http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2940216/posts
Despite Threats, U.S. Cut Security in Libya Before Attacks
Daily Beast ^ | 10/4/2012 | Eli Lake
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2012 3:04:13 PM by mojito
In the six months leading up to the assault on the United States consulate in Benghazi, the State Department reduced the number of trained Americans guarding U.S. facilities in Libya, according to a leading House Republican investigating the Sept. 11 anniversary attacks. The reduction in U.S. security personnel increased America’s reliance on local Libyan guards for the protection of its diplomats.
This is the latest charge from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican leading a House investigation on the Benghazi attacks, regarding alleged security defects in Benghazi. Chaffetz said the information comes from whistleblowers who have approached the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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From the article:
“The fully trained Americans who can deal with a volatile situation were reduced in the six months leading up to the attacks.”
Exclusive: Former CIA Official: Obama ‘October Surprise’ Airstrike in Libya ‘Would Be Criminal’
The former senior CIA official told Breitbart News that with America’s lack of intelligence on the ground in Libya, the fallout for any sort of airstrike could be catastrophic, leading to civilian casualties, and more broadly, to the fall of a weak but moderate Libyan government. He pointed out that the government in Pakistan has been forced to answer for US airstrikes inside Pakistan, thanks to the high level of civilian casualties; such scrutiny for a weaker and far more moderate government in Libya would cause its collapse. “The danger is what straw will break a very weak, moderate, democratically elected government in Libya,” he stated. “There are people on the ground with relationships with the Tripoli government. This government is hanging on by a thread, building a coalition to keep the extremists at bay and the moderates together. Any unilateral US attack that isn’t looked upon as something done in conjunction with Libyan forces will be very difficult for this government to survive.”
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The former senior CIA official stated that it is usual for the Department of Defense to put together contingency lists in the aftermath of foreign policy catastrophes like the murder of our ambassador in Libya. He also said that he had confidence that the Department of Defense would stand against any airstrike inside Libyan targets: “They’ll have enough people who will say, ‘this is purely political.’”
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With that level of politicization of our defense strategy in the White House, this official states that a “wag the dog” scenario, in which airstrikes are undertaken in order to make the president seem stronger going into an election, is a very real possibility. “We’re 30 days before the election,” he said. “People have been crying wolf over ‘wag the dog’ since the movie came out. But this would be it. There’s not one intelligence officer – even the Director of National Intelligence – who could look you in the eye and say, ‘Sure, the intelligence is good enough for a surgical strike using smart weapons from above.’
“If the administration pursues an airstrike at this time, both Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and CIA Director General David Petraeus should be removed from office … This would be criminal.”