BENGHAZI

Perhaps we forget that the Benghazi attack on our diplomatic mission happened on September 11, 2012 four years ago Curiously the fourth anniversary, like the previous three, was peaceful.   Why was there no diplomatic mission attack?  Can it be because there was no inflammatory  happening concerning Mohammad, burning or desecration of Korans, or Islam?

Republicans still like to pretend that the trigger for the Benghazi attack wasn't the anti-Mohammad movie trailer.   Vice-Presidential candidate Mike Pense is the latest Republican to try to sustain this fallacy.  After this trailer appeared, there were uprising throughout the Muslim world.  For example an embassy attack happened in Egypt before Benghazi ,and there were even more severe attacks on following days in which quite a few protesters were killed:

On September 13, protests occurred at the U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, resulting in the deaths of four protesters and injuries to thirty-five protesters and guards. On September 14, the U.S. consulate in Chennai was attacked, resulting in injuries to twenty-five protesters.^[14] Protesters in Tunis, Tunisia, climbed the U.S. embassy walls and set trees on fire. At least four people were killed and forty-six injured during protests in Tunis on September 15.^[6] Further protests were held at U.S. diplomatic missions and other locations in the days following the initial attacks. Related protests and attacks resulted in numerous deaths and injuries across the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan.*

The only things unusual about Benghazi was an Ambassador being killed  and the small total of those killed totaling only 4 when 31 people were rescued.

Mitt Romney opened a whole new avenue in American politics by politicizing the Benghazi attack, the first time this was done in spite of the attack being smaller than many previous ones.  It was a terrible mistake by Romney to do this as now everything is on the table, making U.S. diplomacy very difficult.**

I repeat here my Quick Summary of Attacks on American Diplomatic Missions:
A Quick Summary Of  Attacks On Diplomatic Missions***  Since the embassy burning in Tripoli in 1979, in 1983 our embassies in Beirut, Lebanon, (63 killed) and Kuwait City, Kuwait, (6 killed) were bombed when Reagan was president along with the Marine Barracks bombing (241 American deaths) plus attacks on U.S. Embassies in Jakarta (1986) and Rome (1987) by the "Red Army" and a failed attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv (1990).  In 1998, U.S. Embassy's in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed in which hundreds died when Clinton was president.  George W. Bush had seven attacks on U,.S. facilities including the 2002 attack on the U.S. Center in Kolkata, India, (5 killed) and the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan (12 dead), 2004 the embassy bombing in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2 killed), Jeddah Consulate bombing (6 killed), 2006 embassy attack in Damascus,Syria (1 killed), 2007 attack on the embassy in Athens, Greece, (no deaths), 2008 attacks on the consulate in Ankara, Turkey, (3 deaths), and on the U.S. embassy in Yemen (16 dead).  Under President Obama, our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked (4 killed) along with 8 other facilities and our embassy in Ankara, Turkey, was bombed in 2013 (1 killed).**

Please note that Republicans have forgiven  Ronald Reagan for the two embassy attacks (both larger than Benghazi) plus the Marine Barracks bombing  in 1983 .  Also note that President George W. Bush had 7 diplomatic mission attacks.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_Innocence_of_Muslims
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/09/it-was-movie-trailer-after-all.html
*** *** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_on_diplomatic_missions