Yesterday, I read an article regarding the soldiers that stand guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. It pointed out that while many were fleeing the eastern seaboard, these men would stand at their post no matter the weather. As the video points out, the tomb has been guarded 24-7 since 1937, no matter the weather conditions. We can certainly assume that they will be there as Sandy roared through.
These men work a grueling shift isolated and living with the sole purpose to honor these heroes that have been laid to rest unidentified. I had the honor to witness the changing of the guard last year in the middle of a pouring rain and 50 degree weather. It was my second time at the Tomb and my respect and admiration for those guards had not waned. I felt a sense of duty to endure the rain and cold wind with these men as they paced. This got me to thinking about the debacle in Benghazi and how we have in place a man to guard a tomb of dead soldiers, but no man to guard those of the living.
Now of course our country has a military, the best in the world, which should be able to orchestrate a precision attack from nearly anywhere on the planet. We were able to launch an attack in Pakistan that took out Osama Bin Laden. Despite this strength, we weren’t able to get a team into Benghazi during a 7 hour fire fight?
By all accounts, this attack was not only known about in full scale by the administration, they also had a live feed to the action on the ground. A video streaming from a drone and the cameras in the Consulate showing in real time the attacks on our Ambassador and the other Americans in that location, but nothing was done. This presidency literally watched as an Ambassador and 3 Americans were gunned down by Muslim extremists.
Our President should be the one guarding those ‘living’ American citizens. He should be the leader that ensures our ultimate safety from forces outside our country. He should be the man responsible for the protection of our sovereign soil. Our president was presented with an opportunity to protect American life and he failed. This was not a simple failure of policy or a failure at an attempted rescue; rather this was a failure of duty. The inability to carry out the Duty he swore to uphold when he assumed office. However, I am not holding him solely responsible. There is another group of people that will have blood on their hands.
As the facts present themselves and the inaction of this administration becomes clearer, those that continue to support this president are equally responsible for the deaths of the US citizens in Benghazi. Did you pull trigger that killed these men? No. Did you watch the attacks on live video feed and do nothing? No. Did you instruct the administration to stand down and watch our heroes being slaughtered? No. As I see, voting to re-elect Obama tells the nation that his actions were the correct ones. Voting for Obama tells the nation you agree that an American Ambassador and 3 other Americans are expendable when a political agenda is involved. Voting for Obama tells the nation that you are okay with this happening again. I understand that some in this country believe that Keynesian Policy is good economically, that a large centralized government is beneficial and that massive social welfare system can help all; but I fail to understand anyone who supports a man that refuse to protect American life.
Watching the various Youtube videos of the men marching the 21 steps back and forth in front of the Tomb of the Unknowns, I find the actions of the president incomprehensible. He was unwilling to even provide air support to Americans who were relaying the location of the enemy for targeting purposes. Unlike the dedication of our men in uniform, including the men in Libya that decided to help knowing full well they may not survive; our current president has no allegiance to the country he leads. Rather he is simply dedicated to his own political preservation.
So for Obama supporters the question this election cycle is clear. Which side do you find yourself, the side of United States or the side of Barrack Obama? After the Libya attacks, those choices are no longer one in the same.
Craig: The short answer is: Hell yeah! The President of the US only has to answer to the people of the US. WE are supposed to be his greatest concern. We elect him to work for us... It is painfully obvious that this President is less concerned with the American people and more concerned with his agenda for the Arab world. To be crystal clear: I called the POTUS a Muslim sympathizer, not Fox news. Getting back on point...have you read his Rose Garden speech?
Does that statement sum everything up for you nice and neatly? Is this why you have such contempt for Mormons? I suppose that the Jews have never been wronged by Muslims and Arab nations too?
Not so real Americans: The 2% who would claim racism AND deny the truth. As much as you try to deny it, the truth is already coming out. Obama claimed he would give us the facts as they became available, that like 'hope and change' has been thrown out the window.
I also remember the lead up. I remember UN Inspectors in Iraq and not finding anything. It's too bad the Administration had no problem trashing one of the most respected reputations in the country to get what they wanted.
I wanted to say I did agree with the action in Iraq when I heard Gen Powell. t Fat fingers. I think the rest turned out ok, but that first sentence turned out very odd.
He had already mentioned the anniversary of 9/11, so it seems that is what he meant by terrorism. Unless his speech writer never studied English Composition, there is no way it was related to Benghazi.
And even though I'm not a Pacifist,for I believe in a well maintained standing army in any ay at any point needed.We indeed invaded Libya for less and many other regions,it was always under the umbrella of securing American interests.Sometimes good people die unintended but part of a chess game.Not for the first time the government in the past used people to reach it's goal.But why not approach this without military might and take a step back and consider how to avoid a regional outburst of violence against American interests.Granted it's something un-American,perhaps even hard to vision but.......
Depends on what the definition of is is... It may seem funny to you, but to me it's no joke. American people died. Our President Lied.
Good we can agree on something at least
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason Or maybe it is not.
There is a reason why they call it the fog of war. You are assuming that we had knowledge that we or may not have had. In addition, to call in an AC-130 "Spooky" would be a recipe for disaster. The way it works is that it devastates a wide area and would cause too much collateral damage. If there were observation drones, why would you or anyone else expect them to be armed? Even with precision weapons how would targets be selected? Who precisely were the bad guys and their locations? You call on a rapid strike group to mount a rescue, but by the time they get there it's over. Seven hours is not a whole lot of time for combat planning unless you already have a plan in place and it doesn't appear that they did. Therefore, it would be wise to reel back the outrage and demands for accountability until we have more verifiable evidence. We entered a war in 1898 with Spain over faulty information on the sinking of the USS Maine. George W. did it again in 2003 with faulty information leading to the invasion of Iraq. BTW, I'm still waiting to see the WMD that Iraq had.
The fogof war? What about a quick fly over with machine guns fired in the air? If it would have scared a few of them off, at least some effort would have been made. Like I said, there are communications that specifically stated that targets were acquired. They had intel from phone calls and the drone. In other words, they had "eyes" on the ground. The outrage is that the President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and the U.N. Ambassador all tried to pass this off as riots created by some obscure You Tube video for 18 days. Why? Your President won't answer.
I certainly do not bring the crap to the table like you do. I am not here to learn from you.
Are you content to wait until after the election for this information? How do you feel about Biden if Obama wins, and then is impeached? The bump under the carpet is a trip hazzard, time to clean up the mess and let it all out.
@Craig:regardless if or what the President will release I doubt if your happy with the outcome.I'm sure it will not alter your opinion of him or chance or vote.
If he stood up ;like a man and told the truth (regardless of how ugly it may be), I would respect him for that. Nothing he does will change my mind to vote for him, but if he grew a pair and stopped the stonewalling I would at least not despize him, and even show him a little respect. If he continues to lie, and by some chance wins the election- I will be looking for him to be impeached. Again this is presuming he continues his lies. An easier fix it to elect someone else and avoid the hearings and impeachment process that will be inevitable. Thus avoiding Biden as being commander in cheif. I just had a mini throw up...