Monday, August 5, 2013

Holder said self defense is deadly.

People who feel threatened have a duty to retreat. That's why Obama is closing our embassies. 

Al Qaeda is on the run. Running to pick up their Obama-stash weapons caches in Syria

It's shocking that Obama Administration didn't learn from Benghazi that retreating will get us killed.

That is a sample of what I see people are Tweeting relating to 19 US embassies listed closing

I intended to do a very smart anim using Google Earth and photos of the embassies going  ))) zoop (((  disappearing, and collecting the photos was a total drag. Kuwait especially, I'm convinced the place doesn't exist. The Google Earth portion of Kuwait is especially depressing, not a tree, not a sign of life anywhere, no photos at all tagged to the place as if nothing worth bothering, and everything monochrome brown. I am exaggerating by 12% for dramatic effect.  But then the slide show linked did all that except you have to click through twenty times to see nice places and compounds where diplomats work. Image all those buildings closing, all those assets just vanishing, like, "I'm taking my ball and going home." 

Fine with me. But it hardly projects rectitude and no trace of resolve.

And I think that it is fine with most American citizens too. Until they need a consulate, then it is different. 

25 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

But it hardly projects rectitude...

Maybe they are closing to do inventory. Come back in a few days.

Since the beginning of his second term, President Barack Obama has appointed campaign fundraisers, party allies and other political figures as ambassadors at a level that is now almost double what has prevailed in the last few administrations.

More than 56 per cent of Obama’s 41 second-term ambassadorial nominations have been political, compared with an average of about 30 per cent for recent administrations, according to US government figures compiled by the American Foreign Service Association. Of the political nominees, at least half have had fundraising roles.

edutcher said...

In the animal world, if you run, you get chased.

This is no different.

Can't wait to see how they blame Dubya for the next 9/11.

Michael Haz said...

What happens the day after our embassies reopen? Or did the bad guys go "Camel crap! The Embassy is closed today; let us disassemble our bombs and go sulk in our tents."

Aridog said...

Damnit, even Chip Ahoy is a flippin' Muckraker now. :-))

After the "Community Introspection" and "Why we comment" threads I was comfortably at peace with this place and the Gang of 10. But Noooo...Chip's just gotta bring up Holder and his nonsense, as well as write the real reason Benghazi is still a big secret, so that my blood-pressure spikes at around 317/185 and provokes the worst of the Shanty Irish in me. :-(

Pssst: OT one-time here....

I think, vis a vis the Introspection thread, that a couple liberal, and/or alternative, points of view could be beneficially represented on the masthead as contributors. I say this because on the tiny 2nd generation manifestly conservative offshoot from LGF that I am part of two of the best contributors are, one, an FSO with plans to move out of the country permanently sooner than later, and the other, a Buddhist electrical engineer who lives in downtown Portland, OR. An administrator is a Arkansas registered nurse who appreciates her guns, and the other is the Buddhist EE.

We get along very well and differ frequently while still remaining friends, as we have to over 10 years now...even visiting each other when we have the opportunity. Both the FSO with radical ideas at times that rankle my core, and the EE pose questions and issues, and their answers that open my eyes where they might otherwise be closed.

I learned a long time ago in faraway places that if you seek to defeat or even turn your enemy, or just civilian nationals, to what you think is righteousness, you must listen, consider, and understand their points of view. You can lead by example, but you have to know from whence you start. That is the benefit of the loyal opposition [not the bomb throwers and flagrant instigators] in my not too humble opinion. It has never failed me, and I'm possibly still alive as a result.

WC: 323

[Dang! Not gonna achieve the AllenS & Rabel level of succinctness today. Must try harder :-]

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Al Qaeda does not like having patriot missiles fired at them.

I would suggest more patriot missiles being fired at them.

Aridog said...

Michael Haz said...

What happens the day after our embassies reopen?

For a glimpse of how that goes, I recommend the works of General Vo Nguyen Giap, where translated reliably, such as his memiors as well as "People's War,""We Will Win," and "How We Won the War."

There is considerable revisionist pomp in those tomes, but a lot of truth as well on how we are perceived by our enemies, especailly those we don't really understand. Bernard Fall's "Street Without Joy" is a good primer for it all.

Emphasis: this is just my opinion, YMMV.

WC: 101

Aridog said...

Given that "Eid al Fitr" [the end of Ramadan] is Thursday 08 August for 2013 in most of the USA and world, with a few exceptions where it is designated as 09 August....the excitement and chatter traffic may or may not portend attacks.

