# US Embassy Staffs in Tunis and Khartoum Are Evacuating Non-Essential Personnel



## tomahawk6 (15 Sep 2012)

Families and non-essential personnel are being withdrawn from Tunisia and Sudan. I would pull everyone out of Sudan since they wont allow more Marines to guard the embassy.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-orders...tunis-211016280.html

WASHINGTON/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United States ordered non-essential staff to leave its embassies in Tunisia and Sudan on Saturday after both diplomatic posts were attacked and Khartoum rejected a U.S. request to send a platoon of Marines to bolster security at its mission there.

 "Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the U.S. State Department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

 The U.S. embassies in Tunis and Khartoum were attacked on Friday by protesters infuriated by a widely disseminated anti-Islamic film, made in the United States, that insults the Prophet Mohammad and has provoked a violent reaction across the Muslim world.

 Four people were killed and 46 injured in the assault on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, according to a hospital official in the city.

 In Khartoum, around 5,000 people protesting against the film stormed the German embassy before breaking into the U.S. mission on Friday. They also attacked the British embassy and at least two people were killed in clashes with police, according to state media.

 A U.S. official told Reuters on Friday that Washington would send Marines to Sudan to improve security at the embassy, which is located outside Khartoum for security reasons.

 But Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the state news agency SUNA, "Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps."

 The top security body in the Khartoum region said that "the surveillance and protection of embassy, mission and foreign residential buildings has been stepped up to prevent any dangers," said the state-linked Sudanese Media Center.

 Sudanese and U.S. officials said on Saturday that the Marines had already set off for Khartoum but had been called back pending further discussions with Sudan.

 The United States had "requested additional security precautions as a result of yesterday's damage to our embassy," said Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman. "We are continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure we have what we need to protect our people and facility."

 A riot police truck was parked in front of the deserted German embassy, which protesters had set on fire. But an Islamic flag raised by the crowd was still flying.

 More than 20 police officers were sitting in front of the U.S. embassy.

 Sudan has also criticized Germany for allowing a protest last month by right-wing activists carrying caricatures of Mohammad, and for Chancellor Angela Merkel's award in 2010 to a Danish cartoonist who had depicted the prophet, triggering unrest across the Islamic world.

 President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been under pressure from Islamists who feel the government has given up the religious values of his 1989 Islamist coup.

 The Sudanese government had called for protests against the film, but peaceful ones. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said it had nothing to do with the movie, which is little more than an amateurish video clip and appears to have been made in California.


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## OldSolduer (16 Sep 2012)

I'd evacuate the whole bloody continent and never return.

Yes I have had a couple and my cynical self is appearing.


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## Maxadia (16 Sep 2012)

:goodpost:


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## aesop081 (16 Sep 2012)

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

> I'd evacuate the whole bloody continent and never return.



Yup, and next time they ask for help the answer should be "Sorry you're on your own".


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## OldSolduer (16 Sep 2012)

CDN Aviator said:
			
		

> Yup, and next time they ask for help the answer should be "Sorry you're on your own".



Concur. Cynical Jim is here.


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## Fishbone Jones (16 Sep 2012)

I've said all alone we should stay 100% clear.

The Arab countries can deal with their own problem(s).

Saudi Arabia doesn't like what is going on in - Libya, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, where ever, they have a sizable, modern force to deal with it themselves.

Hopefully, someday, they all go to war against themselves, and we can sit back until the dust settles.

There's no need for us to be involved at all.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Sep 2012)

recceguy said:
			
		

> I've said all alone we should stay 100% clear.
> 
> The Arab countries can deal with their own problem(s).
> 
> ...




I agree with you, but other don't, as explained in this opinion piece which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _Economist_:

http://www.economist.com/node/21562914?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/murderinlibya


> Murder in Libya
> *The world’s policeman must not retreat from the world’s most dangerous region; indeed America should do more*
> 
> Sep 15th 2012
> ...




