The Libyan frogman who couldn’t swim
If anyone out there is compiling a list of security threats we don’t need to worry about, you can probably add "amphibious assault by Libya". A Feb. 17, 2009 cable tells the story of one unfortunate defender of theJamahiriya who was sent to Italy for training in "underwater explosives detection and demolition": After several days ...
If anyone out there is compiling a list of security threats we don't need to worry about, you can probably add "amphibious assault by Libya". A Feb. 17, 2009 cable tells the story of one unfortunate defender of theJamahiriya who was sent to Italy for training in "underwater explosives detection and demolition":
If anyone out there is compiling a list of security threats we don’t need to worry about, you can probably add "amphibious assault by Libya". A Feb. 17, 2009 cable tells the story of one unfortunate defender of theJamahiriya who was sent to Italy for training in "underwater explosives detection and demolition":
After several days of classroom instruction, the candidates – it was a regional course and included students from several countries – were taken to the pool for their first practical session in the water. The instructor directed the students to don their masks and regulators and enter the deep end of the pool; however, after several minutes, the Libyan student had still not entered the water. The instructor, said Trupiani, walked up to the student, put his mask on, shoved the regulator in his mouth and pushed him into the pool. The Libyan student sank like a stone, spit out his regulator and swallowed a great deal of water. After pulling him out and pumping the water out of lungs, the Italians learned that the Libyan student could not swim and was not a member of the Libyan GPC for Public Security or any GOL entity. He was the cousin of an official tasked with selecting participants for training programs and had simply wanted a vacation in Rome.
7.(C) Italian Minister of Interior Maroni immediately contacted Trupiani and asked that he demarche the GOL straight away to pre-empt any Libyan accusations of mistreatment of their man. Trupiani hand-delivered a note verbale protesting the fact that the GOL had sent an unqualified candidate to participate in a program paid for by the Italian government. The next day, the Italian Embassy received a formal written reply in which the GOL frostily averred that it was the responsibility of the Italian governnment to ensure that candidates for its training programs were properly qualified, and that the Italians should have taught him how to swim.
WikiLeaks has just published a massive tranche of new cables, mostly concerned with nuclear smuggling in a number of countries. This continues the site’s strange tradition of timing these releases for minimum possible news impact.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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