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Sacking of Benghazi consulate “a catastrophic intelligence loss”
Hotair ^ | 12:01 pm on September 24, 2012 | by Ed Morrissey

Posted on 09/24/2012 7:54:28 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Among the more obvious catastrophes of the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi — the loss of a dedicated diplomat in J. Christopher Stevens and three brave Americans who tried to defend the station — is perhaps a more significant loss for our counter-terrorism operations in the region. The New York Times reported last night that the CIA considers the loss of the Benghazi consulate as “a catastrophic intelligence loss,” which prompts even more questions about security for the site:

The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.

Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of militant armed groups in and around the city.

“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,” said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. “We got our eyes poked out.”

Before we go farther, has the FBI actually begun investigating the scene of the “crime”? According to CBS News this morning, the answer is no:use it for broadcast. Shouldn’t that raise a few questions about the American response to this attack, too, that State can ignore?

The NYT analysis of this attack shows even further how silly the initial administration spin was. The station had been compromised, something Stevens apparently knew, as was their fallback safe house, which he discovered far too late. That strongly suggests that the terrorist network(s) that conducted this attack had significant data on the American mission in the eastern part of Libya, and attacked it not just for reasons of prestige. These networks have begun operating much more openly since the US-led NATO military mission deposed Moammar Qaddafi, and the CIA needed to keep track of groups like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb and Ansar al-Sharia.

Now that we know that this station was critical to American intelligence efforts in an area rife with the kind of terrorist networks we have been fighting for the last eleven years, one has to ask why it was left so poorly secured. That question was relevant even without the CIA connection, as the terrorist networks had already made Benghazi an unsafe place for the US to conduct normal diplomatic tasks. If this was as critical an intelligence post as the NYT report suggests, the weak security arrangements can only be seen as staggeringly incompetent — and worthy of a major Congressional investigation.

The bottom line, though, is that we’ve lost an important post to keep track of the radical Islamists set loose by the NATO intervention Obama championed. It’s nothing short of a “catastrophe” for American security.>


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 20120911; benghazi; libya
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1 posted on 09/24/2012 7:54:31 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Just a bump in the road.


2 posted on 09/24/2012 7:58:32 PM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

This was obviously PRE-PLANNED by Clinton and Obama
and others overseas.


3 posted on 09/24/2012 7:59:25 PM PDT by Diogenesis (Vi veri veniversum vivus vici)
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To: Diogenesis

Christopher Stevens must have known too much about something.


4 posted on 09/24/2012 8:00:57 PM PDT by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
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To: Marine_Uncle; TigersEye
From the comments:

**************************************EXCERPT*******************************************

Why would the FBI go to Benghazi at all?

The “crime scene” is no longer forensically worthwhile…it has been contaminated, and there are no “witnesses” to interview, and whatever material they might be able to gather or cobble together is essentially worthless from a criminal investigative point of view and as a judicial matter…totally and completely inadmissible.

coldwarrior on September 24, 2012 at 1:00 PM

So the FBI can “find” a copy of the Movie lying in the rubble, and attached to it will be a note written in English: “We need to spontaneously attack the American consulate because of this film. Let’s go right now.”

See? Bark will be proven right in his initial assessment.

Bishop on September 24, 2012 at 1:11 PM

5 posted on 09/24/2012 8:02:01 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach


6 posted on 09/24/2012 8:04:27 PM PDT by TsonicTsunami08
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To: All
More from the comments:

*******************************************EXCERPT*************************************

I was a cynic on government before TFGRP came to power, but he and his minions have taken things to an entirely new level; the man will be protected at all costs no matter how many lives are destroyed to do it.

Bishop on September 24, 2012 at 1:18 PM

Same here. It’s staggering to see how he is protected no matter how incompetent and ill-equipped he is for the job, no matter how much damage he does, no matter how much suffering he causes. It’s all fine because this is what a few people want – no one else matters.

It’s chilling.

Cody1991 on September 24, 2012 at 1:23 PM

7 posted on 09/24/2012 8:04:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Poison Photo-Drop .. decision to release photographs .. will imperil nation .. its defenders.
Tue May 12 09:52:58 2009 · 13 of 21
null and void to Sergeant Tim

Before he is done I fully expect him to release the names, addresses and phone numbers of anyone anywhere in the world who has ever provided any information to agency workers.

