Posted on 10/25/2012 6:47:10 AM PDT by shortstop
American life must be cheap.
At least in the valuation of the White House and the other big buildings around Washington.
Must be the men and women sent overseas mean nothing. We’ll meet your coffin at Andrews, if there are TV cameras, but damned if we’ll come to your rescue.
That’s what we learned at Benghazi.
As details have come out in dribs and drabs, each new revelation has illustrated the uncomfortable fact that we left those men to fight and die alone.
We did not defend them, we did not relieve them, we just watched them. Our drone circled overhead, providing a real-time video feed, but it did not fire its missiles, it was not used to guide in a relief force, it just took pictures.
Grisly souvenirs of a gutless administration.
For most of a year, our Libyan ambassador and various members of his security detachment warned of danger and pleaded for assistance. Time and time again the people on the ground said it wasn’t safe and they needed protection. Time and time again people in Washington declined the requests. Instead of increasing our security forces there, the administration cut them.
And then the attack came.
On September 11, in a concerted and effective three-pronged attack, well-rehearsed terrorist soldiers moved against our consulate.
It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
We were outgunned and defenseless. Our “safe room” became a death trap and our “safe house” was a point of ambush.
Almost immediately, the consulate contacted Washington and passed steady information about the attack. Maybe Washington didn’t need to be told. At some point before or during the attack, a Predator drone began circling the fight, sending video back to Washington.
The State Department quickly and repeatedly sent secure e-mail updates to senior officials and organizations across the government – to include the White House situation room. Two hours into an eight-hour attack, the State Department reported that an al Qaeda-linked local militia had taken credit for the action.
Much attention has been paid to what the White House and senior officials did, not to what they didn’t do.
What they did do is swear for almost two weeks that the attack was a passionate outgrowth of protests over a YouTube video. Over and over, including on a taxpayer-funded ad in Pakistan, the president and secretary of State apologized for the video and condemned it as disrespectful to Islam.
That’s what they did.
And it’s worthy of attention.
But even more worthy is what they didn’t do.
And what they didn’t do is help the besieged Americans in Benghazi.
They let them die, live on surveillance TV.
The fight, we have learned in the last two days, lasted not two or six hours, but eight. For eight hours our men and women were under fire. At the end of those eight hours, apparently from some sort of explosive, the last two Americans – former Navy SEALs – lost their lives.
While we did nothing.
Yes, the government had endangered the Libyan mission by gutting its security and denying its requests for more.
But, yes, when the attack began, and for a couple of hours after, American forces seem to have been well within quick-response distance.
Though our Sixth Fleet supposedly asserts American power in the Mediterranean and northern Africa, it has been gutted to such an extent that it is almost meaningless. President Obama says this has something to do with horses and bayonets.
Almost any naval vessel, however, could send missiles to Benghazi. Further, U.S. Navy aircraft in Spain and Crete seem to be within easy range of Libya.
Not a one of them was sent to relieve the besieged Americans.
But that’s not the worst part. In a situation like this, the Navy was the junior varsity. Sitting an hour’s flying time north of Benghazi is an entire U.S. Air Force base in Italy.
It is incomprehensible that over the course of an eight-hour battle in which Americans were fighting and dying that not a single one of those aircraft was scrambled. We had attack aircraft, fighters and gunships a plenty, parked on the pavement in Italy, and none of them were brought to bear.
Further, we have an airborne Brigade Combat Team in Italy. Not a one of those soldiers was moved. The only report of military response to the Benghazi attack was the activation of a quick-response force in Stuttgart, Germany.
But it wasn’t that quick and it wasn’t that close. And by the time it got to Sicily the fight had been over for several hours.
The bottom line: We didn’t do anything.
Which means we are either impotent posers, incapable of actually pulling our sword from its sheath, or we decided to let them die.
Either our head was so far up our backside that through several hours of fighting nobody had the brains or the balls to order a sortie, or we just decided to let them die.
Neither explanation is very comforting.
Neither explanation is consistent with American values.
Our ethic is to leave no man behind.
In this situation, we left a lot of men behind, and we took pictures.
And then we blamed it all on a movie.
When we knew that it was a terrorist attack that had nothing to do with a movie.
That’s not the American way. It’s the way things are done in Washington under the current regime, it’s not the American way.
American life must be cheap.
At least in the eyes of the people in charge.
