Posted on 10/26/2012 1:39:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Yesterday, Leon Panetta told reporters that the US military didn’t intervene to assist our consulate in Benghazi during the attack because of a lack of real-time intelligence. Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin now reports that the CIA got at least three requests for support from the annex in the city to help fend off the attack — and that the chain of command not only refused the requests, but ordered its personnel to “stand down.” Two of the Americans killed in the terrorist attack disobeyed orders and attempted to rescue their fellow Americans:
Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that three urgent requests from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack nearly seven hours later were denied by officials in the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.
Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. Consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When they heard the shots fired, they radioed to inform their higher-ups to tell them what they were hearing. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. An hour later, they called again to headquarters and were again told to “stand down.”
Woods, Doherty and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the Consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The quick reaction force from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the Consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.
At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Specter gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours — enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.
It’s not as if there was no resources to respond, either:
A Special Operations team, or CIF which stands for Commanders in Extremis Force, operating in Central Europe had been moved to Sigonella, Italy, but they too were told to stand down. A second force that specializes in counterterrorism rescues was on hand at Sigonella, according to senior military and intelligence sources. According to those sources, they could have flown to Benghazi in less than two hours. They were the same distance to Benghazi as those that were sent from Tripoli. Specter gunships are commonly used by the Special Operations community to provide close air support.
Griffin’s sources tell her that the annex had painted a laser target at a terrorist mortar position and had called for an air strike. I’m not sure what that looks like in Panetta’s world, but it at least sounds like real-time intelligence on the attack, as well as a clear target, if this report is correct.
Saxby Chambliss is right — this gets uglier every day.
Why would he have lased the target unless he expected an incoming round/missile/Specter Gunship,,, if he/they were under duress/attack, you would not take the time to expose yourself or your position by continuously lasing a target.
just my opinion..
The question we really should be asking is “why”. I read a few weeks ago that this “attack” was a staged kidnapping to take the embassador hostage and later trade him for the Blind Sheik. I assumed this theory was just speculation but the more we find out what really happened, the more plausible it becomes. Perhaps that theory is why they were made to stand down. Perhaps they knew too much about something (like the missing weapons) and their deaths would silence them. If either is true, impeachement is too good for them.
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No. The order was to stand down from a rescue mission to another location. The CIA annex at that point was not under attack. Disagree with it, but let’s keep our facts straight.
GWB on October 26, 2012 at 3:32 PM
My facts are fine.
The Stand down order would have sealed the fate of those at the Consulate. Those were the people who, at that time, were fighting for their lives. Whether the denied request came from the Consulate or the Annex is immaterial. In fact, I am pretty sure that the Consulate would have had some way to contact the Annex. The call for help probably originated AT the Consulate.In that case the stand down order was denying a Consulate request. Somebody who was capable to help the Ambassador was being told NOT TO !!
Jabberwock on October 26, 2012 at 3:57 PM
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And we know those at the Annex heard the alarm from the Consulate.
Well the MSM is always waiting for the cue from Obama.
Has anyone in the media spoken to any of the 30+ people whose lives were spared because of the heroic acts of these Seals? An airplane ticket to Germany and then interview them all. Let us find out more.
Bad link.
Nah, he'll just take responsibility and that'll be the end of it.
Regretfully I remind you that Petreaus came out and stated categorically that this event was sparked by a video. I hope there is a more aceptible explaination than what it appears.
But the Annex was a CIA listening post as I understand it....so I presume there were CIA personnel there I would think.
I would like to know, would the entire situation take on a different slant IF there was NO CONSULATE AT BENGHAZI?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2950610/posts?page=30#30
As I remember when this all happened we had a thread that was lamenting about how huge the loss of that annex was to the CIA.....might be hard to find.
No. That makes it even worse. Something no good was going on in Benghazi and Obama is chest deep in it! It’s one more component of Obamas treason.
Color me stupid, but things still don’t seem to add up.
What was the objective of the attackers?
45 days after the incident and no clear objective appears to be stated.
Terrorism?
In-your-face rebellion to the US?
A thousand Osama bin Ladens in a 9/11 re-enactment?
Kill a homosexual ambassador?
Interrupt ongoing business of the Ambassador?
Eliminate a knowledgeable source?
By direction of others to give Obama an October Surprise?
Kidnap the Ambassador?
Sucker others into the compound, having never been about the Ambassador?
Why attack the Annex 4-6hrs after the Residence?
Seemed to be preplanned fires.
If they attacked it, why didn’t they finish it when the Annex was unsupported by others than the Tripoli reaction team?
Did they confuse the ex-SEAL action as a rescue of the Ambassador, thinking he was now in the Annex, they began an assault on the Annex, only to later find out he was elsewhere, then ceased fire?
Why did they cease fire?
Were the attackers a different hand of a Black Op?
The attackers swing from a handful of elite tacticians to a gaggle of several platoons of pseudo political militant gun toting mobs without leadership. Elements of the attack are premeditated and well equipped. Others are oafish.
Some quarters continue to use the term “Consulate” for that CIA operations house. At best, the DOS would correctly identify it as a “mission”. I wish Fox and others would get their facts straight.
Searching the FR Archives for threads of interest....found this one.:
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Al Qaeda Flag Hoisted Over Benghazi, Libya! ^
10/31/2011 10:34:57 PM PDT · by Reaganite Republican
By ‘different slant’ I certainly didn’t mean to suggest an improvement. We keep hearing ‘ambassador’ and ‘consulate’ - but it begins to look as if the compound premises were attached to a weapons storage facility, wasn’t a consulate, and the ambassador was not doing what one might expect an ambassador to be doing...
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Libya lawmaker says Benghazi attack planned ^
09/16/2012 7:08:53 AM PDT · by navysealdad
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US official dies in Libya consulate attack in Benghazi ^
09/11/2012 7:07:24 PM PDT · by 2ndDivisionVet
The web increases in size.
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