Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
I think not having a plan 'B' in place was a mistake. period. A mistake is different than doing something maliciously wrong. I would hope that that has been a painful lesson for this and other administrations. Has it been worth X different Benghazi hearings? probably not.
So let's plat devils advocate. Could Stevens have requested they leave? Did he and was ordered they stay? He likely know the conditions on ground better than anyone in DC State, right?
|
I don't think Obama/Clinton did anything out of maliciousness, either. Just incompetence.
"Has it been worth X different Benghazi hearings? probably not."
The families might give you a different answer.
"Could Stevens have requested they leave? Did he and was ordered they stay? He likely know the conditions on ground better than anyone in DC State, right?"
if you want to say he contributed to his own death, maybe that's valid. But if he didn't go to benghazi, we had other personnel there.
I follow these things pretty closely (as do you). I have never, in any forum, seen anyone, anywhere, suggest that Stevens is more at fault than his bosses. But maybe it's valid.
Stevens didn't have the authority to increase security, which is why he asked for it. Nor did he have the authority to put military assets within 7,000 miles of where he was.
Those who had such authority, are also largely responsible. To the extent that Stevens was responsible, he paid for that with his life. As of very recently, no one at state who was responsible for the intelligence failure, nor for the refusal to increase his seccurity, nor for the fact that we had no help to offer within a 13 hour flight radius.
They got caught with their pants down, Bryan (the Red Cross knew to get out, and we didn't), and 4 superb Americans paid for that with their lives. Not every American death implies incompetence somewhere. In my opinion, a very compelling case can be made that in this case, there was mind-bogling incompetence. Which, also in my opinion, is what you get when we elect an inexperienced neophyte who spent his life in an Ivy League faculty room, and who therefore has zero understanding of how the world actually works.
Other nations saw the danger. We left him there, denied his requests for extra security, and with zero support within a 13 hour flight radius.
"He likely know the conditions on ground better than anyone in DC State, right"
That's likely true, which is likely why he asked for more security. Which was denied by someone who clearly thought they had a better understanding of the situation, than he did. If, as you say, he ha dth ebest view of the situation, then he shouldn't have to ask someone else for extra security, that should be his call.