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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 ...
This just means that you bought into the Obama narrative not to put a red circle around 9/11 on the calendar, so it's no wonder you're going to suck up on everything else as well.
Tell Shugart and Gordon not to try when it seems hopeless.
Gates is emblematic of what’s wrong with the ruling class. No balls and no understanding of what it used to be to be an American.
Crawl back in your hole, POS.
MSM SOP. Ignore, ignore, ignore, deny, deny, deny and final find some REMF to defend Obama’s inaction in the face of Americans threatened by massacre. How’d you like to serve under a CIC and SecDef who would gladly leave your ass swaying in the wind as a target for Al Qaeda?
“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.”
That will come as a big surprise to our military. Going in harms way, without knowing the outcome, is what the military does. If you could promise them safety, they’d be social workers, not military. Heck, I flew a lot of sorties in ejection seats, because what we did wasn’t safe.
Hell, only someone with no knowledge of the real military would say something like that - someone like Gates.
I’ve hated the bastard since the time he publicly criticized the US Air Force for a decision he made. The USAF sucked it up because you don’t call the SecDef a damned liar, but anyone familiar with the situation knew Gates personally made the decision he then attacked the US Air Force for carrying out.
If King Jug-Ears made the right decision, what was the need for the cover-up, including the “offensive” video scenario?
In a scant four years, Obama has become the symbol of American incompetence and fecklessness at what is certainly THE national low in American credibility and influence.
“they significantly reduced the protection forces”
The debate about whether there were adequate and available forces to intervene in the attack in time is not, in my thinking, a fruitful line of inquiry right now. That is not to say that it is not a significant question that needs to be addressed eventually, but it turns on fairly technical and arcane (to the average person) factors.
Why protection was reduced instead of beefed up is a more deliberate question that can be answered with documentation and testimony. There were policy decisions made. Who, when, and why?
This article sums up how we could have put assets on the target. It is laughable to think we wouldn’t send fighters because they might be shot down.
i have said it many times that in today’s world of recording every click a old man makes on his Computor you have more dirt than J Edgar could have ever dreamed about . This man is compromised just like so many in Washington who project great statesmanship on the outside until you see the websites they are frequenting.
Shameful
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/what_the_hearings_mean.html
Take them at their word. If they didn’t have a ready force in a known hotspot where our people are........that alone is negligence and incompetence on parade.
Gates own words is a condemnation of what he proposes to cover over. There must have been something very important going on early within the Ambassador’s political operations. To not have considered and allowed/prepared appropriate support to successfully carry out the operation with as much support as could be made available is at least poor judgement and to a greater degree incompetence bordering on duty malfeasance. For Gates to say there wasn’t time to plan and prepare is specious. Of course I have never had a high opinion of Gates throughout all of his government service.
IF the republicants will call hearings and ask the questions. But make no mistake, the democrips will be all out to divert attention away from the treachery of little bastard boy the hillahag, and certainly away from the reason for Stevens to be meeting with the Turks and sending Libyan arms to soemone ... and I’m betting soemone told al qaeda it would not be them but rather the moose slime brotherhood Val Jarrett works for.!
obama sat on the fence so much that night he got splinters
I don't know why he is lying...but it appears he is doing so.
This just doesn't pass the smell test.
Rush military caller says beyond shadow of doubt Obama knew about Benghazi (caller is a FReeper)Rush military caller says beyond shadow of doubt Obama knew about Benghazi attack and ordered no responsequote: This is an amazing phone call from a retired Lt. Col. and Special Operations Planner for 15 years who knows the inside baseball of what goes on in the White House. He told Rush that protocol dictates that as soon as the situation room got the email about the Benghazi attack, someone marched up to the president and informed him of the attack. He says it’s a bald faced lie if they say otherwise.
Caller also explains that teams train constantly for emergencies like this.
"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."
That is exactly what those special teams do all year 'round, doofus.
Rush military caller says that Obama ordered no response to Benghazi attack Youtube video 12:21
Thanks so much, maggief!
Dick Cheney seems to have a different opinion than Gates.
“IF the republicants will call hearings and ask the questions.”
Issa and company did a reasonable job last Wednesday. The proof of that is that the fallout is still coming down.
On top of that, in the last few days there have been more than a few indications that there will be more hearings, and if today’s unconfirmed report that Issa’s committee will depose Pickering and Mullen, then we will have more hearings.
Last Wednesday there also seemed to be a fair attempt at lining up the questions and staying on topic. I think they learned a few things and will get even better at orchestrating hearings.
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