Because of the jihad ideology, revenue from the Suez Canal is lost to Egypt, and the U.S. has to bear the added expenses of sending ships around the Cape of Good Hope. This in itself should, in a rational world, lead the Egyptians to reconsider their affection for the global jihad — but of course, why should they bother when have received $50 billion free from the U.S. government since 1975? Which only underscores the need for the U.S. to take the steps I outlined here.
“Terrorism Fears Divert Navy Supply Ships From Suez Canal,” from Newhouse News Service, with thanks to Kemaste:
WASHINGTON — Citing security concerns, the U.S. Navy is diverting some massive supply ships carrying critical war materiel away from the Suez Canal, sending them instead on the long, solitary trek around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope en route to the Persian Gulf.
At least 12 huge, unarmed ships of the Navy’s Military Sealift Command have been sent on the Cape route rather than through the Suez Canal, adding thousands of miles to the trip, the Navy confirmed.
The vessels were rerouted because of “the security issue,” said Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Breslau, in a telephone interview, declined to say whether the action was taken in response to a specific threat or general concern about terrorist attacks.
In the past few months, however, U.S. and British authorities have cautioned of threats to shipping in the Middle East. One U.S. warning in mid-December said significant attacks could take place in the Suez Canal and other “choke points” — narrow channels where vulnerable ships, if damaged or sunk, would significantly disrupt commerce.
Analysts took particular note of the recent rise of Saud Hamud al-Utaibi in al-Qaida’s leadership. He is a maritime terror expert believed to have been responsible for the attacks on the USS Cole and the French supertanker MV Limburg.
“Al-Utaibi is the new head of al-Qaida on the Arabian peninsula, and that heightens the threat to shipping certainly within that region,” Dominic Armstrong, head of intelligence and research for Aegis Defense Services, an international consulting firm, said in a telephone interview from London.
Maritime shipping in general, he said, “remains vulnerable.”