At Least The Beirut Blast Looked Symmetrical

by Detective Adrian Monk

San Francisco, August 12 – Numerous elements of the disastrous ammonium nitrate explosion in the Lebanese capital last week give cause for alarm. Nevertheless, one the more common features of such incidents remained noticeably absent: the irregular pattern of the initial blast wave and its accompanying puff of smoke, which, blessedly, traveled at a more or less uniform speed and created an aesthetically acceptable, if fleeting, spheroid.

One look at the site of the blast and I could tell you something’s not right: not just the negligence, if not outright, cold malice, behind the stowing of such a quantity of volatile materials in such a crucial facility, of course gives any decent person pause, but note also the fact that the grain solo remained partially standing, an egregious offense. It created a totally unbalanced picture. The blast crater and surrounding devastation, awful as it was for those involved, at least proceeded evenly – in part of the blast radius. Not so the area beyond the silo, which was more shielded from the explosion than the rest of the city. That asymmetry is hard to look at and know there’s nothing you can do about it.

You express horror at my reaction, but here’s the thing: even the casualty figures are a mess, as was the mass of the ammonium nitrate present in the first place. Beyond the blatant disregard of basic safety protocols and standards, if such things even meaningfully exist in Lebanon under Hezbollah, the estimated quantity of explosive material in the facility stood at 2,750 metric tons, not a proper round figure such as 1,000 or 10,000, or even 3,000; the number of deaths quickly climbed past the precise threshold of exactly one hundred and holds, as of this writing, at an egregiously unbalanced 220; and the damage estimates keep fluctuating. To say nothing of the terrible mess the explosion left all over the city.

Here’s what happened: Hezbollah used its control of the Beirut port to import and store the makings for explosives, and failed to protect the people of the city, which is par for the course as it concerns a group that embeds its military facilities, materials, and operations in urban and civilian places. Unless they are removed as an actor in Lebanon, we will see more asymmetrical, uneven casualties and damage, because Hezbollah, as an arm of hegemonic Iran, gives no priority to the wishes and or welfare of the Lebanese. They have to go.

You’ll thank me later.

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