re: #195 A Mom Anon

Good Morning Lizards.

I know pitifully little about the Middle East and Africa,the history and politics of these places seems to be far more complicated than I can wrap my head around.
Unless I’m misunderstanding what I’ve been reading,a guy named Eric Nordstrum had requested additional security(or a continuation of the current personnel)for the embassy in Tripoli. There were no requests to beef up security for the consulate in Benghazi beyond the addition of 2 or 3 more people. How that would have helped on 9/11/12 I have no idea. Is that correct or did I get in over my head?

When things like this happen,especially really far away,I never believe the initial reports because it’s impossible to sort out facts in the middle of chaos. What pisses me off about this more than anything is people trying to claim anything was THE definitive report or account of what happened,not just in Benghazi but in the surrounding countries as well as within the layers of our own government right after this happened. A reasonable person would think it might take a couple of months at least before it’s all sorted out.

We don’t harden consulates—they’re just business offices, not meant to be held. Embassies are only hard enough to delay a determined attack long enough to destroy materials and documents and await friendly evacuation.
The whole story is BS. The guys who were killed were “just visiting” if early reports are accurate.

P.S. Early reports are almost never accurate, because the reporting process is wrecked by an attack or other disaster. Even now, very few people have a totally clear idea of what went on last month. That’s normal.