Posted on 11/16/2012 1:09:07 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
…if what Eli Lake at the Daily Beast reports is true.
When the CIA’s acting director, Michael Morell, testifies Thursday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he is expected to say that the agency never requested Europe-based special operations teams, specialized Marine platoons, or armed drones on the night of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official.
The disclosure may put an end to one line of inquiry into the Benghazi affair about why reinforcements from the region were not sent on the night of the attack. “Assistance from the U.S. military was critical, and we got what we requested,” the senior U.S. intelligence official said.
According to a Pentagon timeline made public last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta prepared multiple military responses from the region at around midnight Benghazi time, more than two hours after the initial assault began. Those orders included mobilizing two special Marine platoons known as Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) from Rota, Spain, to deploy to Tripoli and Benghazi. Panetta also ordered a special operations force, training in central Europe, to deploy at the Signonella Airbase in Italy. Another special operations team based in the United States also prepared to deploy to Libya.
The CIA, however, requested none of that assistance. Neither did the State Department. None of those teams ever arrived in Benghazi.
This is directly contradictory to Jennifer Griffin’s reporting at Fox News. Griffin has multiple sources who were on the ground in Benghazi feeding her the claim that the team at the CIA annex asked repeatedly for backup.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehayride.com ...
What about the Counterterrorism Security Group? Why was it not convened that night to coordinate the response? Someone needs to ask that question.
Good question.
Send it to Greta....she has a list and can add that one!
I think I will. It should have been the first thing they did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.