The information I heard today was that General Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready. General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.
Geraldo had some ex-general on saying there were no assets available within proximity to help. Ham and this ex-general are certainly not saying the same thing. Geraldo would love to provide cover for Ozero.
If Ham says he was never ordered to send support, I have a number of questions: who screened the requests for assistance that came in from Benghazi; who made the decision not to forward those requests to the military commander in the region (Ham); if Ham was aware of the requests for assistance from those trapped in Benghazi, why did he need a specific order to come to their assistance? If he was aware of the requests for assistance, did he take it upon himself to seek permission from those above him in the chain of command?
Are the American military commanders so neutered that they have to wait for orders from on high before responding to Americans in immediate danger? Did Ham have to go up through the head of the US Army, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defence and the President, before he could respond? Was there an existing protocol where he did not have authority to respond in this type of situation without approval? If so, who was it that had the authority and why didn’t that person authorize intervention? If this was an ad hoc situation, who in the chain of command took responsibility for ordering those in the CIA annex to stand down?
The congressional committee needs to start at the bottom and work their way up through the entire chain of command. Find out who gave the CIA annex the order to stand down. Find out who gave that person the order, and so on. Find out what each individual knew, when they knew it, and to whom in the chain of command that they conveyed the information. A competent congressman with prosecutorial experience could get to the truth if he or she could question each of these individuals for 30 minutes.
That seems to be a here-say story that was picked up by many, and has been deemed inacurrate.