M.N.: I believe that probably no one was more devastated by this tragedy than Hillary Clinton... | U.S. will not seek death penalty for accused ringleader in Benghazi attacks – The Washington Post | Obama still faces tough questions on Benghazi attack after debate | US news | The Guardian

U.S. will not seek death penalty for accused ringleader in Benghazi attacks – The Washington Post

The decision clears the way for a terrorism trial in the nation’s capital.

Defense attorney Jeffrey D. Robinson added, “Mr. Abu Khattala agrees it was a tragic loss but disagrees he is the person responsible for it.”

Source: U.S. will not seek death penalty for accused ringleader in Benghazi attacks – The Washington Post

Obama still faces tough questions on Benghazi attack after debate | US news | The Guardian

M.N.: I believe that probably no one was more devastated by this tragedy than Hillary Clinton (and the families of victims). Most likely, this attack was planned well in advance, meticulously (“professionally”) arranged and executed. Even the known, publicized unclassified descriptions of facts point, hypothetically, in the direction of ultimate responsible party. It was a tragic security and intelligence lapse, the act of war. Just like so many similar incidents before it. And just like them, it was a very hard lesson to learn.

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"The president may have sidestepped Mitt Romney, but he still hasn’t addressed key issues about security in the Middle East

Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, said the buck stops with her but said the actual decision lay with security officials. Obama responded to a Republican call to “man up” and accept responsibility by accepting responsibility at the debate. But he did not address how it was that Stevens was left so vulnerable to an attack.

The answer appears to lie in a mix of poor intelligence after a series of earlier relatively minor attacks, financial pressures caused by Republican cuts to the state department security budget and the reality that it’s almost impossible to be prepared everywhere. Look at the 1983 US marine barracks bombing in Beirut which killed 241 Americans or the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Kenya that left 223 dead…

While administration officials said the attack was spontaneous, Republicans argued that it was a planned al-Qaida plot. State department officials conceded that it was clear the assault was planned. But probably in hours to take advantage of a volatile situation in the region over the video, not over days and weeks. And, they noted, not all armed Islamists are al-Qaida. In fact, there is only tangental evidence of an al-Qaida connection.

Clinton has said the initial statements were the result of poor intelligence over what happened in a bloody and confusing night of fighting." 

Source: Obama still faces tough questions on Benghazi attack after debate | US news | The Guardian