Posted on 01/13/2014 6:04:30 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Hundreds of pages of declassified transcripts from the U.S. military's top commanders present a picture of a woefully ill-postured military force whose assets were not in a position to quickly respond to the Benghazi terror attack -- or other hot spots across Africa and the Middle East.
The 450 pages of newly declassified transcripts detail testimony from secret, closed hearings last year before Congress. They provide fresh insight into the military's decision-making that night from the very commanders who staged the rescue efforts, including the top commander in Africa at the time Gen. Carter Ham.
Among other details, they reveal gaps in the military's positioning of assets around the world.
For example, no attack aircraft were placed on high alert on Sept. 11, and the closest F-16 fighter planes to any of the trouble spots in North Africa were in Aviano, Italy. None were armed, and the closest air refuellers were positioned 10 hours away at a base in Great Britain.
No Defense Department AC-130 gunships were within a 10-hour flight to Libya, according to committee members who heard commanders' testimony over the past 15 months. And the commander's in-extremis force, which included a unit of 23 special operators who are used at the commander's discretion, were training in Croatia that day. They did not make it to a staging base in Sigonella, Italy, for another 19 hours after the attack began, according to committee members.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
WTH...who declassified these docs...not ValJar.
Shortly afterward, Ham announced his retirement, further fueling speculation that he was pushed out.
Ya think!
But we are gay and proud of it! (That’s really what the book admits was Obama’s military priority was)
She deserves a Pulitzer for her continuing work on this scandal.
She'll never get one.
Total BS!
"I am queer and I am free...open up the gates and let me out."
"I am gay and I am proud."
That's really Obama's speech.
He is gay and he is proud that he fooled us into believing he was just a Communist.
He is queer...and he is a queer proud Commie.
Bite your lip, Butt Boy. Show us your Queer.
Unfortunately, most of us see you as perverted. And over time you will be as popular as those who mate will animals.
But hey...goats are popular in the ME.
“In my military judgement that attack aircraft would not be the appropriate response tool.”
So, Ham, what was the appropriate response tool that you sent out? Where the hell did he go to school where they didn’t teach him to use EVERYTHING in a fight?
If this is true, then he is guilty of dereliction of duty and should be brought back on Active Duty and placed before a court martial.
This is the important point. It's bizarre - the Marines were forced to stop in Rota, Spain and change out of their uniforms into t-shirts, I guess so they wouldn't "offend" the Libyans when they came into to try to rescue our guys.
This is all part of Obama and Clinton's faux "normalization" policy, which is also connected to the ROE that got so many of our people killed: Just pretend their our friends, pretend nothing is going on, pretend, pretend, pretend. Obama makes me sick. And so does Hillary, who certainly should have known better.
The truth is they were less than four hours away but fighters were less than one hour away. Armed Drones were already overhead, within minutes, when the attack happened. Painting a target, our men knew there was armed aircraft overhead. Our Heroes Knew! It is time the lame-stream media grows up and acts their age.
This was a treasonable failure.
and still the lame-stream media nor congress will tell the truth. obama, hillary, valerie or all three gave the Stand Down Order. I lean toward all three giving the order of Stand Down. These Heroes did not have to Die but they (all three - obama, hillary, valerie) wanted them to Die!
The guys in Tripoli, apparently on their own, managed to get an airplane and go to Benghazi and land with no one shooting at the airplane.
This is such a bunch of f**king baloney. You are taught “Danger Close!” In the Army. You deal with the people that are most dangerous to you FIRST. S**theads killing a US Ambassador are “Danger Close!”. You focus everything, and I mean everything, on that and start the reinforcements to the areas that have given up assets. Ham is either too incompetent to be retiring as a general, or he is lying.
I agree.
When I first learned of this, it made me cry like a baby. I can't imagine how it must have been for them. Unforgivable.
Me too Irenic, me too.
Maybe the regime is holding his pension hostage. Maybe they say “don’t rock the boat”. By withholding security clearances we can make it very difficult for you to do security consultancy work.
I am amazed at the number of generals and admirals who evidently never had to deal with a bully in their life. Sure, they can threaten his pension, but let them try to actually do something to it. You start trying to get those civilians involved in some REAL baloney and watch them scatter.
“Ummmm....Mr. President......we’ll need some kind of paperwork in order to reduce General Ham’s retirement. Do you have a court martial order or something?”
And the commander’s in-extremis force, which included a unit of 23 special operators who are used at the commander’s discretion, were training in Croatia that day.
This statement seals it for me. They had repeatedly stated that everyone and everything was placed on high alert for 9/11 ...
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