It’s hard to put one hundred percent belief in some of the stories that have survived from ancient times, but there are some that are particularly enlightening.
The Roman Civil War pitted the forces of Julius Caesar against Pompey the Great for control of the government. Caesar had driven Pompey from Italy and nearly annihilated his army. Pompey and a small circle of family and advisors decided to travel to Egypt after their crushing defeat in order to regroup. Once he arrived off the shores of Egypt, the Egyptians realized that Pompey was a lost cause and it would serve them better to side with Caesar. Lured ashore, Pompey was assassinated by the Egyptians with the assistance of some of his followers. They beheaded the corpse and presented the head to Caesar when he arrived.
Caesar was not amused. Pompey held the position of Consul of Rome, and even though he and Caesar were at war, Caesar expected the Egyptians to show him the respect due that position. Caesar had the conspirators executed and decided to depose the ruling King in favor of his sister Cleopatra.
It may be hard now, centuries later,to know how much of that story is factual and how much was embellished by the ancient authors, but we do know the facts of events that happen during our own lives.
In a place called Libya, a United States of America Ambassador by the name of Chris Stevens was murdered. Chris Stevens represented the most powerful nation to ever exist. Its reach extends so far that while the Ambassador was being murdered we had an unmanned drone hovering over the battlefield. Yet, despite the fact that our fighter jets, naval ships and combat troops are scattered around the world to intervene in situations just such as this we did nothing. There was plenty of time send reinforcements as the assault lasted for seven hours. If we can get our B2 Stealth Bombers from Missouri over targets in Libya in twelve hours, surely our supersonic fighters based in Italy could have made it to Benghazi in less than seven hours.
One of our government’s golden responsibilities is to protect our diplomats overseas. Security is something the administration took seriously when it sent Marines to the badlands of Paris and Barbados to protect our embassies on the anniversary of September 11th and it provides around the clock Secret Service protection for Senior Advisor to the White House Valerie Jarrett.
No matter what day it is, we all know that Libya is a dangerous place, and any Americans sent there on official business should be afforded the full protection this nation can offer.
The Administration failed to heed the warnings from Ambassador Stevens about his security and they ignored the warnings from other nations who had caught onto the fact there was going to be attacks on American interests on 9/11. When I first heard that an American Ambassador was murdered and our embassy overran, I wondered how could that have happened while resulting in only four American deaths. Every member of our military I have ever met would have fought past their last bullet all the way to their last breath to stop this attack and protect the man who trusted them with his life. Except that no member of the America military were tasked with protecting our Embassy or Ambassador Stevens. That precious duty was instead outsourced to a Libyan militia group know as the 17th of February Martyrs Brigade. These all-stars were quoted after the attack saying it wasn’t their job to protect those who slander the Prophet… yeah, that sounds like the bunch I want protecting me in an Arab country.
Our government ignored the threats to our interests, sent our people into harm’s way without proper security and when our people came under fire… they sat on their hands and watched the images our drones sent back. Never mind that our base in Italy, less than five hundred miles from Benghazi, boasts not only fighter jets, AC130 Gunships and Delta Force operators. None of these assets were committed to the battle because, as the Pentagon claims today, no one knew what was going on. The CIA team that was operating near the Embassy requested permission to get involved once they heard gunfire coming from the compound. They were denied permission twice before two of the men who would later die that day went off on their own authority.
The father of one of the dead CIA operators, who was also a former Navy SEAL, said today that Barack Obama wouldn’t look him in the eyes at the ceremony for the return of his son’s remains. Perhaps Obama feels some guilt for the dereliction of duty he and his administration committed prior, during and after this attack on our country. From leaving for a fund raising trip to Las Vegas while the crisis was still unfolding, pinning the blame on a YouTube video, arresting its maker and finally deciding to lay the blame on Mitt Romney, the Administration has embarrassed itself and the nation in the manner it has conducted itself since the assault.
Julius Caesar believed that all Roman officials, (even ones who were trying to kill him) must be treated with the utmost respect by the rest of the world. We are watching this Administration’s tough talk that makes it sound like they want to bring a civil suit against the attackers for property damage and hang the man who made a YouTube video. Caesar put those who disrespected Rome to the sword, nowadays we have Tomahawk Cruise Missiles for situations like that… but someone has to have the guts to actually make a decision.
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