Former ally or not, anything that happens at this point they’ve brought on themselves. We’ve no doubt told them that we intend on seeing these jihadi bast*rds dead no matter where they are, and they can see by our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq that we don’t mind hitting an entire country to do it. One would think that a reasonably intelligent person could put 2 and 2 together and understand that we won’t mind bombing Karachi if it comes down to it.

Do we want to bomb an ally (a reluctant one apparently)? No, we don’t. But far better that than another 9-11 if you ask me.

Jim C

Perhaps because the new attacks were going to be public enough that no denial was plausible? That would be a bit more comforting than it being a leak and would make sense as to why the administration would be willing to make the policy so public.

Pakistan? Lord knows.

It’s easy enough to cite cases of US diplomats being murdered by terrorists, blown up by terrorists, attacked by terrorists and even taken hostage by state sponsors of terrorism. I invite you to read up on the subtle differences inherent in signing up for the diplomatic service vice the military service.

It’s really obvious that you think that we have beautiful embassies tucked away in places like Uganda, Upper Volta, Niger, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ghana, Djibouti etc. I loved visiting the consulates in Karachi and Dahran since they felt just like home. The funny thing was the guys out of Islamabad didn’t ever want their wives to come to Karachi (much better shopping) but it was/is still a hellhole.
But, as I said, I just wanted to say a kind word about the FSOs and their families. If you despise them that much, why don’t you do what everybody else does? As I recall from my time on the NAVCENT staff, it took the form of phoning in 5 bomb threats a day to the American School.