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Sharyl Attkisson: Could U.S. military have helped during Libya attack?
CBS News ^ | October 20, 2012 | Sharyl Attkisson

Posted on 10/20/2012 4:55:25 AM PDT by maggief

(CBS News) The closer we get to the election, the harder Republicans in Congress are pushing for answers to a big question: What really happened in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month that killed the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans?

Some lawmakers are asking why U.S. military help from outside Libya didn't arrive as terrorists battered more than 30 Americans over the course of more than seven hours. The assault was launched by an armed mob of dozens that torched buildings and used rocket propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles.

CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle.

The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to say what military options were available. A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies."

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benghazi; election2012; impeachnow; libya; libyagate; shadowwars; threatmatrix; waronterror
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To: cunning_fish

see post #28


41 posted on 10/20/2012 7:18:41 AM PDT by bramps
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To: cunning_fish; bramps
Might have been too late to rescue the mission - I grant you that. That doesn't mean you don't counter attack and kill as many of them as you can find with A-10's, Apache's F15's and those big planes we have with the chain gun things. Whatever we have over there that can be on station while the attack was still going on. Drop Marine paratroops to secure a 5 mile radius after we're done with the killing.

Now, we have the supposed ringleader standing on a corner in downtown Tripoli sipping a strawberry latte bragging about his sacking of the US mission in Benghazi.

Something stinks to high heaven here.

Don't worry though, Hill and Hussein have promised to bring the attackers to justice - in a courtroom- in some liberal hellhole like New York or Frisco. I feel so much better knowing these two are in charge.

42 posted on 10/20/2012 7:25:49 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever.u)
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To: maggief

SOS Clinton asked permission to enter their airspace... Are you kidding me? AC130’s based in the region? I can’t believe this story came from a CBS reporter.

Man oh man do I miss having a grown up in charge. Save them or not, we could have made it painful for the enemy.

November cannot come soon enough!


43 posted on 10/20/2012 7:27:27 AM PDT by WomBom ("I read Free Republic for the pictures")
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To: maggief
A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies."

If all of that is true, then we might as well pull our military out of all bases outside the U. S. No rapid deployment forces?

(That's not a slam on our military men and women. It's a slam against our military planners and the political forces they kowtow to.)

44 posted on 10/20/2012 7:28:32 AM PDT by savedbygrace (But God.)
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To: DManA

Did you happen to catch Baier’s report?

Know The TRUTH ~ Step By Step ~ Bret Baier’s ~ ‘Death and Deceit in Benghazi’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MIAE6vLct-0


45 posted on 10/20/2012 7:32:13 AM PDT by maggief
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To: maggief

BFL


46 posted on 10/20/2012 7:35:08 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Present failure and impending death yield irrational action))
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To: cunning_fish
Well, if you want to play Custer why not. BTW, they Indians had no manpads and RPGs. I don’t think if Marines are about to absorb a hundred casualties for nothing.

RPGs? Have you ever been to an airshow? It is hard to point a camera at those things. You don't even know they are coming until ordnance has already hit you. Hitting a jet with an RPG would be a miracle shot.

The people in charge knew it would be easier to deal with dead Americans than dead Libyans who would be labeled "civilians" in any case. So they sat on their thumbs and waited for it to be over.

47 posted on 10/20/2012 7:46:00 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: hopespringseternal

You nailed it and it bears repeating!

“The people in charge knew it would be easier to deal with dead Americans than dead Libyans who would be labeled “civilians” in any case. So they sat on their thumbs and waited for it to be over.”


48 posted on 10/20/2012 8:08:05 AM PDT by dforest
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To: maggief

For goodness sakes (see moderators, I’m working hard to reduce my profanity), we could have dropped nuclear weapons. Why were we working to get rid of Gadaffi? There’s the question. Obama and Hillary are just a couple of Democrat grifters. Look at their histories. They didn’t grow up yelling, “Free the oppressed people of the Middle East!” They’re grifters out for money and re-election and funding the Democrat party. They could care less about the people of Libya and Egypt and Syria. What did they and the Democrat party gain by overthrowing these governments? And think about it. Bush was a cowboy because he went after Iraq and Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9/11? Well, then Obama must be a rustler for going after Libya and Egypt and Syria.


49 posted on 10/20/2012 8:37:34 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: maggief

There is no excuse for this incident.

The only response we get from this administration is, “we have an ongoing investigation”

This investigation should be well over by now...how long will it continue?

Until somewhere, somehow they can find some low level bureaucrat, on whom they can place blame for the whole thing, probably years from now.

It is all about a coverup of the coverup!


50 posted on 10/20/2012 9:08:45 AM PDT by PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
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To: maggief
1) A US military action would confirm that Al Queda was still a threat (Obama has been telling us the opposite) and

2) Obama went into Libya initially with no congressional approval because he claimed that it wasn't a US military operation. Thus, sending the military in would have proven him wrong. It would have imperiled his left-wing support during election season.

51 posted on 10/20/2012 10:37:04 AM PDT by what's up
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To: petercooper

Sharryl Atkinson went big on F&F and now she’s leading here. There are a few other non Fox reporters doing this and funny thing is that they’re all female. About the story’s list of useful military assets, there was a NAS , USAF base and a naval base. They waited for spec ops to arrive from Germany, but an NAS and a naval base have Marines. Every Marine is a rifleman. Like the battleship and cruiser Marines who prepped to go ashore at Omaha on June 6 these Marines could have been inserted quickly into Benghazi . Did no one think of this? has the military become too compartmentalized by mission, or did Obama and Clinton not care?


52 posted on 10/20/2012 1:28:12 PM PDT by xkaydet65
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To: atc23

Just when you think the MSM has given up “straight” journalism, someone like Attkisson comes along.


53 posted on 10/20/2012 3:37:26 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (In the game of life, there are no betting limits)
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To: atc23

8 years active Air Force. 3 flying F4s. Was part of R D F with main tasking Middle East. Your turn.


54 posted on 10/21/2012 4:44:57 AM PDT by Kozak (The means of defence again.t foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home JM)
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To: cunning_fish

‘Tard never heard of Blackhawk Down. And that was a planned mission. Another Internet Hero...


55 posted on 10/21/2012 5:24:11 AM PDT by Kozak (The means of defence again.t foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home JM)
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To: huldah1776

Thank you for your sons service. I worked with the Marines at Camp Lejeune last year.

To your point there is a plan for the Marine guards at embassies. Unfortunately it’s to hold on and defend the embassy until help from the local government arrives. Most embassies are fortified have safe rooms etc. Bengazi was none of those, and security was 2 locals with flashlights and night sticks. THAT’S the crime here, that Obamas administration left those embassy staff with essentially no protection.


56 posted on 10/21/2012 5:30:02 AM PDT by Kozak (The means of defence again.t foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home JM)
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To: cunning_fish
Well, if you want to play Custer why not. BTW, they Indians had no manpads and RPGs. I don’t think if Marines are about to absorb a hundred casualties for nothing.

Attention, you unmitigated Moron. TWO Nave SEALs held off 200 attackers (who had MANPAD, etc) for 6-7 HOURS. Secondly, ANY Marine would jump into those kinds of odds to save US property and American lives, and without hesitation.

57 posted on 10/21/2012 5:42:27 AM PDT by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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To: Teacher317

One FAST Team would have sent those cowardice scumbags into the Mediterranean!


58 posted on 10/21/2012 5:58:42 AM PDT by TsonicTsunami08
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