Posted on 03/08/2013 10:36:04 AM PST by Nachum
U.S. Africa Command will get a new Marine Corps rapid response force as part of a plan to beef up its crisis response capabilities. More Leathernecks will be at the ready after the military was unable to get timely aid to Benghazi, Libya last year, during a terror attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and members of his security detail. Gen. Carter Ham, Africom’s commander, told Congress this week about the planned new force, Stars and Stripes reported Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The list, Ping
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“.......after the military was unable to get timely aid to Benghazi.....”
“Unable” my a$$, more like unwilling. If and when these troops are deployed, will the Coward in Chief Obama hide under his bed while they are killed and then take off to Las Vegas?
unable ?
or told to stand down, repeatedly ?
As long as Obama and Brennan keep running guns out of these hell-holes to only God knows who, the opposition is gonna keep attacking US assets.
So now the story is it would have taken too long to get troops to Benghazi because they weren’t close enough? As if the few hundred miles across the Med was too far.
It doesn’t matter if the task force is in the next country, it won’t help if you don’t send them when needed, with cross-border authority.
Closing the Barn Door, after the Horses got out.
“We got to do something to protect our phoney-baloney jobs gentlemen!”
hussein setting up more Americans to be mudered.
The House is asleep as usual.
I smell another “Black Hawk Down” scenario. The question is, where will Obama be?
A - Golfing
B - Martha’s Vineyard
C- Date night with Michelle
D - Other
D-— Shooting hoops with Reggie Loooooove.
Harumph- Harumph.
That's for sure!
Options in Benghazi October 23, 2012News about Predator surveillance of the battle had been making the rounds for several days before the CBS segment aired. But information about "other" reconnaissance aircraft is rather intesting; to our knowledge, Ms. Atkisson's report is the first to confirm that other U.S.aircraft were monitoring the battle.
As to which aircraft, there are a number of options. American reconnaissance aircraft routinely patrol the Mediterranean, including Air Force RC-135 and Navy EP-3 signals intelligence aircraft. In the EUCOM theater, RC-135s operate from RAF Mildenhall in the UK, while EP-3s have long been based at Souda Bay, Crete. Scrambled from those locations, an EP-3 or RC-135 could have been off the Libyan coast in two or three hours, providing additional coverage of communications between terrorist elements involved in the attack. However, it is unlikely these assets were sitting alert, and any reporting from these platforms likely came from previously scheduled missions that coincided with the consulate attack.
Other recon possibilities include U-2 aircraft and Global Hawk UAVs. U-2 pilots have been flying over Libya--off and on--for decades. In years past, U-2s on Mediterranean missions have operated from Lajes Field in the Azores and an RAF base on Crete. Given the amount of time required to prep a U-2 pilot (and jet) for a mission, any coverage by that platform would have involved an aircraft already slated for a Libyan mission, or re-routed from other tasking in the region. As for the Global Hawk, it can remain over a target, at high altitude, for more than 24 hours, relaying information to ground stations in the U.S. and Europe.
(snip)
There's also the matter of getting assets to Benghazi in a timely manner. AC-130U gunships were reportedly stationed at NAS Sigonella (on Sicily); with its on-board weaponry, "Spectre" can deliver a devastating volume of fire against ground targets with precision accuracy, and remain overhead for extended periods (in a favorable air defense environment. The distance from Sigonella to Benghazi is about 420 miles, about two hours' flying time for an AC-130. But once again, it takes time to get an aircraft and crew prepped and briefed for such a mission, particularly if they weren't sitting alert at the time.
The same holds true for U.S. Air Force F-16s from Aviano AB in northern Italy. The distance from that base to Benghazi is just over 1,000 miles, a little under two hours' flight time for the Vipers (this assumes sub-sonic flight, to conserve fuel. Still, it would take several hours to round up the crews, brief them for the mission, prep the aircraft and launch the mission. And, unless the mission planning team at Aviano had good imagery of the compound--with mensurated coordinates--there was a higher probability that the precision weapons dropped by the F-16s would miss. It's also worth remembering that the F-16 flight would require tanker support, necessitating coordination of more support elements.
I’ll use one of the responses from a poster below the referenced article, as it explains my position quite well.
“Let me put this situation in a context anyone could understand.
My family is attacked by thugs trying to get in the family home.
We notify the police, several times. They monitor the situation from the camera on the streetlight across the road. Noone every comes. The excuses are: 1)it would take us too long to get our gear in our police cars; 2) we had the wrong police cars; 3) we were across town 4) we weren’t sure what type of weapons the criminals at your house had; perhaps they would shoot at us and 5) once we realized you were dead there was no reason to come.
The excuses from Obama, Clinton, Clapper, Petraeus, Brenan and Panetta are all lies and as my grandmother used to say, “hogwash”.”
— I add: I would not want anyone to exchange their life for mine, but if I had been in the same situation, I would have wanted my side to at least try. A distraction of the distinct sounds of Hell flying over their heads might have made a difference.
A very apt analogy. I recall an article quoting someone saying a rapid response team was flown from Germany to Sigonella and was on the tarmac, with 100 Force Recon Marines, ready and waiting to go. I failed to bookmark it and haven’t seen it again.
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