Day by day, more and more details of the Sept. 11 attack on our consulate in Benghazi emerge. As more details are revealed, more questions arise. Consider these details, both individually, and taken together:
• On Sept. 10, the day before the attack, the original mastermind of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called on Libyans to attack Americans. The attack was meant as revenge for the death of al-Zawahiri’s chief deputy, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June. This wasn’t any unheard-of terrorist who could have been making a boastful claim. This was Ayman al-Zawahiri himself. The AP reported the threat, and the attack took place the next day.
• The U.S. consulate in Benghazi had previously been attacked, though unsuccessfully, which clearly should have put us on notice that it was a target.
• Indeed, the British and the Red Cross got the message after earlier attacks, and withdrew their people to safety.
• The consulate had requested additional security from our government, but they never got it.