Happenstance
Lefty Gomez once remarked that in baseball he would “rather be lucky than good”. A lot of Americans were unlucky on the night of September 11, 2012 in Libya. The Washington Times says that “as U.S. Africa Command waited for any order to rescue Americans on Sept. 11 at the besieged consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, it was missing a key unit that the Pentagon gives every regional four-star commander — an emergency strike force.”
on that day, AfriCom, the Pentagon’s newest geographic combatant command, which is still in the building phase, lacked what is called the “commander in-extremis force,” said a senior special operations official.
“All geographic combatant commands have one allocated to them, except AfriCom,” the senior official said. “AfriCom’s is in the process of being established.”
That momentary gap proved a lucky break for the ‘mob’ of Libyan attackers who also knew the location of a “sensitive safe house or annex a kilometer away. It remains unclear to U.S. and Libyan officials whether the militants knew of that facility or just followed a U.S. convoy to it after the consulate attack.”
It was so secret that Americans in a security team sent from Tripoli to succor the consulate did not divulge the location of the annex to the Libyans who accompanied them. They arrived at the smoldering consulate even as fighting broke out in the annex some distance away.
A plane with an American security team from Tripoli arrived in Benghazi about 1:30 a.m., according to the Libyan account. The team found its way to the annex using global positioning devices. Libyans who accompanied the Americans to the scene weren’t told of the annex’s location because of its connection to sensitive programs, and the Americans didn’t give them the GPS coordinates or address. Libyans at an emergency operation center in Benghazi were also kept in the dark to the exact location.
As the U.S. and Libyan reinforcement team arrived from the airport, fighting broke out at the annex.
That assault, using rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, was described in U.S. and Libyan accounts as more sophisticated than the earlier attack on the consulate, and it appeared to involve militants with possible links to al Qaeda.
But somehow the ‘mob’ knew where the annex was, though whether by espionage or fortune is not as yet known. The attack on the annex was described by the NYT as “a catastrophic intelligence loss,” citing one source, “we got our eyes poked out.”
The eye poking has spread to the Levant. Jay Solomon, writing for the Wall Street Journal says “the assassination of Lebanon’s security chief a week ago robbed the U.S. and Europe of one of its closest allies in monitoring and countering the regional activities of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as its backers in Syria and Iran, said U.S. and Arab officials.” And another array of intelligence sources go dark.
Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan headed intelligence-gathering for Lebanon’s police force, the Internal Security Forces, which was among Beirut’s primary recipients of U.S. financial aid since mass protests forced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remove his troops from the country in 2005 …
In late August, according to Arab diplomats, Gen. Hassan visited Washington, where he held extensive discussions with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, David Petraeus, and other senior Obama administration officials
Without these trusted sources whoever was behind these attacks — the administration is now willing to accept the possibility that an agency may be behind these actions rather than a mob — has not only partially blinded Western intelligence but puts them in a better position to feed them disinformation, especially in Lebanon, where much of the Lebanese government apparatus is under Hezbollah influence or control.
The problem with ascribing these events to an agency is it runs counter to the narrative that “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.” It’s much more comforting to think it’s all a run of bad luck. The Atlantic invoked the ‘fog of war’ to explain the administration’s belated response to events in Benghazi. In their view there is nothing to see. Events are simply that way because international events are always confusing.
Post-Gaddafi Libya itself was still chaotic, caught up in the fog of war, and indeed Ambassador Chris Stevens, at great personal risk, had journeyed to his old Arab Spring-era stomping ground in Benghazi to assess the situation himself. Still, Clapper recently told an annual conference of intelligence professionals that there was no warning to Stevens or anyone else that he was about to be targeted by an organized extremist attack. …
So in the ensuing days, the fog lifted only very gradually. The intelligence community did not see a clear way to explain the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans … No evidence has surfaced so far to support the idea that the Obama Administration deceived the public deliberately …
Even now, intelligence officials say, the full story is not known. It is not even clear that the video-inspired protests in Cairo were unrelated to the attack in Benghazi, because some of the extremists who attacked Stevens and his colleagues may have been provoked by watching the demonstrations on TV. Officials say they are still compiling a list of suspects.
What the Atlantic fails to point out is that the ‘fog of war’ is not an act of nature, like Hurricane Sandy. The ‘fogs of war’ are generated by man; in the imperfections in our own intelligence and also by enemy action. Ever since the beginning of intelligence the other side has tried to blind as part of its stock in trade. The Atlantic should spare a thought to why the enemy was so little hindered by the ‘fog’ on the evening of September 11, 2012 while America groped abut.
How did the mob know that Stevens was in the consulate? How did the rabble know where the CIA safe house was? How did a bunch of disgruntled video watchers know — or were they just lucky — that AfricaCom had no quick reaction force?
Ian Fleming wrote in Goldfinger: “Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.’” Bugs Bunny put it more succinctly: what’s up Doc?
Nothing Bugs. Though more suspicious minds might think we’re being set up for something.
Update: The new tagline. “When Obama called the SEALS, they got Bin Laden. When the SEALS called Obama, they got nothing.”
Belmont Commenters
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Obama said recently that he didn’t persona;ly know anything about the attack, but now Drudge has Obama saying he officially gave orders to do whatever was necessary to save our people (before he went to bed early).
This “no strike force” spin is bogus. If the CIA guys asking for help “painted” the mortar source for a drone, why not “strike”?
Why give orders to “stand down” (and die)? The thought expressed on BC earlier, that Obama and Hillary wanted our ambassador kidnapped so he could be traded for the blind sheik wanted by Egypt’s new “government”, makes more sense than anything Obama or hillary have said.
Wretch,
Consider this. Woods and Doherty were totally unexpected disruption of the plan.
They showed up at the Ambassador’s compound, disobeying direct orders, given twice, to stand down and not interfere with what was going on. Their appearance and heroic resistance was a complete surprise to everyone. (Reported to have taken out as many as 70 of the attackers.)
