Like blaming the dead pilot.
This is a must-read article. Everybody who looks at this, don’t just glance at the first paragraph; read the whole article. It’s an eye-opener, and it names names (Patrick Kennedy, Leon Panetta).
Yep. Frequent Flyer Leon Panetta. Wouldn’t move his family to D.C., so he flew home on weekends. With a war going on.
I’d like to know where all the Bengazi witnesses are? Gizmo until they say what Hillary and Obama wants?
I wonder how much blackmail we’re giving Al-Qaeda.
It will never go away. It was, and is, at least until it’s resolved, an international incident
Pundits and pols always refer to the victims as heroes or as Americans and that confuses people
They are ambassadors/embassy staff/ state dept workers on the job, killed in country, on duty
That’s the truth. The MEs know it, the Libyans know it
It won’t go away.
In other news, Iraqi Air Force wipes out 25 ISIL terrorists in Anbar province...at 1:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twRKD4PEJ90
Tripoli rescue team told to stand down.
Hicks: Special Forces ‘Furious’ Upon Being Told to Stand Down video at link"According to Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya, special forces were “furious” when they were told to stand down during the Benghazi attack. “I will quote Lieutenant Colonel Gibson,” Hicks told the House Oversight Committee in hearings today, “He said, ‘This is the first time in my career that a diplomat has more balls than somebody in the military.’”"
This might be considered a stand down too.
Whistle-blower: Botched talking points hurt FBI probe of Benghazi attack"Another whistle-blower questioned Wednesday why more military assets were not deployed sooner during the Benghazi terror attack. Mark Thompson, a former Marine and official with the State Department's Counterterrorism Bureau, said he was rebuffed by the White House when he asked for a specialized team -- known as a FEST team -- to be deployed. This is a unit made of special operations personnel, diplomatic security, intelligence and other officers."
Here is a third way a "stand down" policy was implemented IMO.
Blow-by-Blow: How Obama & Hillary Left Americans to Die"Nordstrom further testified in writing that Hillary Clinton waived security requirements for the Benghazi consulate despite high and critical threat levels in the six categories of security standards established under the Overseas Security Policy Board and the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999. The waiver can only be authorized by the Secretary of State, who cannot delegate that responsibility to someone else. ”If the Secretary of State did not waive these requirements, who did so by ordering occupancy of the facilities in Benghazi and Tripoli?” Nordstrom wrote."
bfl
State Department Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy is mostly to blame for the disaster at Benghazi for refusing the SST (Site Security Team) extension of one more year, thinking that locals could provide security.
Stevens believed that if there was trouble he could rely on support from operators at the CIA station house nearby.
Stevens also believed that he had such good rapport with the local militias that the Mission could rely on them also to keep the neighborhood quiet.
Stevens also believed that the weapons the Brits stored at our Mission when they bailed out would stay secret, even though locals working for us were aware.
Iranian Quds Force operators were in the area and wanted our CIA Station House degraded so that they could buy Ghaddafi’s weapons more easily, especially the SAMs. They were the mortar attack team and set up the kill zones on the streets between the Mission and the CIA Station that night.
So, the enemy was a complicated coalition that used our vulnerability.
Stevens always had the option of closing the Mission. The locals that were our security told him of the danger there that night and most of them bailed out.
BTW, Stevens ordered the storage of all that fuel used to burn the Mission. The fuel was to be used for our vehicles in case we chose to bail also.
It was a perfect storm of naivete, hubris, bad neighbors and lack of situational awareness. That is what happens when diplomats are charged with force protection.
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