Posted on 10/29/2012 3:14:31 AM PDT by tobyhill
On Saturday, retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Fox News that according to his sources, President Obama watched the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, from the White House as it took place.
“This was in the middle of the business day in Washington, so everybody at the White House, CIA, Pentagon, everybody was watching this go down,” he said on Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine.”
“According to my sources, yes, [President Obama] was one of those in the White House Situation Room in real-time watching this,” he added.
Video: Military analyst says Obama watched Benghazi attack in real time. Col. David Hunt, a Fox News military analyst, said the "entire U.S. government was paying attention," since this was the fourth embassy to have been attacked in a 24-hour period.
But President Obama said Friday that he was "not personally aware" of any requests for additional security.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
I think they wanted the ambassador out of the picture (a la Ron Brown). They watched to confirm he was taken out.
In the Cedar Rapids Gazette's endorsement of Romney yesterday, they referenced Benghazi as one of their reasons for the endorsement. Granted, it's not the NYT, but it is the 2nd largest newspaper in one of the battleground states.
If he gets reelected he will never be held accountable. If he doesn’t, the Republicans are too wimpy to put him on trial.
Obama likely had NO idea how to respond. He has no military experience nor even a passing interest.
Without a moral backbone, one has to lead by committee & consensus. This takes time. So close to an election makes a quick decision almost impossible. I imagine the military voices in the room calling for assistance for our people in Benghazi were a small minority compared to the loud politicians (Jarrett) urging caution & restraint.
Obama’s entire Presidency has been one of postponement of hard decisions. Not a word about controlling entitlements. No rational budget in 4 years. Jobs are always just one more expensive gov’t program down the road. Same for a real recovery. He has been campaigning, not leading since Feb. 2009.
Cowardly indecision killed Americans in Benghazi.
Not to be cold, but Stevens & his compatriots may have died for their country in a way they did not imagine. For if Obama had be a Bush or Reagan, the "cavalry" WOULD have been sent in on a rescue, & whatever the outcome, Obama would have been seen in a favorable light, probably insuring his reelection.
Word IS getting out. I have family members who only watch/read DBM news and they knew about Obama’s three denials for help.
Bump
9/11 — of course everyone had to be especially alert and watching during this time due to obvious recognition of the significance and dangers associated with this day. Just common sense. Obama lies, but that too is obvious.
One of two scenarios:
1) He's a stoner, totally, like, gonzo dude...
-or-
2) He's one of the Mooselimb Brothers...completely rooting for the enemy.
eventually MSM will be forced to come along
********
Don’t hold your breath. As Rush so aptly characterizes the MSM: they are the Drive-Bys. Nothing to see here, just move on.
It's almost an exact repeat of 1993’s Blackhawk Down.
Benghazi all boils down to a key factor which is granting
CROSS-BORDER AUTHORITY.
Everything I have read and seen so far is still confirming my initial thinking on the matter, going way back to my days as a NavSpecWar officer who took a SEAL det to Beirut a long time ago.
Once the alarm is sent from Benghazi, dozens of HQs are notified and are in the loop in real time, including AFRICOM and EURCOM, both located in Germany.
Without waiting for orders, they begin planning and executing rescue operations, including getting air support over Benghazi ASAP. But one thing they CANNOT DO without explicit orders from the POTUS is cross an international border. That is the big “red line.”
All POTUS has to do is NOT grant cross-border authority, and the entire rescue (already in progress) must stop in its tracks. Ships can loiter on station, but planes fall out of the sky, so they must be redirected to an air base (Sigonella Sicily) to await the POTUS decision on granting CBA. If it never comes, the men in Behghazi must rely only on assets already “in country” in Libya, such as the Tripoli QRF and the Predators.
(And possibly AC-130s that might already have been in Libya: they were last year, but their location on 9-11-2012 is unknown. If they were “in country” but were prevented from firing, that is another situation.)
So if at the 5pm DC time meeting with Panetta and Biden, Obama said, “No outside military action,” meaning no CBA will be granted, then THAT IS IT. Case closed.