They both knew everyone upstairs was already informed of the attack, so they ran toward the gunfire. Such bravery! But they didn’t know the circumstances. They weren’t informed that they were not supposed to be there!
They “lased” enemy positions 3-4 hours into the battle, FULLY EXPECTING SUPPORT from drone/gunship/F-18s. Otherwise why would they waste the time? None was sent.
Did they recognise they’d been betrayed?
What’s worse?
The Obama administration knowing what was and did happen, not assisting and supporting American’s under fire and covered it up after the entire thing fell apart.
Or, The Obama administration was actually fooled by Islam and walked blindly into an ambush did not know what, when, where or why everything went to hell.
A knowing but guilty Administration or a stupid, foolish and lost in the worlds affairs administration.
The “fog of war” is an essential element of the nature of war. Panetta’s bloviating that we cannot operate in that fog should have been followed with his being run out of town on a rail, or being made into the most famous clown since Ronald McDonald.
jaybird — there’s also the possibility that the Obama administration simply had no idea what it was doing.
Fox News is reporting this Monday morning that DCI David Petraeus was the “lone man out” who was “adamant about the flash-mob” of amateur movie critics theory, a theory that no other intelligence service (military, joint intelligence) believed.
What gives here?
I am still trying to understand if there are two or three locations/building involved: consolate, CIA facility, annex.
Regarding this “eye poking out” business, is that even possible anymore, what with the Interwebs and everything? The phones have eyes, …
wretchard, you seem to really enjoy spelling the ambassador’s name as “Stephens”, or are you ripping the cover off yet another part of the plot?
Baseball keeps cropping up. Nate Silver – the guy still predicting an overwhelming Obama win – got started in SABRmetricts. His contributions remain a litle underwhelming, but others in the field have done significant work. One of the interesting developments in baseball statistical research is recognizing the interaction of luck and skill.
There’s a lot of luck involved in baseball – a quarter of an inch difference in where the bat hits the ball makes a huge difference in how and where the ball travels. So stats like Batting Average and ERA fluctuate greatly year to year. But other stats, strikeout rate, for instance, don’t – they’re more skill than luck. For a pitcher like Gomez, striking the other guy out eans fewer chances of having bad luck when he hits the ball.
The Obama administration has had a lot of bad luck lately. If we had statistics, we might be able to highlight all the places where Administration Zero lacks skill and talent.
Or we can just look at ‘em and realize they are minor leaguers in way over their head.
Josh:
Two locations: the complex that is being called a “consulate” but was apparently not a diplomatic facility (i.e., was not covered with the Libyan government’s agreement as an extra-terriorial complex), and the “annex”, which was apparently run by the CIA to facilitate a program that might have included acquisition and shipment of arms to Syria. Ambassador Stevens died in the “consulate”, which was set on fire, probably when the attackers saw they could not break in and grab him. The final stand-off, where Woods and his fellow Seal were killed by mortar fire, took place at the annex. Or at least that’s the way I read it now.
One other bit of information I find compelling is that Woods was “painting” the mortar location with a laser. There is no reason for doing that unless you know that an asset is on location that could engage the mortar using his laser target spot. I am guessing Woods thought an air asset (AC-130 gunship or Predator drone carrying weaponry) was hovering overhead that would put the mortar out of service by aiming at his laser target painting. Since we know there was good communication between the annex and Washington, this implies that Woods had been told there was an air asset available and waiting for his painting. Someone abandoned him to his fate.
What is the situation with General Ham? Reports are that he intended to disobey an order not to intervene and was replaced.
From his bio:
General Carter F. Ham served as an enlisted Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division before attending John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was commissioned in the Infantry as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1976.
Does not sound like someone to sit on his hands during a crisis.
Where is David Petraeus? It will surprise me if he went along with an screwball plan a la arranged kidnapping of Ambassador for trade with Blind Sheik. The lid is coming off this thing.
Godspeed Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. You represented the best of this country.
My concern is the close link between our MSM and the terrorists (not to mention The Big O and his crew who watched the drone footage).
How did CNN or other media personnel get Chris Stevens personal journal? How did bodies of dead (or injured) terrorists disappear while our dead were filmed? Our drones also filmed the whole fight. Were those drones armed?
Why did the Big Zero just go to bed? Why did he jet-off to Vegas to attend a fund raiser while some group cleaned up the bodies?
Who did the cleaning up? Why was the FBI so slow to arrive? What is the status of Dave Ubben who is recovering from shrapnel wounds and smashed bones in Walter Reed hospital?
Was there collusion to cover up this whole badly mishandled episode? The official explanations don’t add-up.
“Friday and Saturday, the news leaked out that Tyrone Woods was found dead, slumped over his ammo-exhausted machine gun on top of the Annex, where he and Glen Doherty had fought against 150 or so al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Sharia militants… waiting for Libyan forces to arrive and relieve them and the other US personnel stationed there, along with those they’d saved from the embassy complex. Rumor has it that the two former SEALs had killed 60 of those militants in the firefight…”
http://www.conservativecommune.com/2012/10/benghazi-where-the-blank-is-spectre/
Auggie Dog:
Good question. It appears, according to blogs (Backfive) that Gen David Rodriguez relieved General Ham when he (Rodriguez) saw that Ham was about to disobey orders to stand down. If that is indeed the case, and I am guessing the truth will out eventually, we will have a very interesting conflict shaping up. The American military is unequivocally subordinate to civilian authority, so if Panetta or Obama said “do not launch a rescue effort,” but Ham believed he had the ability to turn the tide of battle, Ham will become a hero to many who were raised on John Wayne films and an idiot to those who believe the National Command Authority know better.
Being relieved for dereliction of duty would be shameful beyond belief for a good general; being relieved for exceeding authority when your action could save lives will, I think, reflect poorly on the civilian authority. Don’t expect this to be resolved before the inauguration of President Romney, and if Obama is re-elected don’t expect it to be resolved ever.
