I am going to be honest with you, unilke 99% of bloggers out there and admit I don’t know what in gods name is going on in Egypt. I assume the people don’t want Mubarak in there any more but I am totally ignorant as to what sides there are, what options there may be and who heads the opposition. I have seen a lot of footage however.
I also know nothing about my car. If it breaks I am screwed and completely at the mercy of a mechanic. I also don’t play professional football. My body would surely break in two the first time I got hit by someone like Brian Urlacher or Lance Briggs.
So what do you get when you combine Egyptian riots with someone who thinks they can be a professional at something they really have no clue at? Dudes on emaciated horses with short weapons getting their asses kicked.
I cannot fathom how some guy who has no experience with riding a horse in riot type conditions would just mount up and head into the fray and think that is a great plan. The riders had no protection on the horses, and the horses surely had no experience with riot control. The riders were taken down in a millisecond as were the horses at times. I am positive the horses were not shoed properly, and I imagine these horses were completely out of condition as were the riders. I have seen other footage of horse mounted guys riding past TANKS, as well as one dude on a camel riding past a tank.
Hopefully the riots will calm and everyone will be OK, but this dog ain’t gonna hunt.
Hey! I just watched Rudy Guiliani on CNN and he has absolutely no clue either. And I mean no clue. I am in elite company.
I felt a bit sorry for those horses and camels getting thrown into this fray.
I’ll bet the secret police or whatever those thugs on horses were figured that they’d be able to intimidate the protesters.
Actually they need to learn a bit about combined arms; maybe those horses and camels could have done something as part of a strategy but just riding in there is obviously not going to work.
I saw one guy who was really going all out on his camel. He probably hadn’t had so much fun in years. I didn’t see anybody jumping at him.
Carl – in general, TRAINED horses are a pretty effective crowd deterrent, however bringing in pets or animals right off the farm such as these is pretty much a crap shoot. In this environment and without any desensitization training, the animals are just as likely to turn on their own side. Most likely the animals will just run or walk away and look for grass as soon as their riders are taken off and beaten.
I did see a very confused rider-less horse in a huge crowd while watching a broadcast. I had to laugh. I guess camels and horses are kept within the city of Cairo (Don’t suppose they were trucked in eh?) He did not seem to have the stoic presence of the American police horse, but that of a very worried pet, looking to get the hell out of the fray. C’mon somebody, bring a lion or other big cat to the show, after a week coverage is getting stale.
I agree that using the animals in that manner was likely cruel but it was fascinating to watch. I never thought I’d get to see an Arab light cavalry charge in action. The camels in particular were impressive. With their domineering height, I suspect they are an especially ferocious sight charging into one’s lines. Now just imagine an elephant charge..
The Other McCain had an amusing video of a protestor setting himself on fire with his Molotov cocktail. Those things require a bit of skill.
“The Other McCain had an amusing video of a protestor setting himself on fire with his Molotov cocktail.” I figured this would happen eventually.
“Now just imagine an elephant charge…”
You think of 300
I heard somwhere that in actuality those elephants weren’t the best weapons, that they turned tail and crushed their own side many times after the crazy battles started.
Camel and horse rides are a staple of tourists visiting Egypt. It appears that these animals are the same gentle creatures chosen for their phlegmatic temperament, and who usually plod along with a dentist from Poughkeepsie on their back so their owner could make five bucks.
I’m with Carl from Chicago on this one. My sympathies lie with the poor abused beasts.
I also have to voice my agreement with what Damn from Madison said in the original essay. It would appear that the riders were using short weapons, and impact weapons at that.
There is one rider who manages to slash at someone who blocked his horse five or six times before he is pulled from the saddle. The person on the receiving end doesn’t go down, doesn’t even lower his arms from a defensive stance, although it appears that he wasn’t too happy about getting beaten. In my opinion, it looks like the horsemen were employing short, light impact weapons. Maybe even quirts or riding crops.
The riders would have been able to do more damage of they were using spears, axes, swords. Edged weapons are in a class by themselves, and you would have seen a great many injured people in the crowd if someone started to lay about them with something sharp and pointy. They probably would have been able to kill a fair number of pedestrians before finally being dragged from their mounts.
But then, if they had done something like that, their own heads would have been hoisted over the crowd on their own captured weapons as soon as the mob had their way with them.
James, that was part of my point. Why bring a short blunt instrument into a fray if you are serious about being a calvaryman? A scimitar or other type of sword shows that you really mean business. Even a spear would have been better. I also note that it seems that none of the riders were locked onto those horses in any way, or were completely out of physical condition since they slid off so easily.