These four souls were left to die. Zero would rather let them die than risk a failed rescue attempt. Mark my words, they had the resources to rescue these folks but didn’t. This POS and his marxist staff made the decision to avoid a rescue attempt fearing a possible Jimmy Carter momment.
They are more worried about keeping power than anything else. They aren’t finished punishing us yet. These traitors must be held accountable for their actions.
So few truly understand the danger that the left poses to this country, or the damage it has already done. Fewer still understand the shared DNA of the democrat party, unions, and organized crime. All have used each other to infest our (formerly) strong national institutions, and building their own along the way. They took over education, the media, and in some cases, the upper reaches of our military. They have destroyed everything they touched and imposed their will through “back door” means. This didn’t start in 1968- it started LONG before that and continues now. It will continue no matter who we elect in November.
It’s in the schools and colleges, it’s in the media, and it’s in the agencies formed to “protect” us. It’s anywhere where the culture is “softest”. We no longer comprehend the terms “treason” or “traitor”, and we have lost ALL our skills at enemy identification.
Thanks for the memories, gunnyg.
I think that the Obama administration did some quick political calculating. They used the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt as a model. They looked at the probability of failure/success and reasoned that it was just too politically risky to send the military to Benghazi. Think about it people!!! Hillary asked the Libyans for clearance to send aircraft to Libya!!! They considered the military option!!! They just ruled it out because of politics!!!
Also he incited riots around the rest of the region under false pretenses.
Imagine what current and former SEALs are thinking right now, knowing their brothers were left to die.
No, this is just beginning and it's going to be huge. People are keeping quiet now but in a few months there will be no reason to be.
Thank you for the response—appreciated.
Never Let ‘Em Ferget!
Gunny G
aka; Dick Gaines
AP, Fla
*****
Bullseye, Ryan. The Seals and the entire SpecOps community will be doing some soul-searching over this one. I know some guys from the old crew of special warriors who would have launched anyway. It is an unbreakable oath they have with one another.
Thanks for the ping.
To this president and his party, political expediency trumps the lives of a few Americans.
Congratulations, America. Nice vote in 2008.
Americans DO CARE. most everyone would be stunned and shocked that these brothers were left to die. But a lot of Americans don’t search out information on current or worldly events and just get news by osmosis through mouthpiece media.
The media is accessory to Barack’s coverup. They don’t report anything but what he wants them to. They do not ask questions.
The “why” behind Benghazi, if Jeff head is right, is probably very damaging to the regime. What I am dying to know is, what is the “why” behind this media slavery? They are the enemy of the free Republic.
“Some General or Field grade officers some place should be ashamed of themselves ....”
need Courts Martial....
Reading your posts gave me chills.
God bless those two brave souls and to h*** with the POS in the White House and all those who support him.
Back in the olden days, guys would risk their lives to retrieve their US flag, let alone their brothers-in-arms. But this isn't the military organization we grew to respect and revere. This is Ubama's politically correct, pink military, and he has placed in charge faggots like Mullen and others whose main concern is pandering to homos and jihadists. Everything else is secondary.
Say hello to the Ubama military.
The bigger problem is that Romney and Ryan are just fine and dandy with it.
Pray for America.
With all the good honest people at various levels and with different assets watching this horror unfold over the hours, I don’t understand how nothing (it seems) was done. ? Is anyone in retrospect wishing he had acted, even in the absence of orders?
Appreciate your comments, Jeff; so glad you’re here.
I just watched/listened to the Obama UN speech on Sept 25, 2012. He absolutely and repeatedly refers to a root cause of the violence in Benghazi being the video slandering the prophet of islam.
He does it from the 13 minute mark through the 21 minute mark in the 30 minute speech. The key quote is at 20:36.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73EQoIsKwCw
I absolutely agree with the call to prayer. I also agree with your sentiment that Romney and Ryan are OK with the pink military. I do hold out some hope that Ryan is just being a "team player". He's never favored a pink military in the past.
Nonetheless, I think Obama continuing as president is worse. I couldn't put my finger on a pro-life reason up until this Benghazi incident.
Obama might leave our guys behind. But I won't.
I absolutely agree with the call to prayer. I also agree with your sentiment that Romney and Ryan are OK with the pink military. I do hold out some hope that Ryan is just being a "team player". He's never favored a pink military in the past.
Nonetheless, I think Obama continuing as president is worse. I couldn't put my finger on a pro-life reason up until this Benghazi incident.
Obama might leave our guys behind. But I won't.
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