#4 Rob, if obama was just randomly incompetent, then he would occasionally do something useful, rather than be uniformly destructive of our national interests and security.
#5 Paul, The Petraeus briefing was to Congress, not what he was saying to obama. Petraeus is being nominated for the presidency of Princeton university, so he may have felt the need to show leftist loyalty, rather than oppose the “video meme” being put out by obama/state department. Or, maybe Petraeus is going under the bus for the recent CIA statement that “No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate”. It its getting crowded down there under the bus.
“How did the mob know that Stevens was in the consulate? How did the rabble know where the CIA safe house was? How did a bunch of disgruntled video watchers know — or were they just lucky — that AfricaCom had no quick reaction force?”
It was all a set up, a pre-election publicity stunt, a September surprise. Hillary and Huma had it all set up. Stevens was supposed to be kidnapped and the Wizard of O, who got Bin Laden, was going to send in the marines to perform the rescue. But the “terrorists” found out that they were being double crossed and likely to die, and became more enraged when 2 seals didn’t stand down as they had been ordered. So they murdered and raped Stevens and killed whoever they could. No one in Washington really knew what was going on even though they had 2 drones overhead. They didn’t figure it out until Stevens was dead and that’s when they went into CYA mode.
After 6+ weeks there is very little mystery (Fog of War) how two of the Americans died in Benghazi, both Seal members died while defending a CIA base, waiting hours for the Calvary that should have been there by the time they had returned from the Consulate to the supposed “Secret” CIA base! Died while Armed Drones flew overhead with a laser painting the very targets that would in short time kill them (the Seals)! The only mysteries that remains is how many on the totem pole and exactly who is at the top of the pole. A lot of Big Picture pieces are lining up on this one, why is an Admiral being investigated? This was no “little ole terrorist group” acting all by itself and getting “lucky”! Far to many facts are pointing away from “Luck”. I say that the Terrorist were “Unlucky” having the two retired seal team members just down the street, I say things went sour for the Terrorist when they found the Ambassador dying of smoke inhalation! America needs to know just how horrific the Ambassadors Death really was! The Light of Truth need to shine on these Animals.
Question: Would Donald Rumsfeld or President Bush have issued an order to “stand down and die” and let our Ambassador be kidnapped/killed? Would Rumsfeld have briefed Congress, knowing otherwise, that an attack on 9/11 was the result of spontaneous movie critics months after an obscure movie was released?
Would the New York Times have criticized Rumsfeld if he misled Congress to protect Bush?
Would Rumsfeld be more acceptable as President of Princeton, if he tried to protect Bush by telling congress that the original 9/11/2001 attack on New york and the Pentagon was the result of movie critics, rather than al queda terrorists?
“…on that day, AfriCom, the Pentagon’s newest geographic combatant command, which is still in the building phase, lacked what is called the “commander in-extremis force,” said a senior special operations official.”
1. Four stars talk to four stars. CinCs talk to and coordinate with neighboring CinCs. AfriCom would clearly be talking to CinCEur. More so, since the event was very near the boundry between two commands…thus the need to ‘de-conflict’ actions.
2. All of this means that AfriCom probably had access to European Crisis forces…especially since they would have been the closest, regardless.
3. Apparently a Rear Admiral, Commander of a carrier BG was also relieved. Probably for launching aircraft in response to the flash message.
Can anyone say “Pueblo”? In that event a nearby carrier task group launched on the Op Immediate message and was told to circle the strike until it was decided to whether or not to wake LBJ. CinC Japan lost his job for that one (Adm Johnson IIRC).
In the old navy we called it a FUBAR.
You do not fail into failure when in doubt but failsafe. You almost never risk your reserves and you do not commit so many forces into a battle without reliable intelligence that you risk a catastrophe, like a Cannae or Manzikert if it turns out to be a trap. That much is true. It is also irrelevant when discussing Benghazi. It is also failsafe to act in accordance with established procedure except when superior knowledge justifies not doing so.
The only possible reason not to send a rescue force would be if you had superior intelligence that it was a trap, ie Sam Jaffe had warned the Colonel in Gunga Din, and even then forewarned is forearmed. Or if there was some overriding strategic need that could justify the sacrifice of your people. The point is that either of those circumstances demand superior intelligence to justify an order to “stand down.” The fog cited by Panetta, typically speaking like an ignorant amateur misusing jargon to sound erudite, is not a reason to violate the pattern that has been developed over centuries that the men under attack were counting upon.
michael hoskins 16,
I know about the Pueblo incident. The operational order had tasked the USAF Air Force in South Korea to provide cover in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately all units on strip alert were equipped with nuclear weapons.
While they are looking for inspiration elsewhere they could have easily looked for inspiration in the 9/11 date itself, having been cause for heightened alert status for more than a decade. It is absurd that those who were solely in a position to approve and therefore initiate action to prevent the death of an ambassador should cite “the fog of war”. In the business of statecraft it is the equivalent of saying “the dog ate my homework”. And coming so late in the administration’s tenure, one can imagine that rather than blaming the tragedy on election year politicizing of events, that the administration is merely requesting a Mulligan on the final acts of the administration. Just one more after the MSM has given them so many.
This whole thing is taking on the flavour of the Post Soviet Russia described in the Penguin Novels by the Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov. These are bleak, satirical works with surreal elements and dark humour. The hero and his pet/avatar Penguin are caught up in dangerous events they do not understand and are constantly manipulated by mysterious and menacing representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian governments and the Mafia.
The confusion surrounding the central character causes him to go from justifiably paranoid appraisals of his increasingly dangerous position to a serene, almost childish, peace of mind. I think that recent events have caused similar states of mind to spread across Europe and maybe now they are spreading across the U.S.
“What’s up Doc?” indeed.
The Kurkov novels are “Death and the Penguin”, “Penguin Lost” and “The General’s Thumb”.
