Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is There an Evac Plan for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad?
Front Page ^ | Tue Aug 30, 2022 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 08/30/2022 6:38:59 AM PDT by robowombat

Is There an Evac Plan for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad? Tue Aug 30, 2022 Daniel Greenfield

That sounds like a stupid question except that the attack on the Benghazi consulate netted an ambassador with no response from America. As part of that round of September 11 anniversary attacks, consulates and embassies were targeted in the region with little pushback.

And the Afghanistan disaster happened in no small part because there was no evacuation plan.

Biden had made it a "priority" to maintain an embassy in Kabul even after he had withdrawn the troops and the country was on the verge of falling to the advancing Taliban terror forces.

“POTUS was publicly making it clear that this was a priority. Ambassador Wilson began stating that ‘I am maniacal about the Embassy remaining in Kabul,’” a military officer described.

Secretary of State Blinken and other State Department officials in D.C. and in Kabul refused to consider the possibility of a Taliban takeover. Only Blinken and his department could order an evacuation, and they refused to seriously plan for one until a week before the fall of Kabul.

Military officials were prevented from even discussing an evacuation, being told, “don’t say NEO” and “This is not a NEO for Afghanistan.” NEO stands for Non-Combatant Evacuation.

Do we have a plan in Baghdad?

Biden administration officials on Monday expressed concern about the violence unfolding in Iraq but denied that personnel were being evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, called reports of unrest throughout the country “disturbing” and expressed concern that “Iraqi institutions are not being allowed to function.”

But, Kirby said, reports of the U.S. Embassy being under threat are “false.”

“There’s no evacuation going on at the embassy and no indication that’s going to be required at this time,” Kirby told reporters on a call on Monday.

Considering that this is the same gang that was assuring us that everything was fine in Kabul, that's not much to go on. Personally, I don't think the situation at this point will melt down on such a scale. But these folks are not reassuring.

"These reports are false," a State Department spokesperson told The War Zone in a statement in response to queries about the evacuation claims. "Ensuring the safety of U.S. government personnel, U.S. citizens, and the security of our facilities remains our highest priority."

Sure. Just like in Afghanistan.

Unlike Kabul, the Baghdad embassy has been on the firing line forever. Iraq is in a state of permanent civil war and this sort of thing happens every now and then. The embassy has been targeted by drones, mortars, terrorists and riots.

The United States is sending about 650 soldiers to the Middle East after thousands of people stormed the compound of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday night.

Esper said President Donald Trump ordered the deployment, which came from an infantry battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. More personnel are on standby to deploy if they're needed, he said.

The deployment was announced after a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation said on condition of anonymity that some of the thousands of protesters who stormed the embassy compound made it as far as the main reception area before startled Iraqi police joined embassy security forces to repel them.

The demonstration, which began at about 11 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), grew to as many as 6,000 people, most of them affiliated with Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite militia group, officials said. The United States blames the militia for attacks on bases of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in recent months.

The "main reception area". Not very reassuring. But Trump sent in forces quickly. Based on what happened in Kabul, I doubt that Biden would.

The proximity to Kuwait means that personnel are available and can reach Baghdad fairly quickly, but that requires rapid decision making and we saw in Benghazi and Kabul how Obama and Biden dragged their feet. And getting military forces in isn't the same thing as being able to evacuate civilians. After Kabul, there's no reason to think Biden or the State Department have a handle on that or would be willing to militarily intervene to get our people out.

And the enemy now knows it too.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: baghdad; bidenvoters; brainlessjoe; danielgreenfield; greenfield; iran; iraq; lebanon; muqtadasadr; sultanknish; yemen
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last
Good question
1 posted on 08/30/2022 6:39:00 AM PDT by robowombat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Probably the same plan as Afghanistan..


2 posted on 08/30/2022 6:39:59 AM PDT by Jonty30 (Some men want tod watch the world burn. It is they that want you to buy an electric car.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Yes, they are going to create helicopter landing pads on top of the embassy with pallets of $100 bills.


3 posted on 08/30/2022 6:40:48 AM PDT by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Asses and elbows?


4 posted on 08/30/2022 6:41:04 AM PDT by Pollard (Worm Free PureBlood)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Not any more......................


5 posted on 08/30/2022 6:42:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

Libya or Tasmania?


6 posted on 08/30/2022 6:42:50 AM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Undoubtedly, there are evac plans.
(We always make such plans with variations.)

Whether the bosses FOLLOW the plan(s) is quite another question.

Under-qualified “leaders” often think they are smarter than the guys who wrote the plans.

Their genius doesn’t always work out well.


7 posted on 08/30/2022 6:45:55 AM PDT by William of Barsoom (In Omnia, Paratus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

There’s always a plan
And if that doesn’t work…there’s another plan


8 posted on 08/30/2022 6:59:47 AM PDT by silverleaf (“Freedom ultimately means the right of other people to do things that you disagree with”. T. Sowell )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: William of Barsoom

I’m sure those diplomats remember what happened to Chris Stevens in the Benghazi killings. The video-remember?


