Comments on the September 11, 2012 Benghazi incident

On the topic of Benghazi, I believe that the current administration [Obama]was actually caught off guard by an  event that to any outside observer  seemed inevitable.  The Administration simply did not take reasonable precautions based on the nature of the situation in Libya and underestimated the potential insurgent response to American involvement in Libya .  I must also admit that, I have a problem in forming a complete understanding of the attack on the Benghazi embassy because there has never been a complete telling of this story with all of the pertinent details.  As a result I am left to postulate my current position, minus the political rhetoric,  which  is to blame the deaths of four Americans on the State Departments failure to seek proper protection for the ambassador and the ambassador's own personal disregard for his safety.  Like so many current day events, which most Americans hear or see in thirty second sound bites and bathed in the passion of political posturing, the death of the American ambassador and his protection unit is a major event.  However, Benghazi like events have happened before in our national history and will undoubtedly continue to happen well into our future because our government often is compelled to place Americans,  in the military or in the foreign service,  on the edge of danger to gather intelligence and monitor situations.  For example, In China, at the turn of the century the United States had a enclave in the capital city of Beijing, which was attacked by the Boxer's during their attempt to throw the westerners out at the turn of the century.  Later also in China there was an incident on the Yangtze River in the 1930's, when American patrol boats, The American China Squadron, came under attack by forces of Japan prior to the start of World War II, and of course there was the USS Liberty incident in the 1970's where the Israeli Navy sank an American spy ship during the War Yam Kippur War.  I am sure that in their time each of these previously mentioned events must have caught the attention of the media and I am equally sure there were calls for investigations by Congress.  However that is the nature of the beast, you have to be on the ground to really know what is happening and it may not always be easy to prevent the loss of lives.  In fact we must conclude that the lives of the men in Benghazi were lost in the service of protecting American interest.