Posted on 08/04/2013 10:43:30 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
What kind of panic are we talking about here? Actual quote from agency “insider” communications obtained by CNN: “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”
The word of the day is “unprecedented.” Phony scandal no more:
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings…
It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career…
Another [insider] says, “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.”…
Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.
A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.
While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.
Thirty-five Americans on the ground, 21 at the CIA annex. Maybe the skeletal security crew at the consulate wasn’t as skeletal as thought. Is that what happened here — not so much a security vacuum as a security presence so secret that it couldn’t be revealed publicly, despite the White House being pounded over its failures for months afterwards? None of which is to say that they shouldn’t have had more security; the consulate and annex were overrun regardless, no matter how many people were there. But maybe that helps explain why the formal security presence wasn’t bigger: There was a lot of CIA in the area and maybe the White House didn’t want to attract attention to what they were doing there by inserting a squad of Marines to patrol the grounds. We already had an inkling of that, in fact, per this interesting but vague WSJ story from last November, which argued that the CIA’s role in the city appeared to be more important than thought. (“The consulate provided diplomatic cover for the classified CIA operations.”) CNN itself followed up in May by reporting that “the larger mission in Benghazi was covert” and alleging that there were more Americans there tied to the CIA — 20 of 30 in all — than to State’s diplomatic presence.
But what were they doing there to justify such agency paranoia now about people blabbing? Former CIA analyst Robert Baer tells CNN that agents are typically polygraphed ever few years, not every month. What could be so tippy top secret that it needs to be kept under wraps even if it means threatening agents’ families to buy their silence? On Twitter, Lachlan Markay points to this Business Insider piece, also from May, speculating that weapons were involved. Which isn’t surprising — everyone knows the feds are trying to round up loose arms from Qaddafi’s stockpiles before jihadis get hold of them. What’s surprising is where the weapons might, might have been headed. To a depot back in the U.S.? Maybe not:
Also in October we reported the connection between Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who died in the attack, and a reported September shipment of SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles (i.e. MANPADS) and rocket-propelled grenades from Benghazi to Syria through southern Turkey.
That 400-ton shipment — “the largest consignment of weapons” yet for Syrian rebels — was organized by Abdelhakim Belhadj, who was the newly-appointed head of the Tripoli Military Council.
In March 2011 Stevens, the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan rebels, worked directly with Belhadj while he headed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
Stevens’ last meeting on Sept. 11 was with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi “to negotiate a weapons transfer in an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists.”
Syrian rebels subsequently began shooting down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets with SA-7s akin to those in Qaddafi’s looted stock.
This theory seems sound enough to CNN that they actually mention it in today’s bombshell, albeit as something that’s being kicked around on the Hill. Is that what happened here? The White House decided to secretly start arming the rebels a year ago with the sort of SAMs that everyone fears might eventually be used to shoot down western airliners? Did Congress, or at least the intel committees, know about it? Do note: Even now, after the U.S. announced that it would arm the rebels openly last month, we’re supposedly withholding SAMs from them because they’re too dangerous. If the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, then in fact we’ve been giving them the dangerous stuff for at least a year. Beyond that, anyone recognize the name Abdelhakim Belhadj? I’ve written about him before. Belhadj is no “moderate” of the sort we’re allegedly working with within the rebel ranks. He’s a hardcore jihadi who fought with Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If he was the point man on helping to transfer dangerous weapons to the Syrian rebels, there’s even less reason to think that they ended up in “moderate” hands rather than in the hands of the mujahedeen.
One other point. As far as I know, it’s a lingering mystery as to how the jihadis who attacked the consulate in Benghazi knew where the CIA annex was. The consulate’s a public presence so it’s a sitting duck. The annex kept a lower profile, even though it was close by, and yet the attackers zeroed in on it later in the evening of 9/11/12. Why? Could be it was as simple as knowing that there was another building in the neighborhood that had lots of Americans working at it and therefore that building was worth hitting too. Or maybe they just noticed suspicious traffic to the annex on the evening of the attack and decided to take a closer look. But if the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, it could also be that bad actors in the city had actually dealt with the CIA there about getting arms to Syria and therefore knew full well where the annex was and who was inside. If that’s what happened, it’s like Afghanistan in microcosm in terms of jihadis ultimately biting the American hand that fed them.
