Benghazi: More questions than answers

I still haven't had the chance to digest the entire 6 hour testimony video from the Benghazi hearings yesterday, but I wanted to make a quick post about my thoughts today.  It is mostly questions, since the more we find out about Benghazi, the more questions we have.  I think there are three basic questions which we need answered, and once those questions are answered the rest of the picture will fall into place.

1.  Why were repeated requests for extra security denied for the embassy in Benghazi, and who denied those requests?

2.  Why was there a stand-down order issued during the attack, and who issued that order?  During an attack, there is no way to know how long the attack will last.  Even if it would have taken 20 hours to get a military response (as Democrats are claiming), how did anyone know the attack would only last ten hours?  Why did someone in this chain of command decide an hour or two into this attack to say "ah screw it, we probably can't make it in time to save anyone anyways"?  What if the attack went on for a day or two?  What if it turned into a hostage situation?  Now you're telling me it would have been two full days after the attack started before any military response was enacted?  If you sound the alarm and start the military response immediately, you can always cancel the response if it is deemed too late.  It doesn't work the other way around.

3.  Why was the YouTube video blamed for this attack, and who made the decision to blame this video when all evidence pointed to a coordinated terrorist attack?

Those are the three main questions we need answered, and my guess is that the person behind each of the three points above could be the same person.  However, this also makes me wonder about several other issues on the side.

-This administration is claiming that it would have been at least 20 hours to get a response of any kind to support the embassy during this attack.  Libya is located fairly centrally on the Mediterranean Sea.  What they are telling me is that if there is an attack in Benghazi they can't get any response there for 20 hours.  What if there is an attack in Egypt?  Algeria?  Morocco?  Tunisia? France?  Spain?  Greece?  If you're telling me it would take 20 hours to get a response to Benghazi, then you are telling me it would take 20 hours to get a response to almost any embassy located in a Mediterranean country (I'm assuming our Italian, Turkish and Israeli embassies would probably be alright).  If this is the case, then this is completely unacceptable to be this unprepared for an attack on sovereign US soil.  If you're telling me there's no problem getting an immediate response to any of these Mediterranean countries, then why was such a similar response seemingly impossible for Benghazi?

-This administration also continues to link the Benghazi attack with the attack on the Egyptian embassy and protests in Yemen over the YouTube video.  As everyone recalls, that was what the attack was initially blamed on, but even after that was shown to be false, Democrats continue to link the protests with this attack.  They make vague assertions such as "Well there were protests going on in Egypt and Yemen, so how could we say this wasn't a similar case in Benghazi?"  As absurd as this reasoning is, I will humor them for a moment.  Let's say all these incidents were related to the YouTube video and protests.  I would like to know if there was any military response or heightened security at the embassies in Egypt or Yemen.  Either one of two scenarios happened.  Either there was some type of military response to bring a halt to the Egyptian attack and protests in Yemen, or the attack/protests ran out of steam on their own.  If there was any kind of heightened security or military response in regards to Egypt/Yemen, then we demand an explanation as to why something similar couldn't happen in Benghazi.  If there was no additional action to bring a halt to the attack/protests in Egypt/Yemen, then we now know there are multiple embassies in hostile territory which are under-secured and completely unprepared for an attack.