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2012-10-05 Africa North
Despite Threats, U.S. Cut Security in Libya Before Attacks
Even as American outposts in Benghazi appeared to be at risk, the State Department trimmed the number of security guards on the ground. Eli Lake reports on the latest allegations.
Can Obama throw Hillary under the bus?
In the six months leading up to the assault on the United States consulate in Benghazi, the State Department reduced the number of trained Americans guarding U.S. facilities in Libya, according to a leading House Republican investigating the Sept. 11 anniversary attacks. The reduction in U.S. security personnel increased America’s reliance on local Libyan guards for the protection of its diplomats.

This is the latest charge from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican leading a House investigation on the Benghazi attacks, regarding alleged security defects in Benghazi. Chaffetz said the information comes from whistleblowers who have approached the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The State Department on Wednesday didn’t respond to requests for comment.
"Hokay, Boss, what do we say now?"
"Nuttin!"
However, a senior State Department official said an independent review panel was examining the charge.
That's total nonsense. You don't need an independent review panel. You need to find and ask the person who signed the order.
This official said it was routine to reduce the number of U.S. personnel serving in new diplomatic posts such as Benghazi over time. When the U.S. established its official presence in Benghazi in 2011, it was the middle of a war, and even routine jobs such as drivers were handled by U.S. personnel, this official said.
Except it was still unsafe in Libya in 2012...
The allegation from Chaffetz, who is the chairman of the oversight committee’s subcommittee that handles national security, is important in light of recent reports that some Libyans who provided security for U.S. missions were working with insurgents and, in one case, allegedly attacked the consulate in Benghazi in April with a homemade explosive.

On Tuesday, Chaffetz and the oversight committee’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), disclosed in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton details of an alleged April 6 bombing at the consulate. The letter detailed how in the run-up to the 9-11 assault there was an escalation of military-style attacks on Western targets in Libya’s second-largest city. The letter also said U.S. security personnel had requested, and were denied, additional security for the U.S. embassy in Tripoli and the consulate in Benghazi.

Chaffetz went further Wednesday, saying in an interview that the number of American diplomatic security officers serving in Libya had been reduced in the six months prior to the attacks. "The fully trained Americans who can deal with a volatile situation were reduced in the six months leading up to the attacks," he said. "When you combine that with the lack of commitment to fortifying the physical facilities, you see a pattern.”
Our ambassador was a sacrificial lamb to Champ and Hilde. He was, oh what's term, 'expendable'...
The oversight committee’s investigation is looking at whether there was adequate security for Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attacks that day. It’s one of the many questions about the Benghazi attacks that are beginning to circle around the White House, and especially Secretary of State Clinton, as she completes her tenure.

On Tuesday, Clinton wrote in a letter to Chaffetz and Issa that she intended to cooperate with the House committee’s investigation. But in the letter she did not promise to turn over all of the cables and documents requested by Chaffetz, saying she had empowered her own accountability review board to find out what had happened in Benghazi. “Nobody will hold this department more accountable than we hold ourselves,” she wrote.
How on earth did her lips stay on?
The senior State Department official told The Daily Beast that on 9-11 there were five Americans serving as diplomatic security to protect Ambassador Stevens at the consulate. But this official stressed that a group of former Navy SEALs and others with military training who were stationed less than half a mile away at a nearby annex factored into the security plan for the consulate. This official referred to this team as a “quick reaction force,” but also acknowledged that their job was not to provide protection for the ambassador.

David Tafuri, a partner at Patton Boggs law firm in Washington and a counsel to the Libyan government, said there was a “tension between the need to allow America’s diplomats to engage with Libyans free from restrictive security controls and the need to protect the diplomats in a dynamic environment.”

Tafuri added, “From September 2011 to September 2012, Libya generally got safer.
Define 'generally'...
We had an excellent diplomat in Chris Stevens, who in order to do his job needed to be able to be on the street meeting with Libyans.”
Posted by Steve White 2012-10-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ]  Top

#1 We had an excellent diplomat in Chris Stevens, who in order to do his job needed to be able to be on the street meeting with Libyans

yeah, we saw the smartphone pics of Libyans dragging his dead body meeting with him in the street.

*Mission Accomplished*
Posted by Frank G 2012-10-05 08:27||   2012-10-05 08:27|| Front Page Top

#2 I've observed other westerners who get a tingle in the leg with the culture, learn the language, mix with the indigenous, and attempt to go native. It seldom ends well.

Protecting American interests in that part of the world must begin by protecting one's self.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-10-05 09:27||   2012-10-05 09:27|| Front Page Top

#3 seems like they could have chosen some place for the embassy that had restricted access and was physically stronger. it's not clear how much this bad choice was due to Stevens and how much due to the State Dept. Cutting back on US guards and expanding Libyan staff was a bad call.
Posted by Raider 2012-10-05 09:36||   2012-10-05 09:36|| Front Page Top

#4 I think the overall situation came from a need to forget they were even in Libya. Remember Obama said there would be no troops on the ground in Libya, just helping with "logistics". That, plus the overwhelming urge to forget the clusterfark it represented via Jihadi's lead to dereliction of duty. Before the election comes around look for a high-seated State Department official to throw themselves under the bus to protect Hillary and Champ.
Posted by Charles 2012-10-05 12:03||   2012-10-05 12:03|| Front Page Top

#5 The oversight committee's investigation is looking at whether there was adequate security for Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attacks that day.

Oh, please! If he was killed in the attacks, isn't that a pretty clear indication that security was not adequate? Do you really need a degree from Harvard to figure that out?
Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-10-05 12:33||   2012-10-05 12:33|| Front Page Top

#6 the word committee tells you everything - they are sidetracking the blame game. Charles is right - someone will be thrown under the bus to save Hillary and Co.
Posted by Raider 2012-10-05 15:02||   2012-10-05 15:02|| Front Page Top

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