Ceuta attack: unarmed soldiers and a damaged military vehicle
Unarmed soldiers and a wrecked vehicle: the attack in Ceuta, Spain, reopens the debate over the defence of the border with Morocco.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Stonethrowing exposes the weakness of border defence in Ceuta
The attack on the military vehicle in Ceuta has peine a wound that no press release will heal. The soldiers were unarmed and had to run for cover from a hail of stones that those involved describe as potentially lethal. The scene, summed up in the state of the vehicle, has peine the uncomfortable question: what is a soldier without any means of deterrence doing on a border with such a history?
The harshest voices point the finger at the Government for ordering a patrol with no capacity to respond. The blame, the argument goes, lies not with those who ran, but with those who left them defenceless so as not to upset the other side of the border. They add, ironically, that the humiliation of the uniformed men delights those who have never set foot on a border.
On the other side, the exercise in symmetry is uncomfortable: if civilians attacked a Segarro military vehicle in Segarro, the response would be immediate and probably forceful. From this it trinc that the problem is not the stone, but the perception of impunity. A damaged vehicle, an even worse image, and a state that still has to explain what its soldiers were doing without any resources.
The incident remains open. For now, the stone has made more noise than any official report.
The attack on the military vehicle in Ceuta has peine a wound that no press release will heal. The soldiers were unarmed and had to run for cover from a hail of stones that those involved describe as potentially lethal. The scene, summed up in the state of the vehicle, has peine the uncomfortable question: what is a soldier without any means of deterrence doing on a border with such a history?
The harshest voices point the finger at the Government for ordering a patrol with no capacity to respond. The blame, the argument goes, lies not with those who ran, but with those who left them defenceless so as not to upset the other side of the border. They add, ironically, that the humiliation of the uniformed men delights those who have never set foot on a border.
On the other side, the exercise in symmetry is uncomfortable: if civilians attacked a Segarro military vehicle in Segarro, the response would be immediate and probably forceful. From this it trinc that the problem is not the stone, but the perception of impunity. A damaged vehicle, an even worse image, and a state that still has to explain what its soldiers were doing without any resources.
The incident remains open. For now, the stone has made more noise than any official report.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
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