Posted on 05/12/2013 12:54:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Obama administration got some backing Sunday for the way in which it responded as terrorists attacked the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, last September – a night of violence and confusion during which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said if he had been at the Pentagon at that time, "Frankly … I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were.”
Republican critics have said a Special Forces team or overflights by fighter aircraft based in Italy might have prevented the US losses or at least frightened off the attackers. Mr. Gates disagrees.
Such actions, he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, “without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on the ground, would have been very dangerous."
"It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces," Gates said, referring to morning-after analysis. "The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
He might have said that thinking the trade of blind sheik for Ambassador would be no problem....Imagine his thoughts when told 4 Americans were dead!
Maybe it was a kidnapping plot that went horribly wrong. If it was a successful plan and no one was killed, you can bet whatever you want that he would look victorious and warranted a second term.
It went wrong so they had to trot out the movie maker and apologize to Muslims everywhere.
In M Very HO
I have a question. Who and what was on that C-130? Apparently it did fly to Benghazi according to that testimony.
Great. This military won’t go into harm’s way. So we are all on our own to protect ourselves and you government elites want to take our guns? Nice work electing and supporting this.
If the decisions made were proper then there should be no reason why we can’t be given the names of all those involved in the decision(s). I’m disappointed in the hearing’s lack of follow through of just who made or didn’t make decisions affecting this debacle. We still have no idea except for the email of Hillary’s chief of staff, badgering the CIA for deletions in their talking point report.
Also, When did Obama go to bed and why did he disappear when critical decisions might have been required? One would think that just basic curiosity might have kept him in the room for a little while.
Is that the plane Glen Doherty was on? He was independent. And there were a few others. They defied orders?
The only decision of action was inaction.
First, they had radio contact with the folks on the ground. The intel will never get much better than that. But, how was intel going to get better, when the decision was made to do absolutely nothing.
This idea that you have to have perfect intel is BS. Men of action do not sit on their hands for 7 hrs, while comrades are being exterminated.
Exactly. Mr."Vote Present" has made a political career out of not making decisions.
That would not work in his plan of destroying American military - he wants to draw down forces...American military forces.
In particular these three paragraphs:
"And they are impressive warriors ! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark – only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered – everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.
"And combat ? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks : they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the ennemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting : they just charge ! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later – which cuts any pussyfooting short.
"We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is – from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.
All I have to say to our leadership in DC, "Damn you and may your souls rot in hell."
Actually Gates statement is an indication that the Obama Administration is well aware of the political danger resulting from their actions/omissions v Benghazi and is pulling out all the stops in an effort to diffuse the slowing growing/accelerating clamor for answers/accountability. Pulling in former officials with no certain knowledge to make exonerating statements is indicative of their desperation, and their willingness to twist arms in their favor.
The leadership of this country does not deserve the military it has. Furious does not begin to describe the white hot anger I feel towards the executive branch of government.
Who does know all the facts, Gates? Valerie Jarret? POTUS? SOS? The 30 plus/minus from the annex? Who? Joe Biden?
Okay, I was just kidding about Biden.
I've watched you play little barry absatard boy apologist for a long time now, but that effort you just tried is one of the most blatant attempts to cover his expose ass yet!
That video deserves its own thread.
Do I understand him correctly, he would not have sent any type of aid at all and would have blamed a movie? I never expected much of him, but I must admit this descends beyond even my lowest expectations.
Exactly. And they also had no idea how long the attack would last so the “We couldn’t have made it in time” meme only works in hindsight.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a sharp and unusual challenge to the truthfulness of the nation’s top uniformed military commander on Thursday, demanding that U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, return to Capitol Hill to provide fresh testimony on the Benghazi attacks.
The point of contention involved whether any military officers issued an order to U.S. armed forces personnel on the night of Sept. 11, when the U.S. consulate and a nearby annex came under terrorist attack, to “stand down” from providing assistance.
“I asked [Gen. Dempsey] directly,” Graham said in an exclusive interview with Fox News. “Were there any military assets in motion, to help folks in Benghazi, [that were] told to stand down? And what did [State Department whistleblower] Greg Hicks say? That Lt. Col. [Steve] Gibson — a DOD employee, a member of the Army — was in Tripoli, ready and willing to go to Benghazi, preparing to go to Benghazi, and was told to stand down.”
“Clearly,” Graham added, “our chairman of the Joint Chiefs’ rendition that no one was told to stand down is now in question.”
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