Thread: American ambassador to Libya killed in rocket attack

Even worse than the delayed confirmation, there seems to be little to no outrage from the Obama administration or the State Department in condemning the attacks in Egypt or Libya. A mess is on the horizon...

Originally Posted by Sluggo

Even worse than the delayed confirmation, there seems to be little to no outrage from the Obama administration or the State Department in condemning the attacks in Egypt or Libya. A mess is on the horizon...

What good do you think it would do to express outrage and condemnation? Do you think it would magically stop the attacks? or perhaps it would lend credence to the attacks and just keep them going. Why hasn't other countries condemned them. Why do we need to interfere with other countries. Why not just close the embassies and bring the people home till things settle down. Let Egypt and Libya deal with their own problems. We can't afford to police the world.

Buckle your seatbelts. Things are about to get interesting.

Originally Posted by wooyarn

What good do you think it would do to express outrage and condemnation? Do you think it would magically stop the attacks? or perhaps it would lend credence to the attacks and just keep them going. Why hasn't other countries condemned them. Why do we need to interfere with other countries. Why not just close the embassies and bring the people home till things settle down. Let Egypt and Libya deal with their own problems. We can't afford to police the world.

The problem is this incident doesn’t follow the script.

The outrage is over an offense to Mohammed and has nothing to do with US foreign policy.

Originally Posted by wooyarn

What good do you think it would do to express outrage and condemnation? Do you think it would magically stop the attacks? or perhaps it would lend credence to the attacks and just keep them going. Why hasn't other countries condemned them. Why do we need to interfere with other countries. Why not just close the embassies and bring the people home till things settle down. Let Egypt and Libya deal with their own problems. We can't afford to police the world.

We already are involved, we have an embassy there and our people should be safe there. We should express outrage over the event and it has nothing to do with some ridiculous notion of "magically stop the attacks."

Closing down embassies and going with the head in the sand approach until "things settle down" is another topic.

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our con
sulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)

But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

- Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin | Facebook
____________________

Now that's what I call going rogue.

BBC: US ambassador 'killed in Libya'
The US ambassador to Libya has died after being attacked by militiamen storming the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, reports say.

I am shocked and horrified at this if it is confirmed and my sincere condolences to our American friends and loved ones.

This incident confirms my concerns that diplomatic missions in "war-on-terror" countries are not being properly secured by being located in a properly secured and defended military bases.

This reminds me of the storming of a UN base in Mazar-e-Sharif when 7 UN workers were killed in April 2011. The guy responsible at the time for UN security - Gregory B. Starr, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, is an American who used to be employed as the person responsible for the security of US diplomatic bases.

I have further concerns that the US & NATO countries' military these days lack the military knowledge and competence even to able to secure our military bases. Bases can't be properly secured in or near an urban area. You need a security zone of cleared and controlled ground of at least 6 miles, but 10 miles is better, around a military base to keep enemy fire from rockets and mortars out of range.

If you don't control the ground around a base this happens - 3 were killed at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan yesterday.

Afghanistan Attacks: Insurgents Attack Bagram Air Base

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan insurgents bombarded a U.S. base and destroyed a NATO helicopter, killing three Afghan intelligence employees, officials said Tuesday. There were also NATO personnel aboard and wounded, the coalition said without providing further details.

We've been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 11 years now and still the US and NATO military are operating out of insecure bases! Our supply routes in Afghanistan have never been secured and recently a decision by NATO-ISAF (commanded by a US general) was taken to close bases along the main highways in Afghanistan making the roads even more insecure.

The military and security leaders we are depending on to keep our personnel safe during this war on terror are incompetent and our diplomats would be well advised to have no faith in them. If I was a diplomat in a country with security problems I would quit and come home until we get proper military and security people in charge.

So there is a pattern here of incompetence at the very highest levels of leadership in the United States, NATO and the United Nations.

The people in charge are incompetent and this is very serious folks. We need urgent action to get competent people in post. We need a shake up at the highest levels of government on the military and security side especially. This can't be allowed to go on.

Another failure of the Obama/Clinton foreign policy. Backing islamic terrorists n the overthrow of governments that were at least not openly hostile to us at the time.

Originally Posted by darth omar

The problem is this incident doesn’t follow the script.

The outrage is over an offense to Mohammed and has nothing to do with US foreign policy.

Not sure what you mean by doesn’t follow the script. The way i see it, They are upset over some Dutch film that insults Mohammed so they attack our embassy hoping we take the bait and give them a world stage and all the recognition that comes with it. IMO, if we close the embassy and basically ignore them. that takes the world stage away and everything fizzles out. If they want to destroy their own country so be it.

Originally Posted by wooyarn

Not sure what you mean by doesn’t follow the script. The way i see it, They are upset over some Dutch film that insults Mohammed so they attack our embassy hoping we take the bait and give them a world stage and all the recognition that comes with it. IMO, if we close the embassy and basically ignore them. that takes the world stage away and everything fizzles out. If they want to destroy their own country so be it.

When they kill an America Ambassador, they already have the world stage.

Originally Posted by Sluggo

We already are involved, we have an embassy there and our people should be safe there. We should express outrage over the event and it has nothing to do with some ridiculous notion of "magically stop the attacks."

Closing down embassies and going with the head in the sand approach until "things settle down" is another topic.

What will expressing "outrage" accomplish?

Originally Posted by wooyarn

What will expressing "outrage" accomplish?

Will it bring the Ambassador back to life? No. It is what countries do when something like this happens. It is the appropriate diplomatic response. But when you have a President who identifies with these Muslims, it is difficult to do. They call these people terrorists because they intimidate through terrorism. That is why you see very little MSM criticism of radical Muslim groups or even Muslims in general. People are scared of them.

Originally Posted by wooyarn

What will expressing "outrage" accomplish?

It is what ignoring the problem will accomplish, more to the point it is about what placating to extremists will accomplish. Pretend all you want in thinking otherwise, but we are already involved and one of our ambassadors (and some other staff) has been murdered.