Egyptian Regime Crucifying Dissidents - An Old Evil Rises Anew

[jordan179]

The Story

In a development that managed to shock even me, the Egyptian regime is now allowing its Muslim Brotherhood party militias to kill dissidents by crucifixion.

The Inquisitr said

According to reports on Friday, Muslim Brotherhood supporters scourged and crucified secular protestors in Egypt's capital city of Cairo. ... Brotherhood backed mobs

Comments

[jordan179]

The basic technique was devised by Sir Barnes Neville Wallis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Wallis

an English engineer who invented the bouncing bomb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncing_bomb

which was used by RAF Squadron 612 in World War II to drop the Ruhr dams in Operation Chastise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

One uses a large bomb configured to skip or "bounce" off the surface of the water for the same physical reasons that one can manually "skip" a stone. Approaching the dam horizontally over-water, one releases the bomb and skips it in such a manner that it finally sinks against the high-water side of the dam. The bomb then detonates roughly in contact with the dam.

The surrounding mass of water has the effect of confining the blast and channelling much of its force against the dam itself. This causes cracks low enough on the dam that when the water begins to flow the failure spreads and the force of the leaks themselves tear the dam apart.

This not only causes a flood but -- if enough bombs were used fast enough -- a very intense flood as the dam fails catastrophically. This creates a huge head of water which batters down everything in its path, having the ability to physically destroy even strong and well-protected structures.

In the case of the Aswan Dam,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam

the immense quantity of water (132 cubic kilometers) would roll forth as a single massive wave, and the geography of the Nile Valley would keep it in the river valley. The tsunami-like wave would scour the valley clean of human life and habitation all the way down to and possibly including Cairo.

The only mitigating factor is that the wave would take long enough to traverse this distance that -- save for the region right under the dam -- the Egyptians would have anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours to get to high ground. Of course, once the waters receded, they would have no homes to which they might return, so many of the survivors would perish thereafter. I think the death toll would be in at least the thousands and possibly all the way up to millions.

Yes, the Aswan Dam is bigger than the Ruhr Dams the British dropped. But then, modern aircraft are also bigger than the ones the British flew in World War II. It could be done.

[kalance]

Of course, these days we also have bunker-busting cruise missiles that are specifically designed to penetrate through many meters of steel-reinforced concrete before detonating; thus maximizing their damage. A couple of those would do the job without even the need to risk the bomber crew.

I'm sure that Israel must have more than a few such devices, given the nature of the enemy they've been fighting for decades.

[ford_prefect42]

Nit to pick. "Bunker buster" bombs are not "cruise missiles", they are primarily kinetic kill weapons, which means they have to be dropped from very high altitude to work.

So Israel *would* have to risk a bomber to pull that off.

There *have* been some missile based designs, but being short of fuel, they are generally delivered by lower altitude aircraft.

[fpb]

If Israel is willing to kill so many Egyptians, I hardly think that the invention of a new kind of dam-busting cruise bomb is beyond its capacities. The main problem is Israel's desperate and unavailing wish to be liked by its enemies.

[hannahsarah]

I'm OK with that. Sounds like a good plan.

[fpb]

But is your government? See my answer above.

[marycatelli]

Have you ever read Sandy Mitchell's Death or Glory? I think from this you would find it interesting. (I also think it's only available in omnibus nowadays, but that's okay, Ciaiphas Cain is worth reading.)