Libya and Rules of Engagement: This is Obama's Hurricane Katrina

The Federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina was inadequate, untimely and ineffective.  The Libyan attack on our Embassy at Benghazi, which resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, is President Obama’s Katrina.

            Let’s look at the facts:

(1) Heavily armed Islamist terrorists overran a United States Embassy that had no Marines, and only lightly armed local security on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

(2) The embassy had asked for increased security on more than one occasion and had been denied. 

(3) The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) cited 13 attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya, including two bombing attempts.  These attacks, dating from April 12, 2012, did not raise a red flag at State.

(4) The embassy was guarded by a British instead of American private security firm because only a British firm would accept the, “no bullets” policy required by the Rules of Engagement for Libya which the United States instituted after the fall of Khadafy.  [By the way, if you aren’t allowing bullets in the guns, why bother with the guns at all?]

(5) Instead of securing the scene and fast-forwarding forensic experts to Libya, the administration dragged its feet.  It was weeks before any FBI agents got there. [This may actually work in the American people’s favor, as CNN and the Washington Post all found sensitive material in their investigations making a cover-up of governmental actions (or inaction) more difficult.] 

(6) A 16-member team of Marines and a six-member State Department elite force left Libya in August, just one month before the Benghazi assault. This was despite the fact that US officials in Libya wanted security increased, not decreased.

 The only difference between Hurricane Katrina and the Embassy attack is that our faulty response to the hurricane was due to a poor appointment; our embassies are in peril because of a philosophical decision to weaken and understate America’s presence abroad.  Make no mistake; the deaths of our American personnel in Benghazi are the fault of terrorists.  No amount of ill conceived, foolish, self-serving, politically motivated decisions can kill anyone.  Only the pusillanimous pigs that took advantage of those mistakes will have to face their maker with blood on their hands.  I also want to make clear that I firmly believe that President Obama is a patriotic American.  What other country would have educated him? Elevated him?  Made him President?  He may not be near as smart as his supporters think he is, but he is smart enough to figure that out.

President Obama, and the socialistic philosophy that drives him, is simply at odds with the realities of the world.  He thinks if we apologize for our wealth, dial back our success and try to make our enemies like us (reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain) that all will be well.  His philosophy is one of, “let’s grind down all the mountains, pour sand in the valleys and make the whole Earth one flat plateau.”  Quite frankly, he would have more luck reconfiguring the planet than reconfiguring the nature of man.  In the words of Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s center in Qatar (a liberal think tank by the way) "There's a widespread perception in the region that Obama is a weak, somewhat feckless president. Bush may have been hated, but he was also feared, and what we've learned in the Middle East is that fear, sometimes at least, can be a good thing.”

            Speak softly, but don’t forget the big stick while you keep the faith.