Sappers in the Wire
CNN reports the testimony of the State Department’s former security man Libya. He “told a congressional hearing Wednesday that his superiors worked against him as he tried to get more help for the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi in the months before it was overrun in a deadly terror attack.”
Eric Nordstrom, the one-time regional security officer, told the House Oversight Committee that he had a disheartening conversation with the regional director of the agency’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs when he requested additional manpower for the facility.
“I said, ‘Jim, you know what makes it most frustrating about this assignment? It’s not the hardships. It’s not the gunfire. It’s not the threats. It’s dealing and fighting against the people, programs, and personnel who are supposed to be supporting me,” Nordstrom said. He also told the State Department officer, “‘For me, the Taliban is on the inside of the building.”
The obvious counter to this criticism was that the evil Paul Ryan slashed the budget to the point where no further defense could be afforded. The BBC says “a memo prepared by the committee’s Democratic staff noted that House Republicans had voted for an embassy security funding package that was $459m (£286m) lower than what the Obama administration had requested.” That slightly more than PBS and NPR get and about the same amount as the White House’s cash infusion to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood dominated government. Half a billion here, half a billion there are pretty soon you’re talking real money.
But even if more security had been available it would not have made a material difference. “In his prepared statement, Nordstrom said the “ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security Service. Having an extra foot of wall, or an extra-half dozen guards or agents would not have enabled us to respond to that kind of assault.”"
“We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi at the time of 9/11,” said Charlene Lamb, the deputy secretary of state for diplomatic security in charge of protecting American embassies and consulates around the world….
A memo Tuesday by the Oversight Committee’s Democratic staff provided details of Nordstrom’s interview with the panel’s investigators. In that interview, Nordstrom said he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March 2012 and July 2012 requesting additional diplomatic security agents for Benghazi, but he received no responses.
He stated that Lamb wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi artificially low. He said Lamb believed the Benghazi facilities did not need any diplomatic security special agents because there was a residential safe haven to fall back to in an emergency.
However the attackers knew about the “safe haven” too and it’s promised safety proved false. Apparently the Taliban was in the building in more ways than one. The question now being asked in Congress was how the State Department could confuse an organize assault on this scale for a spontaneous demonstration arising from an amateurish video produced in California.
One of the requests made by the security team that was denied was for a DC-3. “ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Embassy of Libya to retain a DC-3 airplane in the country to better conduct their duties.” Why a DC-3? Who can say? Maybe they thought it would be handy dealing with overrun embassies.
Belmont Commenters
How to Publish on Amazon’s Kindle for $2.99
The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99
Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99
No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99
I went along on a spooky mission once — incredible! They say every square inch of an area the size of a football field is hit. I believe it.
The details don’t matter, just the results: the ambassador died. And that he died after making requests for more security, make it worse. After all he could have been ordered to leave, or left on his own. It happened on Hillary’s watch, and Obambus’, and there it is.
You can quibble about the details, whether they are the best or the worst of what has been alleged so far, I don’t think matters much at all.
I made my first post on this thread, and got an error message:
YOU ARE POSTING TOO QUICKLY, SLOW DOWN!
This is what I pasted in, hopefully my typing the above will be slow enough to pass.
Ridiculous, but true!
—
ABC News:
Attack on Benghazi Consulate ‘Unprecedented,’ State Department Official Says
Sickening Report, victims of BHO Admin.
A DC-3? A simple airplane that has proved rugged over the years. Simple to maintain, and could land in many flat unimproved airstrips in the desert. To do….what?
Obama himself said at the memorial ceremony for Ambassador Stevens that the Ambassador was there to help site a cultural center. What? The community organizer in chief telling us a happy and acceptable bed time story, so that we will not question why the bad men are still there, ready to kill again.
The fundamental problem, beyond the death of the Ambassador and the other Americans present was, just what were they trying to accomplish in Benghazi?
We’ll likely never know, and noboby will probably ever tell us.
