The new $68 million U.S. Embassy that opened today — 41/2 years after terrorists bombed the previous one — is a soaring fortress with 31/2-inch-thick bulletproof windows and walls able to withstand a blast from a 1,000-pound bomb. But Livingstone Madahana’s weak eyes could barely see the building from where he sat with a dozen other survivors of the August 1998 embassy bombing in Nairobi, which left 219 dead and 5,000 injured. Madahana had been so determined to complete work left for him by a colleague who went on vacation that he stayed in his chair when he heard a horrible bang. His computer blew up in his face seconds after he heard the second explosion. He and other Kenyans who survived that day came to the new embassy’s inauguration party today, some on canes, some with fleshy burn wounds that still ache and some still a little hesitant that the new embassy would keep them safe against another terrorist attack. American architects and security officials said they couldn’t have done more to fortify the building, the second-largest U.S. Embassy in Africa, after the embassy in Cairo. Tomorrow, the new U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will open with similar security features. That embassy was bombed the same day as the attack in Nairobi; 12 people died and 80 were injured. Both attacks have been blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.