And why weren't the Predators used? (Seems like the refusal to confirm whether or not they were armed is like a tacit admission that at least one of them was.)
What was Woods being told when he took out an IR laser? Was he led to expect an imminent response?
"No outside military intervention" equals "no cross-border authority" and that constitutes "standing orders" until POTUS changes them. Nobody else can “un-decide” the POTUS decree.
Apparently drones were also included in the POTUS's version of "outside military intervention".
"That, and who "set him up" by sending him to Beghazi to meet the Turks on 9-11, with them leaving after dark. "
Excellent question.
We are relying on fragmentary and possibly misheard or misunderstood reporter’s versions thereof. We still do not know if the two Predators over Benghazi came from outside of Libya, or from inside. We do not know if the Predators were armed, or unarmed, and what the ROE were determining if they would take off armed or unarmed.
The CIA might have ROE to state that Predator recon flights are unarmed, unless the NCA orders otherwise. That seems reasonable to me, but we don’t know for sure at this point.
In regards to the IR Laser Aiming Device, it was probably just on the former SEAL’s personal M-4, a typical DBAL type device. In conjunction with a NOD, (PVS-14 etc) he would use it to make accurate shots in that environment, or he could also use it to designate a target such as a mortar team.
Remember, some reporter talked to an operator who had last spoken to the SEALs, probably prior to them manning the MG on the annex roof. The reporter is perhaps reporting garbled information. We are just seeing as through a glass, darkly.
We still don’t know if the Predators were armed, or if an AC-130 gunship was over Benghazi. We just don’t know. Anybody who says they know, I want to read that report to see if it’s just wishful thinking, projection, bad reorting, or factual.