Security Cut Before Libya Raid

This is the most inconvenient story for the morally-bankrupt progressive left, especially Rachel Maddow, at the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—The State Department scaled back U.S. security staff in Libya in the weeks and months before the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, despite requests for additional personnel, former U.S. security officials told a politically charged congressional hearing.

The requests were detailed on Wednesday in testimony by two former security officers in Libya to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and in diplomatic correspondence released by the panel.

Republicans and Democrats scrutinized the testy, four-hour hearing for its potential impact on the Nov. 6 presidential election. Republican Mitt Romney alleges President Barack Obama failed to safeguard diplomatic personnel overseas and ignored signs that an al Qaeda affiliate was preparing for terrorist attacks in North Africa.

The State Department's regional security officer in Libya until July, Eric Nordstrom, in testimony and in State Department cables, described his concerns that the administration was moving too quickly to pull out U.S. security agents and replace them with Libyan staff.

A focus during the hearing was a State Department decision resulting in the removal of a 16-member security detail from Libya in August, part of what the administration said was a move toward a more normal diplomatic presence in postrevolution Libya.

That security detail's former commander in Libya, Lt. Col. Andrew Wood of the Utah National Guard, contended that the Tripoli-based squad, known as a Site Security Team, could have proved crucial in fending off the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

"Superior weapons and superior tactics, that is what the SST brought," Col. Wood told the hearing. "Why they would turn that asset down is best answered by themselves."

The State Department disputed Mr. Wood's formulation. A senior State Department official noted the SST—lent to the State Department by the Pentagon—was based in Tripoli, not Benghazi, and rarely had any staff traveling with Amb. Stevens. "The notion that all 16 of them were going to go with him is lost here," said the official.

The official added that the 16 members were replaced "shooter for shooter"—though the majority of the replacements were Libyans trained by State Department Diplomatic Security personnel. The official said it was difficult to assess the total number of security staff working in Libya, because it wasn't a "static" situation.

The hate-America Democrats. What a disgrace to this nation. Thankfully the American people are seeing the light, if the polls are a good indication. With good fortune we'll be rid of this depraved Democrat administration on January 20th.