STORM2K

Hundreds injured... at least four reported. Death toll likely to go higher.

Death toll climbing...

30 killed in Egyptian Red Sea explosions-doctor
Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:56 PM ET

CAIRO (Reuters) - Thirty people were killed in explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday and many wounded are in critical condition, a doctor in the town said by telephone.

Police and government sources in Cairo said there were 27 dead and about 110 injured.

"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical condition," said the doctor at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, who asked not to be named.

I've been expecting this kind of a thing. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are repressive autocratic regimes, which have given the Wahhabi militants just enough room to gain a foothold.

Damn them.

My sister went on Holiday to Sharm El Sheik recently and it is an absolutely beautiful resort. She stayed at one of the Hilton resorts I believe so her hotel wasn't hit. When she was choosing the hotel I joked that she should go for a low profile hotel as the multistorey hotels would be a bigger target but I seriously didn't expect that Sharm El Sheik would be targetted. I know she had considered both the Hotels which were hit at some point before settling on the Hilton resort. She'll be shocked when she finds out what has happened tomorrow morning

kevin wrote:I've been expecting this kind of a thing. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are repressive autocratic regimes, which have given the Wahhabi militants just enough room to gain a foothold.

Damn them.

I'm waiting for a claim of responsibility here, kevin. Egypt has been one of the leading states that is trying to broker an Israeli-Palestinian accord, and any of the "usual suspects" (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, etc.) would have chosen to use Egyptian resorts to (a) kill as many foriegners as possible and (b) show Egypt that it isn't immune to attack.

kevin wrote:I've been expecting this kind of a thing. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are repressive autocratic regimes, which have given the Wahhabi militants just enough room to gain a foothold.

Damn them.

I'm not quite sure what you are saying here....

The Egyptian government is quite repressive, but that is something we have always encouraged....and Mubarak certainly hasn't intentionally given Wahhabi militants a foothold. After attack threats started scaring away Western tourists, he seriously cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, arresting them by the thousands. In that sense, the Egyptian government is the polar opposite of the Saudi government, which quietly allows - and even encourages - extremism.

This "repression" is part of the reason why Egyptian resorts are attacked.... also, many Israelis and Westerners vacation there.

What a horrible thing this is. I have aquaintances in Egypt, and have always wanted to visit there....

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArtic ... ONS-DC.XML

Up to 49 dead now and bound to rise... reminds me a lot of Bali back in 2002.

Up to 83 dead now...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8671549/

This is just horrible.

88 dead and climbing; some Al-Qaida offshoot is claiming responsibility.

I guessed as much. Physically and ideologically they scrambled out of Afghanistan.

Bali, Chechnya/North Ossetia, Morocco, Madrid, London, Riyadh, and now Sharm el-Sheikh. I haven't come close to naming all the places these thugs have struck.

There is no easy solution. Nothing we have done seems to be hindering them. Not to say that our policy is wrong, but rather to say that the west has its back to the wall. We cannot let them take hold of these Arab states. Likewise we cannot be sure that arming them and giving them political aid won't bite us in our behinds later. What is sure is that we have to act in the here and now.

stormie_skies wrote:The Egyptian government is quite repressive, but that is something we have always encouraged....and Mubarak certainly hasn't intentionally given Wahhabi militants a foothold. After attack threats started scaring away Western tourists, he seriously cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, arresting them by the thousands.

Arresting bad guys isn't "repression".

Denying basic civil liberties, free assembly, and popular sovereignty is, sorry to crush your dream, but we give money to autocrats in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Egypt receives less than Israel but is number 2 last I checked. And that is why the Muslims see in part us as being hypocritical, they say that if America were for democracy and not simply her national interests then she wouldn't be funding people who are against democracy.

I am a realist, and decide things based on national interest. Arresting bad guys isn't repression, but denying the rights of assembly tends to create other bad guys. And you know what? If you put a group which is borderline under stress, they move to extremism.