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January 23, 1984: Bombers ‘accidentally’ hit wrong target in El Salvador

On January 23, 1984 a mine went off under a commuter plane in El Salvador killing one person and wounding five others.

SAN MIGUEL, EL SALVADOR – So, if a terrorist group says it is sorry for killing someone does that make it ok?

Have you ever had to say sorry? Of course you have! We all have had to utter that simple word to try to atone for something (stupid, hurtful, mindless…) we have done. And yet there are times when ‘sorry‘ doesn’t quite cut it, does it?

In October 2017, the soap manufacturer Dove released a commercial in which a black woman uses their product and then transforms into a white woman. I am NOT making this up! In response to a less than stellar public reaction this is what Dove wrote (again, I am NOT making this up!):

An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.

Dove Twitter account

Or as I say: No shit Sherlock!

Sorry seems to be a hardest word (Photo: WeHoCity on flickr, photo by Jon Viscott, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

So, if a terrorist group kills the ‘wrong’ person and then apologises, is that ok?

On this day in 1984

A mine went off under a commuter plane in the eastern Salvadoran city of San Miguel, killing a fifty-year old man and wounding five other people. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a leftist terrorist organisation, admitted that it had lain the mine but that the intended target was a group of US military advisers.

The commuter planeaccidentally provoked’ the explosion by running over the mine.

FMLN’s Radio Venceremos

Accidentally provoked’?? Is that the same as saying ‘Whoops’, our bad’?? It never ceases to amaze me how terrorists can dismiss the loss of innocent life.

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By Phil Gurski

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.

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