Sorry, but I’m still very confused. Why would the US NOT use the assets available to secure the annex? I just don’t get it. I’m not an Obama supporter but I just don’t understand what benefit/advantage could be gained by setting up your ambassador to die in an unsecure location without adaquate protection knowing full well that everyone knew the location was unsecure, the ambassador was without US security and it was 9/11. I know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but what am I missing here?
Why were the drones there in the first place? Why won’t anyone say whether or not the drones were armed? Why was General Ham replaced? Why did an order to stand down originate in the first place? What was Ambassador Stevens doing that day? Will we ever know? Probably not.
last “rule of 4″ comment.
#7 JMH baseball. “doesn’t anyone (in the obama administration) know how to pay this game?” Yogi Berra for Secretary of State
#13 ConfederateH Your scenario makes more sense than anything from the obama administration.
#17 Blast from the past Maybe obama/panetta/hillary were afraid that the “painted” mortar was a trap for one of our Hellfire missiles from a drone or other air support. If the attacking terrorists could get us to waste a whole missile taking out the mortar position our “leaders” were watching attack our people in real time as it happened, that would be a grave danger to be avoided. After all, those missiles are expensive !!! It is much safer (for our watching leaders) to just watch the mortar position pound our people with our surveillance cameras, rather than do anything which might be a dangerous “trap” for an expensive missile. And pass the popcorn, it was an exclusive showing for the enjoyment of some very important people.
#20 KWB see #1 and #13
Top AFRICOM Commander General Carter Ham Was Never Ordered to Save US Men in Benghazi
Retired Lt. Col.: My Sources Say Obama Was in the Room Watching Benghazi Attack Happen
We know that there was a video feed at the time Obama was meeting in the WH at 5pm with Panetta and Biden. No way they didn’t see that feed.
President Obama told KUSA-TV’s Kyle Clarke, “I can tell you, as I’ve said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.”
The only person between Obama’s purported order and Gen. Ham was Panetta. Either Panetta illegally countermanded Obama’s order or Obama is lying.
I’m doubtful of the theory that Obama wanted to trade Stevens for the ‘blind sheik’ as there would be too much political downside to that just before an election.
Furthermore, consider that if there were not a very important reason otherwise, it would have been greatly to Obama’s political advantage to decisively save Stevens.
I think far more likely is that the reason Obama abandoned Stevens was fear of exposure of Obama’s purported middle eastern ‘fast & furious’ gun running operation. Providing ‘rebels’ in Syria with weapons through Turkey.
That exposure wouldn’t happen at the consulate so abandoning Stevens wouldn’t threaten that operation. But providing assistance would have permitted Stevens to be evacuated to the CIA annex, which if it fell, might have resulted in exposure of that operation. It was to protect that operation from exposure that led Obama to betray Stevens.
Tragically and ironically, Obamas fear was unfounded, those guns were and are ending up in the hands of Al Qaeda and fanatical jihadist groups in Syria. It’s to their advantage to keep quite and keep the supply of weapons flowing.
Top AFRICOM Commander General Carter Ham Was Never Ordered to Save US Men in Benghazi
Retired Lt. Col.: My Sources Say Obama Was in the Room Watching Benghazi Attack Happen
We know that there was a video feed at the time Obama was meeting in the WH at 5pm with Panetta and Biden. No way they didn’t see that feed.
President Obama told KUSA-TV’s Kyle Clarke, “I can tell you, as I’ve said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.”
The only person between Obama’s purported order and Gen. Ham was Panetta. Either Panetta illegally countermanded Obama’s order or Obama is lying.
We know that the laser painting the target means there was a gunship onsite. Someone gave an order denying that gunship its request to assist.
I’m doubtful of the theory that Obama wanted to trade Stevens for the ‘blind sheik’ as there would be too much political downside to that just before an election.
At the same time however, if there were not a very important reason otherwise, it would have been greatly to Obama’s political advantage to decisively save Stevens.
I think far more likely is that the reason Obama abandoned Stevens was fear of exposure of Obama’s purported middle eastern ‘fast & furious’ gun running operation. Providing ‘rebels’ in Syria with weapons through Turkey.
That exposure wouldn’t happen at the consulate so abandoning Stevens wouldn’t threaten that operation. But providing assistance would have permitted Stevens to be evacuated to the CIA annex, which if it fell, might have resulted in exposure of that operation. It was to protect that operation from exposure that led Obama to betray Stevens.
Tragically and ironically, Obama’s fear was unfounded, those guns were and are ending up in the hands of Al Qaeda and fanatical jihadist groups in Syria. It’s to their advantage to keep quiet and keep the supply of weapons flowing.
“On the night of Sept. 11, in what would become his last known public meeting, Stevens met with the Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and escorted him out of the consulate front gate one hour before the assault began at approximately 9:35 p.m. local time.
Although what was discussed at the meeting is not public, a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi to negotiate a weapons transfer, an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists. And although the negotiation said to have taken place may have had nothing to do with the attack on the consulate later that night or the Libyan mystery ship, it could explain why Stevens was travelling in such a volatile region on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. ”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/25/was-syrian-weapons-shipment-factor-in-ambassadors-benghazi-visit/#ixzz2AiNWKIsj”
The arms destined to Al Queda via Turkey had already been in Turkey 5 days before the 9-11 attack. They were off loaded just 35 miles from the Syrian border.
F @ 8: “One other bit of information I find compelling is that Woods was “painting” the mortar location with a laser. There is no reason for doing that unless you know that an asset is on location that could engage the mortar using his laser target spot.?
Idle speculation on my part — but there is a possible reason for painting a target with a laser when the operator knows there is no AC-130 or drone up there to respond: the age old military tactic of deception.
Consider — the ex-SEALs apparently disobeyed orders and ran to the sound of guns. That means they probably did not have a whole lot of ammunition, and this firefght went on for hours. Ultimately, they ran out of ammo. There is no surrendering to that enemy. What to do?
