Thread by @MollyMcKew

Enough already. We've watched R investigations miss the pt on Benghazi for years. Attempts to make Niger op new Benghazi also miss the pt /1

Benghazi is phenomenally simple.
We have a deal with our guys -- with the 1% who sign up to defend our nation. /2

The deal is: if shit goes sideways, we're coming to get you. Even if you're probably dead. We'll do what it takes to get to you. /3

And -- say whatever you want about timeline and 4 am phone calls -- we broke the deal in Benghazi. Didn't even put a plane in the air /4

There were planes waiting. There were SF guys sitting in the plane, wondering WTF was taking so long to get them in the air. /5

For reasons most Americans still have little clarity on, but which seem to be rooted in the indecisiveness that defined Obama admin FP -- /6

-- our guys were returning fire for 5 hours thinking someone was coming and no one ever was. /7

the congressional investigations were so misguided and political this was almost never raised. /8

But we broke our deal with our guys that day. And every single one of them knows it. Impact of that goes far beyond what we see from here /9

In failing to assess Benghazi from the perspective of the fallen, and from whoever *will* be in the next Benghazi-like fire-fight -- /10

--small footprint ops that happen more than we know, when our teams have to be utterly confident that we will keep our end of the deal-- /11

we've failed our guys again.

Political witch hunts do little to better defend those that defend us. /12

An empty State Dept with no policy clarity on individual African theaters of operation does little to better defend those that defend us /13

Hold this Admin accountable for many gaps that need to be filled to accomplish our missions.
Don't need more storytelling than that /end