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"... jets could have been on station in under two hours out of Italy . We had NATO assets within 450 miles and the French had assets able to respond. All of these options could have been utilized but only by the President of the United States. He was unavailable and people died."

So that brings up another issue: What is the point of NATO even existing? For those who don't know the acronym: It is North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Why were they not called to defend our Consulate?

Here is a current list of NATO nations that could have responded in accordance with treaty and given authority by the CIC if he had not gone to bed.:

Albania (2009) Belgium (1949) Bulgaria (2004) Canada (1949) Croatia (2009) Czech Republic (1999) Denmark (1949) Estonia (2004) France (1949) Germany (1955) Greece (1952) Hungary (1999) Iceland (1949) Italy (1949) Latvia (2004) Lithuania (2004) Luxembourg (1949) Netherlands (1949) Norway (1949) Poland (1999) Portugal (1949) Romania (2004) Slovakia (2004) Slovenia (2004) Spain (1982) Turkey (1952) The United Kingdom (1949) The United States (1949)

Look to see who were close and could have responded. I lived for 3 years in Rota, Spain (79-82). We had a Marine response team there at that time. I know, because I and my other Shore Patrol buds had to wrestle one of them down after hours. We got shit because he was part of the "ready response team" and should be allowed to blow of steam.