Terrible tragedies happen every day. Anonymous people in all kinds of unpleasant places in the world are killed for no more reason than they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Ambassador’s death was not meaningless or just a statistic, but is important in the context of just what was going on?
This much is obvious, that the Ambassador was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, again, the reason why – why was he there? There has to be a real reason, and it was not to find a site for a cultural center, as our President alluded to. Somebody knows, yet I doubt we will ever hear the truth. Because frankly we don’t count enough as mere citizens to be told the truth.
And that is message that is probably just as disturbing as the “why” regarding the death of Ambassador Stevens.
“In his prepared statement, Nordstrom said the “ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security Service. Having an extra foot of wall, or an extra-half dozen guards or agents would not have enabled us to respond to that kind of assault.”” – Eric Nordstrom
“We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi at the time of 9/11,” said Charlene Lamb, the deputy secretary of state for diplomatic security in charge of protecting American embassies and consulates around the world.
If this was the case, why did we have American assets over there in harms way? Lamb is clearly incompetent, and criminally so. Whatever plan they had, a dead Ambassador, and overrun Consulate, near overrun Embassy, and a 25 day delay in even INVESTIGATING the event, is proof positive that “the correct number of assets” were not in place. Fire her ass and then prosecute her.
As far as Nordstrom is concerned, he’s playing politics as well. I don’t care what he anticipated. He’s admitting that “plan A” wasn’t in place, let alone “plan B” or “plan C”. The guard at an Embassy or Consulate is only spec’d to provide protection until a relief force arrives. In London, “plan B” is the local constabulary, and “plan C” is the SAS. In Libya and locations with less secure governments and professional security, plan B are the ex-SEAL’s and plan C may be a FAST unit offshore on a Navy Amphib in the Med.
It’s absolute bullshit that additional security would not have made a difference. Maybe to Obama’s incompetents, but in the real world, a squad or platoon of U.S. Marines with appropriate planning and SOF backup is more than adequate. And of course, as we PROFESSIONAL military men all know, an adequate, convincing defense means that you never have to use it. If someone is foolish enough to challenge you, your assets survive, the bad guys die, and no one tries it again for about 50 years.
These Obama Democrats are SO DAMN incompetent, this event was, and I mean this in the most literal sense of the term, criminal negligence. I’ll bet the Obama people haven’t even figured out the extent of their legal exposure yet. However, you can be certain Clinton’s loyalists have had that part nailed since day one, because the Clinton’s have all kinds of experience skirting the law from the 1990s.
When you read the account of the attack on the Benghazi consulate there seems no way State could have concluded from ‘preliminary’ intelligence that it had anything to do with a mob or a video. You would have to be an imbecile, blind or both to conclude that the actions which took place that night bore any resemblance to a spontaneous demonstration by Ma and Pa Abdul.
It might even be fair to say that by no stretch of the imagination or contortion of the mind could one have conceivably arrived at the story which Hillary Clinton peddled to the public in the days following; that account bore no seeming relation to the events of the night. How they could have taken out a paid in ad in Pakistan days after the incident and ascribed it to a video fairly staggers the sensibility.
I mean really, you just feel like laughing. How they can expect anyone to buy the notion the situation was some kind of nettlesome problem that they spent days devoting their giant intellects to untangling to is even more astonishing. It would almost be funny if it weren’t for the fact that people died.
ABC News, Oct 5 on DC 3:
Email Shows State Department Rejecting Request of Security Team at US Embassy in Libya
ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Embassy of Libya to retain a DC-3 airplane in the country to better conduct their duties.
Copied on the email was U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in a terrorist attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, Sept. 11, 2012, along with three other Americans. That attack has prompted questions about whether the diplomatic personnel in that country were provided with adequate security support.
No one has yet to argue that the DC-3 would have definitively made a difference for the four Americans killed that night. The security team in question, after all, left Libya in August.
