Posted on 11/01/2012 9:43:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
We've received many emails over the last week or so from readers asking us to get to the bottom of this situation/rumors du jour...I'm not sure that we can actually do that quickly, but here is what we've been hearing...
First of all, over the last week there have been many reports that the AFRICOM commander, GEN Carter Ham, had been arrested by his second in command and relieved of command. The reasoning in several articles from journalists and bloggers is that GEN Ham was ready to violate a do-not-assist order with regards to Benghazi. I would think that there are too many people who would know about this that could keep an event like that as quiet as it seems to have been kept.
GEN Ham, with 42 years under his belt, could actually retire TOMORROW, and we should see what he has to say when he retires. Since the announcement of his being replaced, GEN Ham has been seen speaking at several functions. Hardly the position of someone who was arrested for insubordination...or as some are suggesting, the leader of a coup. But it is possible that he was removed for violating orders in a manner without arrest.
On back channel, there has been talk that GEN Ham is actually being relieved for another mission - one that was denied airspace access by a sovereign nation, and that GEN Ham intentionally violated airspace rules/laws in order to complete a mission (not Benghazi). There is also talk that GEN Ham is resigning in disgust of the chain of command - literally, with the Commander in Chief - and that he is trying to do so as apolitically as possible (and Ham is seen as being one of "the President's guys"). One would think that someone would wait for an election just days away to be over before resigning in protest (because you might have a new CinC), but who knows? On Monday, GEN Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared that GEN Ham's departure was part of a planned rotation in the works since July. Hhmmm...
Then, we have an up and coming Rear Admiral being relieved of command of the Stennis carrier group. This is significant as it is not due to conduct unbecoming, personal conduct, or for incompetence, but for "inappropriate leadership judgment". What?!
Admiral Charles M. Gaouette was relieved of command mid-deployment which is rare (understatement). From the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment...
One theory is that GEN Ham asked the Stennis strike group for assistance with intelligence and military response in the face of a "do not assist" order and that Admiral Gaouette attempted to follow through on GEN Ham's requests for assistance for the men in Benghazi. Another theory is that Gaouette was also part of a military coup. I think that's ridiculous and not in the cards with our GO's (and you would see an entirely different reaction that just relief of command).
It's hard to say what is truth and what is fiction right now. This is all speculation for the moment. And some of these rumors might have been started to ensure that the truth doesn't come out until after the election.
Are the two removals related?
Are Ham and Gaouette fall out from a cover up of Benghazi?
Is there any truth behind the rumors?
This sounds like a 3rd world nation.
This video maker is now part of a huge cover-up and scandal. The administration CAUSED the video to be a protest maker in the Middle East by constant references thereto in Obama speeches thereafter. Media is complicit in the cover-up. Voters don't want propaganda; they want the truth and they want it when the crisis occurs, not later when it is compelled by court or investigatory order!
Journalists fiddle while Benghazi burns
Snip 1: The death of Navy Seal Tyrone Woods is morally nettlesome: Involved in two shootouts with terrorists at the consulate and the annex, Mr. Woods expired on the annex rooftop where he lay mortally injured, having repeatedly called for help that never materialized. Though the White House might have ordered an extraction of the ambassador -- help during the long ordeal could have been dispatched in a few hours – that order remained stillborn.
Snip 2: The attack on the consulate and the annex a mile distant was captured by two drones circling overhead, an evidentiary record sent in real time to Langley Air Force Base and members of the Obama administration. In view of persistent misrepresentations made by Obama officials who implausibly claimed that the murders of Ambassador Stevens others were connected with a film supposed to have sparked the assault, the drone record is a must-see.
Snip 3: This suffocating silence rolling over the bodies of four Americans – every one a hero – stems either from inexcusable ignorance, mendacious incompetence or the overriding campaign concerns of the Obama administration. This winding shroud of silence smothering a cry of help never answered even now could be shattered by journalists in Connecticut and elsewhere who are not asleep at their keyboards.
” If Gen Ham is retiring tomorrow, then perhaps he will speak out, unless they’re holding his pension over his head?”
This is the first thing that crossed my mind(pension), so I would guess yes.
” Congress could put a stop to that sort of black mail, right?”
Congress COULD have stopped or exposed many things.
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