75 killed in five days of fighting in Libya's Benghazi

Just imagine if the attack on the US embassy was met with US assistance to save the lives of 4. The US presence would be there and feared. Libyan Al-qaida-one , US- minus-4. A sarcastic thank you to those in the Administration who ordered a "Stand Down"! Shame on you!

Ah, yes. The Arab Spring. Democracy flowering throughout the Middle East. Highways in Iraq being named after GWB. Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria all embracing US led democracy. Where did it all go wrong? Instead we have anarchy and murder, war and destruction. A democratically elected government overthrown in Egypt by the army, aided, supported and armed by the US. Iraq and Afghanistan basket cases. Extreme radical Muslims taking over vast swathes of the ME - and apparently being armed and funded by US allies - who the US continue to fund and arm.

Was this the aim of the involved parties all the while? Or perhaps, as I suspect, a complete and utter balls up from day one? And something that will continue to be a "problem" for decades to come. Long after the US and their lackeys have lost interest.

When the oil has gone and only sand is left - how important will the ME be to the Western powers? It's quite an easy answer actually.

A sarcastic thank you to those in the Administration who ordered a "Stand Down"! Shame on you!

Yeah, because American meddling in the Middle East has been so productive. Trillions spent, and millions dead, all to find non-existent WMDs, with the end result being a region that is broken, with ineffective policing, and an absolute lack of democracy.

The American meddling in the Middle East is one of the biggest failures ever, particularly since the Russians had already tried and proved what a failure it turns out to be. Yet the Americans, full of arrogance and ignorance thought they could do better, and still seem to think they can do better. Pretty sad that they can't even learn from their own mistakes.

Kinda missed Benghazi - it seemed such a sure bet to be a major topic in the upcoming elections, but not really a peep. MarkG, you might want to read up on the Snopes debunking of the "stand down" myth (or you might not; reality can be such a bummer when you've worked yourself up in a dander about something): http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/benghazi.asp

Strangerland, be careful to distinguish between Bush's Iraq debacle and Obama's very restrained policies. Remember that these people have control over their national destinies for the first time ever. They will make mistakes, just as America did when it was young (native Americans and slavery come to mind), but you have to learn to crawl before you can learn to walk, and the peoples of these regions had no room even to crawl under despot rule.

This one is not a spontaneous attacks by mob, and Libya needs another dictator to control many version of extremist Islamic forces. Obama's plan A was not working well there, maybe plan B by dropping bunch of liberals to solve it. Really, the West needs a united front with clear understanding of Islamic doctrine without political correctness to deal with all version of these Muslim extremists across the globe. That is a dream since liberals sold their souls to Islamophobia, rather than seeing Islamist Fascist in Islamic doctrine and practices .Lesson 1" Allah loves the believers and hate the infidels"!!!! Many spinners choose this mode"There is none so blind, as those that refuse to see", and that is a shame.