Yesterday, President Obama, the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces, ordered a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) of 50 U.S. Marines to secure the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Unfortunately, the order came more than a day late.
Politico is now reporting that the Benghazi consulate where U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed yesterday was “not protected by the contingent of Marines” that usually safeguards American missions abroad. “The Benghazi consulate had “lock-and-key” security, not the same level of defenses as a formal embassy,” Politico reports.
Why wasn’t the Benghazi mission better guarded? The attack came on the anniversary of 9/11, a known date for al Qaeda affiliated groups to target American missions abroad. And The Telegraph reports that the Obama administration missed warning signs in Benghazi that al Qaeda was on the move. “About 24 hours before the mob attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, al-Qaeda’s leader made his first public statement for four months,” The Telegraph reports. Not that Obama would know any of this. According to the Government Accountability Institute, Obama has been skipping more than half of his daily intelligence briefings.
No president can be expected to prevent all attacks on American missions abroad. Attacks happen. But it is their sworn duty to make sure those missions are adequately prepared for attack. The death of four Americans suggests strongly that Obama failed to adequately protect the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The order to send Marines there after the fact is only an admission if this fact.
Despite Obama’s conciliatory tone, and his Egyptian Embassy’s forsaking of the First Amendment, the Middle East is no more safer today than it was when Obama assumed office. We need a president who can acknowledge this reality and defend our diplomatic missions accordingly.
From The Washington Examiner
Phil Klein: How the media turned Obama’s foreign policy bungle into a Romney gaffe
Michael Barone: Contrasting Obama’s reaction to the embassy attacks with FDR
Byron York: In embassy incidents, Obama administration’s first instinct was to sympathize with attackers
Charlie Spiering: Obama echoes Carter with ‘shoot first’ criticism of Romney
Susan Ferrechio: Obama vows justice after killings in Libya
Campaign 2012
Polls: A new Fox News poll shows Obama beating Romney 48 to 43 percent among likely voters.
Obama: Campaigning in Orlando, Florida, Wednesday President Clinton said “to blame him for the economy, if you want, but absolve President Obama from any fault.”
In Other News
Associated Press, Protesters storm US Embassy in Yemen: Chanting “death to America,” hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.
Foreign Policy, Inside the public relations disaster at the Cairo embassy: One staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was responsible for the statement and tweets Tuesday that have become grist for the presidential campaign, and that staffer ignored explicit State Department instructions not to issue the statement, one U.S. official close to the issue told The Cable.
The Wall Street Journal, Household Income Sinks to ’95 Level: The income of the typical U.S. family has fallen to levels last seen in 1995, a long and pernicious slide that likely means it will be a generation before Americans regain the peak income levels reached at the close of the ’90s.
Fox News, Sebelius violated federal law by campaigning for Obama: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated federal law when she campaigned this winter for President Obama, federal investigators announced Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Times, Fannie and Freddie to allow principal reductions: In a rare victory for proponents of principal reduction, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they will immediately allow their borrowers to participate in Keep Your Home California and other states’ Hardest Hit Fund programs that shrink the mortgages of troubled borrowers using taxpayer funds.
Gallup, Democrats Pull Even With Republicans as Better on Terrorism: The Democratic and Republican parties are tied at 45% in Americans’ perceptions of which major party would do the better job of protecting the U.S. from international terrorism and military threats. Since 2002, the only other times that Republicans have not led on this measure were in 2006 and 2007, possibly due to public concerns about the Iraq war.
Righty Playbook
Red State‘s Erick Erickson on the failure of the liberal media yesterday.
The Wall Street Journal argues that the only people Romney offended with his Middle East statement were pro-Romney pundits.
At The Corner, Victor Davis Hanson on “1980 Redux.”
Lefty Playbook
The Maddow Blog, and many other lefties, are calling Romney’s Middle East statement a ‘Lehman moment.’
The Washington Post editorial board admits the Chevy Volt is “on the road to nowhere.”
Paul Krugman argues that the direction of the economy will help Obama.
