He let them go. He let them go.
Posted on 10/27/2012 1:53:09 PM PDT by barryobi
A reader, relying on publicly available information, has reconstructed what we know and can infer about what happened in Benghazi. I haven’t tried to verify all of his facts nor do I necessarily vouch for his inferences, although in general they seem reasonable. But his analysis is, I think, a valuable contribution to our understanding, and I reproduce it here in slightly edited form:
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
A very interesting choice of words: “ ... The president did not deny requests for aid...” may in fact be true. He might have been requested for aid, but did not say “ no”, and did not answer the question, and did not say “request approved”. I suspect this to be the real truth.
Maybe Valerie Jarrett was not around to give him direction, or she was around and he followed her dictate.
I cannot see any political downside to have provided aid, but suspect that my suggestion above may be the most accurate, and reflects the poor experience of the Obama team in handling any kind of foreign policy/political crisis.
Outstanding job.
Yep. A real rescue attempt was too risky — not to a military team — but politically, in light of the election. So, as you say, they went small.
"SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL NUMBER TWO: The calls were made to Tripoli at the moment that the – at the same time the agent in the [Tactical Operations Center] sounded the alarm and then proceeded to make calls."
That is a gobbledeygook answer. When that alarm was 'sounded' that was the alert that automatically and immediately 'sounded' in every situation room around the world. The WH sit-room, State Dept. sit-room, Pentagon sit-room, CIA sit-room, Africom sit-room and, according to Col. Hunt and other former mil and CIA officers, every CentCom around the globe totalling about 12. I'm not saying that agent didn't make any other calls but no other calls were necessary.
Howie Carr interview with Col. Hunt On The Newest Libyan Revelations audio 28:37
Judge Jeanine Investigates Benghazi Gate Part 4 - 10/20/2012 video 6:53
Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer (U.S. Army ret.), former CIA Station Chief Gary Burtson and former CIA operative Mike Baker
You weren’t in the military? You should have been. Logical and well-presented.
I read it three times. Thank you. It’s riveting.
Questions I have for anyone who can answer. When a request for military support is “denied”, how is that negative response communicated? Radio? IM? Aside from WHO GAVE THE ORDER, once a “stand down” order is given, how is that order delivered? Face to face by a superior? Phone? e-mail? When someone like Tyrone Woods, a member of the quick reaction security team, decides to take matters into his own hands, does he just quietly slip out of the annex unnoticed or what? Does no one warn him he is under orders? In the heat of the moment, how does this all shake down?
Sorry for the ignorance.
I have my thoughts on why that is so but it would mean more to all of us if you could say a few words about it. So that we can all understand the immense gravity of that situation, in your opinion, why would it be viewed as “Crisis Level Infinity?”
You laser use analysis matches mine.
Much of this timeline and decision tree I ascribe to the “cross border authority” uber-dichotomy. The QRF from Tripoli was already in-country, so CIA could “follow the evolving ROE” and just send them to Benghazi almost or entirely under “local control.” That is, the station chief (buy you a beer any day) just said, “Roll them! GO!”
And I would expect that the “QRF” will turn out to be a motley ad-hoc collection of contractors and spooks and techs and I-can’t-imagine-what who just manned up, armored up, grabbed their M-4s and shit and went charging out the door, and just piled into the CIA charter plane and they WENT. I'll bet there was no formal “QRF/Tripoli,” but just “who can get on the next thing smoking—Benghazi is under attack!”
And some mighty fine Americans stepped up and went, and as a cosmic result, there was a Benghazi linkup between two old frogs, can just freaking imagine? Under fire, down range, in Benghazi of all places! (HOO F-ING YAH to that, my brothers!)
And Obama wouldn't send rescue forces, already on the way at full steam ahead.
Some good men are dead,
Because Obama went to bed.
My guess is we will find Valerie was the person to issue that order.
My guess is that will come out after the election.
He let them go. He let them go.
The fact that a 4 star, General Ham was terminated , is all you need to know about the CIC’s involvement here.