They knew that Jihadists use cell phones to pick up the IR light from targeting lasers. And they (somehow?) had a targeting laser. Shining the laser at the bad guys would have one of two outcomes: (1) the bad guys decide not to wait around for a bomb, and retire to fight another day; (2) the bad guys now know exactly where the man with the laser is, and take him out. If those ex-SEALs switched on the laser knowing they were bluffing, they were even braver than I thought.
Woods and Doherty were mercenaries, not Seals. Disobeying an order is an order of magnitude more significant for active military personnel than for mercenaries.
Benghazi was an excellent opportunity to rehabilitate the reputation of mercenaries and the service they often perform. Woods and Doherty were examples of freemen exercising that freedom in the finest traditions of freemen.
There are three elements of importance yet to be addressed concerning the Benghazi affair: Why and under whose orders was security lacking in the first place? Why and under whose orders was immediate action not taken? Why and under whose orders are those responsible for these failures still in positions of responsibility?
The ‘fog of war’? How about cowardice in the face of the enemy?
KWB @ 20: “… what am I missing here?”
Perhaps what a lot of us are missing is that everyone in the 0bumble circle gets his news from NYT/ABC/CBS/CNN/etc. And people who get their “news” from those people have no more idea about Benghazi than about Fast & Furious.
0bumble thinks that he can get away with anything because his friends in the Former Media will simply not report anything unfavorable to him. And he is right.
We now have groups of people living within the same borders who are actually inhabiting different worlds. Unsustainable! Willful ignorance did not work for “Let them eat cake” Marie Antoinette; it will eventually end just as badly for for our selectively-informed Political Class.
1. jaybird
“The thought expressed on BC earlier, that Obama and Hillary wanted our ambassador kidnapped so he could be traded for the blind sheik wanted by Egypt’s new “government”, makes more sense than anything Obama or hillary have said.”
I do not want to believe this, I DO NOT WANT TO BELIEVE THIS.
But somewhere in the bottom of my soul it rings true and brings me very close to despair for the fate of my country.
There are men who by training, experience or some inborn quality can wade hip deep into a chaotic situation, appraise it, form a plan to deal with it, then execute that plan successfuly. There are an abundance of these men in our armed forces. They would be – ” Straining like greyhounds in the slip” over an event such as this.
WHY were they not released to do their job?
To think of the two men holding the fort for all they were worth, and nobody came – - – -
” Stranger, go tell the Spartans”
Slow and Incurious.
A movie about the choom squad, their beater old rustmobiles, and the sluts who laughed at them.
Also by (no) coincidence a synonym for the handling of the Benghazi attack.
It may be illuminating to see whether the gutless SOB in the white house honors or insults the two former seals, who placed themselves in harm’s way, running toward the sound of gunfire.
We are told they were retired from the military. That means two things: First, they were NOT subject to military command, so they would not have been bound by such commands, and second, no military medals for their extraordinary bravery and sacrifice.
Anyhow, for sixty years we have been told that it is right and proper to disobey an order that would require you to commit a crime or violate your conscience. Remember how the Left have made the Nürnberg trials the basis of all their international “freedom fighters” rights…
It takes more suspension of disbelief than I can muster to imagine ANY NON-criminal rationale for telling such men to sit and watch while their countrymen are slaughtered by terrorists. But I can believe this scum in the white house would give such a toweringly stupid order. Since his first day in office, he has deliberately been wasting United States Military personnel with the most perverted Rules of Engagement ever imposed upon troops in the field. He has had senior officers “cashiered” for objecting to his anti-american strategic orders, and he has allowed Seals to be court-martialed after a known terrorist – whom they’d been ORDERED to capture – alleged they’d bloodied his lip unnecessarily.
Remember THIS: When an American Merchant Marine Captain was taken hostage by teenaged Somali pirates, Obama ordered the Navy ship’s commander and the “Seals” to take no action, merely await the arrival of the for-Pete’s-sake FBI HOSTAGE NEGOTIATING TEAM, sent from D.C., Half a World Distant. Recall that the on-site Navy Commander found a clause in the long-standing international treaty of the sea, which authorizes a ship’s command to take decisive military action if a civilian appears to be in imminent danger from hostiles. Let’s remember finally that PIRATES are INTERNATIONAL OUTLAWS. International law CONTINUES to treat them as Hostis Humanis Generis- “enemies of all mankind,” subject to summary judgment by ANY craft that manages to subdue them.
For Obama to stay the hand of the military in that instance, just as he has in so many others, giving CLEAR preference to our ADVERSARIES, defines HIM as a traitor to his own nation. He and his advisors need to be placed under arrest immediately for dereliction of duty and other crimes.
MSO @ 27
“Art 47. Mercenaries
1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.
2. A mercenary is any person who:
(a) is especially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;
(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;
(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.
All the criteria (a – f) must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, for a combatant to be described as a mercenary.”
Woods and Doherty were unarmed security contractors employed by MVM.
They managed to arm themselves, and between the two of them accounted for a considerable number of Bad Guys. Pike Bishop and Dutch Engstrom didn’t go down any harder.
Low Profile in Benghazi: When Political Correctness Kills>
According to the Fox News report referenced by Geoffrey Britain, General Ham said they had assets and personnel available to send to the attack. So please, no more excuses that Obama didn’t have the personnel to go in or the fog of war got in the way. That ‘s unadulterated stinking weasel bullsheet.
Geoffrey is dead on when he says “The only person between Obama’s purported order and Gen. Ham was Panetta. Either Panetta illegally countermanded Obama’s order or Obama is lying.” That ‘s it. It’s down to those two and only those two.
It has been fairly well established now that Ambassador Stevens was negotiating with, recruiting, equipping and training Jihadi’s. Al Qaeda affiliates and the like, to fight in Syria. That is plausibly why Buraq denied security – and perhaps why he denied rescue and assistance to the Benghazi station- because he did not want to draw attention to an initiative that absolutely wouldn’t go down well with the America People if revealed . It is still not an excuse.
