Posted on 05/05/2014 3:30:08 PM PDT by PoloSec
Full Title: Leon Panetta Violated NDAA, Changed Benghazi Sp Forces Mission Without Chris Stevens MANDATED Approval
Gregory Hicks was the Deputy Chief of Mission on the ground in Tripoli the night of September 11, 2012 when our Benghazicompound and the secret CIA Annex was attacked. In January 2014, Hicks hit back against those blaming Ambassador Chris Stevens for his own death. He refers to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report, saying that the Committee interviewed him professionally and thoroughly, but the information below, on why Chris Stevens was forced to refuse military protection did not make it into the report. Three things of grave importance (full story below):
1) When control was transferred from Stevens to the military under General Carter Ham, our military lost all diplomatic immunity,
2) The NDAA mandated that Chris Stevens had to approve of any change in the special forces mission. Panetta approved it without Steven’s concurrence,
3) In the same week Stevens was told that Ham would take charge, two special forces teams were forced off the road in Libya. They escaped due to training and skill, but the incident forced Stevens to do what he had to do, let Ham withdraw them from the area until some protective agreement with Libya could be reached.
Pull-Out Quote:
Chris’s concern was significant. Transferring authority would immediately strip the special forces team of its diplomatic immunity. Moreover, the U.S. had no status of forces agreement with Libya. He explained to Rear Adm. Charles J. Leidig that if a member of the special forces team used weapons to protect U.S. facilities, personnel or themselves, he would be subject to Libyan law. The law would be administered by judges appointed to the bench by Moammar Gadhafi or, worse, tribal judges. ~ Gregory Hicks
Benghazi_4_15
The report states that retired Gen. Carter Ham, then-commander of the U.S. Africa Command (Africom) headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, twice offered to “sustain” the special forces security team in Tripoli and that Chris twice “declined.” Since Chris cannot speak, I want to explain the reasons and timing for his responses to Gen. Ham. As the deputy chief of mission, I was kept informed by Chris or was present throughout the process.
On Aug. 1, 2012, the day after I arrived in Tripoli, Chris invited me to a video conference with Africom to discuss changing the mission of the U.S. Special Forces from protecting the U.S. Embassy and its personnel to training Libyan forces. This change in mission would result in the transfer of authority over the unit in Tripoli from Chris to Gen. Ham. In other words, the special forces would report to the Defense Department, not State.
Chris wanted the decision postponed but could not say so directly. Chris had requested on July 9 by cable that Washington provide a minimum of 13 American security professionals for Libya over and above the diplomatic security complement of eight assigned to Tripoli and Benghazi. On July 11, the Defense Department, apparently in response to Chris’s request, offered to extend the special forces mission to protect the U.S. Embassy.
However, on July 13, State Department Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy refused the Defense Department offer and thus Chris’s July 9 request. His rationale was that Libyan guards would be hired to take over this responsibility. Because of Mr. Kennedy’s refusal, Chris had to use diplomatic language at the video conference, such as expressing “reservations” about the transfer of authority…
During that video conference, Chris stressed that the only way to mitigate the risk was to ensure that U.S. military personnel serving in Libya would have diplomatic immunity, which should be done prior to any change of authority…
Chris understood the importance of the special forces team to the security of our embassy personnel. He believed that by explaining his concerns, the Defense Department would postpone the decision so he could have time to work with the Libyan government and get diplomatic immunity for the special forces.
According to the National Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Department needed Chris’s concurrence to change the special forces mission. But soon after the Aug. 1 meeting, and as a complete surprise to us at the embassy, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed the order without Chris’s concurrence…
When I arrived in Tripoli on July 31, we had over 30 security personnel, from the State Department and the U.S. military, assigned to protect the diplomatic mission to Libya. All were under the ambassador’s authority. On Sept. 11, we had only nine diplomatic security agents under Chris’s authority to protect our diplomatic personnel in Tripoli and Benghazi…
To sum up: Chris Stevens was not responsible for the reduction in security personnel. His requests for additional security were denied or ignored. Officials at the State and Defense Departments in Washington made the decisions that resulted in reduced security. Sen. Lindsey Graham stated on the Senate floor last week that Chris “was in Benghazi because that is where he was supposed to be doing what America wanted him to do: Try to hold Libya together.” He added, “Quit blaming the dead guy.”
Violate, schmiolate...
These guy can do any goddamned thing they want to without challenge.
Who’s gonna stop ‘em? Boehner?
This day, May 5, will forever be remembered on every college campus in the United States as THE DAY OF TEARS. The day when professors and students at American universities began to realize that by supporting the Democrat Party, they had been duped into supporting a criminal organization.
Panetta was a lying sleazebag back in the Clinton era, he is still a lying sleazebag, and he will be a lying sleazebag ‘til the day he dies.
Then, when he is dead and in the ground, he will still be a sleazebag.
The Panetta DoctrineOn Benghazi, Panetta Says Needed 'Advance Notice' of Surprise Attack for Timely Response
They had real-time onsite video, secured e-mail and were speaking with personnel at both compounds over at least two lines of radio transmission and cell phones. There were two drones overhead. All of that was live-streaming to the entire DoD-DC network of sit-rooms around the world including the White House.
Did Panetta expect al Qaeda to call in with GPS-camera phones and relay their plans and positions to him? Maybe we can air drop laser sighting tags throughout the Muslim world and ask them to all kindly affix one to the tops of their heads? With barcodes so we can target specific jihadis. Oh, and let's require that terrorists submit detailed plans of attacks to a committee for review at least six months in advance.
Nope. They won’t be told/won’t believe it. It is not the Obama meme that Big Media parrots. They will be told it is all the Republicans fault, whatever happens, whatever goes wrong, it is always the fault of Republicans.
where’s the Emails on this between Billary and Panetta; I do not think Panetta made the decision to violate NDAA without gettting Billary on board with it, as cover, by going over the ambassador’s head but without Billary informing the ambassador that that’s what they were doing - get the Emails to find if that is true or not, that’s what I say to the select committee.
You’re having a wet dream, it would appear....
Certainly sounds like the Obama/Hillary strategy is a “yes” to all of your points.
Hillary should have resigned over this. Now she is exposed as entirely complicit, on board, and indisputably as guilty of implementing the worst disaster against American foreign relations, and military security since the communist era in D.C., as Obama.
She is worse than we ever dreamed and has cost countless lives abroad.
This explains why this was and remains a failure of foreign policy, exactly as Ben Rhodes feared in his email to Rice.
Never about a video, it was foolishly used as a diversion from their disastrous foreign policy, and Rhodes knew it, feared it and wanted nothing to lead to a discussion of it. Desperation.
Therefore, failure of our entire ME foreign policy is exactly where this Select Committee needs to go.
Hillary's most important government position to date is Secretary of State, and the only memorable event in her tenure was Benghazi. Some credentials for her quest to become President--the Democrats and the media have to keep the public from understanding what happened.
Yes, absolutely. You are so right.
And, with or without cooperation from the communist side of the aisle, this House of Cards may be finally imploding. Voters are not in the mood to give these players the long rope
any longer.
As for Hillary, she will be embattled with all this, and can’t possibly be cleaned up in time for a run against Jeb Bush, whom the country would think is squeaky clean by comparison.
I wasn’t one who was certain she was going to run, even in the best of circumstances, because she is simply not up to it any more, unless it is a coronation. Too fat, too slow and out of shape for a gruelling campaign, and old news to a new generation.
Panetta is a piece of scum. Have always despised him.
Yes, it should. That will be no small subject when they get into it.
bfl
Anyone want to place a bet on whether or not Kennedy had the authority to make that decision?
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