(10-24-2015 04:24 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Yeah, my cousin was a high level diplomat in Iraq after the fall of Saddam. He told me of one time he had to cower with a couple others in one of Saddam's palaces with their sidearms after Abu Graib happened and a bunch of locals were protesting outside the gates, hungry for American blood. If they got through those gates he probably wouldn't be here.

Unfortunately many of these outposts -- many of which aren't full fledged embassies or consulates -- are thinly staffed. I mean what are we going to do, staff all of them adequately? Tell it to the GOP House, which cut funding for State Dept security before Benghazi. Typical Republicans making government cuts and then bitching when the government works less effectively.

The cuts didn't help, but I don't think they had much to do with the deaths. You just can't simply protect every one of our assets in the field. Especially when perimeter security of embassy's and consulates are the responsibility of the host country. It's either station a bunch of troops at all of them or pull out of these countries. And as we know, Stevens saw value to his presence and did not want to pull out of Libya...and no one has the stomach to spend the money and put hundreds more in harms way.