Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
If this is confirmed as valid, why on earth would you keep such an explosive item so close to a population center??
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Ignorance, incompetence, favouritism and bureaucracy are the short answers. There are lots of dots to connect here and if anyone ever does, it won't be a pretty picture.
A local mafia composed of high ranking officers, customs directors, administrators and security officials controls the Port. Each person in charge has been appointed by a political leader offering his men immunity and protection. This is indeed the case for the Director of#Customs and the Army intelligence General who are responsible for harbour movements and contents. The port produces immense amounts of money and bribes are a matter of course for all those who run this enterprise. In the face of such corruption, it is clear that scientific expertise about what is happening to stored ammonium nitrate and the conditions in which 2,750 tons of it are stored was not that important. So, given all that, when a problem or a disaster occurs, as it did on Tuesday, it will obviously be very difficult to find those really responsible.
When one talks about Lebanon, Hezbollah is almost always brought up. And there are certainly those who claim there was a Hezbollah ammo dump or missile factory nearby that contributed to the explosion. However, I want to point out that Hezbollah has nothing to do with the Port of Beirut. It lies within a Sunni district and the factions running the harbour are generally not friendly with Hezbollah. Speculation about Hezbollah storing weapons at warehouse 12 is unfounded because the place was under constant surveillance by cameras controlled by the local security forces themselves. Hezbollah would certainly not store weapons in an area both unfriendly and not under its own control.