But the question – both for the State Department, which is conducting an internal investigation, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is holding hearings next week – is whether officials in Washington, D.C., specifically at the State Department, were as aware as they should have been about the deteriorating security situation in Libya, and whether officials were doing everything they could to protect Americans in that country.
Earlier this week, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and another member of the committee wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listing 13 incidents leading up to the attack, ranging from IED and RPG attacks to a “posting on a pro-Gaddafi Facebook page” publicizing early morning runs taken by the late Ambassador Stevens and his security detail around Tripoli.
“Was State Department headquarters in Washington aware of all the above incidents?” they asked Secretary Clinton, requesting written responses by Oct. 8. “If not, why not? If so, what measures did the State Department take to match the level of security provided to the U.S. Mission in Libya to the level of threat?”
The subject line of the email, from Miki Rankin, the post management officer for Libya and Saudi Arabia, reads “Termination of Tripoli DC-3 Support.”
Rankin informs Stevens and the others on the email, whose names have been redacted, that Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy “has determined that support for Embassy Tripoli using the DC-3 will be terminated immediately. Post’s request to continue use of the plane in support of the SST was considered. However, it was decided that, if needed, NEA will charter a special flight for their departure.”
…The State Department official acknowledged that the plane was used to get around Libya, not just to get in and out of the country. But once commercial air service was re-established, the State Department decided that the SST didn’t need the plane anymore. The security team, it would seem, disagreed…
Lot of finger pointing going on to assign blame for this gross incompetence and the cover up.
Re the cover up-the scape goat now is Rice
Rice does not work for nor report to Hillary Clinton.
Rice directly works for and reports to Obama-the cover up came directly from the White House and Obama
Now about Nixon and Watergate-who ordered the cover up?-in this case Obama
Regarding last weeks debate-
Obama did his standard performance- when he does not have a teleprompter-it was not a bad night for Obama-it was a standard performance.
What is relevant about the debate is that Romney was himself and is clearly the more competent candidate for POTUS.
An antique. The DC3 is a monument to the supremacy of US engineering. But should not be considered a primary tool for modern evac.
C130,C141? Too new?
Best they could do??
An antique. The DC3 is a monument to the supremacy of US engineering. But should not be considered a primary tool for modern evac.
Real Terry and the Pirates stuff. Who knows but they had a Pilatus Porter stashed somewhere built from parts maybe in some Benghazi farmhouse. The impression I get is of a real clash of cultures. There were the suits who comprised the “Taliban in the Building” and there were guys who were keeping the suits alive by any means they could think of, up to including flying antiques. But at some point the odds became too long and that was that.
Some of the suits never believed the danger was real — until now. The trouble was they had the authority and called the shots.
This Donk crowd thinks that Puff is for puffing with the Choom Gang and they expect Indiana Jones to bring his own DC-3 in reel two. After all their scheming and politicking and dreaming the last thing they expected was to have reality come and peel the lid off their lunchbox. Now they will begin to breakdown in tantrums and mutual recrimination. It is all so Unfair.
We need to get this crowd offstage fast. Then we must have a serious debate on how to protect ourselves in the future. The risk is that if we impose to tight a set of controls then we will imperil our Democracy. There has to be some way to keep the tax eaters and foreign agents and certifiable incompetents from getting the vote or masquerading as persons whose political opinions are as worthy of public consideration as those entitled to vote, without losing the liberties we all cherish. The Constitution is not a suicide pact.
Maybe we should create an American Expeditionary Force for operating in the Developing World. A sort of British Indian Army for the 21st Century based on robust but simple 20th century technology. DC-3s and P-51s and M-1s and half tracks, and a mix of US and native troops.
it looks like elements of the government are actively working to bring down obama. sucks to be him. poor little caligula.
This at the link below is very interesting as it provides some discussion that the dust up in Egypt was also not in response to the video. Also news regarding whistle blowing at CNN regarding story supression:
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/10/01/cnn-exposed-emmy-winning-former-cnn-journalist-amber-lyon-blows-the-whistle-simultaneously-answers-one-of-my-questions/
Sorry, I saw Yahoo in Wretch’s link and assumed my ABC DC piece was different.