I am gratified to know that our defense posture is now similar to the killer bunny scene in MP's Holy Grail. Underestimate, deceive ourselves, then run away.

WC: 69

sakredkow said...

Poor Chip Ahoy will probably get a visit from you-know-who for googling all those embassies.

AllenS said...

Holder doesn't have to worry about self defense, he has armed guards that follow him around.

Fuck off, Holder.

Aridog said...

phx said...

Poor Chip Ahoy will probably get a visit from you-know-who for googling all those embassies.

Whoa...there's still time...imagine "Big Sis" barging through Chip's door, naked except for full ninja swat gear?

WC: 38

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
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Dante said...

Isn't this exactly what Al Qaeda wanted, the US out of the ME?

Yes, let's get out of the ME. Let's get that Keystone pipeline going, fracking for oil in CA, sort out how to access the 200+ billion barrels of oil here in the US, and the 2 Trillion + billion barrels of shale oil.

It has to be cheaper than the ME.

Dante said...
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caplight45 said...

Since we have a foreign policy that is pretty much based on Rainbows and Unicorns I guess now we are to use the same Rainbows and Unicorns approach to our personal safety. I can live with that.

edutcher said...

I notice no mention is made of the fact this is Susan Rice's brainchild.

William said...

I just don't those AQ guys are so diabolically evil as to wait until next week for the embassies to reopen before attacking.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Holder doesn't have to worry about self defense, he has armed guards that follow him around.

Fuck off, Holder.


Exactly my point about the hypocrisy of gun control. Gun control for the little people. Eliminate ammunition. Register your guns so that they know where they are and can come and get them. Keep US unarmed, while Holder and the rest have mercenaries guarding them.

I do believe that I will dust off my compound bow, or maybe buy a new one since they are so improved since I last bought mine 15 years ago. Aluminum arrows with razor tips are not all that expensive....AND they are reusable.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Dante:

There are huge problems with the "Bugout to Fortress America" option.

We benefit tremendously from the US Dollar being the reserve currency. But that won't last if we aren't the worlds policeman.

We probably could live reasonably well in Fortress America, but not nearly as we'll as we do now. Our way of life depends, to a great degree, on free trade, which depends on a good measure of world order: I.e., a world policeman.

Now, if we could supply the world with energy, that might be Ok. But if your plan is to keep all that goodness here, then that means throwing our allies to the wolves. A policeman needs friends. They don't have to be our friends out of loyalty, although that's nice; self interest will do. When we keep energy and other stuff flowing for our allies, that keeps them reasonably friendly.

The "Fortress America" plan requires a fortress. We are pretty porous. One reason to police the neighborhood is to deal with trouble before it gets too big or too close.

And all this assumes there is a sustainable political coalition for this course. I doubt it. How's the campaign for building the fortifications along the southern border going? And when the dollar loses reserve status?

Fr Martin Fox said...

Lem:

Last week you were wondering how to get more liberal commentators. This is a good post, but it won't help that cause.

virgil xenophon said...

"This is a good post, but it won't help the cause."

It's difficult to get lefties at sites like this--or ANY site outside the Daily Kos, DU, Marcotte, Crooked Timber, LG&M et al orbit--because they don't control the moderation and shy away from any kind of debate involving "operational reality" like vampires avoid the cross/light.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

& Chris Christie thinks the constitution is scary.

Methadras said...

If Holder doesn't understand the fundamental, primary reason for self defense, then he and his ilk never will. This is why he is a fundamentally flawed human being. Worse off, his ideology nudges him further into these flaws only to have him foist his ideas onto the rest of us. Now you can see why Urkle chose him into his current position.

rcocean said...
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rcocean said...

There is no option to "bug out" to "Fortress America". False Choice.

We just need to stop being Nanny to world and running around thinking every fucking problem in every fucking piddly country is somehow OUR responsibility.

We are not "All Georgians Now". I don't have to care about happens in 'exbeakistan' - unless you make the case. Which is never done.

People can't defends their hysterical "invite the world, invade philosophy" so they put out some straw-man isolationism they can knock down and stroke their wise-old gray beards about.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Rcocean:

I agree with you about not being "nanny" to the world; but I wasn't inventing a straw man in my comments. I was responding to Dante, who proposed the U.S. withdraw from the Middle East.

The U.S. withdrawing from the Middle East leads certainly to "Fortress America" for the reasons I explained.