It doesnt make any sense... Libyan government just fell 2 years before that. Who cares what they think the next gov could have fallen any day for all we knew at the time. It was stupid to hold those contractors back.
shareIt was stupid for congress to cut security funding. It was stupid for the ambassador to stay when he was urged to leave. It was stupid of the CIA to hold back 'cause they didn't want their "secret station" revealed once the crap hit the fan.
shareYou need to get a life. You've been trolling this board replying with the same tired talking points. At the end of the day, it's HRC and Obama who are responsible for the deaths in Benghazi, nobody else. You sound like Hillary herself. Do you think if you keep reporting the same crap it will magically come true? The Ambassador made several requests for additional protection at the compound, and was turned down, repeatedly--by the State Dept, not Congress.
shareIt's Congress that controls the budget though.
shareAnd Obama could have signed one of his infamous executive orders.
shareAnd the Deputy SecState specifically stated that funding was NOT the issue: that should money be needed they would have moved assets.
ZERO budgetary responsibility here. It was fully a political decision.
..Joe
/It was stupid for congress to cut security funding. It was stupid for the ambassador to stay when he was urged to leave. It was stupid of the CIA to hold back 'cause they didn't want their "secret station" revealed once the crap hit the fan./
this.
It was a complete shit show from top to bottom.
I think the "idea" behind this was not stirring up the locals with a heavy American military force, believing that the big problem in Iraq was resistance to heavy-handed American occupation.
I think this was the wrong lesson learned. Iraq turned chaotic because of a power vacuum, the locals only resented Americans once it became chaotic and American security contractors began to get trigger happy trying to stay alive. In Libya we allowed the same power vacuum to form, with some kind of magical thinking it would turn out differently.
To be honest, I think the contractors should have been a lot more aggressive in their initial defense of the compound (ie, shooting anything or anyone who got close, regardless if they were or weren't shooting). But I think they probably felt like they had to hold back given the prosecutions for the Nisour Square incident.
I was also surprised they were so lightly armed -- I would have expected more 40mm grenades, claymores and possibly at least one .50 caliber machine gun.