I was posting too fast!
Delete at will!
Can’t wait for Ben Affleck’s Libya movie. Clear up once and for all what’s really happening.
12. cjm
it looks like elements of the government are actively working to bring down obama. sucks to be him. poor little caligula.
You’re too kind, cjm. I have a much more cynical mind. Like the Ambassadore was sacrificed to ensure the Muslim Brotherhood (and Iran) got hold of a whole lot of important information during the attack. Intel, keylists, code devices, you name it.
And what of the intel briefings that Obama bin Sodden misses each day? Well – they are “sent” to his Ipad that he cavorts around the country/world under his arm. That’s an awful big window “into the mind of America” if any of that information…gets lost, or accessed, by mistake. Wonder if the Prez ever showed it to Demetri – “Hey, Dude. Check this out!”
I bet it is amazing how much intel is on that device. Probably “almost” the same level of compartmentation as the Ipad that Mata Har-, I mean Huma Abedin carries all over the world with Hillary Clinton. Wow! She looks an awful lot like my middle girl – must really be a loyal American. /sarc off
What an Anti-American group of maggots we have running this country. It’s breathtaking – if you catch my drift.
#16-Not enough space on his I-Pad for intel. His collection of speeches uses up all the memory.
W, what’s a link for a good description of the attack?
You know, I think teh Won has forgotten that the MSM are like sharks. If you feed them chum constantly they’ll behave. But if you put blood in the water, then it’s a whole new ball game. “Blood”, in this situation, is a coverup. Ever since Watergate two generations of bright-eyed bushy-tailed J-School students have graduated with wet dreams about being the next Woodward & Bernstein. Oh, sure, they’ll feel bad about beating up on Teh Won but hey, they’re “professional journalists” right? They’ve got standards and they’re objective…
try this: http://abcnews.go.com/International/attack-benghazi-consulate-unprecedented-state-department-official/story?id=17438780&singlePage=true
ask yourself. Does this really look like a mob?
@6: You would have to be an imbecile, blind or both to conclude that the actions which took place that night bore any resemblance to a spontaneous demonstration by Ma and Pa Abdul.
Charlene Lamb was offered as bait by State to twist in the wind while Ambassador Kennedy acted as the blocker. Kennedy conveniently failed to bring his super double secret intelligence documents with him to the open session and he refused to rely upon his memory to construct a timeline for the ‘video protest’ scam.
It seems Kennedy is able to claim that there exists some flimsy scrap of information somewhere that mentions the video protest, but due to National Security reasons, that scrap will never be made public. Issa intimated that he has an unclassified document that may expose the weakness in Kennedy’s claim; we can always hope.
You could see the relief in Lamb’s face when she was finally asked if she had the authority to refuse the request for additional security. She did not have that power; she was, it appears, only a manipulator and a messenger.
Now Wretch re-posts MY ABC Link!
…we’re even!
(but I can’t write)
Heritage:
An Incriminating Timeline: Obama Administration and Libya
Dozens of incidents contrasted with multiple lies by the Admin.
(also Video)
—
The Moderator for Ryan/Biden Debate had Obama as a guest at her wedding in 1991.
The Congressional hearings today were depressing to watch. The Obama administration officials did nothing but project weakness. Charlene Lamb was a joke. Patrick Kennedy (not the royal Patrick Kennedy, but another) took it back to a State Department setting yet managed to come off as even more of a joke.
Obama’s motivation in handling Benghazi was entirely rooted in domestic politics, yet life is full of ironies. He’s hoisted himself on his own petard on this one. With loss of life, I might add. Being president isn’t for kids.
Another (smaller) lie which is now refuted is the one about the photos supposedly showing Amb. Stevens being dragged through the streets by helpful locals to the hospital. Since the whole “demonstration” thing has been shown to be a complete lie, seems pretty obvious that was more of a Duck of Death-type scene (not that it wasn’t previously obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together).
