Editor, The Herald:

By now, most people know that our consulate in Libya was attacked on Sept. 11th, and that four Americans, including the ambassador, were murdered. However, far fewer have heard about the incredible mismanagement of this awful event by our Government. Misleading statements from numerous Obama administration officials over the past weeks have served only to muddy the waters.

Now, despite an all-out effort by the mainstream media to minimize it, the story of the Obama administration's shameful effort to convince the public that the attack was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam video is found to be yet another big lie. Thanks mainly to what is now referred to as “the alternative media”, (Fox News, the Drudge Report and other internet groups), we know that officials in Libya were communicating their concerns to the White House months before the Sept. 11 attack. Rather than adding security forces there, the Obama gang pulled out the military security and replaced them with a Belgian security contractor who hired many local Libyans and armed them with batons, not firearms.

When the attacks began on the early hours of September 11, consulate officials asked repeatedly for American military support. The hapless Secretary of Defense denied those requests, in a tragic replay of the decision by then-Defense Secretary Aspin who denied support for our troops who were trapped in the streets of Mogadishu in 1993. 18 American soldiers died in that battle.

As e-mails and other communication records concerning the failure of the Obama gang to comprehend the seriousness of the Benghazi situation continue to surface, the attempt to cover it up is abetted by the alphabet networks and the liberal press In some cases, they give it brief mention, and in others they completely ignore the story. It is a stark contrast with the long-ago Watergate fiasco. While the break-in at the Watergate complex by operatives of the Nixon administration was described by most pundits as “a third-rate burglary” the resultant attempts to cover it up brought down the Nixon presidency. In large measure, it was the unrelenting coverage of all large media outlets that caused a sitting president to resign.

Remember the still photos of the entire Obama team sitting in the White House “Situation room” watching the Navy Seals taking down Bin Laden? Everybody who was anybody was there. The President, The Secretary of State, The Secretary of Defense, CIA, DIA, NSA-all the power players.

Now imagine the same group, in the same room, watching the attack on our Libyan Consulate. Accompanying the live satellite feed was audio from inside the compound asking-no, pleading- for assistance. The battle lasted for 7 hours, with a handful of defenders holding back an estimated 150 Al-Qaeda attackers. Air support was a mere 2 hours away. A single flight of attack helicopters could have swept away the attackers in minutes, but the call never came. Somehow, the President could not summon up the courage to use our superbly trained military to save the lives of those heroes.

If this disgraceful lack of leadership isn't enough to highlight the incompetence of this administration, what will it take? Another 9/11?

John Jamieson

Farmville