Actually, no, it's not. That is a widely held misconception. However, the host country may not enter the grounds of an embassy without permission of the nation in question (Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations).
The host country is responsible for security on embassy grounds. My worry is that Zero doesn't have the balls to handle an assault on an American embassy with anything approaching competence.
“O” would cut them for bait, and never look back!
Meanwhile, freedom of peaceful assembly is still respected in this country. Someone I know in DC sent me this eye witness report on the Libya demonstration this weekend in fron of the White House. Interesting to see that the anti NATO/pro Gaddafi group ANSWER, which apparently is a holdover from the old Stalinist lefties had 100 people. Farrakhan and Nation of Islam is also connected. The pro rebel group which has been demonstrating every weekend had about 50 people mostly women and children, as the menfolk fear to be seen on TV thereby endangering family members left in Gaddafi controled Libya.
“Supporters of the Libyan insurgency have been demonstrating in front of the White House every Saturday between 3:00 and 5:00, but they came early last Saturday.
ANSWER had called for people to come from all over the east coast to protest the bombing of Libya beginning at noon. Local Libyans wanted them to have a warm welcome.
ANSWER claimed the prime photo-op spot in the street, closest to the White House. About a hundred people marched and chanted with printed signs saying “NO War for Oil” and “STOP US/NATO War on Libya.”
Facing them about fifteen feet away was a long line of about fifty Libyans waving the flag of the insurgency. They chanted “Our Blood. Our Tears. For Forty Years.” Their signs said “Thank You Obama,” “Thank You NATO.”
Keeping the two sides a safe distance apart were six officers from the U.S. Park Police. Every now and then they had to move the line of Libyans back as it slowly encroached on the de-politicized zone. After an hour, the cops decided it would be easier to demarcate the DPZ and out came sections of barricades which, when linked, left the two groups to harangue each other across a fifteen foot alley populated by photographers.
After calling the demonstration, ANSWER decided to expand its reach to include the Ivory Coast. About a dozen Ivorians joined the picket with signs supporting President Gbagbo and telling “France/UN” to get out of the Cote d’Ivoire.
Demographically the two protests were quite different.
About eighty percent of the four dozen Libyans were women and young children. I asked one why there were so few men and she initially said that this is what the protests looked like in Libya itself. When I pressed her, she said the men were afraid of retaliation on their families.
The ANSWER pickets had gender balance, but no children. Almost all were twenty-somethings, with a scattering of men over fifty. Except for the Ivorians, they didn’t look like they came from Africa or the Middle-East but they did have a lot more dark faces than the Libyans.
Behind the ANSWER picket line was a long table manned by three members of the Nation of Islam, wearing their trademark suits and bow-ties in 90 degree heat. They weren’t chanting or holding signs, but were selling the NOI newspaper and CDs. I didn’t see any buyers. They said they were there because the NOI supports Quaddafi, but didn’t mention that the Libyan dictator has long been a
generous supporter of the NOI. In fact Quaddafi and NOI head Louis Farrakhan have been allies for many years. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-farrakhan-gadhafi-0401-20110331,0,1163420.story]
Another Quaddafi supporter is former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. She has twice visited Tripoli, spoken on Libyan state TV, and been the featured speaker on a recent US tour sponsored by ANSWER. [http://www.answercoalition.org/national/news/eyewitness-libya-tour-success.html]
ANSWER is a front group for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which split from the Worker’s World Party in 2004. Its Stalinist ancestry perhaps explains its knee-jerk opposition to anything done by the
“imperialistpowers” – which currently means the US, NATO and France. Its leaflet for this event said “it is time to stand up and oppose the racist logic of humanitarian intervention.”
The Libyans said they weren’t mobilized by any organization. They are a loose network of people who know each other and pass on information through e-mail and
Facebook. That’s how they knew to come early for their weekly Saturday demonstration so ANSWER wouldn’t have Pennsylvania Ave. to itself.” [Sorry to post such a long description, but this was from a private communication so I could not use a URL.]
Meanwhile, state TV, Gaddafi’s mouthpiece has managed to make the Egyptians so angry they have cut off broadcast of Libyan state TV in Egypt.
http://technorati.com/politics/article/egypt-pulls-plug-on-libyan-tv/
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