Now, I agree with the _Economist_ that _helping the Arabs sort themselves out is not naive do-goodery; it is rooted in Kissingerian realpolitik,"_ but not for all the reasons with article enumerates and not in the ways it suggests. 

  + The Middle East is still the crucible of Islam: so much that affects American diplomacy around the rest of the world, from Pakistan to Indonesia, Nigeria, and even the suburbs of Paris, has its starting point here.
      ✔ - very true and the aim should be to focus on the peripheries, like Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, to *reduce* Arab/Persian influence. 
  + It is the world’s energy centre: the Middle East still sets the price at America’s petrol stations (something that could be rapidly proved if Israel attacks Iran).
      ✘ - not proven and, in my unlikely. Of course a disruption of supply will drive up prices, the law of supply and demand is immutable, but a rise in prices will, thanks to the same law, promote new supplies, reducing the Middle East's importance in the oil markets.
  + And the region is home to many of America’s most committed enemies, including Iran.
     ✔ - very true and the aim should be to _impede_ their abilities to do harm on the aforementioned peripheries.

The _Economist_ promotes two interventionist actions America should take:

1. Oppose _illegal_ Israeli settlements in Palestine - harmless, in and of itself, since even the Israeli government opposes _illegal_ settlements but a policy that will have zero ROI in the Arab world; and

2. Further engagement - specifically a no fly zone - in Syria. In my opinion an action with more mid and long term disadvantages than it has short term advantages.

America, and the West at large, can make big gains against _radical Islam_ in places like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines where robust American led help will both do good and be appreciated.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Sep 2012)

To illustrate my last point I offer this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _Straits Times_:

http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/anti-us-protests-middle-east/story/philippine-rebels-will-not-attack-us-over-islam-fil


> Philippine rebels 'will not attack US over Islam film'
> 
> Published on Sep 16, 2012
> 
> ...




We, the Western allies should reward both the Philippines government and the Milf (unfortunate acronym): the former with increased financial support the latter with some gentle pressure on Manila to make some provisions for local self autonomy. The aim is displace Cairo, Islamabad, Riyadh and Tehran as the "friends" of Muslims in East Asia.


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## Nemo888 (16 Sep 2012)

Nothing like reading MILF ATTACKS in the Philippine papers.
The MILF and NPA are merely power brokers for disenfranchised groups. I can't really blame them in such a corrupt system. Both the Muslims and the commmies there have been very amenable to monetary incentives lately. Providing them with an ability to legally tax the local poulace and more importantly tax exploitative outsiders would easily make them become active politically and put down their arms.


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## a_majoor (16 Sep 2012)

The United States responds in a manner more befitting of a middle eastern dictatorship than as the defender of free speech. A different blogger contrasted the treatment of the filmmaker to how Margaret Thatcher responded to rioting and death threats against Salman Rushdie (via Instapundit):



> Compare Margaret Thatcher and Rushdie to Obama and Nakoula.
> 
> When Salman Rushdie had a death fatwa pronounced on him for a novel considered insulting to Islam, Margaret Thatcher immediately ordered a protective detail to be sent to Rushdie, who took him to an undisclosed secure location. They have been protecting him ever since. Bear in mind that Rushdie had been a severe and vocal critic and political opponent of Thatcher.
> 
> ...



http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/15/media-endangers-entire-neighborhood-to-pursue-thoughtcrime-suspect/



> *Media endangers entire neighborhood to pursue thoughtcrime suspect*
> posted at 4:01 pm on September 15, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
> 
> When Princess Diana was killed in a car crash after a high-speed race through the streets of Paris with paparazzi, her family understandably claimed that the media had killed the mother of the future King of the UK.  At the time, I considered that a little hyperbolic, although hardly unwarranted hyperbole, as the actual proximate causes of death were a driver under the influence making a rash decision to outrun photographers and a decision not to use seatbelts. But over the last couple of days, I wonder whether the American media may get someone killed — and perhaps more than a few people — with their irresponsible stakeout of “Sam Bacile.”
> ...


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