Every American overseas had better factor this in. We cannot, and will not (based on POTUS not being willing to grant CBA while it mattered) come to the rescue of a besieged outpost.
This is just a shocking revelation.
Think about it: The U.S. ambassador is MISSING and must be presumed to be in Al-Qaeda hands, perhaps he will show up on a Nick Berg/Dan Pearl beheading video. That must be the working assumption while he is missing. This is "crisis-level infinity" for a president.
And Obama refused to grant cross-border authority in the time window when rescue forces could have gotten to Behghazi! (Either from Spain or Croatia.)
The entire time until every American was out of Benghazi, (including the ambassador---dead or alive), the president should have been sending every military asset from armed jets on down to Benghazi on frigging afterburners.
And he didn't. He dithered. Even with a missing ambassador in AQtown.
It still comes down to Obama NOT GRANTING CROSS-BORDER AUTHORITY while it mattered. To me, if this is not treason, what is it?
Our enemies must be in shock and awe at this revelation. Simply stunning.
Certain friends who have managed to stay very infrequently in touch are beyond livid right now. I am not sure what to expect, but I DO expect....
I pretty much assumed anybody out-of-country is at risk .... wonder what would happen if they all said “sorry, coming home, don’t feel safe”. Of course, Hillary’s latest speech at some event honoring Chris Stevens, emphasized how he had “volunteered” to go to risky places, etc. It was more than disgusting .... had the tone of blaming Stevens himself for what happened.
I read your article on CBA ... I think you are exactly right. I also heard Jason Chaffetz yesterday talking about Obama’s statement that “I did three things ... blah blah blah”. Chaffetz flatly stated that he does not think Obama gave the order(s) to secure people, etc. I just hope there are people left in the government who will pursue this issue to the truth .... I think it boils down to treason, but I think the president is politically protected by his ‘tan’ from what his fate truly should be. I also REALLY have a problem with Obama being CIC and having the lives of our heroes in the military in his hands ... he’s feckless and a coward and will do anything to achieve HIS goals, not do what is best for the country. This is just such a nightmare on so many levels it is hard to comprehend.
Obama REFUSED to defend...(and probably more than once).
The only decisions coming out of the WH were political decisions of expedience. They have been fudging timelines. When we put the final timeline together, I think we will see that there were many decisions made that night---all political, based on the events they were seeing each critical step of the way.
Does anyone want to think of what would have happened to the people Woods rescued had he not disobeyed orders?
Politicking is hell. You folks just don't understand how hard our job is. We expect there will be bumps in the road.
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Re: CBA
Last night on Judge Jeanine, Col David Hunt & Gary Bernsen, former CIA officer
At min 52, they are at a map describing what they are certain could have been done and in what amount of time.
Judge: And let's talk about, you know, you kinda hear this argument coming out that we have to get permission from the Libyans to go in their air space.
Hunt: No, there is no air space in Libya. There's no air force in Libya. Air Force or Navy ... would not care. If they are told to go, they are going to go.
Judge to Bernsen: Do you agree?
Bernsen: Agree, agree. There's no air force. They have no spare parts. They can't fix anything. There is nothing flying, really, no military aircraft flying in Libya right now.
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I can't find any video yet except this video of guest KT McFarland, who said she was a personal friend of Petraeus.
She said 18 months ago Petraeus would have had an investigation and a polygraph (for CIA Director) from the FBI. The FBI and WH (because file would go to WH Personnel office) knew then about the affair.
She said in spring of 2011 when she was in Afghanistan there were "definitely rumors (about the affair) from a number of people."
She also said that when senior official testifies before Congress, they submit their testimony to the WH. If they didn't like what Petraeus was going to say....
She is certain that Petraeus would NOT lie under oath.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/justice-jeanine/index.html
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The entire program is worth seeing. There was also another guest, Chris Mark Heben, former Nacy Seal and CIA officer. He went to Seal school with Doherty and had contact with Woods and Doherty on many occasions. All 3 were medics, so they did a lot of cross-training together. "I have a long history with these guys." Heben has also been in Libya.
He said Woods disregarded the order to stand down, and that he thinks this will come out.
"The fact that these guys were hung out to dry, basically exposed like a set of dog balls, pisses me off."
He flat out said he doesn't believe a word that comes out of Clinton's mouth.
The judge should have kept him on longer and asked him more questions.