Marines At US Embassy In Egypt Were Not Given Live Ammo, USMC Blogs Claim
U.S. Marines who attempted to protect the American embassy in Egypt were faced with a big problem, they were not given access to live ammunition.
In multiple reports, including posts on several USMC blogs collected by kforcegov.com, Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition.” At least one report claims “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”
When asked about the live ammunition situation Time magazine’s Battlefield blog reported:
“Senior U.S. officials late Wednesday declined to discuss in detail the security at either Cairo or Benghazi, so answers may be slow in coming.”
If correct the move would be directly against the goal of protecting US sovereign soil. According to the report:
“She did not defend U.S. sovereign territory and betrayed her oath of office. She neutered the Marines posted to defend the embassy, trusting the Egyptians over the Marines.”
It is the right of U.S. ambassadors to determine if US Marines carry live ammunition. A course with the GOP national security advisers office tells the Free Beacon:
“In the end, the ambassador of any country has the final call on what to do in a country. The buck stops with you. You make every decision.”
That same source says security protocols typically change from one locale to another.
The Cairo informant quickly noted that the attack on the US embassy in Cairo took eight hours to complete and it would be hard to believe that nobody during that time questioned the chain of commands decision against live ammunition.
