A high level State Department official pick up the phone and
called the African Command, the military arm responsible for United States
military activities in Africa. The message was clear; our embassy in Benghazi was under siege, by what officials first believed
to be a riot incited by a recent anti Muslim film. Embassy guards were too few and were overwhelmed. The Diplomat made
that call even before it became clear it was a military style terrorist attack.
The African command seemed to be in living in a vacuum. General Ham, the general in charge, was not prepared to respond to such
attacks even though similar attacks were taking place around the entire Middle
East including North and Eastern Africa. One can only speculate on the
connection of a series of subsequent events that occurred in rapid succession but
one of the leading Generals in that command was relieved from duty for alcoholism,
and General Mullen replace General Ham a few months later. The fact was that the
Pentagon rejected the request for support and four people died. The Pentagon excuse,
Benghazi was to far away.
Back up a little and realize that Congress appropriates more
money to the Pentagon every time there is crisis or foreign threat, for every
new weapons system developed, and every time they decide to use a new war strategy;
it is a ceaseless process since the day the U.S. military was born. The Pentagon
budget is by far larger than any other branch of government in fact it is
larger than any other budget item in any country in the world. Think about it;
there is more money spent on the U.S.
Military than on anything else in the entire world.
Compare the bloated Pentagon budget to the austerity in the State
Department budget. When Secretary of State Hilary Clinton asked for more funds,
Congress rejected her request with impunity. Also, note that the State Department
mission is keeping the peace while the Pentagon has the job of defending the Nation
but only if the State department fails. Our diplomats run around putting out
fires all over the world; a constant chore. They have embassies and consulates
all over the world—obviously some in very dangerous places—to do this. The military
should be there to defend them but they were not, why not. Classically,
protecting embassies was the job to the United States Marine Corp. Where were
the Marines in Benghazi? There were none! There were some private contractors
instead. Why? At the behest of big business, the Congress allowed big business
to corrupt the very heart of the Pentagon, which is the enlisted man; the army,
navy, and marines. Jeremy Cahill detailed the ugly story of how this happened in
his book, Blackwater. The United States
government is dumping huge sums of money into mercenary companies. The Pentagon
pays civilian soldiers huge sums of money. Cynically, the event of the Benghazi
failure tells the story about their success. However, we did not have to wait
for Benghazi to happen to know that hired armies are failures; we had Iraqi and
Afghanistan.
The story is clear. Admiral
Mullen is hiding behind Hilary Clinton’s skirt. Why doesn’t he step up and
admit that the African Command failed.
Why does he not recognize that the military
failed in their responsibility for protecting the Embassy? Why doesn’t this
Republican controlled congress admit that they are ultimately responsible? The Constitution gives them the responsibility
but they like Admiral Mullen and all the other tough guys are in hiding—behind
the skirts of a very strong lady. Shame!
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