9 posted on 08/30/2022 7:00:17 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30
Probably the same plan as Afghanistan..

Probably the same plan as Benghazi...

Allow diplomats to be kidnapped so we can release hard core terrorists in exchange.

Didn't work there only because not everyone got the memo and when the shooting started, the kidnappers thought they'd been set up and betrayed (it is, after all, what they would have done!) and murdered Amb Stevens in their rage.

So we ended up trading very high value terrorists for a deserter, so it's all good...


10 posted on 08/30/2022 7:12:54 AM PDT by null and void (they promise the jetsons but deliver the flintstones)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: William of Barsoom

Security and evac plans are largely the purview of the embassy security team of security officers and military people. The security officers are not exalted Foreign Service Officers but lowly Foreign Service Reserve officers. The FSO’s run the show and consider the security team to be shit mostly good for providing them with armored limousines. The FSO’s are always angling for their next promotion and are arrogant egomaniacs of a typical liberal stripe. The actions of William Hay Macnaghten, the British ambassador in Kabul in 1841 is a classic example of this sort individual. He just wanted to keep everything quiet as he was getting a big promotion to be Governor of Bombay Presidency in a few months. He say this as his ticket to become Governor of Bengal Presidency and then Governor General of British India. His actions which managed to be insufferably arrogant, cowardly, and weakly foolish once the revolt of the natives got underway was the most significant cause of the ensuing disaster to the British forces in Kabul. It is satisfying to note was hacked to pieces by the Afghan tribals.


11 posted on 08/30/2022 7:13:31 AM PDT by robowombat (Orth,He looks like the sex all y )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

They can’t retreat from the Baghdad Embassy yet - all the Gay Pride month activities have been organized and paid for!


12 posted on 08/30/2022 7:15:04 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

The Admin has begun moving out the ‘important’ people in a slow withdrawal. The last workers will have to fend for themselves at some point. If I were a low level employee or grunt there, I would be plotting out my escape routes. IF I were an Iraqi who has aided the US, then I would be trying to leave Iraq entirely.


13 posted on 08/30/2022 7:17:30 AM PDT by silent majority rising ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat; 100American; 21twelve; 2nd amendment mama; A Conservative Thinker; Absolutely Nobama; ..
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam and leftism.

That sounds like a stupid question except that the attack on the Benghazi consulate netted an ambassador with no response from America. As part of that round of September 11 anniversary attacks, consulates and embassies were targeted in the region with little pushback.

And the Afghanistan disaster happened in no small part because there was no evacuation plan.

Biden had made it a "priority" to maintain an embassy in Kabul even after he had withdrawn the troops and the country was on the verge of falling to the advancing Taliban terror forces.

“POTUS was publicly making it clear that this was a priority. Ambassador Wilson began stating that ‘I am maniacal about the Embassy remaining in Kabul,’” a military officer described.

Secretary of State Blinken and other State Department officials in D.C. and in Kabul refused to consider the possibility of a Taliban takeover. Only Blinken and his department could order an evacuation, and they refused to seriously plan for one until a week before the fall of Kabul.

Military officials were prevented from even discussing an evacuation, being told, “don’t say NEO” and “This is not a NEO for Afghanistan.” NEO stands for Non-Combatant Evacuation.

Do we have a plan in Baghdad?

Seriously, does anyone in DC care about anything other than their main religion, which is themselves? They have proven that they do not care about US citizens nor anyone that is not a leftist.

Ping out to the Daniel Greenfield Ping! List.

As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the esteemed Daniel Greenfield ping list.

14 posted on 08/30/2022 7:58:41 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.


In this combination image, A supporter of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr poses for a picture on a road blocked with burning tyres during a demonstration in Iraq's southern city of Basra on August 29, 2022 and an inset file photo of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.


15 posted on 08/30/2022 8:10:34 AM PDT by SJackson (nations that are barren of liberties are also barren of groceries, Louis Fisher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

Past time to leave. Biden hasn’t enough brains to kill a Sulimani or drop a MOAB in select areas.


16 posted on 08/30/2022 8:13:51 AM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Is there an evac plan for Liz Cheney's presidential hopes?

She wasn't going to win anyway, but how would it look for her if Iraq goes up in flames?

17 posted on 08/30/2022 8:15:22 AM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

a possibly prophetic question


18 posted on 08/30/2022 8:25:35 AM PDT by Wuli (uires )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

No Evacuation Plan for you.

Unless you have kissed the major domo hand of il duce , proclaiming CFT, Green Peckers, and the NWO, no evac plan for you!

I CAN TELL YOU. I FEEL VERY BAD ABOUT THE PLIGHT THAT SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN HAVE WITH THE CONGENETAL IDIOTS NOW IN THE WHITE HUT.


19 posted on 08/30/2022 8:41:15 AM PDT by Candor7 (ObamaFascism:https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat

Uber!


20 posted on 08/30/2022 11:12:49 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson