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EDITOR: In its editorial demanding that Ambassador Rice and Secretary Clinton resign, the Mountain Democrat tries, but fails, to score cheap political points.
At least since the Vietnam war, the history of the Department of State is replete with incidents in which embassies reported events too early, only to be found wrong shortly thereafter. Henry Kissinger was notorious for insisting that our embassies ought to beat the wire services with breaking news. Kissinger was obsessed with public relations and his press image. What Kissinger did not understand is that there is no penalty for wire services getting it wrong: they can issue a “correction” the next day. For an ambassador to get the facts wrong can have disastrous consequences, including, in the case of two ambassadors in the Arab world, getting fired for reporting the facts too early — and wrongly, and making the president look foolish at a press conference.
In today’s 24-hour news cycle, the pressure on government agencies to come up with instant analyses of “what happened” is tremendous. State Department officers are not news reporters; their job is not to compete with Reuters or the AP, but to analyze news events as they may affect the U.S.
No doubt under pressure, Ambassador Rice went out too early with a story she believed to be true. Had the administration continued to claim that all the facts are not yet in, the right wing press would have immediately accused it of stonewalling embarrassing truths. It’s “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
The problems of getting at the facts are exponentially more difficult in a Third World country like Libya where no effective government exists, and where “facts” change depending on the personal agenda of your interlocutor.
By going to Benghazi, Ambassador Christopher Stephens knew perfectly well the dangers he was facing. He knew that the recently-opened consulate building was not yet up to security standards, but he went anyway: that’s the prerogative of an ambassador.
In today’s world, the principal role of an ambassador is to “show the flag;” this is best done by personal visits and, by going to Benghazi, the ambassador wanted to show U.S. support for the struggling Libyan regime.
Danger is part and parcel of Foreign Service life. While serving in Liberia, I was personally targeted by Hezbollah. When asked if I wanted to come back to Washington, my answer was easy: that’s the life I chose, for better and for worse. If I’d wanted a safe job, I’d have been selling cars in some suburb. I’m pretty sure that it would have been Ambassador Stephens’ answer as well, and he would resent chicken hawk editorial writers, and politicians like Congressman Darrell Issa trying to make political hay out of his death and the events surrounding it.
JOHN GARON
Placerville
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Dink LaneOctober 22, 2012 - 1:46 pm
Just this Sunday a former GW Bush staffer said: ......... "I worked for President Bush. We had a president and an administration for years made an argument about weapons of mass destruction for years, and now we've lost thousands of lives over an Iraq based on a false assumption and all of that. . . . . . This is not - there wasn't two weeks, this was months and months and months of a conversation where we never got the right answer to this." ..... Where was the call for Bush to RESIGN?
Thomas GibneyOctober 22, 2012 - 3:43 pm
Ah...I do believe most of the Lib crowd want Bushes head on a stick...? Lets see here Obama and the Admin played ponzi with the events on hand in Benghazi...Throw enough crap through the fan with the help of the media and there ya go! Requests for further security were denied in the face of intel that stated there was a threat... I guess the extra security to beef up the compound was just not "Optimal " enough....
JohnOctober 22, 2012 - 5:45 pm
Mr. Gibney knows not wherefore he is talking about. In 27 years serving in the Department of State, I never heard a security official say: "we have enough resources", any more than I ever heard an admiral say "We have enough ships" or an Air Force general say "We have enough airplanes". I know Mr. Gibney would want his tax money spent wisely, and to have every request evaluated properly before being allocated. I'd remind mr. Gibney that "intel' as he calls it, is often wrong. Ask George Bush and the WMD he was sure were in Iraq. I also find it the height of hypocrisy that Congressional Republicans were always the first to cut the State Department's security budget and are now clamoring for somebody's head over Benghazi. I'd tell Darrell Issa: if you want a head, look in the mirror, you hypocrite.
