Few things have enraged me more than this disgusting affair. The rage peaks when I hear Patricia Smith and the relatives of those brave men talk about how they were lied to, by Her Filthiness. All these hurting families (and maybe Mike, interviewed in the clip) should be on a podium with Trump, to tell America how they were used and abused by Rodham and Rice.
Confidential to the squadron members: Contact Trump!
Sure we could have stopped our Ambassador from being raped and murdered, but then the weapons wouldn’t have ended up in Syria with plausible deniability, and Putin would have put our executive branch on trial, or justifiably declaring war on US.
I served at Aviano AB from 2008-2010 as an F-16 crew chief, and have wondered about this for a while. I’m sure that embedded in our Status of Forces Agreement, are provisions for emergencies such as this that would allow us to take off at any hour day or night. I have faith in my fellow maintainers and load crew members that they could have gotten those jets loaded, re-configured, and operationally checked in record time. But refueling, where would they have gotten a tanker, or set up a hot pit for refuel?
The one thing that bothered me about 13 Hours were the two shots of Aviano, particularly when the jets were shown “put to bed”. Flight lines are like 7/11, a 24 hour operation never really closed, except for weekends (rarely) and holidays. On a Tuesday night, there would have been a lot of people getting the jets ready for the next days flying.
These FEARFUL folks were READY??
But now they ain't???
Of course people were ready.
29 men came out of Benghazi. They are under threat to speak out. Kerry went to visit one of them in Walter Reed the next March, which tells us what happened to some of them. The fighting had to have been hand to hand.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Obamas explanation, flying jets causes global warming. Except his jet, Michelle's, Kerry's, a few others. Didn't want to cause global warming, the administration has explained global warming causes terrorism. As good an explanation for political cowardace as a movie.
More and more of the Obama Administration’s lies are being disproved.
The question now is,
“Why didn’t our forces go?”
It looks like this was a civilian leadership decision.
Why did they stop our military?
Who made the decision to stop the military?
There is discussion that Hillary Clinton stopped the military. How could she? The Secretary of State doesn’t control the military. And if she was intentionally screwing things up, well.....why?
Why did Hillary intentionally screw up the military response for Benghazi?
George Soros had his girl Hillary get the United States involved in overthrowing the government of Libya.
Why?
The movie “13 hours” will be out on DVD soon.
The name OBAMA should carry the legacy of cowardice forever. It was probably the most shameful episode in America history to let the four defenders be murdered by the terrorists in Benghazi.
(No wonder God is displeased with Obama's America.)
They are more scared of backlash than muslim terrorists? Does this make any sense?
As described (and published, Mar 29, 2013: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/191373/betrayal-benghazi-colonel-phil-handley).
Col Handley is a close friend of mine and I also posted his comment here on FR.
The combat code of the US Military is that we don’t abandon our dead or wounded on the battlefield. In US Air Force lingo, fighter pilots don’t run off and leave their wingmen. If one of our own is shot down, still alive and not yet in enemy captivity, we will either come to get him or die trying. Among America’s fighting forces, the calm, sure knowledge that such an irrevocable bond exists is priceless. Along with individual faith and personal grit, it is a sacred trust that has often sustained hope in the face of terribly long odds.
The disgraceful abandonment of our Ambassador and those brave ex-SEALs who fought to their deaths to save others in that compound is nothing short of dereliction-of-duty. Additionally, the patently absurd cover-up scenario that was fabricated in the aftermath was an outright lie in attempt to shield the President and the Secretary of State from responsibility.
It has been over eight months since the attack on our compound in Benghazi. The White House strategy, with the aid of a “lap dog press” has been to run out the clock before the truth is forthcoming. The recent testimonies of the three “whistle blowers” have reopened the subject and hopefully will lead to exposure and disgrace of those responsible for this embarrassing debacle.