BTW, why are we helping Al Qaeda? It appears that the so called “Arab Spring” has been used as an excuse to fund and supply our enemies. This should be a huge issure. No matter what, not only are Buraq and Panetta on the hook for that traitorous act, but so are Hillary and Pretraeus. It is inconceivable that any of those four did not know what was going on in Benghazi.
#14 CharlesWhite – I disagree with you about shining the light of truth on these animals. The light that needs to be shone on them is Oppenheimer’s Holy Light.
If the response to the 3000+ lives lost and a billion dollars’ worth of damage done on 9/11/2001 had been the conversion of Mecca, Medina and Qom into glass-lined, glowing holes then the 1400-year war would have been over.
Mad Fiddler 31,
You are correct about the rescue of Captain Philips of the MS Maersk Alabama by Seals under the operational command of Commander Frank Castellano, Commanding Officer of the USS Bainbridge. CDR Castellano was the On Scene Commander who gave the weapons release order that day. Obama had issued a hold fire order but had used the boilerplate language regarding imminent threats. CDR Castellano used that to declare that such a threat existed and authorized the use of deadly force. The wiki covers for Obama on this.
Reports are that the White House was furious and the persecution of the Seals as a rogue force accelerated. Later it abated as more pliant political functionaries were installed by the administration in senior military posts and the propaganda value of Special Ops (Obama thumping his chest over Osama bin Laden) as opposed to conventional forces became apparent. Special Operation Forces can be seen as Manned Drones under the personal control of the President.
If anyone has any updated information regarding the consequences for CDR Castellano I would appreciate hearing it. Last I read was that he was still a Commander on shore duty at the Joint Forces Staff College. He was not “deep selected” for early promotion to Captain and given a major “deep draft” sea command as his meritorious conduct deserved.
Please don’t mistake me for someone who knows his stuff, but, allow me to bring up a couple of questions.
As to painting the target, is it known that this occurred? And, if it occurred, is it known that it couldn’t/wouldn’t have been done absent strike capability? I’ve seen it stated that one of the advantages of US military is its ability and propensity to innovate and improvise in a given circumstance in contravention of SOP when the guy on the scene deems it best to do so. Could this be a reason to paint a target even though no strike asset is present or even expected to be present? Or is there a physical/technical bar to painting if there is no synch with the strike asset? And could the laser painting have been miss-reported, and actually have been something like a range-finding action or some other ‘laser’?
As to the sending of forces to the rescue, can’t we find out for sure, whether there were actual forces able to go and get there in time? Actual planes, men, and munitions, not just planned, or part of a strategic emergency plan, but actually there?
If some of these things being alluded to now are true, then it is clear that there was at least, misfeasance, if not malfeasance, but….are these things really true? At this point, is there some of it that we know the truth of, one way or the other?
It seems to me the truth of these matters make all the difference.
(Oops, I see #26 Kinuachdrach beat me to the first of my questions)
(Aw, shoot, takes me too long to type….hmmm, or maybe, think)
22 jaybird: “It is much safer (for our watching leaders) to just watch the mortar position pound our people with our surveillance cameras, rather than do anything which might be a dangerous “trap” for an expensive missile. And pass the popcorn, it was an exclusive showing for the enjoyment of some very important people.”
Yeah, 9/11 fell on a Wednesday this year. So Movie Night became Snuff Movie Night for President Yellowbelly.
#23 – Oh, please. “Fear of exposure”? WHAT exposure? What is EVER “exposed” in America that could damage Obama? “Another” Fast & Furious? What about the original Fast & Furious – how damaging has that proved to be? 80% of Americans have never heard of it, thanks to the traitor media, and shenanigans in some stinky African arsehole of a country would get even less coverage. The only thing that has drawn any media coverage at all has been the death of Stevens; if Obama thought that killing an ambassador would be a good way of covering up some gunrunning, then he’s even stupider than I thought he was.
asking for help “painted” the mortar source for a drone, why not “strike”?
Why give orders to “stand down” (and die)? The thought expressed on BC earlier, that Obama and Hillary wanted our ambassador kidnapped so he could be traded for the blind sheik wanted by Egypt’s new “government”, makes more sense than anything Obama or hillary have said.
…………
imho the more likely scenario is that egypt is pretending to help AQ as their “islamic duty” but in reality they are planning an invasion of libya to get their oil and oil revenues.
Egypt is about flat broke. their central bank has 15 billion in reserves or enough for about 3 months. They’ve eaten through a Quatari loan in two months or so and now they’re negotiating with the imf for another 4 billion. but all they’re doing is buying time. they’re not doing anything to improve their economic condition. so the only option in the future will be to exercise the caliphate option.
The more info that comes out, the more this looks like a Multi faceted screw up of an ” October Surprise”. The fact that the MSM has completely buried Bengazi is indicative of a cover up/conspiracy that makes Watergate look like a misdemeanor.
With only a week to the election, it will take a true patriot ( perhaps a General Ham) to standup and in the spot light of a media announcement place the blame for this fiasco on the Commander in Chief. That this may have been a botched fake kidnapping, an arms to Syrian rebels double cross or at best a complete dereliction of duty by the President, and that we are running out of time before next Tuesdays election is frustrating. We can’t let Obama get away with this.
Re: 23. Geoffrey Britain
Did president exceed his power/authority for F&F gun running to ME?
Were Congress’ various committees reasonably informed and updated?
#16. michael hoskins
“Four stars talk to four stars. CinCs talk to and coordinate with neighboring CinCs….All of this means that AfriCom probably had access to European Crisis forces…especially since they would have been the closest..”
We’re being fed disinformation. The CINC to CINC problem is a 5 minute phone call for routine business, much faster in extremis. There are watch officers at both commands empowered to make command decisions. A call from the White House or JCIS releases the assets immediately, and all of those commands were linked electronically, probably watching the same real time video The watch officers would have immediately anticipated the needs and had the forces mobilizing before request for support mobilized. GUARANTEED.
