Islamic Republic: Super Efficient in Death & Destruction, Piss Poor in Saving Lives

Gross incompetency in saving lives, super efficient
in dismantling satellite dishes

Back in 2004, after the earthquake in Bam, I was quoted by IPS News Agency, saying "Islamic authorities are only efficient when it comes to putting down protests and in their terror operations. Their efficiency is in death, destruction and suppression, not in saving lives"

Ten years later, the same is still true. Last week tragic scenes of two female workers in a factory jumping to their deaths while the building was engulfed in flames was captured on mobile phone cameras by passers by. The video footage has gone viral and reported widely in the Iranian media.

What has stirred the emotions of people in Iran about this tragedy, apart from the distressing pictures of two helpless women falling to their deaths, was the gross incompetency of the fire brigade in its rescue operation and the callous reactions shown by the Tehran municipality officials afterwards.

The first fire engine which arrived on the scene failed to operate its ladder to reach the women. The women held on desperately, hoping the fire brigade will have a jump cushion they could jump on to, but the firemen couldn't pump up the jump cushion either, or as some reports suggest,  they didn't even have one. Amazingly the firemen then started aiming their water jets at the two women instead of pointing them at the fire. This made the fixtures wet and slippery and impossible to hold on to and the women fell to their deaths.

Massumeh Abad, female member of the Tehran municipality who coincidentally was returning from a meeting with the Supreme Leader and witnessed the rescue operation, told the Iranian reporters "the technical fault which happened with the fire engine's ladder, can happen in any computer operated equipment, which is why sometimes even the giant aeroplanes fail to open their landing wheels". Massumeh Abad, also added that 5 people were finally rescued and "5 out of 7 wasn't so bad"

Other officials also reacted in a similar nonchalant manner and none have resigned or accepted any responsibility. Instead, two of the firemen involved in the rescue were arrested yesterday, one of them is the fireman in charge of operating the ladder.

People in Iran have compared the bungled rescue attempt with the ruthless efficiency the Islamic Republic displays in sending its balaclava wearing forces to abseil people's houses and dismantle their satellite dishes (see picture above). Just like I told the IPS reporter ten years ago, "Islamic authorities are only efficient when it comes to putting down protests and in their terror operations. Their efficiency is in death, destruction and suppression, not in saving lives"

Below is a captured footage of another incident. This time its the fire brigade in Zanjan, attempting to put out the fire. Thankfully, there was no one in the car to be rescued on this occasion: