I haven't said much about the whole Embassy Attack because there isn't really much to opinionate about. There is a group of people in the world who HATE us, and who will use any excuse to take offense at US...our society, our way of life...everything. I doubt this most recent video has anything more or less offensive than your average weekly episode of South Park.
My boss is an ex-Marine, and he spent the last half of the week awfully fired up. In his spare time, you could find him watching video clips of Samuel Jackson from the movie Rules of Engagement. His favorite scene is the one where Samuel Jackson, in his role as Colonel Terry Childers, orders his men to open fire on the crowd in his own colorful manner. My boss willl then look me in the eye and say 'If we had Marines on the ground in Libya, this wouldn't have happened.'
THAT is where my ignorance came in. I had always assumed that we had troops(if not Marines then at least Army) at each of our Embassies...I mean, especially ones in as unstable as Libya. If something horrible happened at the American Embassy in Britain, or Germany, or heck, even Russia, and there were no Marines around to save the day, I could kind of understand that.
But...to find out that the safety of one of our Embassies is trusted to a private contractor was quite disturbing...and made me feel ignorant.
The Army was taken out of embassy protection because... they fired on a crowd that was attacking... long ago... Probably another Dem president if I had to guess... can't remember (the change occurred in 1946, so... yep, a Dem. As for Marines? Well, sure, they are excellent guards, if they are allowed to carry live ammo. Army would work too. The chief in Cairo, at least, took away live ammunition from the marines there, while she was away, of course. (During this most recent spate of attacks.)
ReplyDeleteI am not letting it get to me. This admin is what it is and does what it does. I remember when these sorts of things were handled quietly, before problems escalated. *hammer on the nail, bam* If something got out of hand, it was dealt with in a quiet but absolute manner and didn't happen again (until a softy was in office).
On the good side? As with Carter, the notion of live and let live in a world that doesn't want to do the same is in evidence all over again. Either we need to surrender back to our borders, pulling out our assets, letting citizens and companies who travel be on their own, or we need to put some muscle into it. I know which side I am on, especially since I know how very little "muscle" it really takes. It's the brain, stupid, the muscle can be a squad of two hundred guys with exceptionally secure fast transport, the go-ahead, and some decent training. Oh, and their own intel. Don't trust the CIA, they have their own... thing going.