O/T – Lance Armstrong is officially stripped of all of his Tour de France wins for participating in a drugging circle on the U. S. Postal Team!
And the irony? The guys who finished second more than likely were doing drugs as well and will now be given the title. The records will be scrubbed and re-done (much like a bad memory in the old Soviet Union) and the new winners will not get any of the “perks” of winning the TDF.
It’s like being awarded the Medal of Honor – posthumously, 40 years after the event and 6 months after your death.
The anti-drug push is good. The folk administering it are about as qualified and as free of political incentives as was Barack on Bengazi.
Here’s a thought. I wonder why Ambassador Steven’s, his IT Chief, and the State Department security agent stayed in the bathroom so long – too long to safely escape the smoke. Were they perhaps thinking “… just a few more minutes, and the Calvary will be here … hold out a few more minutes, and the FAST team will rescue us …”.
They’d have been shocked to know that it’d be 20-something-odd days before that relief would arrive on site (i.e. when the FBI arrived for the CSI). It would have been one-hell of a long wait.
When exactly did Steven’s think to himself “..f**ck, Clinton has killed me” or maybe “… well, I’m a dead man now; I hope to hell that Obama thinks it was worth whatever the hell he was trying to accomplish by denying us security …”. You’ve got to know SOMEONE there was thinking that before they died.
What a cluster-f**k.
Sappers in the wire? Stop causing me flashbacks Wretch!
Reason for lack of security. Obama himself is so self-delusional that he thinks
that what he wants will come about by power of his personality. He wanted Libya to be secure so it was declared secure and security was withdrawn. Final answer.
Things will remain this way until either (a) Obama leaves office next January or (b) until the White house receives an Iranian nuke that was declared non-existent. (a) above is preferable.
Technical note: were I to specify an airplane for liason/getaway work in that area I would vote for the Brasila from EmBraer of Brazil. This is the current workhorse of the commuter airlines in the USA holds 30 passengers. Has turboprop engines (1800 brake horsepower each) cargo capacity of 1200 to 1500 lbs according to which model you get. Very reliable, very low maintenance very easy to operate. The new Gooney Bird in other words.
What genius in the White House thought the Big Lie would stand up? They are no longer in Chicago where the bureaucrats will go meekly to the slaughter because the city will remain under Democrat control no matter what. The career people at State weren’t going to lie under oath to a Republican controlled House, especially if there is the possibility they will soon be reporting to a Republican boss. Then there is the small matter that one of their own had been the terrorists’ target. Stevens was a career diplomat not a product of the academia/political appointee revolving door culture. I suspect as soon as the details about the requests for security being denied hit the State Department grapevine the families of every US employee in every embassy and consulate around the world became hopping mad.
Let’s recall: Obama vehemently denounced Bush for invading Iraq despite dozens of UNSC resolutions warning Saddam and after a DECADE and HUNDREDS of violations by Saddam Hussein of the terms of the armistice that suspended hostilities from the Gulf War, and despite bipartisan legislation authorizing the invasion.
Then when Mouammar Ghaddafi merely threatened to refuse payment in US Dollars, and demand payment in GOLD for his petroleum, the European Nations who are dependent on Libyan Sweet Light Oil ATTACK AND OVERTHROW GHADDAFI. (They don’t even have the refining capability for the Heavy Sour petroleum that sits unsold in Iranian depots and hulls…) This with Obama supplying the BULK of aircrews, aircraft, Air TRAFFIC CONTROL, REFUELING capacity, Fuel, Logistical support and MUNITIONS from US supplies, ships, planes and personnel.
Did Obama ask Congress for a Declaration of WAR?
Hell, no.
Did Obama bother informing Congressional Committees before the operation?
Hell, no.
Did The Traitors in the News Media Make a single PEEP about the Spectacular CONTRADICTIONS? Or Point out that the Libyan invasion was ABOUT OIL, and NOTHING ELSE?
