"The Obama national security team, including CIA, DNI, State Department and the Pentagon, watched and listened to the assault but did nothing to answer repeated calls for assistance. It has been reported that President Obama met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in the Oval Office, presumably to see what support could be provided. After all, we had very credible military resources within striking distance. At our military base in Sigonella, Sicily, which is slightly over 400 miles from Benghazi, we had a fully equipped Special Forces unit with both transport and jet strike aircraft prepositioned. Certainly this was a force much more capable than the 22-man force from our embassy in Tripoli.
"I know those Special Forces personnel were ready to leap at the opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind they would have wiped out the terrorists attackers. Also I have no doubt that Admiral William McRaven, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, would have had his local commander at Sigonella ready to launch; however, apparently he was countermanded—by whom? We need to know.
"I also understand we had a C-130 gunship available, which would have quickly disposed of the terrorist attackers. This attack went on for seven hours. Our fighter jets could have been at our Benghazi mission within an hour. Our Special Forces out of Sigonella could have been there within a few hours. There is not any doubt that action on our part could have saved the lives of our two former Navy SEALs and possibly the ambassador."
Travis, thanks for posting this. I’m adding one of your earlier postings which explains how our military has planned and trained for events like what happened.
The procedures our SpecOps, Navy, Air Force and Army set up to rescue endangered Embassy personnel have been around for decades. They get refined and updated as our Spec Ops and their backups obtain better equipment, faster/better humint and elint.
Our military was ready and waiting for their authorization from our Faux POTUS, the traitor in the Outhouse, which never came.
Obozo refused to pull the pin and authorize the rescue. He went to bed to prepare for a hard fund raising trip to Vegas.
Then, he and his evil minions lied and good Americans died.
Below is the link to Travis’s explanation of how this would work unless the POTUS Traitor doesn’t authorize the final actions.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2951160/posts?page=5#5
Now I was only a LT for 5 years active duty in NavSpecWar, but it was imprinted deeply upon my brain that ONLY the POTUS can give cross-border permission. Probably a million living ex-military officers know this like they know 2+2=4. This Benghazi fiasco is Obama’s baby 100% and there is no way for him to wiggle out.
The system is designed to ENSURE that when a crisis is happening, (and a missing ambassador with a consulate under attack is “Crisis Level Infinity”), and military assets are already charging in to the rescue, the president must be in the loop to grant the the cross-border authorization.
Nobody else can do this. This one formality must be followed, “just put your intitials here, Mr. President, for history,” so to speak. Boiler plate, but it must be done.
(Can you imagine Reagan or either Bush saying “No. Cross border permission not granted. Stop the rescue. Stand down.”)
The POTUS has to tell the Sec. State and JCS, “Yes, do it, execute the rescue, cross the borders.” Then it WILL happen, without delay, since the military is already on the way, flying in from all directions toward Benghazi.
But if POTUS says at 5pm DC time, “No military action, no crossing the border,” and then he becomes “unavailable,” then his last standing order stands until he changes it.
So if he went to bed, for example, nobody could change his standing orders.
I imagine that a lot of extreme military, CIA and State Dept. craziness was going down while Obama was sleeping. Aircraft must be told proceed, or return to base, or they fall from the sky. I imagine many HEATED arguments around the globe on phone, text and email, subject, “Well wake the damn president up!” Followed by, “I can’t! You MUST stand down the mission!”
Just imagine dozens of inbound planes, jets and helos. Ships moving at full speed into position to be “lilypads” for long-range over-water helo refueling. Airborne refueling tankers all head to the area. It’s a complicated ballet. The Pentagon is wide awake, the military is on full alert. The rescue is in process, from the first minutes after the alarm.
Everybody in all the planes and involved HQs knows how many minutes/miles to the Libyan border, Benghazi, and their “bingo fuel” moment, when they must turn around or run dry and crash. Ships can “loiter,” but planes fall from the sky.
So you can imagine why General Ham of Africom was relieved for refusing to stand down. He probably KNEW Obama was “unavailable,” and was screaming over the phone, “Well, wake him up, dammit!!”
Planes and jets and helicopters and ships and commando teams are zooming all around the central Med, keying in on Benghazi——
And in that environment, OBAMA WAS ASLEEP AND UNREACHABLE!!!!! Resting up for Las Vegas! With a MISSING AMBASSADOR, in Al-Queadatown!
Anybody not furious is a vegetable.
Grampa Dave’s closing comments: Anyone not furious about this, is an A$$hole and doesn’t belong on this site.
You had an ambassador and communication professional (Smith) who were guarded by the ‘February 17th Martyrs Brigade’.
Were they trafficking heavy arms to Syria? Probably. We’re they doing something hinky? Definitely.
Was what they were doing likely the province of the CIA? Most definitely.
Had people, including Stevens, raised alarm bells about the lack of security? Yup!
Was the CIA looking in on outright incompetence, while literally within earshot of rifle fire? Yes!
This all display Obama’s ideology, long held paranoia and bias world view. I’m sure Obama and his people thought what Steven’s was doing was sexy, because it was risky. Of coarse, a leftist can’t trust rank and file CIA, right? The CIA killed Che, Obama’s hero, Obama is the self styled Che of the new Islamic caliphate.
Again, you can’t trust the CIA, that is until your getting your ass shot off in a third world hell hole and your leftist party friends leave you for dead.
Stevens and Smith were expendable to Obama, but they weren’t expendable to Woods and Doherty.