Making Sense of Bengazi Slaying

I had to log several hours of piecing this together, but here is a timeline of the events, hopefully this can be referenced for conversations pertaining to timing of events and making a bit of sense of what happened.

Benghazi Aftermath

5:11 a.m. CDT, 9/11/12. A statement is published online from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. The header reads; "US Embassy condemns religious incitement" The post since appears to have taken down from here. The statement has since been re-posted in about a zillion sites.

Late Morning, CDT 9/11/12. Or around 5 p.m. local time in Cairo, demonstrators began to assemble outside of the U.S. Embassy. Reasoning behind this gathering appear to be the subject of some investigations, still, a Salafist leader and president of Egypt's Hekma television channel, Wesam Abdel-Wareth, was one such voice that called for Muslim's to protest the very low budget movie 'Muhammad's Trial', a US-made film which, critics say, insults the Islamist Prophet Mohammed.

3:47 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. The Cairo Embassy, via twitter, states: "As Spokesperson Nuland said, protesters breached our wall and took down flag. Thanks for your concern and kind wishes." There is little indication of outright violence, but a crowd with estimations of roughly 2,000 demonstrators are loud and angry at this time.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens

5:00 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. Additional tweets from the Embssy in Cairo "Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.", "Of course we condemn breaches of our compound, we're the ones actually living through this.", "Sorry, but neither breaches of our compound or angry messages will dissuade us from defending freedom of speech AND criticizing bigotry."

5:01 p.m. CDT 9/11/12. A Footnote, but this is the point where Stand Up America Now begins a livestream of Jones' anti-Muslim presentation online. Though I question how many people in Egypt follow this website, it has been presented by many media outlets as a channel that added fuel to the fire of anger.

5:30 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. Cairo Embassy Tweets: "This morning's condemnation (issued before protests began) still stands. As does condemnation of unjustified breach of the Embassy."

6:51 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. First reports of an American staff member of the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi has died following an outbreak of violence. Investigations continue as to the level of protests here compared to the reports of a small team of well equipped militants intent on doing harm.

9:09 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. Romney submits a statement to the Media. It was supposed to be held until Midnight in respect out of keeping foreign policy discourse off of the anniversary of 9/11. The campaign allowed it to be released within an hour of submission.

9:10 p.m. CDT 9/11/12 News breaks that the statement issued from Cairo was not cleared by Washington and that it does not reflect the views of the United States government.

9:38 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. An statement from the State Department, specifically Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, stating, "I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today... We have confirmed one State Dept officer was killed in Libya. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss." Full statement here.

10:51 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo deletes its earlier tweets, statements eventually removed from website.

11:01 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12.: Other policical figures begin to weigh in now that (per New York Time) the embargo on foreign affairs has ended, led off with RNC chairman Priebus stating "Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt.Sad and pathetic."

11:09 p.m. CDT, 9/11/12. Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt issues a response to Romney's statement: "We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack."

6:21 a.m. CDT, 9/12/12. President Obama issues statement condemns the attacks in Libya, and confirms that the U.S. ambassador was slain.

8:57 a.m. CDT, 9/12/12. Clinton hosts a press conference condemning violence in Syria. (Video)

9:16 a.m. CDT, 9/12/12. Gov. Mitt Romney holds a press conference while in Jacksonville, FL. (Video)

9:43 a.m. CDT, 9/12/12. President Barrack Obama holds a press conference with Hillary Clinton in the Rose Garden. (Video)

Now begins the narrative of if Mitt's comments where appropriately timed or not, or it the Presidents' response was adequate. But, you don't check in here for a simple list of facts and links, did you? Well, ok, maybe you did, but here is my two cents;

What Mitt Romney said last night was spot on, all though I'm on the fence as far as not waiting for 9/11 to be over before making such an aggressive statement. I don't see an issue with challenging the foreign policy of a President who doesn't seem to have a well established set of principals during the election cycle. When people are storming the gates of your embassy, you can not sit idly by with a 'wait and see' approach such as this President seems to be doing. Then when some of the first things that are said are just to correct and contradict what was said by someone else. Right now there is a serious issue that no one understands one thing, what America is planning in a time like this. It was appropriate for the White House to condemn these actions and make a call for justice against those individuals who killed our delegates. 

This is a big deal. It's a clear indication that things in Egypt, Syria, and several other Arab Spring countries are not going as swimmingly as perhaps we had hoped, and with the way our President appears to prioritize both waiting until a half dozen other people from the Embassy, the State Department, his opponent, and the media all get hours of play time before making a pretty Mad Libs type reply. Then a couple hours later he was in the air on his way to campaign in Colorado, only to return in time for the Hispanic Caucus Anniversary Gala. 

Are we going to withdrawl other embassy staff? Are we going to offer military or intelligence support to hunt these murderers down? Will we withhold our financial support for some of these young, new governments? It's a huge difference when a country is rioting against their own government and when those riots appear on our front door and U.S. citizens are being harmed. It demands something of a response, be it supportive of the local government in keeping the peace, or throwing down the gauntlet and militarizing our embassies. My vote would be to withdraw our consulate staff and families from these countries and suspend any payments of aide until peace is restored. Offer any assistance for peacekeeping or in tracking down these militants that appear to have stormed us in Benghazi. Our President seems more interested in campaigning in swing states and getting ready to appear on Letterman and meeting up with Beyonce.