As reported here on the Daily Kos, during the height of the September 2012 Election "strong on terror" rhetoric:
If diplomatic attacks are a sign of weakness, Bush was the weakest of all
by kos -- Sep 12, 2012
Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of War Defense between 2001 and 2006, so none of this should be news to him:
June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.
February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Truck bomb kills 17.
February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.
July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
Suicide bomber kills two.
December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.
March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomate directly targeted by the assailants.
September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria
Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.
January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece
A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.
July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.
March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls' school instead.
September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.
[...]
This handy graphic sums up the diplomatic danger well:
The Republicans really shouldn't be feigning surprise and outrage, for the most recent the attack on the Benghazi diplomatic post -- assuming they were half awake during the last decade that is. Because during much of the last decade, the responsibility for the safety of U.S. Embassies and U.S. Consulates -- was theirs.
And this grave and solemn responsibility was largely ignored ... by them.
Which is in a word: Outrageous. (And not just "Selective Outrageous" either.)
When discussing this in my post of yesterday, commentors wanted to know the source of the Embassy Danger list, and more on the political and congressional response to those events then. So I decided today to do some digging to "round out" those "run of the mill" Bush Era events:
June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.
www.pbs.org
[...]
President Bush was informed of the bombing early Friday as he traveled to Ohio, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
"This is a vivid reminder of the fact that our nation is at war. Terrorists will use whatever means are at their disposal, no matter how despicable, to harm Americans and others," Fleischer said.
February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Truck bomb kills 17.
wikipedia.org
[...]
The then US President George W. Bush was informed of the attacks while on a national trip, and called them "ruthless murder".[4] Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah condemned the attacks as the work of "monsters" and vowed to destroy the terrorist group that ordered them. After the attacks, Saudi Arabia began a harsh crackdown on the insurgency, arresting more than 600 terrorist suspects and seizing bomb-making materials, bomb belts, and thousands of weapons.[5]
February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.
cnn.com
[...]
There has been no word as to the origins of the gunmen or what might have sparked the attack.
The attackers concentrated their fire on the consulate's security checkpoints, the head of the Interior Ministry's crisis management center, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
He said the suspect being held by police was riding on a motorbike when he opened fire on the Consulate's exterior wall, targeting two security posts at the corners of the compound.
July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
Suicide bomber kills two.
uzbekistan.usembassy.gov
[...]
Before the police officers could question the man, he detonated an explosive device. The two Uzbek police officers suffered serious injuries. The bomber was killed by the blast. No U.S. Embassy American or local personnel were injured. The U.S. Embassy suffered minor damage to the perimeter wall. Similar bombings occurred at approximately the same time at the Israeli Embassy and the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s office. Uzbek officials are currently investigating the bombing. At this time, we do not have details about the identity of the bomber or the type of bomb.
The U.S. Embassy has taken appropriate security measures and plans to observe normal operating hours on Monday.
December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.
guardian.co.uk
[...]
Witnesses reported hearing two explosions, which breached the heavily-guarded compound's walls as the attack began shortly before midday local time (0900 GMT).
The blasts caused fire to break out, and clouds of thick black smoke could be seen above the consulate. Around 200 national guardsmen surrounded the building, and witnesses reported heavy exchanges of gunfire.
"We have five confirmed dead among our locally engaged staff and one of them is a contract [security] guard," the US embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said.
She said no Americans had been killed and a "handful of other employees" had been taken to hospital. Security sources told Reuters the dead were Arabs and Asians.
March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomate directly targeted by the assailants.
cnn.com
[...]
Bush announced the death of the U.S. foreign service officer during a joint news conference in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"I send our country's deepest condolences to that person's loved one and family," Bush said. "We also send the condolences to the people of Pakistan who lost their lives."
The State Department identified the diplomat as administrative officer David Foy of Fayetteville, N.C.
Bush said the bombings would not deter plans for his visit.
"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," he said, adding the bombing shows the war on terrorism must continue.
September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria
Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.
cnn.com
[...]
The Syrian forces met the attackers, and an embassy guard was killed battling them, the ministry said.
