Posted on 08/04/2013 10:43:30 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
What kind of panic are we talking about here? Actual quote from agency “insider” communications obtained by CNN: “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”
The word of the day is “unprecedented.” Phony scandal no more:
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings…
It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career…
Another [insider] says, “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.”…
Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.
A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.
While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.
Thirty-five Americans on the ground, 21 at the CIA annex. Maybe the skeletal security crew at the consulate wasn’t as skeletal as thought. Is that what happened here — not so much a security vacuum as a security presence so secret that it couldn’t be revealed publicly, despite the White House being pounded over its failures for months afterwards? None of which is to say that they shouldn’t have had more security; the consulate and annex were overrun regardless, no matter how many people were there. But maybe that helps explain why the formal security presence wasn’t bigger: There was a lot of CIA in the area and maybe the White House didn’t want to attract attention to what they were doing there by inserting a squad of Marines to patrol the grounds. We already had an inkling of that, in fact, per this interesting but vague WSJ story from last November, which argued that the CIA’s role in the city appeared to be more important than thought. (“The consulate provided diplomatic cover for the classified CIA operations.”) CNN itself followed up in May by reporting that “the larger mission in Benghazi was covert” and alleging that there were more Americans there tied to the CIA — 20 of 30 in all — than to State’s diplomatic presence.
But what were they doing there to justify such agency paranoia now about people blabbing? Former CIA analyst Robert Baer tells CNN that agents are typically polygraphed ever few years, not every month. What could be so tippy top secret that it needs to be kept under wraps even if it means threatening agents’ families to buy their silence? On Twitter, Lachlan Markay points to this Business Insider piece, also from May, speculating that weapons were involved. Which isn’t surprising — everyone knows the feds are trying to round up loose arms from Qaddafi’s stockpiles before jihadis get hold of them. What’s surprising is where the weapons might, might have been headed. To a depot back in the U.S.? Maybe not:
Also in October we reported the connection between Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who died in the attack, and a reported September shipment of SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles (i.e. MANPADS) and rocket-propelled grenades from Benghazi to Syria through southern Turkey.
That 400-ton shipment — “the largest consignment of weapons” yet for Syrian rebels — was organized by Abdelhakim Belhadj, who was the newly-appointed head of the Tripoli Military Council.
In March 2011 Stevens, the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan rebels, worked directly with Belhadj while he headed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
Stevens’ last meeting on Sept. 11 was with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi “to negotiate a weapons transfer in an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists.”
Syrian rebels subsequently began shooting down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets with SA-7s akin to those in Qaddafi’s looted stock.
This theory seems sound enough to CNN that they actually mention it in today’s bombshell, albeit as something that’s being kicked around on the Hill. Is that what happened here? The White House decided to secretly start arming the rebels a year ago with the sort of SAMs that everyone fears might eventually be used to shoot down western airliners? Did Congress, or at least the intel committees, know about it? Do note: Even now, after the U.S. announced that it would arm the rebels openly last month, we’re supposedly withholding SAMs from them because they’re too dangerous. If the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, then in fact we’ve been giving them the dangerous stuff for at least a year. Beyond that, anyone recognize the name Abdelhakim Belhadj? I’ve written about him before. Belhadj is no “moderate” of the sort we’re allegedly working with within the rebel ranks. He’s a hardcore jihadi who fought with Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If he was the point man on helping to transfer dangerous weapons to the Syrian rebels, there’s even less reason to think that they ended up in “moderate” hands rather than in the hands of the mujahedeen.
One other point. As far as I know, it’s a lingering mystery as to how the jihadis who attacked the consulate in Benghazi knew where the CIA annex was. The consulate’s a public presence so it’s a sitting duck. The annex kept a lower profile, even though it was close by, and yet the attackers zeroed in on it later in the evening of 9/11/12. Why? Could be it was as simple as knowing that there was another building in the neighborhood that had lots of Americans working at it and therefore that building was worth hitting too. Or maybe they just noticed suspicious traffic to the annex on the evening of the attack and decided to take a closer look. But if the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, it could also be that bad actors in the city had actually dealt with the CIA there about getting arms to Syria and therefore knew full well where the annex was and who was inside. If that’s what happened, it’s like Afghanistan in microcosm in terms of jihadis ultimately biting the American hand that fed them.
Exit question: What was the CIA doing in Benghazi?
The guy who used to run the Conspiracy for the Day mailing list would be having some serious fun with the news today.
So our federal government is basically just a huge mozlem drug and arms running gang.
What is going to stop this.
You left out the murder for hire and sexual activity
the kidnap/rescue one could be revived. The 35 person CIA rescue squad meets the test.
I guess most drug gangs are also into being professinal hit men and running prostitutes...
Hoosiermama - any ideas on how this can get roto-rootered? Changed? It’s so deep, so intertwined, for so long.
Who is NOT into this?
A few Congressmen? Maybe? They must all know.
This is only the latest smokescreen to keep Hillary safe for her decision to put an openly homosexual at a post surrounded by Muslim fundamentalists.
Most are clueless. Did you know. I didn’t till a few hours ago.
Fr mail to you
There were already complaints and threats from he local. Seems that our officials were making unwanted sexual advances. There’s a thread and national media article about it posted months before 9-11
Sorry am not on my computer You’re on your own to find it!
hoosiermama said, “Most are clueless. Did you know? I didn’t till a few hours ago.”
Psalm 94
94 O Lord, God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay to the proud what they deserve!
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
4 They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
7 and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
8 Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
11 the Lord—knows the thoughts of man,
that they are but a breath.[a]
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who frame injustice by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.[b]
22 But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.
Ping list request.
You’re welcome. It is hilarious.
God speed in your absence. You will be sorely missed.
Thank you. Say a little prayer. I need it.
I pray for you daily MM - May the Lord of all protect you and keep His merciful gaze on you at all times.
I was telling hub about some of what I’ve learned over the years - tallying up some hits, too.
May God save us from this - IMHO the only thing we can do is go Egypt. Millions on the streets. And the mil needs to be on OUR SIDE.
We have only seen the tip of the iceberg where Benghazi is concerned.
This very real scandal will make Watergate look like a Sunday School picnic.
The pattern is obvious.
The question is “WHO will do something about it, and WHEN?”
Dear, you are in our thoughts and prayers constantly.
t.
Prayers from me, too. You are a gem. I have learned so much from your threads.
The Congressmen I see on TV look scared ALL THE TIME.
But it could be the botox.
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