Did Obama Fire General Ham Of Africom For Attempting To Buck His Order And Rescue Stevens?

Pat Dollard ^ | 10/28/12 | Pat Dollard

[Nachum]

The latest hot rumor flying around the internet is that General Ham of Africon, whose departure was announced last week, was actually fired for attempting to buck Obama’s order not to rescue Ambassador Stevens. He’s not exactly leaving early for his type of command, plus, he’s still in command, I have to assume, since his replacement still has to be confirmed by the Senate. Even if it’s an urban legend, it’s such a cool one that it’s kind of a duty to pass it on. Here’s the text most-often seen in emails, message boards and blog posts:

I heard a story today from someone inside the military that I trust entirely. The story was in reference to General Ham that Panetta referenced in the quote below.

quote: “(The) basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told Pentagon reporters. “And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.”

The information I heard today was that General Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.

General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.

[Nachum]

Sounds about right.

[Matchett-PI]

This is what I posted on Twitter oner an hour ago::

Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC6h (ON TWITTER): “Rumors Gen Carter Ham relieved of command over Benghazi NOT true, according to multiple well placed sources. Long planned change of command.”

[yldstrk]

THAT IS PRECISELY WHY GENERAL HAM WAS RELIEVED BECAUSE HE WAS GOING TO RESCUE THE AMERICANS IN LIBYA AND obama HAD SAID LET THEM DIE. obama COULDN’T TOLERATE GETTING IGNORED AND HAD THE XO RELIEVE HIM. obama HAS COMMITTED TREASON. HE CAN ONLY GIVE LEGAL ORDERS. LETTING AMERICANS DIE TO PROTECT obama’s CAMPAIGN FOR OFFICE IS NOT A LEGAL ORDER.

[yldstrk]

IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT NOT NOT A LONG PLANNED CHANGE OF COMMAND. IT WAS GENERAL HAM DOING THE RIGHT THING IN THE FACE OF AN EVIL DICTATOR AND GETTING RELIEVED FROM DUTY BEFORE HE COULD GET IT DONE.

[pabianice]

In other news, Obama has fired the rear admiral commanding a carrier battle group off the shores of Libya. Yeah, right; coincidence.

[Nachum]

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[Travis McGee]

[morphing libertarian]

If you want to get more military isight into Benghazi and other military issues, I recommend the radio show on KFI LA AM 640 8-10 Sat and Sunday nights, Brian Suits, A Dark Secret Place.

[pepsionice]

The part about the second in command walking in thirty to sixty seconds later...I think is bogus. Maybe fifteen to twenty minutes is possible...but he’d have to have a armed escort to make that possible.

I will add this...having spent over twenty years in the Air Force. There are some officers who would have duked it out, and done physical damage to anyone who tried to arrest or apprehend them.

Finally, if this all plays out and is basically true...there’s going to be some suspicions about who works for who within the top twenty-five generals of DOD. I can’t even imagine General Ham being pushed out of the DoD, without a Senate hearing over the mess.

[cardinal4]

1930’s Stalinist purges have come to Obamaland..

[Jim Noble]

Maybe Obama found out about ECOMCON.

[RoosterRedux]

If Gen Ham were relieved of duty as has been rumored (even apparently in intel circles—at least that’s the rumor;-), the Obama administration would deny it and take steps to make sure such information never saw the light of day.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Actually, a couple of flag officers relieved of duty.
Looks a lot like Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre...

[Diogenesis]

Obama utterly HATES Americans, would leave anyone "behind,
and probably planned/directed/implied/ordered the Ambassador
taken out to clear up "loose ends" in his transfer of
20,000 MANPADS to al Qaeda.

[Signalman]

Ham needs to testify, under oath, in front of the House.

[Nachum]

So what came first- the chicken or the egg?

[Mach9]

Long-planned? That’s the ticket—replace Ham with Rodriguez a week before the election. Long-range, short-range, it’s still polisticky.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

And to think that during this Purgapalooza, that snake Colin Powell backs up Obama.

[EBH]

Ping...

[Matchett-PI]

"IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT NOT NOT A LONG PLANNED CHANGE OF COMMAND. IT WAS GENERAL HAM DOING THE RIGHT THING IN THE FACE OF AN EVIL DICTATOR AND GETTING RELIEVED FROM DUTY BEFORE HE COULD GET IT DONE."

MOST IF NOT ALL THESE CHANGES IN COMMAND WERE PLANNED LONG BEFORE BENGHAZI INCIDENT BECAUSE THEY WERE REPORTED IN THE MILITARY TIMES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS.

Google it.