Why The Ambassador Died

Walter Russell Mead's Blog November 5, 2012

A story in this morning’s New York Times points out that the United States did not have forces in place capable of protecting its personnel and Benghazi last September......... Defenders of the administration will point to this Times story as partially exonerating White House officials from some of the charges leveled against them. At least they tried to save Ambassador Stevens and his team.

But the story raises deeper and far more troubling questions about how unprepared the administration was to deal with the new situation its intervention in Libya created. For months now, the security situation throughout Libya, in neighboring Mali, and in other countries has been deteriorating sharply. Bands of jihadis and their supporters are roaming almost at will. Under conditions like this, it was only a matter of time before American citizens or diplomats would be attacked or taken hostage.......There is one person and one only who is responsible for that state of affairs. Hint: it isn’t the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense or the Director of the CIA.

Ambassador Stevens didn’t die because the White House had a bad night. He died because the White House has bungled North Africa. .....To Read More.....