Posted on 01/13/2016 3:54:01 AM PST by SJackson
All of this is fine but the central questions are:
1. Who and which agency had responsibility for contingency planning? Every location where we have Americans has a connected contingency plan prepared, staffed, and approved. Libya should have had several nice, thick plans. Why hasn’t that plan and its responsible officers surfaced?
2. What was the actual train of events at the NSC, JCS, and State that evening? Who did what, when?
Hate to do Gowdy’s job but some of us have actually worn the uniform and been places.
Clinton and the Obama stooges can claim there was no “stand down” order, because things were set up to require positive authorization, including Presidential Cross Border Authorization to enter Libya. They did not want to respond militarily, attracting attention to the arms to Syria operation, or as this piece implies, to engage/kill members of the Iranian Quds force, since our “valuable” nuclear negotiations might be derailed. Obama never asked for CBA, and evidently no fig-leaf CBA was in place as a pre-cautionary measure (total incompetence on Hillary’s part), for something like rescuing downed pilots). No doubt the Libyan government had no “official” knowledge of what we were doing in Benghazi; asking for CBA to defend our new “library” would be awkward.
With apologies to Edmond Burke, all that was necessary for evil to triumph was for evil men (and women) to do nothing. When it comes to accomplishing nothing, Hillary is the champ.
Hillary is responsible for what happened in bengazi
My reply to Mr. Timmerman on the FPM comment thread:
KRT, throwing the onus over to State is going for a head fake. Yes, state needs to be involved if they are going to ask for permission BEFORE crossing the Libyan border. But for a crisis like that night in Benghazi, in a country that is in a state of anarchy with no central govt control, it’s not necessary to get permission from the “Libyan government” (sic) first. All that is required is to obtain Cross-Border Authority from the Commander in Chief. Did State ask Pakistan for permission before the OBL raid? Of course not. Obama granted the military CBA, and that was that.
On the night of Benghazi, when Obama, Hillary and Panetta met in the Oval Office, it was believed that Ambassador Stevens had been taken by forces loyal to AQ. This is a disaster far greater than the number of lives eventually lost. An ambassador is equal in rank to a four-star general, and Stevens was (it’s thought) involved in running guns to Syria. My point is we’re talking about a crisis much greater than the possible loss of some American spooks and contractors.
But what did Obama do? He left the Oval Office and is not seen again until he’s on AF1 on the way to Las Vegas. IOW, he hid all night, with a missing ambassador believed to be in AQ hands, so that he could not be put on the spot to either grant or withhold CBA. It’s not up to Hillary to ask or not ask the “Libyan government” (sic) for permission to cross the Libyan border. It’s up to POTUS and only POTUS to either grant or deny CBA. No CBA, no rescue mission by assets located outside of Libya. Period.
I am amazed that CBA and Obama’s location that night STILL is not the central focus of this discussion. No CBA = no rescue = Obama hid like a coward, writing off the mission in Libya, likely already planning to blame it on the video.
“Benghazi’s Smoking Gun? Only President Can Give
‘Cross-Border Authority’”
https://pjmedia.com/blog/benghazis-smoking-gun-only-president-can-give-%e2%80%98cross-border-authority%e2%80%99/
I wrote about this just a few weeks after Benghazi. The PJMedia article has been re-archived, and no longer shows the earlier comments thread that ran to 100+ replies.
This is the beginning of the article I wrote back then:
The Benghazi debacle boils down to a single key factor — the granting or withholding of “cross-border authority.” This opinion is informed by my experience as a Navy SEAL officer who took a NavSpecWar Detachment to Beirut.
Once the alarm is sent — in this case, from the consulate in Benghazi — dozens of HQs are notified and are in the planning loop in real time, including AFRICOM and EUCOM, both located in Germany. Without waiting for specific orders from Washington, they begin planning and executing rescue operations, including moving personnel, ships, and aircraft forward toward the location of the crisis. However, there is one thing they can’t do without explicit orders from the president: cross an international border on a hostile mission.
That is the clear “red line” in this type of a crisis situation.
