Projecting Weakness and Its Consequences-Failure in Benghazi

I seem to keep coming back to the utter failure of the administration in Benghazi. My mind revisits it a lot because it touches on something I warned about in a post as far back as 2009. I told y'all this administration projects-hell, PERSONIFIES-weakness. Because of this, our citizens around the world-not to mention here at home-are far less safe. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans paid for this failure with their lives. And it could have been prevented.

For weeks leading up to the attack on our consulate, there had been chatter. Due to intelligence they'd received at the consulate, the ambassador had requested more security.  First of all, he wasn't in Canada, Scotland or Japan...he was in LIBYA. That alone should have scored several Marines (for the love of Pete, ANYBODY) to help with that security. Libya-a country that had just wrapped up a short civil war after Gadaffi's rule. (Gadafi, Qaddaffi, Ghadafi...whatever. You know who he was.)  I'd go so far as to say it's STILL pretty much a war zone there. Why did our consulate not have adequate protection to begin with?!  Already, this was an unacceptable situation. Also, by all accounts, the Libyan government had warned us at least a couple of days before September 11th that an attack was in the works. Not a protest, but an all-out attack. Still, State and the admin did NOTHING.

On the day of September 11, 2012, our consulate was attacked by a very large group of heavily armed men, not by protesters over a supposed anti-Islam You Tube video that virtually no one (at the time) had seen but by Al Qaeda. ('member them? They want to kill us all.)  Instead of informing the American people that Al Qaeda was indeed behind the attack in which our ambassador was brutally beaten, possibly violated and then killed, as well as two former Navy SEALs who were in the area (but not part of the security detail) and Stevens' aide who was an Air Force veteran-the administration chose to outright LIE not only about who was behind the attack but also about the SEALs who came to Stevens' aid. You see, the SEALs were there (possibly at the behest of the CIA) to track down weapons that had been looted from stockpiles after the overthrow of Gadaffi. They were staying a half mile away when they heard the gunfire and RPG's. Instead of running away from the situation, they ran towards it, hoping to save the ambassador and consulate workers. For two hours, they held off a two-stage planned attack by Al Qaeda militants which in turn allowed 20 consulate personnel to be rescued. TWO MEN held off around TWO HUNDRED  Al Qaeda, engaging in a two hour intense firefight...until they were overrun...bloody handprints on the wall of the consulate tell the tale.

A personal note: what makes me the sickest is that I can't get out of my mind these men fighting to the last, knowing they'd die and NO ONE was coming to help them. This makes me FURIOUS. The White House, State-that entire administration FAILED them, a FAIL the likes of which should never be forgotten. If I was a member of any of these guys' families-Obama, Hillary, Susan Rice, Jay Carney-every liar and hack up there-would get a certified letter every day, a ton of email, I'd be trying to get on every news program I could, put ads in all the major newspapers, get a billboard...they would KNOW I knew it was THEIR failure to do what was needed and required and they'd know I intended on informing as many people as I could of their utter ineptness, stupidity and callous disregard for the safety of American citizens abroad. My message would be this, for example: "My family member was a former SEAL who could protect himself and others. But he was overrun and killed due to this administration turning the other way when help was requested in a time of need. He didn't have to die. He was armed but remember this...when you travel to a foreign country, YOU are NOT armed. Do you think this administration has your back? Would you make it out alive if attacked? Don't count on it. You're basically on your own."

More State/Admin Failures
So a month after the attack, we find out the consulate still hasn't been secured. Files, classified documents are floating around out there somewhere. Have any CIA agents been put in danger because of this? (well, YEAH.)  Other covert ops personnel? (again, YEAH.) Are they basically done for thanks to these failures? Our ability to keep intelligence operatives in Libya has now seriously been compromised if not crippled. While some isolationists shrug their shoulders, I say this weakens us further. I believe in the axiom "Know your enemy." To know our enemies, we must be among them covertly. No type of intelligence replaces human intelligence. We certainly learned that after the fiasco that resulted from the Clinton administration's cutting intelligence operatives overseas...9/11 anyone?

Lies face destruction when exposed to the light of day. The truth about the day of the attack and the days leading up to it is slowly trickling out. We now know about the requests of the ambassador for more security and the denials of the administration. (despite what Joe Biden said in the debate last night. LIE.) We know about the SEALs and their heroism thanks to officials who contacted the Guardian newspaper to tell the truth about these fine men and what actually happened. We know that this was not a protest and had NOTHING to do with a movie, yet the administration tried to spin it as such for upwards of two weeks after the attack. They didn't want to admit it was Al Qaeda because it's close to the election and it would look bad for Zero on foreign policy as he's said Al Qaeda was "on the run." They sure were on the run...right to our consulate gates at Benghazi with RPG's.

I would encourage everyone to watch the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform's hearings about the failures at Benghazi. Congressman Darrell Issa, who is an awesome individual and does his best to hold this administration's feet to the fire on things like Fast & Furious is once again in the lead on this issue.  Here is the link: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/the-security-failures-of-benghazi/ This needs to stay in the forefront-these men did not need to die and for someone like Stephanie Cutter to say it's only an issue because Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made it one is an INSULT. It's an issue because four Americans are DEAD because of the failures of this administration and yet they still LIE to the American people. We need to make sure every American knows of this administration's failures and how they endanger America's citizens. The true tragedy would be if we don't do this and those 4 men died in vain.