Marines At American Embassy In Egypt Not Permitted Live Ammunition
BY Herschel Smith
12 years, 2 months ago
I am sorry and sad to say that we must cease the celebratory mood over this day being the remembrance of the federal assault weapons ban sunset provision in order to deal with something else. While we’re debating whether a gunship should have been with the Marines who attempted to defend the Libyan embassy, or whether they should have had a FAST or fleet infantry Marine mindset, whether they should have used massive fire to close with and destroy the enemy, and so on and so forth, there is this sad, sad report from Egypt.
U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo.
Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”
U.S. officials have yet to confirm or comment on the reports. Time magazine’s Battleland blog reported Thursday “Senior U.S. officials late Wednesday declined to discuss in detail the security at either Cairo or Benghazi, so answers may be slow in coming.”
If true, the reports indicate that Patterson shirked her obligation to protect U.S. interests, Nightwatch states.
“She did not defend U.S. sovereign territory and betrayed her oath of office,” the report states. “She neutered the Marines posted to defend the embassy, trusting the Egyptians over the Marines.”
While Marines are typically relied on to defend U.S. territory abroad, such as embassies, these reports indicate that the Obama administration was relying on Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood-backed government to ensure American security, a move observers are questioning as violence in Cairo continues to rage.
Marc Toner, the State Department’s deputy spokesperson, did not respond to a request for comment from the Free Beacon. White House National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor also did not respond to a request for comment.
Failing to respond to requests for information is a sure sign of sin and misdeed by the State Department. It’s too easy simply to reply to requests. Therefore, we may only assume the accuracy of this report, and remark how sad, immoral and asinine it is for the U.S. Marines to be subject in any way to some idiotic State Department employee.
On September 14, 2012 at 11:21 am, Dan Galena, Erie County, PA said:
Hmmmm…..no ammunition authorized by a political hack ambassador. How indicative of the “Kumbaya mentality” of the usurper soetoro-obama and his Marxist hack, Hillary Clinton.
Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,”
The USMC commander should have identified this order as unlawful and taken immediate action to have it superseded. In fact, he should have disobeyed the order. The Marine commander of the embassy detachment is as culpable for this outrage as the ambassador and Hillary Clinton.
One reaps what one sows.
On September 14, 2012 at 6:50 pm, Jim Harris said:
I agree it was “… a STUPID order ….!” (as a James Olmos character once exclaimed). But, Ambassadors have a lot of power within “their” embassy. I wonder if any Marine, or other junior person, could ever get away with thwarting orders they think are stupid. As we’ve seen from numerous posts herein about A-Stan, Iraq, and other places, stupid orders seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Maybe this would be a good time for a string from more savvy persons about how to deal with stupid orders in the bureacracies we all have/do serve!!
On February 18, 2013 at 9:38 am, schmack1234 said:
The overall security of embassies is controlled by the RSO, Regional Security Officer, who is a diplomatic security agent. All embassies have them, most have at least two. When a BS order like this is given the RSO has the authority to supersede the order of the Ambassador.
Do they do it very often? No! Unless you have a squared away RSO who doesn’t care about being promoted he will give the order. I was once a MSG and I worked with some outstanding RSO’s. I have no doubt they who would of told the Ambo to F$#% off if this situation ever came up.
However I also worked with some RSO’s in Iraq, as a civilian, who would do anything to look good in front of the political types including giving orders which surprisingly enough didn’t get any of my men killed but should of.
When the bullets and bombs are going off there is no room for politics period!!
On February 20, 2013 at 9:10 pm, Jim Harris said:
Sounds familiar. It’s like an elected County Sheriff who (technically) does not have the follow the orders of the County Commission or Supervisor — but does so anyway because he wants his budget next year.
On another post relevant to the Benghazi affair, I commented on the “perfect storm” combination the current administration plus the State Dept culture generally being responsible for what happened — and I’d repeat it here.
The desk is stacked against all our embassy security people, whether they are MSGs or in some other role.
God help us and save us from ourselves!!!