U.S. Marines Guarding Embassy In Cairo Were Not Allowed Live Ammo

Absolutely astounding.

Every U.S. embassy abroad normally has a contingent of Marines to guard and protect it.

We already know that our Libyan consulate was devoid of such protection and relied on Libyan security guards who simply shepherded the American personnel into a second location and ran for it...after telling the jihadis exactly where our people were, according to the CBS news report on the story.

Now it comes out that in Egypt, even though the Marines were on duty, they were neutered by being prohibited from carrying live ammo by the express orders of President Obama's ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson. Who, by the way, was safely in Washington DC when the Cairo embassy was invaded. They were forced to watch as the embassy they had been ordered to protect was stormed and the flag they took an oath to serve was violated.

Two of the Americans killed in Libya were Marines. Were they also ordered not to carry live ammunition?

It is absolutely damning that no orders were given to arm the Marines and protect the embassy in the wake of the anniversary of 9/11 and the fact that as we now now, the demonstrations were planned and publicly announced in advance.

Instead, the decision was made to rely on security guards provided by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government, who did absolutely nothing to stop the mob from invading the embassy compound and destroying our flag. They may even have had orders not to do so. it was only due to luck, the grace of G-d and Egypt's rioters being less well armed than their Libyan counterparts that kept more Americans from being killed or injured.

If all this seems familiar, all you need to do is flash back to Iran circa 1979, when our embassy in Tehran was invaded several times before it was taken over and our diplomats made hostage.

UPDATE: The Pentagon has officially denied this in a rather ambiguous statement:

Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told FOX News: “The ambassador and RSO (Regional Security Officer) have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed. This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB (American Embassy) Cairo.”

Which leaves a couple of interesting questions. What exactly constitutes 'completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation'? The statement mentions weapons, but not ammunition. There is no statement about whether the Marines were allowed to pack live ammo or not, a simple enough thing to state directly. Why?

And if the Marines did have live ammo, why were no warning shots fired when the Egyptian Security forces melted away and the mob stormed the embassy?

This strikes me as after the fact face saving and plausible deniabilty, and the fact that the spokesperson is careful to state that his info comes the detachment commander at the embassy underlines that along with the carefully composed vagueness of this statement.

I think the Marines were likely disarmed, as many Marine blogs have asserted.