Exit question: What was the CIA doing in Benghazi?
Obama is terrified that the truth of Benghazi might come out.
This cannot just be about a CIA operation gone bad. This has to be about covering for something really damning about Obama. Really bad!
Real exit question: What was CIC Obama's CIA doing in Benghazi?
The CIA is in panic mode, or the White House is in panic mode?
It’s my take the CIA was doing Obama’s bidding.
It’s like blaming your ambassador for doing exactly what you asked him to.
This is Obama’s fiasco. It’s Hillary Clinton’s Fiasco.
He was AWOL. She was AWNB.
AWOL = Absent without leave
AWNB = Attending with no brains
Our founding Fathers and others in the great revolution sacrificed much (and many all) to create this great country. It is hard to believe there isn’t one Patriot within the effected group who will risk all to open this package of lies.
And if we the internet people will keep pounding on the scandal, eventually the drug-addled obamaroid will be exposed as having been too zonked with drugs that night to respond. And hillahag thought she could hang his half-black ass out to dry by taking no leadership roll to cover for the pissant post turtle.
No he isn't. Bush's fault.
The CIA has only one BOSS , The President. The CIA only moves when ordered to by The President
Just another day at the office for the Chicago thug-in-chief. Didn't some Austrian guy use the same tactics back in the 1930's? Looks like the current White House occupant studied something well enough to actually put it to use instead of the usual pretending to know what he's talking about.
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Could such a large contingent had something to do with one of those conspiracy theories floating around in the aftermath having to do with an “October surprise?”
I recall one had a kidnap/rescue theme. It seemed bizarre then, but the whole Benghazi matter is bizarre.
fyi
When only a Presidential "Face Palm" will suffice.
Giving weapons to Syrian rebels would be such a yawn for most American citizens the New York Times wouldn't even have to build ‘plausible’ excuses around it. The Washington Post wouldn't have to remind us that Bush sent people to the ME... first... or whatever.
The countries Obama would NOT want to be caught arming or selling information to would be: China, Iran, North Korea.
Polygraphing our own people implies Obama has a civil war happening within the CIA. Petraeus has the feel of being in the know... yet the Administration is leaving him alone... I assume he's with Obama.
My guess is what went down could look like treason ... might or might not be - but could look like it. Playing this hard with CIA and SEAL types required psyops, pressure, and lies on an unimaginable level.
When did Hillary have her 'falling down' accident? Anyone know?
Here’s a thought:
The house leadership knows what happened. But they are too scared to make it public because they KNOW the conservatives will DEMAND impeachment.
The house leadership does not have enough guts to do their job. That is why the Benghazi scandal is not going anywhere fast.
Thoughts?
Concussion: What Are The Effects Of Hillary Clinton's Mild Brain Injury?
and some speculation article:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Sa-7.jpg
Also with the SA-7 featured above the target must be silhouetted against bare sky for the seeker to "see" the target. So if I'm a hilltop rebel trying to fire on a helicopter approaching from low in a valley using the SA-7 Grail, then forget it, the missile sees nothing, since there is a mountain behind him.
But After Reagan's air attack against Khadaffi (much later it turned out his daughter was not killed in the raid, as he'd claimed for many years), Khadaffi imported newer Soviet AA missiles, also, like the SA-24 Grinch, below, and THIS is the real problem:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j5TUVPrTpqA/Tmh48bS0bOI/AAAAAAAAAXM/T2e2iOPYRrw/s400/SA-24_Grinch_9K338_Igla-S_portable_air_defense_missile_system_Libya_Libyan_army_001.jpg
It flies at Mach 2, reaches up above 10,000 feet, and the aircraft needn't be seen against empty sky for targeting. Also the Grinch needn't score a physical hit for detonation --it also comes equipped with proximity fusing, so if senses an impending bypass, it will still trigger. Also if there is remaining fuel, this, too, will be blown in the explosion as a kicker. Even with jamming and flares, about one in four Grinches will score a hit, generally.
What type of success might it get against commercial aircraft in their current form...? The Obama Admin does NOT want to talk about this at all.
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