Manila SWAT manual: Attempt to disable target when breaching bus by tossing in a GLOW STICK.

When you storm the enemy, tear through them with confidence. That confidence was clearly lacking in the Manila Police’s SWAT team as they attempted the “rescue” of the passengers.

As I watched the video posted on YouTube by Russia Today, I could not help but get the sense that they were approaching this from a “let’s try not to get shot while doing this” mind-set. In contrast, when you watch American SWAT teams operate, they have a “we’ll get you first” mentality.

It seems like the hostages were a footnote, if at all, in their minds as the Manila SWAT attempted to breach the bus.

They gave the gunman, Mendoza, all the time in the world to execute the hostages.

I wondered what they were thinking when they attempted to smash the windows, one at a time, along the bus. They might as well have just pressed a doorbell announcing their arrival.

Moreover, assuming they had multiple axes, and smashed every single one of the windows in a single blow then boarded the busses through the windows, that is a GREAT way to get SHOT because they have no clue what’s behind the curtains.

But hey, you could throw in smoke grenades to blind the target, teargas to flush him out, or even a flash bang to momentarily disorient or stun him as you breach the bus. However, the Manila Police chooses to throw in … a !$#!@#$ GLOW STICK.

Yes, 1:47 into the video, you can see the officer attempt to lob a blue glow stick, very unsuccessfully, into the bus. At 2:00 you can clearly see it was a glow stick from the close up shot of the officer attempting to stuff the stick into the bus.

Maybe it was why they didn’t use a flash bang. Imagine that, having that flash bang bounce back and stunning them. Or even worse, tear gassing themselves and forcing them away from the bus. Ah, that would rub salt on the serious wound the force’s reputation already sustained.

But there is no need for “what ifs” to rub salt into this wound. As at 2:05 into the video, a policeman takes one more swing at the door and actually loses his grip on his axe and sends it flying into the bus. He has to reach over again to retrieve it.

Victim Jason Leung, who studies in the city where I live, suffered from blunt force trauma to the head according to Wikipedia. He had not been shot. This raises questions of whether the policemen actually caused the injury while attempting to smash the windows.

Clearly Mendoza had every confidence in the ineptitude of the Manila police force when he showed his full body in the frame of the bus door without using a hostage as cover as seen in other videos, earlier in the situation.

Manila’s president blamed a lack of equipment. I say, it was even more so an absence of proper tactics.

As I mentioned to a friend, Kristen, if this situation isn’t as grave as it is, this video could actually make it into America’s Funniest Home Videos.

While Mendoza didn’t get reinstated as a cop, he probably died laughing, watching the same videos in the bus as we were in our homes, at the ineptitude of the police force that dismissed him. He had his revenge. He made a mockery out of them.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families of this tragic situation.