Fourteen people were wounded, including the suspect, an embassy policeman, a security worker and 11 civilians, among them two Iraqis and a Chinese official, according to Syria's state-run news agency, SANA.
[...]
U.S. officials -- including Rice -- cautioned that it's too early to know for sure, pointing out several al Qaeda splinter groups operate in Syria.
"Clearly it was an organized terrorist attack on our embassy, but exactly who was responsible for it and ... who they might be affiliated with, what their motives are, are just things we'll have to look at as the days go on," Casey said.
January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece
A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.
nytimes.com
[...]
As Mr. Stathis spoke to reporters this evening outside the embassy, a demonstrator waved a sign that underscored Greece’s often uneasy relations with the United States, on issues from the war in Iraq to the tensions between Greece and Turkey. [...]
Greek officials said a phone call placed anonymously to a private security company used by the embassy claimed the attack was carried out by Revolutionary Struggle, a Marxist group with strong anti-American sentiments.
July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.
washingtonpost.com
[...]
The attack was "an obvious act of terrorism," U.S. Ambassador Ross Wilson said at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey's capital.
The assault targeted police at a guard post at the entrance to the consulate, which is behind high, white walls on a steep hill that overlooks the Bosporus in the distance. The four attackers drove up with their weapons out of sight, near applicants standing in line for U.S. visas and customers chatting in cafes, witnesses said.
[...]
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thanked Turkey for what was "clearly a very rapid and proper response from the government to deal with the security situation in front of our consulate."
March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls' school instead.
cnn.com
[...]
Earlier, a source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Tuesday's mortar attack in the capital city of San'a -- but unauthorized to speak on the record -- told CNN there was a "clear and strong indication" the U.S. embassy was targeted.
"My strong belief is that there is almost no doubt this is an effort directed at the U.S. embassy," the source said.
[...]
"The target was someone inside the school," al-Hajjri said. "It had nothing to do with the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Embassy was not a target."
However, CNN's source said the Yemeni government is calling this a private dispute to "distract us" from their security "failure."
September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.
uruguay.usembassy.gov
[...]
Sadly, there was a loss of life. There – at current count, there is one U.S. Embassy guard, a Foreign Service National, a Yemeni national, who was killed during the attack. [...]
The attack occurred early morning hours, Washington time, probably about 3 o’clock in the morning. Staff – the initial reports of the attack – filtered back here to Washington. The Secretary was informed first thing this morning as soon as we had details. She spoke with our Ambassador in Sana’a, Ambassador Stephen Seche, probably about a quarter to 7:00 this morning to get an update on the Embassy, the security situation there.
At the moment, the Embassy is closed. [...]
the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a Yemen was attacked by armed terrorists. A number of explosions occurred in the vicinity of the Embassy’s main gate and there were several secondary explosions.
That track record of protecting foreign U.S. Embassies and Consulates is in a phrase:
Breath-taking.
It's kind of why we've been in a state of war ever since 9/11. The random danger of terrorism is very real. Still.
It is really duplicitous of the Republicans to demand perfect security and perfect transparency of the Obama Administration, when exactly the opposite was the standard of inquiry when it was a Republican President conducting this terrible war.
There is more than enough anguish and outrage to go around. Concentrating it entirely on the deaths at the Benghazi diplomatic post, does an injustice to the memory and the sacrifice that was paid by far, far too many others (including the 2996 US deaths from 9/11, who had to wait far too long for justice to be done).
Which lest the GOP forget, these "other terrorism-caused deaths" occurred under the Republican's oversight for our National and Dipolmatic Security. Where is their outrage for ALL the deaths, plotted and conceived of, by the now-finally-deceased Osama bin Laden?
When is there ever an opportunity for the U.S. to ultimately heal -- in a nation where Republicans rabble-rousers view every event, through a crass political lens of how they can politically profit by them. And not from the perspective of WHAT we should learn from these terrible events?
Instead Republicans focus on: Who we should BLAME, for which email, when?
Republicans, Grow up already! This business of war is still quite real. While their conduct in this regard, continues to be in a word: quite childish.