Hell, no.
And the stupid Pr*cks in the administration couldn’t anticipate there would be Libyans who HATE US for killing their people to secure Oil for Europe??????????
Please CEASE TO TELL US ABOUT THE ALLEGED VIDEO. The {}bama administration is solely responsible for bringing it up, magnifying it, publicising it, beating the drum, ensuring that every Imam in every Mosque in EVERY city in every Muslim community would HEAR THAT AN AMERICAN HAD MADE A VIDEO INSULTING THE PROPHET.
These MORONS are a pack of bursting pus-filled ABSCESSES in human form.
We need a prolonged course of antibiotic therapy.
I’m sorry… do I sound annoyed?
I do not put much stock in the reliability of the patriotism of the State Department at any level. Their corporate culture values sacrificing US interests in the world for the sake of an non-existent international comity, their leadership all makes a fine living post-retirement based on fees from foreign [usually Arab] governments and no one there in line for their sinecure is going to want to upset that profitable arrangement before they can benefit, and finally the State Department has been under the control of the Left for generations, regardless of which party holds the White House.
If some of them roll over to a Romney Administration “Committee of Inquiry” that would be well and good. But it is not to be expected for the above reasons. In fact, while I dearly want Romney to evict that [I am at a loss here, because the words I want to use describing the SCOAMF are not appropriate to Wretchard's house. Insert your own.] from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; I have very little hope that that there will actually be the housecleaning [I want a domestic Nuremburg Tribunal] that will be needed. Much will be swept under the rug in the name of “preserving political stability”. If so, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. First we will get rid of the current regime. But this will have to be settled one way or another, and the longer it takes the more … untidy … the resolution will be.
Subotai Bahadur
What genius in the White House thought the Big Lie would stand up?
It’s so ridiculous that one almosts suspects the existence of another reason. Here’s my tinfoil hat guess. As soon as news of the Benghazi attacks reached Hillary and Obama they knew they had been double-crossed. But they were so invested in their engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood types that they could not walk away from it peremptorily.
So they had to buy time in order to see whether the deal could be salvaged; whether it was some rogue faction that didn’t get the word but that the whole arrangment with the MB types was still viable.
They needed a cover story and ran with the same story that the Jihadists themselves were putting out: the video. But at no time did they seriously believe it was the video themselves. That was for chumps like their claques in the media. They made their apologies going with the cover story, partly to suck up to the MB but partly to keep the whole problem from going public and sent a half billion to Morsi.
But as previously reported in other media outlets, some intel people were in open revolt. Probably because it put them in actual danger, killed local agents and admittedly killed at least four Americans. So the lid is blowing off.
The administration is going to say “we didn’t lie our intelligence was evolving”. Actually their evolution stopped a long time ago, right around the Jurassic. But be that as it may my guess is that either of two things will happen next.
One, they’ve accepted that they’ve been had by the Jihadists and are throttling back on Syria and moving to more traditional engagement. Hopefully no one will notice.
Two, the whole shebang will go public and we’ll see a complete meltdown of their Middle Easter foreign policy, based on bribery, betrayal and double-dealing all the way up to election day.
Wretchard @ 6.
People who have experience with liars and the self-absorbed know that they aim simply to say something that some of their supporters will swallow. Whether it fits with the larger context is irrelevant. It is the mindset of a ten-year old. It is mind-boggling that a great nation has such people running things.
The only plus from all of this is that, once Obama and his fellow-travellers are ousted, the rationale for an entirely new foreign policy can be developed.
How many were punished for the intel failure of the first 9/11?
How many were prosecuted for the economic debacle of 2008?
Guess how many heads will roll on this second 9/11?
Today General Short and Admiral Kimmel would be given service awards, fine speeches and a cushy pre-retirement assignment.
“When a man knows he is to be hanged…it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” – Samuel Johnson
“Two, the whole shebang will go public and we’ll see a complete meltdown of their Middle Eastern foreign policy, based on bribery, betrayal and double-dealing all the way up to election day.”
