They cut the budget for diplomatic security, now pretend to be outraged at the results.
About the only merit conservatives have in their Benghazi hysteria is the notion that security was inadequate at our diplomatic mission in that city.
Unfortunately, it's an inadequacy Republicans have been trying to exacerbate over the last year.
[A]s part of the Republican majority that has controlled the House the last two years, Mr. Issa joined in cutting nearly a half-billion dollars from the State Department’s two main security accounts. One covers things like security staffing, including local guards, armored vehicles and security technology; the other, embassy construction and upgrades. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama sought a total of $5 billion, and the House approved $4.5 billion.
Utah teabagging Rep. Jason Chaffetz has been a leading proponent of Benghazi conspiracy theories, yet even he
isn't shy to proclaim his votes against diplomatic security:
O’BRIEN: Is it true that you voted to cut the funding for embassy security?
CHAFFETZ: Absolutely. Look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country.
Their priorities have consequences. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton (among others) had long warned Republicans that
they were weakening national security by cutting, well, security. Back in February of 2011:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) sharply critical of proposed Republican cuts to the State Department budget, warning they “will be detrimental to America’s national security."
Republicans shrugged off the criticism. They had just won control of the House, it was time make some changes. And those changes included cutting the sort of security that might've prevented the Benghazi disaster.
How about Republicans investigate that?