The TSA Mentality Comes To Embassies
I've lost count of how many US embassies have been stormed these past couple of days, but I think I understand why those embassies were stormed so easily: allegedly, US Marines guarding the embassy and consulates in Egypt were forbidden by the state department to carry live ammunition.
That said, government spokesmen have yet to confirm or deny these reports. I'm still hoping they're a giant hoax, but wouldn't be surprised to learn they're true. It's the TSA security theater mentality taken out of airports and inserted overseas: we don't need to do jack to keep people safe, we need only make it look like we're doing jack to keep people safe.
Here's an idea to cut government spending: replace all embassy guards and TSAgents with life-size cardboard cutouts of embassy guards and TSAgents. They'll provide the exact same level of protection, without any need for salaries or benefits or anything like that.
That said, government spokesmen have yet to confirm or deny these reports. I'm still hoping they're a giant hoax, but wouldn't be surprised to learn they're true. It's the TSA security theater mentality taken out of airports and inserted overseas: we don't need to do jack to keep people safe, we need only make it look like we're doing jack to keep people safe.
Here's an idea to cut government spending: replace all embassy guards and TSAgents with life-size cardboard cutouts of embassy guards and TSAgents. They'll provide the exact same level of protection, without any need for salaries or benefits or anything like that.
posted by Jennifer Abel at 12:41 PM
4 Comments:
The Pentagon is denying the reports, but even assuming they were true, it would represent the decision of one ambassador, not the entire state department. And I can even see where she may have been coming from, were this the case; as it is, protestors stormed the place, and tore down and burned the flag. If Marines had responded by mowing down a few dozen protestors with their usual efficiency, thousands of protestors may well have swarmed them under and torched the place to the ground like a scene out of "Starship Troopers."
I think it would be better to control the situation with rules of engagement, since Marines are not, as a group, prone to panic and fire without authorization, but I'm loathe to second guess the decisions of an ambassador trying to manage a delicate situation, where a key if reluctant ally in a strategically vital region has just undergone a revolution.
This is a long standing issue. The Marine guards of the barracks in Beruit that were bombed in 1983 were not carrying live ammunition either.
One can't help but wonder what will happen the next time some useless PC twit tries telling the Marines not to carry ammo.
That's what happens when you put civilians in control of military forces. Stupid decisions are made by people that do not how to efficiently and effectively control them. This time it was an embassy that the marines were supposed to guard using state department rules. Next time it will be the streets of america that they are assigned to secure using DHS rules. Not gonna be good.
-Proud vet of 23 years
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