The damage to US intel will last multiple generations.

I will refrain from making any comments or speculation about self-preservation instincts of wet work operatives.
8 posted on 09/24/2012 8:04:59 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1343 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

>> to keep track of the radical Islamists set loose by the NATO intervention Obama championed.

Very suspicious of the NATO actions against Libya given my understanding of Qaddafi’s role in managing the flow immigration into Southern Europe.


9 posted on 09/24/2012 8:05:06 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: All
More:

***********************************EXCERPT***************************************

Now that we know that this station was critical to American intelligence efforts…

Question is, did the people who planned the attack know that? Is that one of the reasons for the attack?

A spontaneous demonstration just happened to take place on 9/11… which spontaneously turned into a riotous mob that just happened to kill an ambassador and take out a critical intelligence center…

Its all just a coincidence. At least that’s what the Tooth Fairy tells me.

taznar on September 24, 2012 at 2:13 PM

10 posted on 09/24/2012 8:07:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The attacks in Libya were just some bumps in the road. Nothing to worry about.


11 posted on 09/24/2012 8:12:26 PM PDT by garjog (We do not want another four more years of the last four years.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Three days warning from the Libyans themselves, and classified documents weren’t destroyed? Why isn’t Hillary Rodham Clinton under arrest for gross malfeasance and Baraq Hussein 0bama impeached,removed and under indictment for TREASON?!?


12 posted on 09/24/2012 8:15:25 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty ("Get that evil, foreign, muslim, usurping bastard out of MY White House!" FUBO GTFO!)
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To: Parley Baer

Listen, we have World War III to start, we can’t do it without casualties. We have the NDAA and the Patriot Act, not to mention the new Executive Orders and one more coming with regards to the Internet and ALL communications. This is just Colatteral damage in the big picture.


13 posted on 09/24/2012 8:25:24 PM PDT by eyeamok
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To: eyeamok

Heard from someone that the terrorists might of acquired in their attack was the US collaborator “knock list”.


14 posted on 09/24/2012 8:36:53 PM PDT by Kolath
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I read early reports indicated that Stevens had some sort of involvment in the assassination of Gaddafi. The reports said tha Gaddafi was sodomized with a stiletto knife and so was Stevens while he was still alive. Was Stevens life sacrifice along with the 3 other embassy workers similar to the way Obama has tossed so many others to the wind when he no longer needs their help. Was Stevens sacrificed for political reasons to satisfy Gaddafi’s minions for pay back for the killing of their leader?


15 posted on 09/24/2012 8:46:48 PM PDT by classified
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
That feller has about nailed it!

Does anyone think the CIA would let the FBI get there first?
Does anyone think they would leave anything of value?

16 posted on 09/24/2012 8:49:10 PM PDT by TigersEye (dishonorabledisclosure.com - OPSEC (give them support))
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To: Parley Baer

Truman, a Democrat, had a sign on his desk that said, “The Buck Stops Here”.

I believe that he believed it.

How far we’ve fallen.


17 posted on 09/24/2012 8:49:39 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
What taznar hasn't learned is that there were no demonstrations in Benghazi. At all.

No demonstration before attack on US Consulate, source says

"The intelligence source said no protests were happening before the attackers struck at about 9:35 p.m. local time last Tuesday. The account backs up claims by a purported Libyan security guard who told McClatchy Newspapers late last week that the area was quiet before the attack."

Report: Never an Anti-American Protest in Benghazi, Only a Planned Attack (CBS Video Report)


18 posted on 09/24/2012 8:53:27 PM PDT by TigersEye (dishonorabledisclosure.com - OPSEC (give them support))
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To: TigersEye

This bump in the road sure has some ugly to it.


19 posted on 09/24/2012 9:12:04 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Yes it do. Some ugly and some scary.


20 posted on 09/24/2012 9:25:33 PM PDT by TigersEye (dishonorabledisclosure.com - OPSEC (give them support))
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