Posted on 05/12/2013 12:54:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Obama administration got some backing Sunday for the way in which it responded as terrorists attacked the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, last September – a night of violence and confusion during which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said if he had been at the Pentagon at that time, "Frankly … I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were.”
Republican critics have said a Special Forces team or overflights by fighter aircraft based in Italy might have prevented the US losses or at least frightened off the attackers. Mr. Gates disagrees.
Such actions, he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, “without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on the ground, would have been very dangerous."
"It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces," Gates said, referring to morning-after analysis. "The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Glen DohertyEarly in the morning, Libyan government forces met up with a group of Americans (reinforcements from Tripoli including Glen Doherty. that had arrived at the Benghazi airport. The team, which included 2 active duty JSOC operators and five CIA personnel, had commandeered a small jet in Tripoli by paying the pilots $30,000 and forcing them to fly the team to Benghazi.
Glen Doherty Traveled From Tripoli to Benghazi Attack
They chartered a flight as quickly as possible by showing up at the airport and convincing a pilot to fly them to Benghazi for $30,000.
Obama got the call, hung up, kissed his male friend, and went back to sleep. That’s how Obama handled it. No one should make the mistake of thinking there was any thought behind Obama’s inaction, or that further circumstances were the result of a decision, other than the decision to ignore it. Hillary had Arab Spring bouncing around in her head, and it confused her.
People have forgotten that one of Hillary’s first statements about the incident was something to the effect of (paraphrasing) “Who would have thought that this would happen in a country that we just liberated?”
Her response showed at the very least, that she has no clue as to the motivations of Islamic riff raft, and sent our diplomatic mission in to a situation she didn’t have and still lacks an appreciation for.
Given the power of her position and the information/intelligence available to her, it is a self indictment of her inability to fill position of leadership of a rowboat much less the helm of a Ship of State as large and powerful as the United States. For her to aspire to higher levels of leadership, much less for anyone else to seriously consider her for such responsibilities, is sure folly.
People died. Obama lied.
Good for Sen. Graham. I think he is POed beyond belief about this. People can say what they want about him but I think he wants heads to roll over this.
The attack actually went on for seven hours, first at the Consulate
and then at a second facility referred to as the Annex. It’s also
been referred to as the safe house or CIA safe house, but mostly
as the Annex. Cables, emails, etc. that have since leaked have
referred to it with some acronym or code, but the existence of
the Annex has been publicly known since within 24 hours of the
9/11 attack. So that part is not a revelation, nor that CIA were
on the ground.
Military assets were available within as little as a half hour or
so from South of Italy. The reason the C-130 (or rather some
variation, e.g. AC-130) availablility was mentioned is that it’s
the Annex that was hit well into the 7-hour attack, and it got
targeted with mortars, plural. The attackers were sophisticated
enough to communicate information on how the earlier round(s)
missed, so they could re-target and ultimately make a direct hit.
Had a C-130 been in the air instead of just the drone(s), it would
have been quite possible if not trivial to spot where the mortar
fire was coming from, and take it out. This is military 101 stuff.
Instead, the Annex was a sitting duck and at least one (maybe
two or three I’d have to check) of the Americans died at the
Annex.
One of the many reasons the whole “spontaneous” and video
b.s. that went on for two weeks was and is such an outrage, is
that any idiot would know spontaneous demonstrators don’t
just bring AK-47s, and rocket-propelled grenades to blow a
huge hole in the wall of the Consulate, then pivot to mortars
from a separate location probably atop a roof to target the
Annex, and then re-target the Annex so the mortars can make
a direct and lethal hit.
Perhaps the biggest of lies being told by Obama on this, and
still being told, is the one where he’s completely transparent
and straight with the people, as and when information comes
in, every step of the way, and he’s offended by the suggestion
he’d play politics and yada yada yada.
Yet every step of the way we get more and more damning info,
via Fox News or the House hearings, things that we never knew
about! There’s zero bias in it — it’s actual facts and documents,
Smoking Guns each and every one of them. Who knew that the
Ambassador had been repeatedly requesting more security and
pointing out the reasons, for months? Did Obama mention THAT
in the Rose Garden a day after the attack?
