RE: The Ambassador in Libya?

[John J. S]

1) The republicans decided to balance the budget. They cut the State Department budget because they HATE hillary Clinton.
2) The EMBASSY is in Tripoli. The Building that got burned was in Benghazi- hundreds of miles from Tripoli, so it was a consulate, which doesn't rate the full defense the embassy does.

3) When the extra protection in the face of budget cutbacks for a consulate, not an EMBASSY, in the part of Libya most strongly friendly to the US, with no apparrent increase in threat level, it probably seemed prudent at the time. Of course, in hindsight all decisions look different.