No administration wants to stumble into a war because a jet jockey in hot pursuit (or a mixed-up SEAL squad in a rubber boat) strays into hostile territory. Because of this, only the president can give the order for our military to cross a nation’s border without that nation’s permission. For the Osama bin Laden mission, President Obama granted CBA for our forces to enter Pakistani airspace.
On the other side of the CBA coin: in order to prevent a military rescue in Benghazi, all the POTUS has to do is not grant cross-border authority. If he does not, the entire rescue mission (already in progress) must stop in its tracks.
Ships can loiter on station, but airplanes fall out of the sky, so they must be redirected to an air base (Sigonella, in Sicily) to await the POTUS decision on granting CBA. If the decision to grant CBA never comes, the besieged diplomatic outpost in Benghazi can rely only on assets already “in country” in Libya — such as the Tripoli quick reaction force and the Predator drones. These assets can be put into action on the independent authority of the acting ambassador or CIA station chief in Tripoli. They are already “in country,” so CBA rules do not apply to them.
How might this process have played out in the White House?
The rest is at the PJMedia link.
In politics, as in dating, the cover-up is always far worse than the crime. What could and should tear her down is the fact that she lied about the entire event (”caused by a youTube movie”), she dismissed the four deaths (”what difference does it make?”), and she was the one who had the authority to send protective forces to protect those working at the consular office. She chose to watch them die.... and finding out why she chose to do that is very important... if we ever get that far.
I need to see this picture.
I’m certain that they are testing variations of the “...fog of war...” phrase for her response.
Trey Gowdy appears to have trouble finding his own bottom. (with both hands tied behind his back)
Oh I am not defending her at all. I think she is evil incarnate.
What I am doing is trying to think like her and present arguments that the average joe is going to accept as logical.
Just as Obama said the recovery is strong. I guess you could look at some numbers and the masses will accept his premise.
But, if you look at what might be really happening out there...the story is completely different.
Hey, I’m not arguing what should have been done. I think they should have moved everything they had asap. I’m just telling you how it works. The military, generally, does not move without orders. That would come from the very top, so blame Valerie Jarret, not me.
I was blessed to attend the premiere. People were shouting angry comments about Hillary, with people responding by applause. Three of the surviving operators were there, as we’re family members of those that died. This movie tells their story, based on their testimony. I came away angry at the CiC and SoS, who acted as PoS. Hillary’s swiftboated.
“”On the night of Benghazi, when Obama, Hillary and Panetta met in the Oval Office””
How do we know that? I’ve heard Panetta testify about arriving at the WH before or after they received the news. He said it was a prearranged meeting with the president. I’ve never heard that Hillary was anywhere that afternoon and evening except at the State Department. Lindsay Graham missed his chance here to ask Panetta if she was at the White House....
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/11/now-know-president-obama-was-mia-on-benghazi.html
“”Panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs, Martin Dempsey, told Graham they didn’t sleep, but said they didn’t know if Obama did. You would think a presidential conscience would keep him awake and engaged until he knew what had happened in Benghazi. You would be wrong. Instead, the two officials said they had only one, 30-minute conversation with Obama. It began at around 5 p.m. Washington time, 90 minutes after the first attack started, and they never spoke to him again that night.
The president’s only instructions, Panetta said, were, “Do whatever you need to do,” though he left the details “up to us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doesn’t that sum up his presidency? He gets the big salary and the perks and the ALL IMPORTANT LEGACY of being the first black man (which was the first lie) in the presidency and leaves everything else to the underlings he put in place to be sure they do a good job of destroying the country according to his wishes. Panetta should have told him to sit his *** down and issue the authority he needed to order the military assets to Benghazi.
Gowdy has turned out to be a disappointment.
I would only defend Hillary like this: Valjar and her puppet boy forced Hill to not get the military help. That is plausible. They had more to lose than she did if the attack was put down. All she wanted was to be President, and saving her Ambassador would have been better for her.
I’m sure he’s polishing his face as we speak.
Fog of War Vodka, you should trademark that. Good for craft beer too. Unlike Sam Adams, I wouldn't put her picture on the label.
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