Agreed, they used the Tripoli assets because they did not need any permission, they were already in Libya. That said, the best we could muster was 8 guys? Obama was in the Oval Office during the initial assault with Panetta and Biden. The Defense Secretary asks you...”Mr. President, should we send some special ops guys to Benghazi?” Obama....”Nah, let Hillary and Petraeus handle it, I’m going to watch some Sons of Anarchy on FX”
Army Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Libya operations, sought help for posttraumatic stress syndrome
The nut graf:
“The final call was by the POTUS. No military action to Libya from Italy or elsewhere could have been undertaken without the POTUS signing off. In the end, his “leading from behind” strategy and failure to realize the nature of the situation in Benghazi led to the deaths of at least Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. His meeting at 5 p.m. was 5 hours before they were killed. That is why there is a cover up, the POTUS failed to act. The screw up of not having enough security on the ground in Benghazi can be passed off to Charlene Lamb, Hillary, etc., but in the midst of the crisis, when the lives of the 30+ Americans were on the line, the POTUS froze, and Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed as a result. He can’t pass that blame off on anyone, he was informed of the attack and as a result of the decisions he made in the Oval Office with Biden and Panetta, those two brave Americans died. The Panetta smokescreen does not hold water because US personnel WERE sent into harm’s way, they just weren’t US military personnel. If there was enough info to send the 8 men from Tripoli, why was that not good enough for our military? This is 100% on Obama.”
Okay, short of “Iran and Israel just launched 1,000 rockets at each other,” or “Europe’s stock market just wiped out to 1% and the NYSE is not opening,” in normal diplomatic life, a missing ambassador in Al Queda territory is one of the very biggest imaginable.
Obama went to bed with a missing ambassador, who might have been on youtube in a few hours pleading for his life, or admitting to shipping SA-22 manpads to the Syrian AQ groups. Or he could have gotten the Danny Pearl/Nick Berg intro to jihad 101.
Never mind the 3 dead pawns. The king and queen on this board, in this context, is the ambassador. A missing ambassador, in the hands of AQ, is 1,000 times worse than an ambassador who is a known KIA.
And this POTUS of ours went to bed, and left a “no border crossing rescue” set of standing orders.
Some good men are dead,
because Obama went to bed.
I got a lot of info out of that.
How many actual “shooters” / “operators” did they muster in Benghazi? Damn few, and they were not there as “shooters” but as weapon locator/collectors etc. It just so happened they were ex gunslingers, they were not there in a “security billet” or not many of them.
If the Tripoli “QRF” mirrors the Benghazi situation but 2X scale, then mustering 8 of a mixed bag of “security” and “experts” who were ex-shooters with M-4s sounds right.
It might turn out there was no “formal” security of Americans by Americans, the 16th Feb Martyr’s Brigade being the armed “external security.” The Welsh-contracted, native-muscle “internal security” for the consulate was unarmed. IOW, some shady locals to open the gate, without guns.
My take is that the WH believed they had an “arrangement” with the MB honchos in Benghazi. “Since we are cooperating on parallel lines with arms shipments to your brothers in Syria, you won’t hurt us. We’ll demonstrate our trust, by agreeing to unarmed interior guards you’ll recommend, and external security by the Martyr’s Brigade.”
Sounds like an insane world view, but not as explained by Amb Bolton to Greta the other night. The WH view is airtight. THey had a deal in Benghazi, no overt American weapon display, you can stay. No Marines, etc. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Reminds me so much of the Aesop’s fable about the farmer and the semi-frozen viper, who recovered against his skin and bit him. This is gratitude in the Muslim world.
Obama’s biggest bitch-slap, on 9-11, and he couldn’t even muster up the guts to approve a rescue that was already under way.
So he said, “No,” and went to bed, or otherwise disappeared with his Ipad.
Hell, even the incomparably incompetent Carter had balls enough to okay a military rescue. It failed but at least he tried!
I think this whole coverup I was begun to draw attention away from a single thing: what was the CIA doing there? Everything I have heard so far has directed attention away from the Annex. They did not want the SEALs going to the consulate—not because they could get into a firefight—but because it would draw attention to the assets we had in the area.
What were they doing there that would cause Obama more political harm than four dead Americans.
Two more points that I read on other threads:
1. The alert would have gone out on the highest priority network. It would have been immediately received in DC. The Ambassador in danger requires that the message is immediately delivered to the President.
2. The contingency plans for the military are to scramble immediately and head out to protect the Ambassador and the others. Should they fail to get a response, they are to follow preestablished plans for rescue. Which means that a NO GO from the President was needed to stop the operation.
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