Comments on: Relying on military rapid response units to save diplomats is a forlorn hope

By: Gavin Longmuir

Gavin Longmuir — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 18:35:18 +0000

It is not just whether the soldiers are prepared to open fire — whether on enemy terrorists or on their fellow citizens exercising their Constitutional right to petition the Government for redress of grievances. It is also whether the Powers That Be trust the people to whom they have given weapons.

Apparently, the reason the 1983 truck bombing of the Marine base in Lebanon could not be prevented by the guards was because they had not been issued ammunition for their fearsome-looking guns.

I would bet that the National Guard brought in to surround that building belonging to the people of the United States were similarly limited to using their empty guns as expensive clubs. Our Best & Brightest are obviously dumb & arrogant — but they understand enough history to know that an armed Praetorian Guard would soon replace all of them.

By: Bruce Purcell

Bruce Purcell — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 17:06:12 +0000

Northcote Parkinson, I think in his Evolution of Political Thought, said it was decisive whether the troops were willing to fire. So, for example, the French King had Scottish Archers around because they were more willing to kill Frenchmen. A multicultural America isn't willing to just shoot down foreigners. We could set claymores in every embassy wall, but are we willing to fire?

By: Gavin Longmuir

Gavin Longmuir — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:23:24 +0000

Handle, you win the award for the smoothest & funniest satire in the last 6 months! Congratulations!

By: Handle

Handle — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:16:41 +0000

The best possible case would be battalions of soldiers already mobilized and deployed for the purpose and being merely a few blocks away. You already know where I’m going with this.

On 1/6, it took so long just to get approval to put the National Guardsmen in the way of the cosplay larpers that they *still* didn’t show up until it was all over and people left mostly on their own initiative after the crowd-energy has dissipated and they got hungry and sleepy and stuff. They weren’t there to protect some no-name State department civil servants in some faraway s**thole country either, but members of congress in the capitol.

So, yeah, if conditions are not anywhere near that ideal, then the situation really is hopeless.

By: Bob Sykes

Bob Sykes — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 12:32:31 +0000

So, you’re going to fly from Kuwait or Bahrain or Qatar all the way across Iran or Pakistan without permission, hundreds of miles into Afghanistan to get to Kabul, land on the embassy yard or roof, extract a few hundred people, fly back across Afghanistan, Iran or Pakistan to Kuwait or Bahrain or Qatar. That’s a round trip of 2,200 miles needing 15 hours of air time by helicopter, plus landings in Iran/Pakistan for refueling, plus time on the roof.

¡¡No hay problema!!