US closes embassies

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm surprised that there hasn't been a thread about this already.  Now, by and large I'm skeptical of conspiracy theories and the like, but this whole episode so far screams setup to me.

On the basis of intercepts from the controversial NSA intelligence gathering program, we've closed facilities in twenty-four countries, and still have them closed through the end of this week in nineteen more.  All of this based on vague threats that Al-Qaida wants to cause us harm and would really like to do it during Ramadan.  Now anyone who hasn't known the former for at least the past twelve years is either a complete idiot or has been living under a rock.  The latter likely isn't as obvious to the general public, but is also no surprise to anyone familiar with the situation.  So even if we've managed to avoid some shedding of innocent blood, something we'll never be able to know for certain, we've also definitely handed Al-Qaida a PR victory.

Wake up sheeple! The reason for doing this is blatantly obvious. This is the Obama administration's underhanded way of implementing some sequester cuts without appearing to do so.

[barfbag]

I like it. We should have more bases here and close ones overseas if we're not using them.

[dead0man]

I'm surprised that there hasn't been a thread about this already.

ahem

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I have no idea if you're serious or not so not really sure how to respond. 

What we need to do is either close the ones that are in constant danger or, in the nations we need embassies in up the defensive posture a great deal and blast any phuckers that start sh**t.  Sure, it would be expensive, which why we should just close most of them.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Apologies for missing your thread deadman, but it was three days old and had generated no responses.

Wake up sheeple! The reason for doing this is blatantly obvious. This is the Obama administration's underhanded way of implementing some sequester cuts without appearing to do so.

I have no idea if you're serious or not so not really sure how to respond.

Semi-serious.  Given what preceded the above, it should be fairly obvious that I think this is a manufactured crisis intended to show that we need the NSA doing its electronic eavesdropping.  But I wanted a little humor, so I went off on a tangent.

Thing is if this was supposed to show that we need the NSA snooping on everybody, it isn't doing the trick.  It shouldn't have taken NSA snooping to get the bureaucrats in Washington to realize that there was a high risk of something happening this Ramadan.  There has been a high risk of that every Ramadan for some years now.

[Blue3]

Since Zawahiri himself (Osama's right-hand man, now leader of international Al Qaeda) that gave the call that was intercepted, and said a specific date, and people in the know saying it was as detailed as the reports coming in pre-9/11 that were ignored, I can understand the caution.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And yet, what has been accomplished?  We've already handed Al-Qaida a PR victory, and do you really think they'll be too upset at having to wait an extra week to carry out the attack?  The only thing closing the embassies did was to give the bureaucrats and Obama a chance to cover their asses.  Unfortunately, the heat that has accompanied Benghazi has led to the State Department having an "abundance of caution" instead of an abundance of good sense.

I don't disagree too much with issuing a warning and reviewing security measures, but closing the embassies was a mistake, and other than covering their asses, the only other reason for doing it was to hype up the importance of the NSA intercepts.  Of course, in doing so, they've pulled a Snowden and reminded the bad guys we can listen in, so it would be better to use non-electronic methods of communication.

[dead0man]

The only thing I think we can take from this is that the administration may be too cautious.  I'm no fan of Obama, but I don't think this was done to show that the NSA intercepts work or to distract those that care about such things.  I just think it was him and his people being careful....perhaps too careful, I don't know.

The bad guys know we can listen, they just don't know how thorough that capability is (or isn't).  It's good, in a way, to make them use their most secure method of communication because it's usually slow and can only hold so much information...but we've even got that info before.  Intel is a very complicated field, rarely with solid, tangible results.  When it's done well and right and has good, solid results, we don't want that getting out for obvious reasons.  When it's done wrong and has horrible results, we don't want that getting out either also for obvious reasons....but those are the ones that almost always do get out.  It's hard to point to the victories, it's easy to be embarrassed by the mess ups.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

All non-essential staff and other US citizens are being urged to leave Yemen 'immediately'

[Silent Hunter]

I like it. We should have more bases here and close ones overseas if we're not using them.

Do you know the difference between an embassy and a military base?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I like it. We should have more bases here and close ones overseas if we're not using them.

Do you know the difference between an embassy and a military base?

The difference isn't as clear cut as it once was.