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Posted on 05/09/2013 7:11:01 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON — The US diplomat who was second in command in Libya during the fatal attack on the Benghazi consulate fought back tears yesterday when he told lawmakers about his colleagues’ final moments — and said he was “stunned” by administration claims it was sparked by a spontaneous protest.
Gregory Hicks, the first person to testify to Congress who was on the ground in Libya during the fateful night of the Sept. 11, 2012 siege, told a House committee that he was incredulous just five days later when UN Ambassador Susan Rice said on Sunday talk shows that the assault was not a terrorist attack.
“My jaw dropped,” Hicks said. “I was embarrassed.”
Hicks riveted the audience in a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing room as he recalled the night.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Hysterical Hillary: more proof she is not fit to be POTUS.
No one knew or could have known if any relieving force would be walking into a trap. Mogadishu.......
In our entire military there is only one force, the Marine
Corps TRAP, Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel force that trains and is armed for and has helo insertion options for hot LZ’s.
It is also the only force that goes in heavy, with weapons platoons that can terminate all opposing forces and anyone foolish enough to stay around.
The problem is that they are only deployed on MEF’s, Marine Expeditionary Forces of which we have only three deployed worldwide at any time. Two are dedicated to the Persian Gulf - Afghan theater.
One is deployed to the eastern Med and has been committed to the Syrian - Jordan - Israel - Egypt theater. Libya was not considered an active threat as compared to the eastern Med.
We can only do so much. There was a SST (site Security Team) on site that was pulled out even though it was free and available to Dept of State for another 6 months.
All this talk about this unit or that 4 SF personnel could have gone in is just ignorant talk. This is the real world folks, instantly desperate by a clever and constantly probing enemy.
All we needed to do was buzz the place with some planes and helicopters and fire a few rounds and it would have scattered the people.
Our military was facing a loose band of terrorists equipped for one purpose, to attack the compound. They wouldn't have been able to hold back an air attack, or even stop whatever ground troops we followed up with.
It's not like we would have been insterting into the middle of a waiting North Korean army.
-PJ
Thanks. I watched the whole hearing twice thus far.
The enemy was there in force. Likely there were many other fighters in waiting.
The local militia saw our SST pull out. They knew the town, they can download Blackhawk Down anytime they want. The enemy knew we had three other embassies in some stage of being over-run and had to respond to them first.
Buzzing the place, loose band? They had two well trained mortar teams that fired for effect on the second round. We rented a compound in the middle of the enemies home ground.
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