Did Obama mention the harrowing experience that he and
Panetta and the Generals had gone through less than 24-
hours prior, as the costs of their incompetence and denials
of security requests for months came crashing down? That
three requests from CIA for help, and to intervene. were all
denied? That the attack went on for seven hours? Did we
get anything about the various Smoking Gun documents,
or the “normalization” policy that probably had a lot to do
with this outcome? Did we know any of this from that Rose
Garden speech?
No, we had to wait for the House Committee, or for the
leaks of documents and other info to Fox, so we could
then have the pleasure of hearing more shifting stories
or Clintonian lies.
The reason is obvious. Benghazigate was a clusterfraking
disaster, and a political disaster waiting to happen with
an election looming. So stonewall, lie, shift, say ANYTHING
to just run out the clock. Babble about the video and the
spontaneous demonstrations. Say there’ll be a thorough
investigation, wait for the results until after the election.
Stop all that Monday Morning Quarterbacking! Nothing
to see here, move along.
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.arts.tv/umzJNirAtKI
Sharp eye. I didn’t even catch that. He is clearly parroting the Obama line which even the Democrats are now admitting was false.
ABSOLUTELY EFFING DISGUSTING.
Certainly none of that is a revelation to me.
What does “right” mean, Bob?
Sorry, Bob, but it is clear you have decided, willfully, to go along with the koolaid drinkers.
Those people at the annex could have been saved by intervention, and it could have been ordered. That you would not have ordered it just reveals a lot about yourself.
The ones at the consulate could have been saved by simply giving them the security capabilities they needed...you know, what they asked for. What they were begging for.
So, you may say all you wish and hobknob around on the talk shows to cover your handlers, but those in the know have testified and indicated very clearly that forces were available and could have been sent in.
America at the Crossroads of History
http://www.jeffhead.com/crossroads.htm
Who does know all the facts, Gates?
Once told by a retired AF General, “When you are out of the loop, you are out of the loop.”
I don’t understand your point.
Do you believe that Obama committed a crime by either not ordering, or by ordering stopped, a military response to the events in Benghazi?
If you do, what crime do you believe he committed? Do you believe that crime could be proven in a court?
Look, he could be impeached, and he should be removed, simply for the IRS matter. By choosing to focus on his non-criminal and completely typical (for him) Benghazi inaction, don’t you think you make it LESS likely that he will be impeached?
Diplomat: US Team Stopped From Going to BenghaziAfter the first word of the attack in Benghazi, a seven-member security team, including two military personnel, flew from Tripoli to Benghazi. Upon their arrival, they learned that Stevens was missing and the situation had calmed after the first attack, according to a Pentagon timeline released last year.
Meanwhile, a second team was preparing to leave on a Libyan C-130 cargo plane from Tripoli to Benghazi when Hicks said he learned from the Libyan prime minister that Stevens was dead. The Libyan military agreed to transport additional personnel as reinforcements to Benghazi on its cargo plane, but Hicks complained the special forces were told not to make the trip.
"They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it," Hicks told GOP committee staff. Pressed on why, he said, "I guess they just didn't have the right authority from the right level."
The first flight mentioned must have been the chartered plane Doherty and the others took. Which they did without any authorization. The fact that it is still not entirely clear and that it takes an hour of internet searches just to find those vague accounts shows how many questions remain unanswered.
Did Gates travel with “armed companions” as Sec’y of Def?
Do you believe that crime could be proven in a court?
By a first year law student.
Somehow I seem to recall Hicks saying that the flight Gibson was told to NOT board, ended up sending some medical personnel.
There is so many threads of information, some of it a repeat and some not. I think I need a new flow chart to keep it straight.
So Gates, if I understand his pathetic attempt to aid in a cover up, he’s saying they couldn’t get there in time? How does that make sense if the flights from Tripoli are an hour? I can’t make sense of what he trying to sell. I imagine that’s the whole point, screw it up enough that no one can decipher what you really said, or didn’t say.
Wasn’t Gates also pretty chill with the repeal of don’t ask/don’t tell? I might have that confused. Hey, it’s Mother’s Day, I can be intellectually lazy today, right?! lol
Navy Seal (Woods?) painted (illuminated) WHERE the mortar fire was coming from. Why would he have done that if policy wasn’t to provide AIR SUPPORT? He wouldn’t have made himself a target with the laser if he wasn’t trained that help would be coming.
This Administration makes me SICK.
Seals were trained, experienced.
The betrayal breaks my heart. Coming from the Political Hacks with Military Background/Top Commanders makes me even MORE SICK.
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