Marathon Pundit: Benghazi report out: There was no protest--it was an attack

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Benghazi report out: There was no protest--it was an attack

Now that the presidential election is over, the official report on what went wrong in the Benghazi attacks has been released. Although Reuters says the review is "scathing," no names are given in regards to the State Department failure in Libya.

Oh, surprise..surprise. The deadly attack on our consulate had nothing to do with that Z-list video.

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"Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department ... resulted in a special mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," said the unclassified version of the report by the official "Accountability Review Board."

The board specifically faulted the department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the regional office which is responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, its law enforcement and security arm.

The five-member board said U.S. intelligence provided no "specific tactical warning" of the attack and that there was "little understanding of militias in Benghazi and the threat they posed to U.S. interests" in the eastern Libyan city, where the central government has little influence.

The incident has raised questions about the adequacy of security at U.S. embassies around the globe and where to draw the line between protecting American diplomats in dangerous places while giving them enough freedom to do their jobs.