There were a few very interesting points that I will share. Only official vehicles were allowed in the embassy parking lot, so we had to park across the street at the embassy of country W. While this tactic would not help against suicide drivers, it does prevent terrorists from parking a car bomb near the embassy. If anyone were so dumb to attempt such a thing, they would only damage the embassy of country W.
After our business was concluded at the embassy, we walked back to our vehicle. One of my associates and I each took a picture of country W's embassy. Then he took a few shots of the US embassy while I walked to get a better angle. Probably by design, there was no clear shot at the US embassy, the landscaping was designed in such a way to always obscure parts of the facility. While I was trying to find a decent angle, an Arabian guard came up to me and explained photography was forbidden in this area. After seeing that I was not going to argue (i.e., I put the cap on my camera and turned it off), he then proceeded to our vehicle and politely but firmly asked for the film from my associate's camera. My coworker also complied, but he was not happy to lose all the pictures he had taken of our visit to Oman. Fortunately for me, the guard did not realize I had already taken a picture of Embassy W, or he might have confiscated my digital memory card. Despite the momentary excitement at the end of the visit, I am glad I had the opportunity to meet some of the fine folk who officially represent the States in that part of the world.