And if that happens how would we tell, in terms of discerning a difference from the current situation?
A little aesthetic relief:
Did you ever fly your little plane UP the coast, Big Sur, Monterey way RWE?
That would be nice.
My Cardiologist has a place near Big Sur.
Poor Guy
Remember, in 1994, Susan Rice was President Clinton’s point person for the Clinton admin running away from the Rwanda genocide by insisting on describing the genocide as “acts of genocide”, a term of art that avoided the legal ramifications of a genocide label. That was done in the face of obvious reality, too. In 2012, Susan Rice was point person again obfuscating on the Benghazi attack. I believe the term “acts of terrorism” was even used.
I said “they knew within the first 5 minutes” it was an organized attack back in the first BC posting on the 9/11 Benghazi attack, it’s been standard security to have perimeter camera’s and Fox News mention yesterday how the State Department security personal testified they watched (off site) the mass of heavily armed men streaming thru the front gates that night! There was inside help on this raid, both on site security personal (as reported by the now dead embassy IS man, (paraphrased) “saw embassy guard taking pictures today, hope I live thru the night”) to attackers knowing the emergency evac plans and laying down very accurate mortar fire, there is (Muslim Brotherhood) operatives in the State Department and our Intelligence Departments! (We have serious Moles in our Federal Government) If Romney wins (I am still worried 0bama is gonna squeak in) I sure hope he’s (Romney) aware and ready to clean house, otherwise we have not seen the worse yet!
What is sad is that ‘Fast and Furious’ didn’t get any body fired. And this won’t either.
This close to an election and the administration still seems to not care enough to learn from its mistakes.
The signal is starting to come a bit more clearly through the noise, but will it be so powerful, that it causes bleeding from the ear drums, and an overwhelming desire to move on to Lady Gaga’s latest meat dress?
#31. Oh my. Wonderful/tragic insight. Like Ms. Althouse’s recent conclusion that the reason Mr. O’s debate performance is ranked terrible by the MSM is because the last thing they want to say is that Mr. R was superb.
If so they are just following in the footsteps of past coddling done by several European governments – roughly “we’ll ignore what you do elsewhere, (esp. to Israel) and your people will have free passage through our borders if you stop the local attacks and keep the civil unrest in the Arab sector of our cities down to a dull roar.”
Today’s Dane geld.
Reminds me of Mr. Kerry and others’ statements that “the Syrian dictator is someone we can work with”, and all the dem politicians’ email of support found in the Columbian FARC PCs after their HQ was overrun by the Columbian military (who seem to have ignored a border while in hot-pursuit – pity the U.S. has lost the onions this takes). Remember how Saadam’s family couldn’t believe that the U.S. would be stopped by a line on paper from pursuing them into Syria? Are we never to see again a dem Scoop Jackson?
Or for all their flaws a JFK or FDR?
While State was cutting security in Libya because of cutbacks it was buying a fleet of Chevy Volts and a $108,000 charging station for its embassy in Vienna. Washington Times
Also from the article:
Before the terrorist attack that took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, there were more than 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012.
Of those attacks, 48 took place in Benghazi, two at the U.S. diplomatic compound and scene of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks.
For the Obama admin appearing Green is obviously more important than protecting American lives. The more we learn the more glaring the incompetence or perfidy of this admin becomes.
“The Taliban are in the building” is the best description of the Obama admin yet penned.
My guess is that we are giving Obama & Co. too much credit. The reaction to what was going on in Libya and Egypt on 9/11 was probably more neglect than anything.
Obama has a limited capacity for work and can only focus on one thing (mostly himself) at a time. What happened was he was likely briefed and heard little of what was said. He jumped on the video meme and went back to bed or looking in the mirror, whatever he was doing. Over the next few days he probably was uninterested in any updates he was being sent and left Susan Rice and the crew with no further instructions.
