Benghazi, Again

For John, BLUF:  Those Diplomats serve the US people, and serve them well.

From Domani Spero,♠ at the DiploPundit there is a discussion of the current state of play regarding the the Benghazi Imbroglio, from back on 11 September 2012.  There are still items popping up in the news and still action on Capitol Hill.

There is also a discussion about a mob attacking the US Embassy in Benghazi.  This passage, quoted from Mr John Kormann's book about his experiences as a Foreign Service Office, including being in charge of the US Embassy in Benghazi, back in 1967.♥  After the British came to the rescue of the US personnel in the Embassy (the Embassy rotated every two years, because the Capitol of Libya rotated every two years).  After being rescued, the striped pants crowd went around and rounded up US Citizens in Benghazi, to send out.

On the fourth floor, I heard a small voice say, “Who’s there?”  In English, I answered, “It’s the American Consul.”  An American woman cautiously opened the door.  She must have known me, because she called me by name and said, “We knew you’d come, we are all packed.”  What a wonderful tribute, I thought, to our Foreign Service.  During that night and the next day we brought out other Americans under very trying circumstances.

What a wonderful tribute to our Foreign Service.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The pseudonymous Domani Spero is an obsessive compulsive observer, diplomatic watcher, and opinionator who monitors the goings on at ‘Foggy-Bottom’ (i.e. the State Department) and the “worldwide available” universe from Albania to Zimbabwe.
♥  This was all precipitated by the 1967 Arab Israeli war, sometimes called The Six-Day War.