Small teams of special operations troops will be stationed at US embassies to gather intelligence and assist in counter-terrorism operations, moving into a domain traditionally occupied by the CIA.What if the term "military targetting" were, gosh, a tactical operational term.
The expanded role for special operations personnel at a dozen US embassies in Africa and south-east Asia, where al-Qaida is believed to be operating, and in Latin America, was envisaged by the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to give the military a larger role in intelligence gathering and military targeting.
[ cf Special forces assigned to US embassies ]
Doesn't that mean that the SecDef has decided to turn our Embassy's into merely military grade targets as the TOC? And doesn't that change the state and nature of the Embassy from being a non-combatant?
If they are no longer non-combatant facility - uh, doesn't that mean that they are, well, gosh, legitimate military targets?
No wonder the evil Mainstream Media is more insterested in the fashion issues associated with Dr. Rice's various soiree's around the world. Clearly the state department is little more than the PR front cover for military operations. Nice to know that we can save the money on the state department as the only form of foreign policy we need will come out of SecDef.
Or is the SecDef not aware of the distinctions between military operations, and non-military operations. That there is a reason that one builds the cut out between the military and paramilitary operations, for at least the pleasant fiction of 'plausible deniability'.