Again, it’s all disinformation aimed at delaying the story, whatever it actually is, until after the election. After the election, it will not matter. Congress will never impeach another sitting President, after trying to do so to Clinton, who clearly was a felon (perjury, Federal court), and failing.
This “AfriCom” b.s. is just more sand in the gears to slow down the information delivery. EVERYTHING that the Obama Administration has publically said has thus far been proven a lie. So, why expect truth from anyone in the Executive Branch now? The only truth we know is that which has been collected from outsiders, and more than likely, by Officials revealing classified information at risk of career and prison time.
The original story about the infamous-Muslim-insulting-tape was a cover for the President, which lasted about 14 days – it was successful. Every other lie has a half-life now of about 24 hours. You’ll hear another “explanation” tomorrow. The White House is just trying to keep one step ahead of the news cycle through election day.
What happened? It’s possible, maybe even plausible, that the President froze, and failed to call “weapons free” while a SEAL on the ground was laser-painting the target which eventually killed him. Maybe Obama felt a sudden need to consult with Valorie Jarrett.
More than likely, given the pending defense cuts caused by a Jan 1 sequestraion which Obama is entirely responsible for, the readiness levels were cut below what the CINC’s needed to effectively support North Africa, or any other theater. What non-military types fail to understand is the logistic requirement behind the tip of the spear. To maintain a CIEF ready to deploy, say, on an hours notice, they need two or three CIEF’s in reserve, either in pre-deployment “work ups”, post-deployment down time, etc.. The support apparatus needs to be in place. The response to severe cuts is to try and maintain the same effective force levels for less, which inevitably means dropping readiness levels. Instead of three CIEF’s, you’ll have two, plus perhaps a third shared between three commands as the next “ready force” for surge capacity. Leaves are cut short. Availabilty times are changed from 24 hours to 36 hours, or perhaps 72 hours.
I’m guessing the real cover up, besides the insanity at State in inadequately providing for basic security, and a plan “B” and “C” in depth, was readiness. I can tell you for a fact that we personally know of four Marines, fully qualified and recently trained, with multiple combat tours, who thought that they were extending for their third enlistment as career Marines, who are now going home as civilians. The Marines are cutting muscle and bone. I’m sure the other services and agencies are doing the same. This Benghazi failure involved Plans A, B, C, and D – multiple failures at the command level by multiple organizations, because the design reserve was eliminated by Obama’s cuts.
They’re cutting off spear-heads to support Obama’s social goals, and now it’s gone and killed some good people. THAT’s the legacy that Obama will have. The facts of his feckless management and the real-world results, is the real cover up.
As to his other motives, who knows. We probably never will in our lifetimes.
O.S.
A time-line I stitched together from three main accounts which are linked. Also CBS toured the “Annex” after the attack in this video.
What doesn’t make sense to me is that a crowd (unknown if friendly locals or part of the attacking force) pulled Stevens from the consulate. When they found that he was still breathing, they rejoiced and shouted allah akbar. Then got him to a hospital where resuscitative efforts failed and he was pronounced dead. This does not jive with the behavior of any muslim crowd that gets their hands on an American after combat takes place.
Anyone have any insights to this?
u @ 33: Geoffrey is dead on when he says “The only person between Obama’s purported order and Gen. Ham was Panetta. Either Panetta illegally countermanded Obama’s order or Obama is lying.” That‘s it. It’s down to those two and only those two.
Could have been others in the security or JCS who got their two cents in.
The right answer is to vote Obambus out.
… although I have no idea what Romney has for military advisors.
With all due respect, Wretchard, but according to AFRICOM’s own MIL website, it was stood up in October 1, 2008.
FOUR YEARS is an awfully LONG time to NOT have a “commander-in-extremis” force in a region of the world where pirates and terrorists actively operate.
More BS, I submit.
Josh…
Committees are not allowed to issue or countermand ORDERS.
Only POTUS and SECDEF are in the chain of command.
If it didn’t come from their lips — it didn’t count — whatsoever.
That’s just how is has to be in the military.
Otherwise, everything devolves into finger pointing and credit stealing.
—–
I continue to believe that the assault was and is an Iranian false flag operation.
Thus, the Hez strike in Lebanon is but of a part: Iran’s counter-counter-atomic weapons project.
———-
It has been mooted that the CIA might have had an asset in the assaulting crowd.
That fantasy is entirely contrary to the flow of events — starting with strategic surprise.
Anyone that did not divulge the impending assault could hardly be considered an asset for America.
———
What’s happening is that the maladministration is injecting alternate spins into the blogs hoping for some traction.
The simplest storyline is as follows:
Stevens is eyes deep in running Libyan weapons to anti-Assad elements in Syria via Turkey. He’s been in league with AQ operatives for quite some time — obviously, on the down low. So much so, that American eyes have been removed from his working space to the maximum extent possible.
This is exactly why repeated requests for security were shot down at the White House. The Wan fantasized that Stevens could repeat the exploits of the legend: Lawrence.
( There was a historical buzz that Lawrence was gay, somewhat alluded to in the biopic . [ It has never been fully established, but he certainly was short on female partners. ] Hence, candy boy thought that deploying an openly gay ambassador was a perfect fit. )
The Wan reasoned that Stevens couldn’t possibly be in real trouble — at first. He bought the idea that Benghazi was but a repetition of Cairo.
As events unfolded, the Wan realized that he had no Plan B should Arabs attack their ‘hero.’
Like the film Lawrence, Stevens was given a boodle to hand out. The Wan figured that, at worst, Stevens would use his stash to sooth the crowd.
Even now, it is beyond the Wan’s keen to imagine that Iran would use a false flag operation — pulling the MB’s chain — to entirely disrupt any counter-Iranian operation — perhaps for months on end. This would permit Tehran to assemble their first atomic bombs, using facilities in the eastern reaches of Iran, which would otherwise be at extreme hazard from ISAF meddling.
