MovieChat Forums > No Escape (2015) Discussion > U.S. Embassy

U.S. Embassy

posted 9 years ago by joel-bourquard
5 replies | jump to latest

I loved this movie: suspenseful, tense, well acted. IMHO Owen Wilson really rocked too.

My question is within the spoiler below:
About the U.S. Embassy: how come they could get attacked without homeland noticing? I mean, it's not like they'd rely solely on local telephone systems - they almost certainly had direct satellite links and automated alert systems. Homeland would then have alerted nearby countries, such as Vietnam, and sent some forces to rescue their citizens. Or did I miss something?

[–] danmax67 9 years ago

Maybe this movie was supposed to take place when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

[–] lysergic-acid 9 years ago

Despite the delusions of some Americans, U.S. embassies have never been impervious to attack. There have been numerous successful attacks on American consulates and embassies, resulting in over 300 deaths in total. Some embassies were completely destroyed by bombs or set on fire.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was evacuated due to deteriorating security conditions in the area as the country was overrun by Shi'ite rebels.

It's not the job of embassy personnel to stay in a country in the midst of a civil war just to protect a building and a plot of land. If a country is in the state of a full blown revolution, there's not much point in maintaining an embassy there.

If you're at your country's embassy or consulate when they're evacuating, then you'd be evacuated with them. But they can't possibly scour an entire country for every expat or tourist to get them out of the country safely.

[–] tallard 9 years ago

This all happened within less than 24 hours. International intervention is never that fast. Situations need assessing first.

***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**

[–] lapd96 9 years ago

In real life there would have been American planes and drones overhead the embassy within hours. There is a carrier battle group in the Indian Ocean that would've started steaming towards the embassy immediately once the alarm was sounded.

But....like the above poster said, maybe this is a question for Obama and Hillary.

[–] zxdragon-flyzx 9 years ago

US Armed Forces couldn't be deployed that fast. Even Special Forces.
Asking for other nearby countries to come for the rescue is hard too. They might be pleased to help, but for example in this case, if Vietnam sent forces to the rescue, it means they declared war to the whole Cambodia, they would have to risk thousands of their own soldiers for that. Deciding whether go to war or not is time-consuming.
In the real event Vietnam did decided to go to war, well it takes like 1 year or so to make that decision.