Prior to their deaths, did we have the knowledge and the material resources to have prevented Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty from being killed in our consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012?
If not, which were we lacking, knowledge, resources, or both, and why?
If so, what elements other than knowledge and material resources were lacking which, had they been in place then, could have prevented the deaths of these four Americans?
Who is doing what now to prevent a recurrence of what happened in our consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 from ever happening again anywhere American diplomatic personnel are stationed overseas?
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
While there are no 100% guarantees, actions could have been taken that would have significantly lowered the risk. Judging from entries in his journal, Stevens had concerns about his safety. Considering the locations of the embassy and consulate (country and cities), and activities of the past, etc, safety and security should have been much higher whether there were warnings or not. All embassies and consulates in Middle Eastern countries should be more secure than those were.
We need to decide if we want our embassies to all end up like the one in the Green zone in Iraq. How much risk are we willing to tolerate? We made the decision with our troops in Iraq to pull them out of FOBs and accept some increased risk to help achieve a goal. Can we do the same thing with our diplomats? Tough call.
Steve