Matt Stevens (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kent_allard_jr) wrote,@ 2008-03-25 12:24:00 |
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Could Someone Explain This to Me, Please?
In a way that doesn't make us look like complete assholes and idiots, that is:
In a way that doesn't make us look like complete assholes and idiots, that is:
A cargo ship chartered by the U.S. Navy opened fire when approached by an Egyptian motorboat late on Monday near the Suez Canal, and Egyptian and US officials gave conflicting reports on Tuesday on casualties.First: What's this about an armed "chartered" boat? Are we putting machine guns on private ships these days? Second: Um, isn't the Suez Canal, like, Egyptian territory? When did we start treating Egypt like it was Iraq? (I know it's hard to keep these places apart, guys, but try to keep up.) Can we start shooting at anybody who tries to sell us newspapers and stuff? Third: The "Global Patriot"?! Please, go and be a "patriot" for some other country, if you don't mind.
Egyptian security sources and witnesses said the gunfire killed an Egyptian trader on the motorboat and wounded two other people. The U.S. Navy said it had recorded no casualties.
The small Egyptian craft had been trying to sell goods to ships passing through the Suez Canal, the Egyptian sources said.
The U.S. Navy said the Global Patriot, on short-term charter to the military, had fired warning shots near the Egyptian boat after it ignored verbal orders and a signal flare telling it to stay away.
