It’s been over 20 days since the attack in Libya, and while the Obama administration has finally acknowledged that it was an act of terrorism, it’s still being handled as a law enforcement issue. Reports indicate that the FBI still hasn’t been able to get into Benghazi to investigate, due to security concerns — concerns that are apparently very new, since the consulate was not heavily secured before the attack.
Sen. Bob Corker sent a letter to the administration yesterday, demanding to know when and why the security situation became so perilous in Benghazi that even the FBI could not get to the city:
As of this morning, reports indicate that our well-trained FBI agents still have not been able to get into Benghazi to investigate. Yet just 18 days ago the administration apparently judged that it was appropriate for our consulate to be lightly guarded and it was safe for our ambassador to come through the city with a small security detail. What has changed in Libya in such a short time that even FBI agents, our most elite investigative personnel, cannot safely enter the city?
What has led to such a precipitous decline?
Good question. Nobody expected the FBI to be there the next day. But why is it taking weeks to set up a secure area for investigators to operate from?
The FBI has offices in war zones. For years agents have worked alongside combat troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bureau has an International Fusion Cell, staffed with well-trained agents who have deployed multiple times. And yet Benghazi is too dangerous?
If that’s the case, why is the Obama administration still treating this as a law enforcement issue? Reports indicate the attack was carried out by an al Qaeda-affiliated group, which should give Obama the power to respond with military force under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.
By the time the Bureau gets to Benghazi, what exactly will agents be able to do? By all accounts, the crime scene has already been picked over. CNN reporters made it to the consulate before the FBI. This is, frankly, an embarrassment.
The United States is the greatest superpower in the world. Twenty days after a terrorist attack, we’re still waiting for enough security so that the FBI — the best of the best — is safe enough to enter Benghazi and sift through the charred remains of our consulate. Four Americans were murdered, and the terrorists who killed them are still walking around as free men. Where is the urgency?
Perhaps once the miscreants who attacked the ambassador and his crew have evacuated themselves out of the country, it will be safe enough for the FBI to go in and try to interview them. n nThen, Holder can indict them. n nTHAT will each 'em a lesson. n n
"Where is the urgency?" n nI hope this is being said in a facetious manner. There is no urgency whatsoever! On the contrary, Barack Obama and his allies want this horrible incident to be quickly forgotten. Moreover, we are discussing it in our own little echo chamber. Most Americans remain ignorant regarding the full extant of the scandal. Hillary Clinton would have been compelled to resign over a week ago if she were a Republican secretary of state. Obama would also not win reelection.
Why? Because Obama rules with the blithe indifference of a dictator, that's why.
The FBI has no legislative authorization nor international right to investigate crimes committed in foreign countries, even in colonies like Mexico and Canada. Representation must be made to the host government. Failing that, it's a job for the drone jockeys in Omaha. The Mossad can give us the coordinates, since the CIA has proved utterly worthless yet again. $50 billion p.a. for nothing.
The Democrats like to treat terrorism as lawenforcement issues – Clinton has been no different.
When a homicide occurs on our shores, generally speaking how long does it take for investigators to determine all the pertinent facts in the case? According to FBI statistics, if it is a "typical" homicide (where the perpetrator has a relationship with the victim; the victim is engaged in drug activity; or the victim is a target, bystander, or participant in another illegal activity) and investigators are able to cordon off the crime scene immediately, usually between two to fourteen days. If it is an "atypical" homicide the chances for solving it are significantly diminished and the time frame is indeterminate. n nHomicides committed by serial killers, psychotic killers, or perpetrators who do not fit into one of the three major types listed above are considered atypical homicides. These homicides make up a minority of the homicides that are committed, but when investigators approach atypical homicides as they would typical homicides, they run into a dead end. By this point their cases have grown cold and it is difficult or impossible to acquire needed evidence—evidence that could have been easily collected from the start. nIn 2008 according to the FBI, police solved 35% of the homicides in Chicago, 22% in New Orleans and 21% in Detroit while the national average was 64% and these are statistics for homicides occurring within the United States. One of the major factors for successfully resolving a homicide according to the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime is rapid response of the investigative team which it defines as the ability to get multiple homicide investigators (at minimum 3 to 4) to the crime scene within 30 minutes. The longer it takes for the investigation to begin, the higher the probability that the crime will go unsolved according to statistics analyzed by the FBI from 1980 to 2008. This study reviewed the over 185,000 homicides that have gone unsolved in the Unites States during that time frame not including the 36% that were unsolved in 2008. n nBenghazi is 5221 miles away from our shores and there is no way we could have had an investigative team at the scene within 30 minutes. The Libyan government warned that they could not guarantee the safety of Americans in their country after the attack and the FBI role in foreign countries does not include armed combat with heavily armed terrorist groups. n nAccording to the British Newspaper, The Guardian , Mohammed El Kish, a witness at the scene told the paper that a mob fired at least one rocket at the US consulate building in Benghazi and then stormed it, setting everything ablaze. "I was there about an hour ago. The place [consulate] is totally destroyed, the whole building is on fire," said Mohammed El Kish, a former press officer with the National Transitional Council, which handed power to an elected parliament last month. He added: "They stole a lot of things." Kish, who is from Benghazi, blamed the attack on "hardline Jihadists". He also said the US consulate was not well protected, unlike the fortified US embassy in the capital, Tripoli. "It wasn't that much heavily guarded. In Tripoli the embassy is heavily guarded." The ambassador's killing follows an attack in June on the UK ambassador to Libya, Dominic Asquith. Two British bodyguards were injured after a rocket was fired at Asquith's convoy in Benghazi, hitting his security escort. There have been similar attacks in Benghazi on the Red Cross and the UN. It is not clear why the US ambassador had returned to Benghazi at a time of security concerns and did not remain in the safe confines of the Embassy in Tripoli. n nAll of this considered, it will take a long time before all the facts are known with any degree of certainty. This terrorist attack occurred on foreign soil over 5,000 miles away in a nation with a newly elected government trying to assert it's authority over a very diverse tribal population accustomed to decades of authoritarian rule. It will take years for Libya to become a stable democracy. All the partisan bickering will not bring the four Americans back to life. Asserting that we need answers "now" sounds foolish to the majority of Americans who realize that this "urgency" is just another example of politicizing a tragic event for partisan gain and a majority of Americans have grown weary of this tactic. How long did it take for us to get all the facts after the 911 attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans right here? How many inaccurate statements were issued by the Bush administration and what were their consequences? What did Republicans say when Democrats tried to politicize that disaster? n
Does no good to give excuses as to why the US is ineffective. If there is an embassy, it must be heavily secured. Why wasn't it? If Libya can't guarantee safety, then America must. But it didn't because the current administration does not understand the mentality of this culture. n nBenevolence is not the result of appeasement in this part of the world. n nHopefully, this will, if nothing else, create sympathy for Israel and what it must contend with every day.