[TomGuy]

Calls for aid would normally be to the U.S. military, not the CIA.

Woods and Doherty were contract employees for some intelligence agency to track down missing surface-to- missiles. That agency was probably the CIA. If it was the CIA, they apparently requested to engage 2-3 times and were told to 'stand down.' They eventually disobeyed and ran into the fight.

If they called for help, they would be calling 'their' boss. They would expect 'their' boss to act accordingly.

So, who gave the 2-3 'stand down' orders? Someone with a pay grade above Woods and Doherty had to.

Patraeus's comment basically says no one gave a 'stand down' order.

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There are so many versions, so much misinformation and conjecture (partly by design), that it will take a full fledged investigation to ever know the truth. And even then, we might get a muddled PR/PC piece like the 9-11-01 Commission Report.

Every day we seem to get more revelations and more questions.

[marktwain]

If they called for help, they would be calling 'their' boss. They would expect 'their' boss to act accordingly.

If they called their boss, and their boss was a contractor, maybe it was their boss, the contractor, that told them to stand down. A contractor is not in the CIA chain of command.

I have worked with military contractors. They tend to be pretty risk adverse. Maybe that is what happened.