Originally Posted by
L P
As someone with 19 years of Military Service in two branches and a few hours logged with COD I would like to say that the entire issue was indeed FUBAR. I'm not going to analyse every detail from start to finish but there was horrible mistakes made before, during and after. It's a common mistake, the men in the field have a better perspective than the higher paid people not in theater. The facts point to this.
It's also a common reason for experienced enlisted troops hating officers and bureaucrats. The officer MIGHT have the big pitcher but rarely understands the task at hand. An example of this was depicted in Heartbreak Ridge (1986) when a Supply Officer tell a Veteran Sargent to stand down to which he disobeys the orders and winds up having a successful mission.
For the record, two Ex-Navy SEALS with prompt go orders and proper support really could have wiped out every attacker in the place. SEALs improvise very well, it's what they are trained for. The support they needed was indeed available and would have been there in time had it been dispatched. (Example: The C-130 or other asset could have taken out the mortar team that was targeted by embassy security.)
Honestly, even if there is a small chance of success in combat you have to make the hard choice to go in. In this case the Ambassador was simply left to die. It was 100% preventable and is obvious incompetence.
I think everyone is just mad because they are having an extremely hard time finding a way to blame George W. Bush for this.