You have a point there for further research.
Embassy/consulate/mission
“Officially,” an embassy is not a consulate. I have seen the difference described, but the Benghazi location did not perform normal “consulate” duties either. Would an attack on a consulate be technically declared as an “act of war” also?
But wait, the “official” designation also has been described as a “mission.”
Would an attack on a “mission” be an act of war?
Was the Benghazi location designated a “mission” before the attack and a “consulate” after the attack?
Regardless the purpose of the consulate/mission or Stevens, not doing what was possible to rescue those at the consulate/mission or those at the CIA Annex was an appalling dereliction of duty.
I also question whether Washington had Libya “government” problems in taking action, which is why the above technical designations become more important.
Sorry I can’t produce sources at the moment, but see article here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2949797/posts
for indications that there were “government” problems just getting our people from the airport to the Annex.
Long before 9/11/12, talk-show host Chris Plante (former Pentagon correspondent broadcasting from Wash, DC) was fond of saying Libya HAS no government. We invaded, “liberated” and left -— left Libya in chaos.
FOR THE RECORD:
“........Woods, Doherty, and others who were part of the CIA’s response team, were not stationed in Libya to protect the U.S. consulate or the embassy in Tripoli. Prior to the attack, their mission had been to locate and collect more than 20,000 shoulder-held missiles known as MANPADS, which had gone missing after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.....”
91 posted on Saturday, 27 October 2012 6:48:50 AM by Cincinatus’ Wife
Why did Cameron and Sarkozy agree to do the dirty work? Why did NATO destroy the infrastructure of an entire country? How many civilians were killed in airstrikes by NATO? Why was Gahddafi rehabilitated, seen shaking hands with Obama, Cameron, Blair, Sarkozy, Mandella...and then BETRAYED?
Looks like there WAS still one city the ‘freedom fighters’ had not been able to destroy:
Families flee clashes in Libya’s Bani Walid From: AFP October 22, 2012
HUNDREDS of Libyan families and foreign workers have fled from Bani Walid, one of the last bastions of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and scene of deadly clashes.
An AFP photographer saw dozens of cars crammed with families pouring out of Bani Walid, a hilltop town of about 100,000 inhabitants located 185km southeast of Tripoli.
Dozens of foreign workers, many of them Egyptian citizens, fled on foot in the direction of Tripoli and military vehicles shuttled back and forth to pick them up.