Thomas GibneyOctober 22, 2012 - 8:59 pm
Sorry John that won;t work... It was denied, nobody paid attention. it was shuffled under a pile. Plain and simple. Hell they still can;t come up with a straight answer. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/House-committee-Security-requests-denied-in-Libya-3912419.php
Ken SteersOctober 23, 2012 - 8:04 am
I have a few questions regarding this situation. Is the death of a US ambassador and 3 other US citizens relevance with the current regime truly "not optimal"? Does the Democrat Party still believe that the 9-11 attacks on our embassies sparked by a YouTube video? Why is the FBI involved in the Benghazi investigation 3 weeks after the incident? Where is the sense of urgency? Is this a criminal investigation? Why is our President and Secretary of State apologizing to the Muslim world for a YouTube video? Why was the maker of the video forced to do a "perp walk"? Is there an answer for why this man who was practicing his first amendment rights was arrested and harassed by our government almost immediately and the murder scene in Benghazi was not inspected by the US for weeks? Why is the ring leader of this attack sitting in a restaurant in plain site being interviewed by the media? Who is in charge of accountability? Why are they not being held accountable?
Thomas GibneyOctober 23, 2012 - 11:21 am
Oh and by the way John, in one of the recent testimonies on the matter, it was stated that Budget was a non issue when it came to security....
Jack MartinOctober 23, 2012 - 1:37 pm
As usual, we can count on Garon to come out as a flack for a democrat administration, no matter what the facts are. John, I'm guessing your intel skills have gotten a bit rusty since you retired. Were that not so, then you would alread yKNOW the state department was monitoring the attack on our embassy, live and in real time. This was both with security cameras on the ground, and with a drone flying overhead. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/12/video-from-benghazi-consulate-shows-organized-attack.html So......... John...... what that means is...... Ambassador Rice's handlers sent her out on the TV talk show circuit with FULL KNOWLEDGE of these events, who perpetrated and when. And another 10 days later, our own exalted leader, the chosen one, the messiah, stood at the podium of the U.N. and placed blame for the uprising on a YouTube video. He LIED. And you don't care. You also don't care (according to your own words) that our ambassador was killed ("he knew perfectly well the dangers he was facing"). Only....what if he didn't know? What if they hadn't been straight with him on the dangers of that particular embassy? We'll damn sure find out. Unless, that is, Obama wins re-election and Holder continues to run the DOJ. Then, of course, this most "open and transparent administration" will cover it up, as they attempted to do with Fast & Furious gun running.
Ken SteersOctober 23, 2012 - 3:08 pm
I believe that our greatest President ever in history has decided that our country no longer deserves his leadership. It looks like he is now mailing in the election. I will miss him.
James E.October 23, 2012 - 4:17 pm
President Obama is not the greatest president ever in our history. President Washington and President Lincoln vie for that honor, with perhaps Lincoln one point ahead for saving the Union. Two weeks from today.
Ken SteersOctober 23, 2012 - 4:54 pm
I'm not qualified to rate all the Presidents. However there is a book http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Greatest-President-Everything-ebook/dp/B005UD1GWI. The exalted one is humble enough to look past his Nobel Peace Prize and list himself on 60 minutes as only the 4th greatest behind FDR, LBJ and Lincoln. I implore all in Eldorado County to beg our leader to push through and lead us another magnificent 4 more years Forward to Hope and Change.
Thomas GibneyOctober 23, 2012 - 5:06 pm
Ken, Stop your killing me here I am spitting beer through my nose..LOL
Jack MartinOctober 23, 2012 - 5:25 pm
Yes! I've seen that footage on YouTube. It was so full of hubris, that even CBS edited it out of the final footage that made it to TV. I can't fathom the enormity of an ego that would place this administration as 4th best. Right after he said that, I did a little research.... According to Sports Illustrated, Tom Brady is 4th best QB of all time. According to LA Times Sports, Jimmy Johnson is 4th best NASCAR driver of all time. According to American Film Institute, Marlon Brando is 4th best actor of all time. Is obama anywhere near on par with these guys? The smile on your face right now is the answer. Yes I can see it, you're smiling.
Ken SteersOctober 23, 2012 - 7:14 pm
John Garon and the Eldorado Democrat party hasn't had much to be cheerful about lately. A local phenom that they endorsed, Richard Boylan who has an interesting site http://drboylan.com/ stepped out of the race for school board. I would like to thank them for their entertainment value. And thank you President Obama for your entertainment value as well. These past 4-5 years have really been an eye opener. I'm sure I will be seeing a lot of you for the rest of my life. I wonder if Obama is willing to run the UN? It seems right up his ally.
Phillip VeerkampOctober 23, 2012 - 8:09 pm
Now now, Ken . . . easy . . .