Bengazi!
In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.
Army Gen. Carter Ham, then the head of the U.S. Africa Command, did not wait for the separate cable, however. Instead, after reading the Aug. 16 cable, Ham phoned Stevens and asked if the embassy needed a special security team from the U.S. military. Stevens told Ham it did not, the officials said.
“He didn't say why. He just turned it down,”
Officials have publicly referred to Ham’s phone call before. In his Feb. 7 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was aware of the Aug. 16 cable and that someone had turned down Ham’s offer.
In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.
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| US Facility in Benghazi, a Country at war |
“He didn't say why. He just turned it down,”
Officials have publicly referred to Ham’s phone call before. In his Feb. 7 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was aware of the Aug. 16 cable and that someone had turned down Ham’s offer.
“As far as Mr. Hicks knows, the ambassador always wanted more security and they were both frustrated by not getting it,” she said.
Some Republican lawmakers expressed surprise when told that Stevens had turned down such an offer.
Ambassador Christopher Stevens was by all account was a good man, will be remembered by the people of Libya for his efforts in bringing some semblance of order after the fall of the Qaddafi government. Chris Stevens will also be remembered by the citizens of the United States for his service as an ambassador and public service.
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| US Embassy in a peaceful Nation. |
It is most important that we take lesson learned from the tragedy in Bengazi, Ambassadors and those the United States in foreign Nations cannot on their own determine when security is sufficient when and where, this is not a case of cowboy diplomacy but why did an ambassador refuse additional security at such a dangerous time?. In the future ambassadors must be guided by those security assessment and recommendations made by agencies deemed to carry out those tasks.
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