in Tripoli.

Anderson was in Libya under the auspices of the American Bar Association to advise on rebuilding the country's justice system, and Stevens gave him a sobering security rundown. Still, the ambassador encouraged Anderson to get out and mingle with Libyans. The judge recalled noticing how little protection the embassy in Tripoli had compared with those in other restive countries he'd visited.

In a recent interview in St. Paul, Anderson said that he and Stevens, a lawyer by training, developed a quick rapport and spent more than an hour in a broad discussion that ran from constitutional law to the collapse of the police force in Libya. Stevens was well aware of the perils that surrounded him, Anderson said, but he was adamant that good diplomacy meant getting outof the fortress-like U.S. compounds that dot the Middle East.

"He was really upbeat, enthusiastic, about the potential for the future," Anderson said. "His optimism was almost tangible, but I don't think it was Pollyanna or rose-tinted. He knew the risks."

In Washington, debate over the Sept. 11 Benghazi attacks -- one on the consulate and another on the CIA station a mile away that left four Americans dead -- continues to rage, centered largely on whether the Obama administration and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice attempted to mislead the public about what was known when she appeared on a series of Sunday morning TV talks shows five days later.

The partisan nature of the wrangling infuriates Anderson, who calls Stevens "an American hero" and who, in the immediate aftermath of the