“Militias the prime power on the ground. Weak state security institutions. As a result, dicey conditions.”
from the diary of Chris Stevens, Sept 6^th, 2012

There has been so much speculation and outrage about how an Ambassador in an obviously dangerous place on an obviously dangerous date was abandoned by a State Department led by a President who has stalled, lied, and changed the subject about Benghazi numerous times. You’ve heard them, I’m sure. There are the theories of a staged kidnapping of Ambassador Stevens that went awry….a kidnapping that would frame Obama as a savior at a time when he needed a diversion from a Presidency skidding off course.  There are the theories of trafficking weapons from Libya to Syrian rebels and given the political arrogance of Obama, the first theory sounds plausible. The second theory is part of the reason, I believe, after reading Mr. Murphy and Mr. Webb’s excellent summary of events. But both are smaller parts of an insidious and dangerous policy that has devastating consequences for our country.  Limited war.  Or, as I would say, “War for Weenies”.

“The obsession with ‘limited war’ began during the Cold War. The fear of nuclear annihilation (often overstated for propaganda purposes) led to a series of proxy wars across Africa, South America and Southeast Asia in lieu of a direct confrontation with the Communist Bloc. Due to the fears of those in power, and the even less informed fears of many of their constituents, the goals of war, most evidently in Vietnam, began to change from victory to… something else. Murky, limited, and ultimately indecisive objectives have been cited, ultimately boiling down to a stalemate at best, defeat at worst.

Commanders are not making battlefield decisions based on combat necessity; they are making them based on the instructions of lawyers who endeavor to make war more ‘humane.’

War is, by its very nature, inhumane. War is violence, death and horror. It is serious business. Unfortunately, we have not engaged in it seriously for a very long time, and the costs of that fact have been largely glossed over.”

from The Cost of Limited War, by Peter Nealen, former USMC Force Recon, and a contributing editor for SOFREP

“Never ending security threats…”
final diary entry by Ambassador Stevens, September 11, 2012

Little did Chris Stevens know that when he wrote that, how prophetic and tragic it would be – not only for himself and three other Americans left to die by a State Department and President, but for all Americans….as we face an increasingly hostile enemy that is quickly losing all fear of a country governed and led by by Beltway cowards and people that have zero experience in real global understanding and leadership, let alone any inclination for confronting evil and defeating it.  Remind me again of Hillary Clinton’s experience with war.  Or global conflict.  Remind me again of Obama’s obsession with placating Islamic extremists.

Please take the time to read the diary released today and the analysis by Mr. Murphy and Mr. Webb. It is far more important than any other rainbow colored diversions that’s taken place this week.