us, is just juvenile.
It’s not the tourists that guide us, but the thousand year old items themselves. And no, it is not unreasoned to remind folks that millions of people from around the world do flock to see these items.
They do so because of their amazing existence.
What does it say about us if we let that person on the street perish?
What does it say about us, if we allow thousands of years of heritage be destroyed as if it means nothing to humanity?
Your view is calculated but again, you still have blinders on as to the loss to the world and history that the destruction of these ancient landmarks would represent.
Gonna take a lot of men to tear down a Pyramid.
My concern would be that they destroy the Sphinx and set up a massive explosive charge under the pyramids.
These guys are drive by the dark side and they won’t stop.
There are hundreds if not thousands of lesser pyramids across northern Africa. I’d wouldn’t want any of those thousand year old evidences of civilization to be destroyed.
The Pyramids predate anything Egyptian. And where did I say or imply the US should defend them. There are, however a lot of other reasons why we need more than the ISIS loving half-breed in the White Mosque is willing to do about them.
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