Thought for the day (2): A courageous death, an uncertain outcome.
First, let me make it very clear that in no way am I demeaning the death of Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame. He has my upmost respect and admiration for giving his life for his country and its citizens. He is to be commended for his life long record of outstanding public service. We should all strive to be as accomplished.
As a student of tactics and having been on a few situations myself, I am, (frankly), baffled by the tactical decisions made. Now, I am not French and having trained military/ LEO’s in over two dozen countries, I know cultural thinking is different everywhere. However, there are some very basic rules that need to be followed during a hostage situation, especially terrorist’s situations, that have been bought and paid for by the blood of the victims.
It is important to realize here, this was a terrorist, not a heroin junkie caught robbing a market.
“Before the supermarket, the gunman stole a car, killing one person in the vehicle and wounding another, the interior minister said”
“The gunman then shot at four National Police officers who were jogging in Carcassonne. The driver tried to run the officers down. One of them was wounded, but he was not in serious condition”
Last year Beltrame was appointed deputy commander of the anti-terror police in the Aude region.
By the time Beltrame’s unit was notified to mobilize, the terrorist had already demonstrated by the two previous attacks, that negotiations were only going to delay the situation until entry could be made. I am assuming this was Beltrame’s unit and he was in command, because, no sane commander would have ever authorized the exchange.
The terrorist had already killed civilians and shot cops, what made the commander think it was going to end any different if he exchanged himself for a hostage? Being a trained individual, being deputy commander of an anti-terror unit, surely he knew talking was never going to work.
Besides, I am assuming, according to his rank, he was in command. That means he stays out of the tactical operations and oversees everything, not offering up his own self for exchange. Who is controlling the containment, assault, and sniper teams? Who is controlling the negotiators, techs, and media?
“_As Friday’s attack was underway, Beltrame offered to exchange himself for one of the female hostages held inside the Super U supermarket, Collomb said. He was shot while entering the market”
Why? What made him think he could make an ISIS supporter “understand”? “He was shot while entering the market”. So, whatever his thought process was, it didn’t made a fuck ton of difference, because he was shot immediately. Did it ever cross his mind that killing a high ranking member of an anti-terror unit would achieve more media fame that killing a local?
“France will never forget his heroism, bravery and sacrifice," the country’s interior minister said”
Well, he is right, he was a hero and his bravery unquestioned, but, his sacrifice was for nothing. Entry still had to be made, the terrorist still had to be killed, the way it was always going to end. And a highly trained commander dead. I sincerely hope his death will mean a revision of whatever policy he was trying to follow, that future terrorist hostage situations will be dealt with in a more realistic manner that helps saves the lives of all involved.
On the other hand, maybe I am just fucking wrong about this.
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