Could American Airpower Have Saved Benghazi?

It's always tempting to play armchair general after a military crisis, especially with an election coming up. But there is something unsettling about the Pentagon's reaction to the fatal attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The fight dragged on for hours, seemingly long enough for some sort of intervention. In the end the consulate was burned, and later a CIA safe house was attacked and two defenders died. The failure to act during the Libyan attack clashes with the U.S. military's ingrained culture of "no man left behind."

The timeline is no longer in dispute: At 9:30 pm, the first alarm was raised. Ambassador Chris Stevens and information officer Sean Smith died shortly thereafter, and it does not appear that any response could have saved them. But the nearby CIA safe house was attacked at 2 am, and the fight that claimed the lives of two former SEALs took until 4 am. In the aftermath, a dozen CIA operatives retreated from Benghazi, giving the militants in the nation a clear win.

Somewhere between the sound bites and the political posturing are four dead Americans, some of whom died fighting hours after the initial attack. What could have been done to help them, and what risks did those options pose? We consider the possible options:

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/planes-uavs/could-american-airpower-have-saved-benghazi?src=rss

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