Robert Ariail for October 12, 2012

Even the security guys testified even far more Marines couldn’t have done much in the Libya case. How about the Marine Barracks when Ron was in charge and State, and the Marines, did NOT want them all housed in that facility in Beirut?

BTW, who blew the security in that gaggle, and who blew the whole CIA thing by holding hearings? Oh, right, Issa!

For two weeks I was told that it was a protest over a Youtube movie that got out of control.

Since it happened concurrently with the Egyptian riots, it was first thought to be part of that protest cycle. I found it interesting that the man who voted against embassy security says “we” have a problem. And they want to raise the defense budget 2 trillion above what the generals want, but now want to “save” money by closing overseas bases? That’s their story and they’re (not) stickin’ to it!

Congress cut funding for embassy security two years running, below what the White House asked for that’s a least a severally contributing factor.

All of the GOP congressmen cut funding for overseas embassies and consulates. They won’t take any responsibility, of course, because they’re chickenhawks. If they didn’t perceive this as a way to get low tax rates on the rich, they would be too embarrassed to bring it up.

It was NOT the Embassy, it was a Consulate!

A squad of marines would have more US citizens dead. This was a planed attact.

BTW, I’ve been very close to these “situations”. My friends, and son, have been very close much more recently. It wasn’t a formal “embassy” in Libya, because things are still unstable, the attacks were on “facilities”, not “embassies” with “normal” military guards and Stevens knew that. His death is a tragedy for State, but he knew the risks and accepted them, because he cared about the Libyan people, and those who knew him have stood up to decry the actions of the “terrorists”.

Even so, embassies are NOT military installations, with large numbers of guards, or heavy weapons in place to protect them, which would have been required in this incident, given the heavy weapons of the attackers.

I’m yes, upset, that the chickenhawk brigade is playing this for “Politics”, and Issa, among others, should be thrown out of Congress for their actions. Issa is NOT stupid, which makes his actions over the last three years even MORE inexcusable.

LOL Did Bush resign? Did Cheney resign? Did Rumsfeld resign? Well I mean they didn’t do anything too bad I guess. Just cost thousands of US military lives, trillions of dollars and the disdain of most of the world but hey no biggie.

Hey Bruce! How 60’s ARE you? When all else fails, fall back to the “Love it or Leave it” routine! At least us Libs see things wrong and try to work to change them. BUT, Congress holds the purse strings. Obama chose to sign the budgets rather than let the perfect become the enemy of the real.

When I first heard about the consulate attack and read the editorials I was firmly of the mind the attackers had come in with protestors. However, I was very wrong and it has come to light there were no protestors in Libya, who seem to like us for the most part. Even before Gaddafi was killed, there were concerns of groups in Libya who were anti american and Obama took heat for not giving weapons to the Libyans from people like McCain-who I still admire. Hindsight is 20/20. I’m sure the house committee and members of congress who stood in the way of funding security wish they’d done it differently. I’m certain a memo stating strongly enough there was an immediate threat to the consulate and residents Obama would have never allowed the Ambassador to go there. The Bush administration ignored the report Condolezza Rice told us about, “Plan to hijack an aircraft by Islamic radicals”. The state dept apparently ignored these 2012 reports. No one was fired for the 2001 lapse, lessons were learned, and our intelligence communities began working together in a way that has gone a long way towards protecting us here at home.I have NO doubt there are terrorist cells all over the planet waiting for an opening to kill Americans especially in their embassies or corporate offices. The riots spurred by that vile video gave Al Qayadah in Libya a window of opportunity.The ball was dropped, good people died. We learn, we adjust, and if we work together, we stay ahead of the bad guys. Respectfully,C.

James Risen in NY Times has an article on private security and the Benghazi incident that briefly summarizes the ongoing debate between Ambassadors and “security firms”. As noted previously, State doesn’t see embassies as “military installations”, for good reasons.

And that same article also cites Libya’s barring of contractors. We need to have a discussion about whether WE are to secure our embassies regardless of the host countries wishes. HOWGOZIT and others would have a fit if Russia, China,Saudi Arabia wanted to secure their embassies with ANY show of strength!