Posted on 04/18/2002 1:31:31 PM PDT by LarryLied
received via email:
Hello Everyone,
Just to let you know the Embassy in Bahrain was attacked yesterday at 4:00 p.m. The five Marine Security Guards and the two Regional Security Officers were the only ones protecting the Embassy. The Embassy was closed so luckily we only had to protect ourselves and the Embassy compound from destruction. The protest was a pro-Palestinian rally that started a few miles from the embassy and became fueled for violence as radical Muslim groups took charge and led the march on the embassy at 3:30 p.m.
The march was between 2600 and 3000 protestors, but we do not have an exact count because it just happened several hours ago. The protestors were throwing rocks, sticks and fire bombs at the embassy. Between 20 and 30 protestors climbed the wall and started setting the cars, trucks and embassy on fire. When the protestors climbed the walls, the 5 Marines were authorized to use necessary force.
We shot tear gas into the crowd of over 2600 people to try and turn them away from the compound and then continued destruction of our pov's and satellite communication equipment, which was outside the embassy but inside the compound wall. At 4:10 p.m. no firefighters had arrived, so three Marines had to leave the embassy under covering fire of the Marines with gas on the third floor to go to the back of the compound to put out the fires themselves.
We sustained minor injuries from the protestors attacking us with rocks and sticks as we chased them out of the compound and back over the walls using force, while the remaining Marine put out the fires to the best of his ability. After the fires were secured the Marines pulled back into the embassy and continued to force the protestors back onto the highway behind the embassy. The protests were mainly secured by 7:00 p.m. and the investigation was in full swing by this time as well. The Marines stayed at the embassy for security throughout the night and will continue to do so today.
The host government was embarassed that they could not control its own people and that their riot control police were no match for the number of protestors.
The King of Bahrain instructed the Ministry of Interior to fix the problem before dawn, so that minimal damage would be seen this morning. When the Marines were told at 6:00 a.m. this morning we could leave to go get some sleep, we drove past the outside of the embassy and were amazed. The grafitti had been painted over, the guard shacks that had been burned were replaced, the fire bomb burns on the wall had been painted over, the thousand's of rocks that had been thrown were swept away, and the barbed wire that surround the embassy the previous day was gone. Other than the total destruction of all government property inside the compound it looked to anyone passing by, that nothing had really happened.
The host government represenatives called the Ambassador last night and told him they would replace everything that was destroyed and that cost was not an issue. The Kingdom of Bahrain is so scared of pissing off the U.S. that it will do anything in its power to preserve its relationship with us even in the shadow of ignorance from it's own people. The entire fight was caught on video because we saw the Al Jazerra News choppers over our heads. The video may or may not be released because it will be handled the same way the Daniel Pearl murder was handled, since the government will try and pressure what is released and given the fact that the news agency that filmed the riot yesterday is the same one that had the Daniel Pearl murder on tape.
This is the story of what took place on April 5th 2002 in Manama, Bahrain at 3:30 p.m., regardless of what you see or hear. Before I leave and go treat my scrapes and cuts and then go to bed for about 12 hours, I would like to say that the two RSO's and five Marines kept the Embassy from burning to an embarassing pile of United States image, and successfully held off and injured any one that intended to come take our pride from us.
Did I mention the riot was at least 2600 people? Just wanted to make sure anyone out there who thought the Marines who guard the embassies were NOT bad ass boys with guns, does not have that in their heads anymore.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am off to bed because I am dead tired, but it was worth it because I had the time of my life yesterday, by far the most fun I have ever had. And one more thing, the American flag is still flying as high and bright as it was before the riot and the protestors' flags are lying on the ground covered in mud.
FR posts on the attack:
Bahrain Protesters Smash Windows at U.S. Embassy
Thousands protest Zionist atrocities(Bahrain:site of US Air and Naval base)
Protester Dies of Injuries Suffered in Demonstration Outside US Embassy in Bahrain
Name me one Jewish conservative of the national standing of Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell or Ward Connerly who goes after the ADL or PFAW the way conservative blacks go after the NAACP. Maybe you can. I can't think of one.
What exploitation? I said there were protests in Bahrain and "they" wanted the 5th Fleet out. I suspect the 5th Fleet is well aware of that fact.
That you misread what I said and thought I meant the government wanted us out is silly. If that were the case it would be front page news and it would have had multiple threads of its own.
Are you for real?
Online
April 19, 2002 Friday 3:11 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 456 words
HEADLINE: White House Seeks to Reassure Arabs
BYLINE: BARRY SCHWEID; AP Diplomatic Writer
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The Bush administration assured the Arab world on Friday that it would keep working with Yasser Arafat on a pathway to peace.
But anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment was strong.
In Bahrain, more than 3,000 marched from a mosque in the capital Manama to the U.N. office chanting: "Death to the U.S. and Israel!" They burned an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and called on the government to close the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. base on the island. Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
What is interesting now is not the letter at all. It is the fact that all the Israeli seminar posters are interest in is the truth of the email. One even suggested, gloatingly, that whoever wrote it is in big trouble.
Not the normal reactions of patriotic Americans. Some skepticism, yes, but not to the exclusion of all else. Not one of the seminar posters has even mentioned the implications of the facts we know are true: 50,000 protested the USA in Bahrain. Our Embassy was fire bombed. One person was killed. Hezbollah was involved.
More concerned about IDF assests and troops than US assets and troops?
78 posted on 4/19/02 11:46 AM Pacific by LarryLied
Any more questions? Read his other threads on the subject.
Designed to cloud the issue that there are problems in the country where our 5th Fleet is stationed. Why you do this, I don't know.
LOL. When have I been proven wrong? Back that up now. :)) What's your problem with the truth? If you make a charge be willing to provide rock-hard proof. You 'go after' what you want to 'go after', I am after the truth. I am tired if of the lies.
I don't misread, LL. I read very clearly, and you very clearly implied that the Bahraini GOVERNMENT had asked the Fifth Fleet to leave. If you hadn't had to admit you lied, that would still be your CLEAR implication. And I certainly would have headed it straight to the Fifth for confirmation. You are more than a normal, run of the mill liar. YOU are a professional. And a very lousy one at that.
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