That constitutes “standing orders” all the way down the chain of command via Panetta to Ham and the subordinate commands trying to rescue the men in Benghazi.
If Obama then goes upstairs to the family quarters to watch TV or sleep, or otherwise makes himself “unavailable,” then his last standing orders will stand until he changes them, even if he goes to sleep until the morning of 9-12. Nobody in the chain of command below him can countermand his “standing orders” not to send military forces from outside of Libya into Libyan air space.
Nobody.
Personally, I think he left “no outside miltary intervention, no cross-border authority” standing orders, and then he went to bed. Damn him to hell.
(And to me, the most damning aspect of all is that Obama went to bed while his Ambassador was still missing and presumed kidnapped by Al Queda. Ambassador Stevens might have been on a Youtube video pleading for his life, ready to get the Nick Berg/Danny Pearl “intro to jihad” treatment, and Obama WENT TO BED to rest up for his much more important fund raiser in Las Vegas!)
I saw BO campaigning yesterday and he actually said something like “It’s not about what has happened in the past, but what we are going to do in the next 4 years” I was appalled. BO has never taken responsibility for anything in his life. I guess when he and the Mooch get wiped out next week, it won’t be his fault. If he does happen to get reelected, he must be impeached over Benghazi. He is bad for our military, therefore bad for our country. He is no CIC.
His new title needs to be Commander of the Portapotty.
That is more along the lines of responsibility he is truly able to handle.
Otherwise known as "Resting on your laurels", or "Prevent Defense", or "Let the other guy have a chance to pull it out and still win".
'Take the high road' is what the left tells us to do when they are losing. 'Kick them when they are down, and dance on their grave' is what the left does when they are winning.
'Take the high road' is what is done when there is a mild disagreement between friends, and losing the argument is not going to change anything. Losing this argument will change everything.
Things need to change, and change dramatically, and taking the high road won't help that happen.
And it's killing them.
Some podunk news reporter was whining on Twitter the other day about how he hated the social media because 'ameturs' shouldn't talk about the news.
He was slapped down pretty quick for telling eveyone they didn't have a right to their opinons! ROFLMBO!
Thank God for Fox News - and others - for reporting on this. As I mentioned before, sure wish a Special Ops or other PAC would put out a devastating ad on the Benghazi cover up, for the "toss up" states.
Yes, and unless things have changed for the worse, spec ops, Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and CIA covert operatives train for such contingencies all the time.
People with no military knowledge tend to think that those not in the "sh*t" just sit around. Sailors swing in hammocks; soldiers hang around the barracks smoking and joking; Marines just run and do calisthenics; Air Force pilots and crew just go on joy rides.
There is a reason we are biggest baddest dog on the block...it's called training, training, and more training for any and all scenarios. Except for some politically motivated Flag officers, the military takes their jobs seriously and train for worse!
The idea that we shouldn't send in aircraft from Sicily to strafe the ground in fear of killing civilians in Libya is abhorrent to me. Unless I'm mistaken, we have air support for any theater of concern within an hour - somewhat later for ground incursion.
Something that many have forgotten during this debacle is that Bambi has allowed many drone attacks in Pakistan. Where was the guarantee that NO civilians would be killed in those operations? And what about the SEAL incursion to kill bin-Laden? Any guarantees there? Pfft.
I've made the same analogy, but I can't decide which is worse. The fact that Clinton denied prior request for backup (armor/air) or Bambi didn't give a GO while the fight was in progress. Both had prior knowledge of the threats - Mogadishu militia with clinton and earlier attacks against our Consulate in Libya with Bambi.
There is something seriously wrong with Democrat presidential thinking. Say what you will about Kennedy and FDR, but they at least fought. Crappola since, especially LBJ (may he rot in hell).
In 1993, Clinton's non response ended up making Osama Bin Laden the big dog on the block in the terrorist world.
Obama’s non response has just done the same thing with this guy in Libya responsible for the attack.
When a Clinton is involved there is no such thing as just a coincidence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.