Posted on 09/12/2012 5:56:03 PM PDT by Kaslin
How could this have been allowed to happen? Infuriating:
The consulate where the American ambassador to Libya was killed on Tuesday is an “interim facility” not protected by the contingent of Marines that safeguards embassies, POLITICO has learned. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed with three other Americans in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the city of Benghazi, where Libyan rebels ousted strongman Moammar Qadhafi last year. Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Kendra Motz said that Marines were not posted to the consulate, unlike the embassy in the capital, Tripoli. A defense official told POLITICO on Wednesday that the Pentagon is sending an elite team of about 50 additional Marines, called a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, to reinforce the embassy.
A senior administration official Wednesday called the Benghazi consulate “an interim facility,” which the State Department began using “before the fall of Qadhafi.” It was staffed Tuesday by Libyan and State Department security officers. The consulate came under fire from heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at about 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday. By the time the attack ended several hours later, four Americans were dead and three others had been injured. The Benghazi consulate had “lock-and-key” security, not the same level of defenses as a formal embassy, an intelligence source told POLITICO. That means it had no bulletproof glass, reinforced doors or other features common to embassies. The intelligence source contrasted it with the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt – “a permanent facility, which is a lot easier to defend.” The Cairo embassy also was attacked Tuesday.
Whoa. So despite months of threats and escalating violence, our Benghazi consulate remained woefully under-protected -- even when our Ambassador was present, and even on a glaringly symbolic date. That's not an oversight. That's an egregious failure. Now that the damage is done and four souls have been lost, our government has finally dispatched an elite team of Marines to Benghazi to...what, exactly? Guard the smoldering ashes and corpses? I'm also puzzled by the assertion that our Cairo embassy is "a lot easier to defend." That's undoubtedly true -- at least compared to the "lock-and-key" Mickey Mouse security measures in Benghazi -- but, er, wasn't our mighty Cairo breached by the angry mob, too? Not to worry, though, Egypt's new Islamist leader is spitting mad. But not over the violent protests and dangerous violation of US sovereignty:
A day after rioters breached the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt's president spoke Wednesday in the "strongest terms" -- but not against the attack. WhiIe Egypt's prime minister called Tuesday's incident "regrettable" and unjustified, President Mohamed Morsy condemned the anti-Muslim film that incited the protesters. Morsy made a reference to Egypt's duty to protect diplomatic missions and its opposition to unlawful protesters, but did not mention or criticize those who stormed the embassy. "The presidency condemns in the strongest terms the attempt of a group to insult the place of the Messenger, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and condemns the people who have produced this radical work," the president said...
It now appears that Amb. Stevens was murdered inside the consulate, and only later did other American diplomats come under coordinated, heavy fire at their ostensible "safe house." That location was reportedly compromised by Libyan security personnel (Update: CBS News confirms), upon whom the American civilians were relying in the absence of US Marines. We've also learned that two additional Americans were killed during the chaotic, hours-long firefight. This account from NBC News paints a frightening picture:
U.S. troops dispatched by helicopter across the Libyan desert to rescue Ambassador Chris Stevens and other diplomats in Benghazi ran into a fierce overnight ambush that left a further two Americans dead, Libyan officials told Reuters. Accounts of the mayhem at the U.S. consulate, where the ambassador and another diplomat died after a chaotic protest over a film insulting to Islam, remain patchy. But two Libyan officials, including the commander of a security force that escorted the U.S. rescuers, said a later assault on a supposedly safe refuge for the diplomats appeared professionally executed. Miscommunication that understated the number of American survivors awaiting rescue -- there were 37, nearly four times as many as the Libyan commander expected -- also meant survivors and rescuers found themselves short of transport to escape this second battle, delaying an eventual dawn break for the airport.
Capt. Fathi al-Obeidi, whose special operations unit was ordered by Libya's authorities to meet an eight-man U.S. Marine force at Benghazi airport, said that after his men and the Marines had found the American survivors who had evacuated the blazing consulate, the ostensibly secret location in an isolated villa came under an intense and highly accurate mortar barrage. "I really believe that this attack was planned," he said, adding to suggestions by other Libyan officials that at least some of the hostility towards the Americans was the work of experienced combatants. "The accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any regular revolutionaries." ... Of the eight American troops who had come from Tripoli, one was killed and two were wounded, Obeidi said. A Libyan deputy interior minister said a second American was also killed in the attack on the safe house. It was not clear if this was a diplomat or one of the consulate's original security detail.
Our representatives and their protectors were totally and comprehensively unprepared for what hit them. It's increasingly clear that street protests "provoked" by an obscure Mohammad film were were a highly effective smoke-screen, and may even have been instigated by the terrorists themselves. CNN reports:
That analysis is supported by U.S. sources who say the attack on the consulate is believed to have been pre-planned. The sources say the attackers used the protest as a diversion to launch the attack, although the sources could not say if the attackers instigated the protest or merely took advantage of it.
This was a lethal meltdown, in which our enemies out-smarted and out-gunned the United States. And they also displayed a remarkable degree of cunning in order to play our media, too. The controversial film is the red herring here -- there's something much more dangerous afoot, as six of our departed countrymen learned when they were slaughtered, terrified, while thousands of miles from home. Appalling.
Don't forget Jimmy Carter's plans for the hostage rescue in our Iranian embassy.
Well the State Department issued this warning on August 27, 2012!! Didn’t Obama and his Administration get the Memo??
Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
PrintEmail
Libya
August 27, 2012
The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Libya. The incidence of violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, has become a serious problem. In addition, political violence in the form of assassinations and vehicle bombs has increased in both Benghazi and Tripoli. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning dated September 22, 2011, and notes the resumption of full consular services to U.S. citizens on August 27, 2012.
