Posted on 10/29/2012 2:55:35 PM PDT by raptor22
Scandal: More than six hours after terrorists attacked our consulate, former Navy SEALs manned a blood-soaked machine gun to defend U.S. territory. Meanwhile Apache helicopters sat on the ground in Italy.
At 4 a.m. local time on Sept. 11 — six hours and 20 minutes after the initial attack began — former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed at the CIA annex not far from the consulate by a mortar shell. The machine gun they were firing was encrusted with blood, an indication they continued to fight after being wounded.
During that eternity, Woods and Doherty might have wondered between gunfire and explosions where the military, with bases strewn across Europe, was. U.S. forces were indeed being moved like chess pieces as the attack unfolded, but none came to their aid because no one gave the order.
President Obama, perhaps preoccupied with his upcoming Las Vegas fundraiser, met with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at 5 p.m. ET, a little more than an hour after the onset of the attack.
He could have given the order but did not, even after an email, in which the al-Qaida-tied group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility, arrived at 6:07 p.m. ET to a distribution list that included the White House Situation Room.
A Special Operations force went from central Europe to Naval Air Station Sigonella in southern Italy, just 480 miles from Benghazi. F-16s and Apache helicopters remained parked and unused at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy. Two Navy destroyers already in the Mediterranean Sea were moved off the coast of Libya on the day of the attack but were never used. The question is: Why not?
(Excerpt) Read more at tcotblog.ning.com ...
If the administration’s argument tat our military can be reduced due to the technologies available, then. Where was it?
If we reduce our military the way Obama wants, it will be so lean that the administration will be afraid to use the limited resources, for fear of losing a good percentage of them in any instance. They will likely be overwhelmed by masses of poorly trained enemy forces.
“Somebody find me one of those uh...boats that go under uh... water.”
I’m still waiting on an answer as to why we needed to be there in the first place.
Read THE ILLINOIS PAY TO PLAY BLOG!!! It explains why Obama is messing around in the Middle East. It’s always about money!
A staged hostage-taking that went awry is a possibility, but in any case the initial security decision triggered the entire mess.
The Benghazi Massacre was a set-up:
"The Real Reason Behind Benghazigate"...
"Body Of Lies From Benghazi To Barack"...
"Weapons Hunting - The Reason For The 9-11 Murders In Libya"...
The Benghazi failure is not unique to zero. Back in the late 60’s, a “reconnaisance” ship, the USS Pueblo, was captured by the North Koreans after being under attack from their patrol boats for approximately 24 hours. According to American officials at the time, the Pueblo was in international waters when the North Korean vessels began their attack.
When the attack began, the Pueblo radioed for assistance, but got none. The request was forwarded to the Chief of Naval Operations who would not order additional ships or aircraft to the Pueblo’s aid. After approximately 22 hours of being under attack, the ONLY military officer with the authority to do so (an Air Force general in Okinawa) sent his ready alert aircraft to aid the Pueblo. Upon arrival in Korea, the aircraft had to have their nuclear warheads offloaded and conventional weapons loaded before they could fly out to the Pueblo’s location. By the time that the weapons were exchanged, it was too dak fro the aircraft to assist the Pueblo.
The next day, the Pueblo surrendered and was ordered in the harbor at Pyongyang. The crew was taken captive and held for 11 months before being repatriated to the U.S. The USS Pueblo was never returned and, TTBOMK, remains in North Korea today.
The captain of the Pueblo, Cdr. Pete Bucher, was court-martialed for losing his ship, but the court-martial board would not convict him. Still, his Navy career was done.
The failure of good men to act is repeated throughout history. The Pueblo affair is one story, Benghazi is another.
I wonder if the Seals were “his people” like the Attorney Generals
I was working at Camp Fuchinobe, Japan, the evening Pueblo was hijacked. We were directed to focus all of our meager resources toward N. Korea. One of my neighbors from Kami Seya was supposed to have joined Pueblo at Sasebo, but he switched cruises and the other guy got to spend 11 months as a guest of Kim Il Sung.
GOD help the poor goat-herder who is walking across a Libyan desert with his wife and kidS.
I can see the NY Times headlines now : "PRESIDENT OBAMA SENDS IN ARMED DRONES.... KILLS EMBASSY KILLERS. SAYS 'WE CAME...WE SAW...HE DIED T-O-O'. ALSO, SAYS HILLARY DIDN'T COIN THE PHRASE...SAYS HE RESERVED IT DURING 2008 CAMPAIGN AND SHE STOLE IT."
To be honest, horses wouldn’t have hurt, either.
Of course, I thought (and still think) assets should have been brought to bear to give the Pueblo a chance. Though I don't agree with the decision to be slow to send support, it is understandable, as things could have escalated fast, especially with nuclear weapons on aircraft most readily available to provide support.
No way was potential escalation to WWIII the case in Benghazi, so I can't see there was any excuse.
With the hurricane, it will be interesting to see if the Libyan stupidity (or perhaps traitorous, impeachable actions) gets picked up after the reporting on the Won's incredible defeat of the storm of the century......
Unlike my friends on PUEBLO, PALM BEACH was the best duty station I had in 21 years of naval service.
The question is did he actually watch them die, and then did nothing?
IIRC, two of the crewmen were murdered, and the rest were indeed ill-treated. DPRK is not bound by the Geneva Convention. Revenge is a dish best served cold. They’ll get get theirs one day.
I knew some CTs in the AGR program. Been a very long time. I got a tour of Oxford when she was in dry dock in Yokosuka.
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