The weapons transfer idea is interesting. Just as an aside the other day I was going through some photos of a Hamas military parade in Gaza on a pro Israel website and someone remarked that one of the rifles was a very rare and sophisticated weapon, an FN F2000 with grenade launcher used only by a few special forces units in the world. I checked wikipedia and Libya is one of the countries that has purched the weapon and notes that “some of these were captured by rebel forces”. Wonder where they got them?
#4,
“The fundamental problem, beyond the death of the Ambassador and the other Americans present was, just what were they trying to accomplish in Benghazi?”
Of course it wasn’t really about cultural centers or any other specific objective.
It was about demonstrating that ‘we care’. The fundamental attitude of the administration’s foreign policy can be summed up in Rodney King’s question, “Can’t we all just get along?” said in a pleading, whining tone…
Appeasement is always at heart moral cowardice and the flight from reality.
We’re seeing Chamberlain and Hitler all over again.
The real lesson of Benghazi [and Afghanistan] is the utter incompetence of the Obama administration. That their ‘strategy’ for dealing with Islamic terrorism is a complete failure and that it puts America at far higher risk. The sole value to digging into the Benghazi debacle is to expose the administration’s incompetence.
I saw “The Green Berets” when it came out with my brother and father (a big Duke fan). I’ve never forgotten the best line from the movie: “It will only take a minute!”
Off topic: In an earlier Belmont Club thread, I expressed surprise that the Gallup poll for Presidential popularity when compared to other polls had been an obvious outlier for weeks (it’s remains an outlier in the Real Clear Politics polls). I found it difficult to believe that a polling agency as old and respected as Gallup could have been compromised by the Left. Now it turns out that is exactly what happened, refer to:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/morning-jay-politics-and-gallup-poll_654143.html
The funny thing is that Gallup allowed the Presidential popularity poll to be compromised but the Romney vs. Obama poll appears to remain valid when compared to other polls.
Is Gallup trying to prove a point about their methodology or is this simple stupidity?
#40 Ari Tai
“Are we never to see again a dem Scoop Jackson?”
Short form, no way in hell. The Democratic party is permanently compromised as the Anti-American party. Any enemy of the United States will find a willing ally in the Democratic party. As constituted, they cannot change. They will always find a way to justify supporting the other side. They are part of TWANLOC.
Subotai Bahadur
Dick Morris thinks that Obama’s October surprise might be a moratorium by Iran on their nukes. It would be nice if R&R preempted that possibility by pointing out that the betrayal in Libya means you can’t count on aggreements made with people in that part of the world.
maineman @ 47:
“Dick Morris thinks that Obama’s October surprise might be a moratorium by Iran on their nukes.”
This assumes that the Iranians see the best way of hurting the United States is through helping Obama get reelected.
There is reason in that assumption.
However the Iranian leadership are the same mob who believe in the 12th Iman and the wisdom in publicly threatening Israel with genocide. I don’t think they can connect the dots that it is in their best interests to help Obama.
Geoffrey Britain @ 43
“We’re seeing Chamberlain and Hitler all over again.”
Yes. But in this time and space, Obama is playing both parts.
On the international stage, he’s Chamberlain: appeasing, apologetic, dangerously “flexible” and erratic.
On the homefront, he’s Hitler: divisive, blame-gaming and scapegoating, coupled with a full-court press for extraordinary government intrusion into and control over every sector of our economy and society.
The Benghazi narrative had been prepared much sooner. The first evidence was the statement from the Egyptian Embassy apologizing for the as yet unknown trailer.
To which, Romney quickly and appropriately responded and was immediately and unjustly vilified.
One suspects that an assault in Libya had been anticipated, if not planned. Perhaps the expectation (or hope) was that the Ambassador Stephens would have been kidnapped, providing the Great Won with an opportunity to play the hero.
When events turned out much more gruesome, the original Narrative was at first maintained, if only because that was the original plan, and, perhaps, the media would maintain its cover.
Even now, most of our population is unaware of the false travesty.