Posted on 09/23/2012 4:56:25 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
That’s a real possibility.My questions are who would have known Steven’s whereabouts and who wanted him killed the most. the regime or the terror types? Who leaked sensitive intel about his whereabouts? All key questions, IMHO.
Yes, that is what we do. Smile and move on.
There are a number of Ambassadors who appear on hit lists--mainly for one reason--they represent the US just as much as the flag does. The fact that Stevens apparently rejected more security speaks more to bad judgment and hubris than it does a CIA connection. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is responsible for ensuring that our diplomatic personnel, including Ambassadors, are provided security. In the case of Stevens it appears that he had a DS supplied personal protection detail. But they cannot protect an ambassador from the kind of attack that happened in Benghazi. The host government is responsible and they were AWOL for five hours.
I have no doubt that AQ and its affiliated organizations in Libya took out Stevens in retalliation for the US killing one its leaders. And no doubt, Obama and the Dems bragging about taking out OBL and Ghadaffi didn't help matters. And add the fact that this was the 11th anniversary of 9/11. There had to be collusion between the Libyan security personnel charged with the responsibility for protecting the Consulate (including both the government assigned personnel and the ones hired by the consulate) with the attackers. The security personnel just melted away when the attack started and someone must have let the attackers know the location the safe house that was attacked during the second phase of the attack.
For me, the larger story here is how derelict the State Department was in providing security for the consulate given conditions on the ground, i.e., recent attacks against Western interests in Benghazi such as the RPG attack against the UK ambassador in June, the Tunisian Embassy, the Red Cross, and the US consulate by an IED. The fact that the UK closed its consulate in Benghazi after the attack on the UK's ambassador's motorcade should have set off all kinds of alarm bells in Libya and in Washington.
The consulate was housed in an "interim facility" that had no more security than one would find in a gated community. The Ambassador was visiting Benghazi but we had 25 to 30 people assigned to the consulate. To me, this is totally unacceptable and should never have happened. Lives were put needlessly at risk. Heads should roll in the State Department. I have let our union, AFSA, know of my displeasure with this arrangement and asking them to hold Hillary and the rest of the leadership responsible for a major lapse in judgment. There has been a decided lack of outrage within the Department--at least publicly--for the failure to provide proper security for our personnel.
I do wish Ann had stressed legal versus illegal immigrants.
That’s the issue the left fails to address.
How do you know that Stevens apparently rejected more security?
We filter our lists so we don’t even bother with them. Most are state and gummit workers who are only interested in their own paycheck. I asked one how we are going to pay for it and his response 3 times was, “I don’t Care!”
It sums up the commie Dem mindset.
I have actually wished for the British papers to blanket the US to give a print voice to conservatives. They at least source critics of the regime.
Also, even locally there are Polish and Jewish citizens fearing what they see happening here, but there story needs to be told in media venues and ate not.
President Bush did a lot of local media interviews. If they aren’t doing that then they should.
Numbers are WSJ/NBC/Marist and obviously cooked.
Except economic optimism may indeed be up as we get closer to the end of Obie. My optimism is certainly on the upswing as accurately weighted polls show Mitt leading.
ate not - “are not”.
Well, we should stop using even that polite term. They are:
Illegal Aliens, Alien Criminals, or maybe just plain ILLEGALS.
Leave the word immigrant right out of the picture. Whoever controls the language, controls the debate.
We assume they are winning yet we haven’t had a chance to get an accurate score. We have assumed they were winning with the last few elections only to find out we were. This is likely the same but they have the microphone.
Pray for America
RE State Dept policy on personnel protection: Doesn’t the ambassador make the call for his assigned area? Isn’t he the senior representative of the US?
Stevens must have thought he was “loved by the people” and so made a bad call regarding security for himself and the people with him.
And the presses, but fewer people are getting their news from the dinosaur media. Now the battles need to be waged online and in the "social media networks"
It is a crime to ruin Sunday with morning talk shows.
Much more pleasant to respect the day and read about it on Monday, when all that was regurgitated matters not and the world has moved on already.
Good for you!
Yeah, once in a while you will hit a moonbat or goonion in a mixed household. It’s happened to me.
"Volunteers knocked a total of 1576 doors and obtained 738 voter IDs. Of those surveyed, 47% supported Romney, 27% supported Obama, and 26% were still undecided. Given that we were targeting "Undetermined" voters in swing precincts, I think these results are VERY significant. If this were a poll, the sampling error would be +/- 3.7%."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.