Middle East Embassy Riots - Unanswered Questions And Unequivocal Washington Incompetence

As we all know by now, this past week has been one of deadly and widespread riots and demonstrations across the Middle East. Tragically, this has resulted in the murder of four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, injuries to many other Americans and the local citizens who aided them, and the breaching of at least three of our foreign embassies' perimeters. Our prayers go out to the families of loved ones lost overseas as they served their country.

On the surface, the cause of these riots is supposedly a low quality film that was made by someone in California that insulted those of the Islam religion. I have not seen the film but all news reports indicate that it was of the lowest quality, it was not a big studio production, and it is not likely will never be shown in any theater, with the Internet being its only distribution channel. This was just some amateur film hack doing a bad editing job with bad effects with bad acting.

It stretches the realms of believability that such a feeble, obscure film effort would result in such widespread rioting and violence months after it appeared on the Net, that it would lead to massive demonstrations on a single day, the anniversary of 9-11, across scores of countries. There is probably little chance that these attacks were not coordinated, planned well in advance, and timed for 9-11, using a little stupid film as the air cover.

But the whole situation stretches the realms of believability, especially as it relates to the overall incompetence and handling of the whole situation by Washington, especially President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and the entire embassy security operating process of the State Department. This incompetence has resulted in the death of Americans. This is not some incompetent government bureaucrat wasting taxpayer money on a Las Vegas party (re: GSA employees). American lives may have been unnecessarily lost due to bad planning, ignorance, and incompetence. 

At the very least, this administration needs to answer the following questions and respond to the following news reports and rumors as to whether gross negligence was at work in the Federal government that has exposed Americans to unnecessary danger: 

1. Is it true that President Obama has skipped more than 50% of his daily intelligence updates meetings while in office, including many leading up to the embassy attacks? We all know that President Bush got grief for his rumored lackadaisical approach to security meetings the month before 9-11. Is this a similar situation under Obama?
2. Is it true that the President skipped his daily intelligence briefing meeting the day AFTER the Egyptian and Libyan embassies were attacked? One would assume that if any intelligence meeting should have been attended by the President, that one would have been the critical one.
3. Were there Marines guarding the embassy in Libya or was security indeed contracted out to outside companies? If so, why was it contracted out?
4. If there were no Marines present, were the outside contracted security guards actually armed at all or armed appropriately to defend American lives? Various news reports are claiming that explicit State Department guidelines forbid the availability of live ammunition both at the Libyan embassy and elsewhere in the Middle East. True or false?
5. If U.S. embassy security forces anywhere in the world are not allowed live ammunition, then the reasons need to be explained in the context of the four deaths in Libya.
6. Who is responsible in the State Department for working with local security authorities to ensure the embassy perimeters are secure and why did that security process fail in so many locations, allowing the embassy perimeters to be breached and the Libyan embassy to be burned to the ground?
7. News reports indicate that many Americans at the Libyan embassy had been relocated to a secret safe house away from the demonstrations but that the safe house was also attacked. What caused this security breach to occur and who is responsible?
8. Is it true that the ambassador's body was at one point in the possession of the attackers and was defiled in the streets outside of the embassy? If so, why was the ambassador so lightly protected that such a heinous act could even occur?
9. The Libyan doctor who eventually treated U.S. ambassador, Ziad Abu Zeid, at a local hospital told The Associated Press that the ambassador was brought to the Benghazi Medical Center by Libyans the night of the attacks, with no other Americans present, and that initially, no one realized he was the U.S. ambassador. If true, the same question applies: why was the ambassador so lightly protected that no Americans were with him when he was brought in for emergency treatment and that he was so exposed that the treating doctor did not even know who he was treating?
10. News reports have claimed that the State Department knew 48 hours in advance that there was going to be a good chance of demonstrations and potential violent actions against the embassies. If so, why were the local security authorities not asked to beef up perimeter security and why was any American in any of those locations?
11. Why were the Libyan and Egyptian ambassadors to the U.S. not hauled into the Oval Office within hours after the violence started? Isn't that standard diplomatic protocol to formally protest to a foreign government over grievances that have occurred on that foreign government's soil?
12. Why have our ambassadors and staffs not been recalled from Egypt and Libya "for consultations?" Isn't that standard diplomatic protocol for formal protests to a foreign government over severe grievances?
13. Why was foreign aid to the Egyptian and Libyan governments not suspended immediately, according to standard diplomatic protocol, in order to force them to step up to their responsibilities for security and to apprehend the offenders?
14. In the light of all this Middle East danger and violence, why did the President have enough time to do extensive political campaigning in Las Vegas and numerous other places this past week but he will not have enough time honor a meeting request from the Israeli Prime Minister due to "scheduling conflicts?" Isn't Israel one of the few true allies we have in the critical Middle East region, especially in these times of unrest?

So many questions and rumors that are unanswered but which need to be answered swiftly before more deaths and destruction occur. This administration, especially it's State Department, needs to come clean on what went wrong, why it went wrong, who is responsible for what went wrong, and the steps that are to be taken so this type of unnecessary tragedy never happens again.

If government employees in the GSA organization lost their jobs for spending $832,000 on a Las Vegas party, someone surely needs to lose their job in the State Department, up to and including the Secretary of State, for allowing four Americans to be murdered and millions of dollars of U.S. property to be destroyed. If the administration refuses to answer these questions, then it is the duty of the Congress to find out answers to these questions and take the necessary punitive and remedial steps necessary based on these answers.

This type of fatal incompetence is a disgrace to the government employees, military personnel, and their families that serve our country here and abroad. We have been in the embassy security business for over two hundred years, how could this have gone so wrong, given how much experience the Federal government and this administration should have had.

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