Libyans cast ballots on July 7 in elections deemed to be free and fair according to election observers. Libya’s General National Congress replaced the Transitional National Council in August 2012 and will lead the country until elections are held on the basis of a new constitution. Despite this progress, violent crime continues to be a problem in Tripoli, Benghazi, and other parts of the country. In particular, armed carjacking and robbery are on the rise. In addition, political violence, including car bombings in Tripoli and assassinations of military officers and alleged former regime officials in Benghazi, has increased. Inter-militia conflict can erupt at any time or any place in the country. Seven Iranian Red Crescent officials were kidnapped July 31 in Benghazi by local militia members, and as of the date of this warning, they have not been released. There have also been several reports of militias briefly apprehending and detaining foreigners due to perceived or actual violations of Libyan law. The Embassy’s ability to intervene in such cases remains limited, as these groups are neither sanctioned nor controlled by the Libyan government.
U.S. Embassy Tripoli resumed full consular services for U.S. citizens in Libya on August 27, 2012.
U.S. citizens traveling to, or remaining in, Libya should use extreme caution and limit nonessential travel within the country, make their own contingency emergency plans, enroll their presence in Libya through the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), and provide their current contact information and next-of-kin or emergency contact information.
The Embassy’s website, includes consular information and the most recent messages for U.S. citizens in Libya. U.S. citizens in need of emergency assistance should call 091-220-5203 within Libya or 218-91-220-5203 if dialing from outside of Libya.
For information on “What the Department of State Can and Can’t Do in a Crisis,” please visit the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Emergencies and Crisis link. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
For further information, U.S. citizens should consult the Department of State’s Country Specific Information for Libya. Stay up to date by bookmarking our Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which contains the current Travel Warnings and Travel Alerts as well as the Worldwide Caution. Follow us on Twitter and the Bureau of Consular Affairs page on Facebook as well. You can also download our free Smart Traveler App, available through iTunes and the Android market to have travel information at your fingertips.
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The personal assistant to Secretary of State is a Muslim Terrorist !
This is going to blow. Nothing the MSM can do.
The US Ambassador was MIA and the President of the United States sent 8 US Marines to his rescue and then hit the sack.
Once the American people get these facts it will finally show without a doubt the kenyan has no clothes. He is done.
So of course, they try to divert attention from their incompetency, by trying to accuse Romney of “jumping the gun” by commenting on the events.
Only the most hardcore Obamabots are going to buy it.
I disagree, strongly. Obama will order a cruise missile to be fired at an empty Libyan desert location. The MSM will hail the move as decisive leadership. The clip of the cruise missile being fired will played every night on the MSM for a week.
End result: net plus for Obama. Sickening.
Obviously, you can’t be too stupid or incompetent to hold a cabinet post or other high ranking position of responsibility with the Food Stamp President’s administration.
“He wasn’t Muslim Brotherhood. Our current government is riddled with them.”
“The personal assistant to Secretary of State is a Muslim Terrorist !”
Wahid Hamid, obamas pakistani ally at occidental college, is a board member of the business state department.
http://dbb.defense.gov/board_members/wahid_hamid.shtml
I think he also chairs the board of a Pakistani Foundation set up by Hillary a couple of years ago. Pepsi is an arm of the UN and this administration - even the logos are almost identical but that’s by the way.
With the rules of engagement our military have been handcuffed with, I hope they weren't there. They would have been set up for massacre if they followed orders I am afraid.
Assad is not our friend either, neither was Gaddafi, but they are/were the devils we know and devils that could be contained better than the multitude of jihadi devils we have now.
Assad should stay, keep killing jihadis and be too busy to worry about israel etc.
The jihadis will focus on getting rid of the secular dictators and vice-versa
instead Bush I got us into this mess.
I agree.
I;m betting the old Marine hot line is buzzing tonight over the events of the last few days in the middle east,
Ping
I don’t get why he was dethroned given the apparent cooperation with the West....To install Obama’s beloved Muslim Brotherhood, who was outlawed by Kaddaffy.
You know, I read that warning and I couldn’t help thinking that the State Department could issue a similar warning about travelling Chicago.
Not only did Clinton not allow tanks in Mogadishu, he didn’t let the AC130s work either....it was all Little Birds and Blackhawks overhead.....but the 160th guys in the Little Birds killed a pile of skinnies.
Assad is not our friend either, neither was Gaddafi, but they are/were the devils we know...Obama is not our friend either, but he is the devil that we know...
Assad is the better bet for Syria rather than the Jihadis
If the "rebels" win they will initiate a slaughter of the 10 to 20% of Syria that are Christians and they will renew direct hostilities with Israel
An Assad who is occupied stamping out jihadi fires is far, far better than a jihadi government like in Egypt.
Clinton claimed that Libya and Egypt would become western style democracies. She even made the comical assertion that the Muslim Brotherhood was "committed to democracy." Now Clinton's "democracy activists" are murdering Christians in the streets of Egypt, burning American flags, and calling for holy war against Israel. Clinton seems hellbent on bringing the same chaos to Syria as well.I stand by my statement that Assad is the lesser evil for Israel, Syrian Christians and America compared to the alternative (the jihadi, Al-Qaeda backed "rebels")
Clinton stated that Stevens killers were well armed and probably connected to Al-Qaeda. She neglects to mention that the Obama administration armed and supported hard-core Jihadists in Libya. Some of whom openly bragged about ties to Al-Qaeda. Hillary Clinton acts like she is surprised that such a reckless policy has blown up in her face.
Far better for the Russians.
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