On that evidence I don't think you're the one who's being 'terminally dumb', habibi. I think it's the bloke who put all that stuff up there in the first place, and his Captain who didn't think it might be a good idea to exercise command authority and tell him not to be so dumb...
I tend towards the cock-up rather than the conspiracy. Sounds to me like this is just the same complacent ignorance and disregard of risk one sees every minute of the day in Cairo traffic, rather than the calculated plot you seem to imply...
Good grief.