[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

People being the citizenry. An interesting book that deals with this subject I've mentioned before is Andrew Bacehvich's "The New American Militarism."

You said that "people have become so used to acting with impunity in Iraq and Afghanistan that they believe we can just do whatever we please. Now, by "people" you mean the citizenry. A whole lot of the citizenry that I'm familiar with and whose opinions I've read or heard in various media have a different view. We did not act with impunity. Many "people" (citizenry) feel that we were too restrained and too bound by restrictive rules of engagement. And we did not act alone, but with others and with a great deal of worldwide and U.N. approval as well as with congressional consent. We paid a tremendous price for those incursions. That was not impunity. And many paid a political price as well. That was not impunity.

That some "people" got the notion that we acted with impunity may be the result of anti-American, anti-war, anti-capitalistic, and academic propaganda. Maybe even from books like bacehvich's The New American Militarism.

We have diplomatic personelle in many if not all dangerous nations and can't freely operate our military. Hence, actions are either covert, with some approval like in Yemen or a calculated risk like Pakistan.

We have diplomatic personnel in nations that are not dangerous and can't freely operate our military their either. But they are allowed to defend themselves and their diplomats if attacked. Or will even if they are not "allowed." If there is no plan or method to protect diplomats in dangerous countries, we should not send them there. That invites exactly what happened. That is not competent.

Compared to Ames Iowa, Philadelphia is a "hotbed" of terrorism

It may be a hotbed of crime, but terrorism--I don't think so. At least not yet.

It's worth noting that the security situation wasn't one where the threat of Islamic terrorism was a big topic.

The administration's version is that Al Qaeda was on the run and ineffective, that the administration had pretty much secured our safety, especially after the killing of bin Laden. That it was not a "big topic" was negligent, incompetent, and unrealistic. It unnecesarily left the diplomats vulnerable

One problem was the local militias providing security didn't agree with the US endorsing certain political candidates. A lot of violence was the result of militias clashing to settle property or economic disputes. Not necessarily directed at Western interests...

-spence

Apparently, the administration was wrong.