Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured.
You have to wonder why, even given that we rely on the host nation for general security, our Marines are there only to smash and burn sensitive stuff (hat tip to One Hand Clapping who echos the Marine role):
Embassies and consulates necessarily depend on local security–whether it be police, special services, armies or national guards–to provide the outermost band of security. Within that, in most countries, is a ring of security guards–most often local or third-country nationals–contracted by the USG. Inside that, and almost always within the embassy or consulate itself, are US Marine Corps Security Guards.
These last, contrarty to many people's belief, are not there to repell attackers. Their mission is to ensure that classified documents and equipment are protected or destroyed before they can fall into the wrong hands. The USMSG can and will defend people's lives in the persuance of their mission to protect classified materials, but they do not stand there and fight off people attacking the outside of secured buildings as a general rule.
Call me old-fashioned, but as sovereign American soil, I think our Marines should be capable of mounting a last-ditch defense of the compound.
The ability of our Marines to keep an unofficial, semi-offical, or even official mob off the grounds for days or weeks would both embarass the host country into rushing forces to relieve us or possibly allow a nearby MEU or Army airborne unit to intervene. If we just let the embassies fall rapidly to whatever mob of "students" happens by, we give the host government the chance to just say "oh well, too late to do anything now..."
In this day and age, I think embassy physical security should encompass defending the grounds or at least some secure portion of the grounds. Claymores and automatic weapons might have a tremendous learning potential for the next group of students that goes over the wall.