The MB or AQ do nothing but suffer as a result of this fiasco: their funding is reduced, for starters. Next, their diplomatic linkage with Ankara is sundered.
After all, the anti-Assad crowd is hugely dependent upon the American-Turkish-Qatar-KSA coalition. Without American shelter, the rest of the parties would cut and run from Russia.
There are four people who bear ultimate responsibility for the deaths of our people in Benghazi.
1. Panetta
2. Clinton
3. Jarrett
4. Obama
Jarret is my choice for the one who stomped the brakes on the rescue/reinforcement.
Panetta is scared of her and her power over the boy king. She also has many more reasons than Huma and Hillary to squash the op.
Willful and wanton disregard for our countrymen. Dishonorable actions are commonplace in a ideology that has relative morality as its cornerstone.
Remember these are the same people that made middle schoolers sing a song full of lies and propaganda for a political campaign…
Nothing is beneath them, nothing what so ever.
Would a POTUS who was actively advancing Muslim interests act any differently?
By their fruits you shall know them.
Re: Woods and Doherty (and Sean Smith), there’s an ancient idea that the blood of the Righteous cries out from the ground and is heard. God does hear it, I believe. Sometimes, even the earth-bound do, too. (I don’t mean to leave Stevens out–though he might have been deeply involved in gun-running to Jihadis, etc.)
Blert at 46: What little Internet searching I’ve done does strongly suggest the late Ambassador was indeed gay. A lot of the searches seem to suggest that because he was, he was sodomized before (or after) death, but sodomizing your conquered opponents is an ancient Mid-Eastern custom.
In general, I always cringe when I see conservatives try to get support from Lefties by mentioning (in a de rigour sort of way) that Islam is “anti-gay” (I’ve never seen this here): there’s no more homosexual culture on the planet than Arabic Islam. (Sure, Muslims would would mock the West’s “Gay” trope, but then, so would Aristophanes; it is just a passing fad, anyway, in the great cultural sweep of sexual history.)
The hurricane will drive this Benghazi fiasco off the front pages (I know, it is ALREADY off the front pages of the MSM) for some time, but we must not let ‘em get away with whatever this was.
My only solace is my belief that killing JFK was a Soviet-KGB op: i.e., anything originating in the U.S. would have somebody/somewhere squeal at some time or other. If this Benghazi atrocity IS as evil as all here think (I suspect Old Salt at 41 is the most right, but of course I don’t really know), we can hope someone (or several someones) will talk.
…Esp if Obamasterbation is retired in a week to whatever personal earthly Purgatory he is destined to live in.
An Préachán
16. michael hoskins
In the old navy we called it a FUBAR.
And the worse it gets means that we will be gravely hobbled by a major, not a terrorist, attack. When your commanders no longer know what to do, sacrificing your mates becomes common-place; it is the price you pay for not deciding.
This is what you have when you have a CINC that doesn’t know his a$$ from a hole in the ground.
Nobody knows what’s going on. Is it shoot, shoot, look, shoot, or is it look, look, look, what do ya think, Mr. President? If I was still in, UNODIR would be the order of the day – damn the career when my mates’ lives are on the line.
And when you’re relieved and get out on the street, I’d head for Glenn Beck in Texas (as long as he’s alive) – FOX (just like in ‘Condor’) would no longer touch it.
27. MSO
Woods and Doherty were mercenaries, not Seals. Disobeying an order is an order of magnitude more significant for active military personnel than for mercenaries.
That is not always true. I’ve gone against authority on a number of occasions while I was in and never got into any trouble: because I was right and the action led to mission success.
Of course, there are a couple of pre-requisites:
- You don’t do it out of being a smart a$$,
- You give your boss full credit (even if he was the idiot who told you to do something different),
- You stay humble and apologize for your rashness, “but conditions changed after I got out there.”
- You don’t make a conspicuous habit of it.
Adapt, improvize, and overcome. It’s done all the time in the sand…I’ll bet. That’s why our enlisted troops are head and shoulders better than most military forces.
Of course, if you turn out to be wrong, unsuccessful, or appear that you’re just trying to climb over your boss to make him look bad, you’re history.
I can’t help but think that as the reality of Benghazi wove it’s way into
Woods and Doherty’s conscienceness, that at one point and with a twinkle in their eyes, one looked at the other just as they knew they had to go and said, “Bahala na?”
That’s the kind of men they were and one day, when I grow up, the kind of man I would like to be too.
“basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on” (Panetta)
In all my reading of military history–and it is considerable–I have never read a military theorist or commander state any principle remotely similar. This may be a basic principle, but not a principle drawn from military principles, espionage principles, or the principles of international relations.
Sounds cowardly to me.
52. Sgian Dubh
…that at one point and with a twinkle in their eyes, one looked at the other just as they knew they had to go and said, “Bahala na?”
That’s the kind of men they were and one day, when I grow up, the kind of man I would like to be too.
I had to look that one up – thanks for adding it to my modest base of understanding. Well said – concise, apropos and truthful. And, unfortunately another example of the cruel irony that such men, upon whom we depend to defend us, are trapped under the control of men unfit to “shine their boots”, as the saying goes.
Greifer on the 3AM thread:
“here’s my take: yes, the US was gun running to the anti-Assad forces. why? because Hillary couldn’t get any other support in the WH at all about syria. she’d gotten essentially none about Libya–Obama had wanted her to do nothing, and she’s kicked and pushed until she’d created a coalition out of thin air to force him to support it. she was on her own, working with the CIA, and Obama wasn’t going to officially admit supporting this.”
This is very plausible. President Voting Present has never got off the TV couch his whole term to do anything substantial, so why start at gun running which may have been too much for his midget brain? Hilary may have been just trying to fill a void, egged on by her lover Huma. To Buraq’s small mind, he may have felt he had nothing personally invested and therefore no responsibility. He may have thought he could just let Panetta and Hil figure it out.
His subordinates had covered for him his whole term, so why not again?