It would appear that the most recent firewall which the Administration is counting on is the contention that there were simply no military assets that could be brought to bear in time to make a difference… mainly due to the unavailability of tanker support for fighter aircraft. This is simply BS, regardless how many supposed “experts” the Administration trot out to make such an assertion. The bottom line is that even if the closest asset capable of response was half-way around the world, you don’t just sit on your penguin *** and do nothing. The fact is that the closest asset was not half-way around the world, but as near as Aviano Air Base, Italy where two squadrons of F-16Cs are based.
Consider the following scenario (all times Benghazi local):
When Hicks in Tripoli receives a call at 9:40 PM from Ambassador Stevens informing him “Greg, we are under attack!” (his last words), he immediately notifies all agencies and prepares for the immediate initiation of an existing “Emergency Response Plan.” At AFRICON, General Carter Ham attempts to mount a rescue effort, but is told to “stand down.” By 10:30 PM an unarmed drone is overhead the compound and streaming live feed to various Command and Control Agencies… and everyone watching that feed knew damn well what was going on. At 11:30 PM Woods, Doherty and five others leave Tripoli, arriving in Benghazi at 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning, where they hold off the attacking mob from the roof of the compound until they are killed by a mortar direct hit at 4:00 AM.
So nothing could have been done, eh? Nonsense. If one assumes that tanker support really was not available… what about this:
· When at 10:00 PM AFRICON alerts the 31st TFW Command Post in Aviano Air Base, Italy of the attack, the Wing Commander orders preparation for the launch of two F-16s and advises the Command Post at NAS Sigonella to prepare for hot pit refueling and quick turn of the jets.
· By 11:30 PM, two F-16Cs with drop tanks and each armed with five hundred 20 MM rounds are airborne. Flying at 0.92 mach they will cover the 522 nautical miles directly to NAS Sigonella in 1.08 hours.
· While in-route, the flight lead is informed of the tactical situation, rules of engagement, and radio frequencies to use.
· The jets depart Sigonella at 1:10 AM with full fuel load and cover the 377 nautical miles directly to Benghazi in 0.8 hours, arriving at 1:50 AM… which would be 20 minutes after the arrival of Woods, Doherty and their team.
· Providing that the two F-16s initial pass over the mob, in full afterburner at 200 feet and 550 knots did not stop the attack in its tracks, only a few well placed strafing runs on targets of opportunity would assuredly do the trick.
· Were the F-16s fuel state insufficient to recover at Sigonelli after jettisoning their external drop tanks, they could easily do so at Tripoli International Airport, only one-half hour away.
· As for those hand-wringing naysayers who would worry about IFR clearances, border crossing authority, collateral damage, landing rights, political correctness and dozens of other reasons not to act… screw them. It is high time that our “leadership” get their priorities straight and put America’s interests first.
The end result would be that Woods and Doherty would be alive.
Dozens in the attacking rabble would be rendezvousing with “72 virgins”… and a clear message would have been sent to the next worthless POS terrorist contemplating an attack on Americans that it is not really a good idea to “tug on Superman’s cape.”
Of course all this would depend upon a Commander In Chief who was more concerned with saving the lives of those he put in harm’s way than getting his crew rest for a campaign fund raising event in Las Vegas the next day. As well as a Secretary of State that actually understood “What difference did it make?”, or a Secretary of Defense whose immediate response was not to the effect that “One of the military tenants is that you don’t commit assets until you fully understand the tactical situation.” Was he not watching a live feed from the unarmed drone… and he didn’t understand the tactical situation? YGBSM!
Ultimately it comes down to the question of who gave that order to “stand down?” Whoever that coward turns out to be should be exposed, removed from office, and face criminal charges for dereliction of duty. The combat forces of the United States of America deserve leadership that really does “have their back” when the chips are down.
Colonel Phil “Hands” Handley, USAF (Ret.) is credited with the highest speed air-to-air gun kill in the history of aerial combat. He flew operationally for all but 11 months of a 26-year career, in aircraft such as the F-86 Sabre, F-15 Eagle, and the C-130A Hercules. Additionally, he flew 275 combat missions during two tours in Southeast Asia in the F-4D and F-4E. His awards include 21 Air Medals, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Silver Star.