Embassy Architecture Update

Danger Room revisits the question of why our embassies--especially in the Middle East-- look like fortresses. The quick answer? Because they are fortresses. People want to kill members of the US government, and that's where they tend to congregate. Duh. Our embassies are targeted again and again--Iran, Paris, Tanzania, Kenya, Iraq, Venezuela, Karachi and Syria (2006), Greece, and probably a lot more I can't think of right offhand or never got out to the public. Welcoming, inspiring architecture doesn't keep our people safe, as I discussed here after the RPG attack on our embassy in Greece in January. I'm sure we'd love to make things look nice, but why would anyone sign up for duty sitting unarmed and unarmored in front of a plate glass window in Syria?

I give the State Department some crap on this blog, like a lot of conservatives do--but as one reader pointed out to me recently, every State Department worker in Iraq right now has volunteered to be there. These people are professionals, and even if we tease them now and then about their Hummel-logo memos notifying them of the temporary unavailability of fresh arugula, they've put themselves in a dangerous place. The least we can do in order to attract and retain competent people is make sure their stay abroad is safe and comfortable.

JYB Tailwag to Hot Air's Headlines, which judging from yesterday's sitemeter seems to be working out well for them. As I said it would. (Then again what do I know? I predicted the HuffPo would flop.)