Oct 26 2012

Was The Benghazi Attack Allowed To Transpire?

Published by at 3:25 pm under All General Discussions

What better way to rally the public to an incumbent President, prior to an election, than to raise the specter of a nation under attack?

George W Bush became a rallying point after 9-11 as he threaded a serious and lasting response to one of the worst attacks on this nation in living memory. John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington and others are images of Presidents protecting a beleaguered nation from outside forces of evil. Even a hesitant President Obama (after three calls to stand down) took action against Bin Laden in Pakistan and (behind the cover of an illegal UN edict) Colonel Qadaffi of Libya.

So, if President and you are concerned about reelection, would you ever consider something as “out there” as inviting an attack so you could rally the nation prior to an election?

Seems to horrific to even consider.

But as I noted in a prior post, what bothers me most about the Benghazi incident are the months of warning signs from repeated attacks, repeated reports of al Qaeda in the region and even the British pull out from down the street. This in tandem with not only calls for more security, but the actual removal of security resources leaving an obviously vulnerable target right out there for any dumb terrorist to act upon.

Why did this happen this way? Are we so far from the George W Bush days of erring on the side of caution we don’t even leave existing security resources in place as we head into a pivotal election and another 9-11 anniversary?

Seems far fetched. About as far fetched as letting guns loose on the streets sot they get into the hands of drug lords. Possibly to use the ensuing carnage to push for gun ownership restrictions. That is pretty out there too.

So I keep trying to put this nagging scenario to rest and get away from crazy conspiracy theories. But then I see new like this and I fall back into the opinion something seriously wrong happened in Benghazi:

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to “stand down.”

This is insane. Reinforcements were a mile away? A possible flanking or rear action attack could have thrown the attackers into disarray – and probable retreat. You don’t even have to really engage as much as divert. I see NO reason for not letting these resources at least do recon.

I guess there is the Black Hawk Down angle, where criminal incompetence led to unnecessary death. But there are other worse scenarios. And those still bother me, mainly because they are not too far fetched after all.

Update: With a Recon Marine as a son, the latest news exposing how on-hand support was deliberately stopped from intervening in the Benghazi massacre is more than just a little disturbing:

The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Specter gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours — enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.

You do not “paint” a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station.

 This is criminal. Someone had a bead on the attackers with a weapon that would annihilate them, all the time there were cries for help on the ground. What they hell were they thinking? Basically, the had a way to save lives and this administration told everyone to stand back while our people were killed.

12 responses so far

12 Responses to “Was The Benghazi Attack Allowed To Transpire?”

  1. patrioticduo says:

    And why did they need permission to do a recon at all? The Adminstration’s Libya posture was not defined and then set up according to appropriate opsec procedures. This directly results in ambiguity as to how to deal with such uncertain situations. We had no business being in such tactical confusion in the first place. The Ambassador and immediate surrounding staff, the CIA op’s and supporting staff all were in a very, very dicey situation because of the lack of clarity of our role in Libya in the first place. What a mess Romney is going to have to clean up in State, CIA, DHS, Pentagon, on and on!

  2. dhunter says:

    something’s happening here..what it is ain’t exactly clear.
    http://www.blackfive.net/main/2012/10/bigger-than-watergate-proof-that-the-president-is-lying-about-benghazi.html

    POTUS called off help! Because he was afraid of a blackhawk down situation and then had to cover, his desperate attempt at a cover was hamhanded and laughable as is everything from giving Billions to green companies, closing auto dealers and overthrowing allies in the mideast, to banning oil drilling and coal mining. This is a far left ideologue true believer proving to thinking Americans that academic theory is about as useful as unicorn farts and pots o gold at the end of rainbows. These ideas don’t work. Heaven help us! There cannot be enough stupid Americans to re-elect this clown can there?

  3. kathie says:

    Obama was too frightened politically to call the attack on Usama, someone else had to do it while he played golf. My bet is he couldn’t say yes to Benghazi either. Petraus said NOBODY in the CIA said no to help. That leaves Obama. He is too chicken to lead this nation.

    RCP POLL AVERAGES
    General Election: Obama vs. Romney
    RCP Average
    Romney 47.9
    Obama 46.9
    Romney +1.0

    First time Obama is in the 46es.

    I pray he looses this race.

  4. bobsunshine says:

    Interesting Info from Gateway Pundit:

    “Obama Administration Replaces Top Generals Following Benghazi Disaster:

    The latest rumor making the rounds is that Barack Obama replaced General Carter Ham at Africom after the general made a move to help the US security officials at the Benghazi consulate and annex. Ham was replaced by Gen. David Rodriquez on October 18.
    Tiger Droppings reported:

    The information I heard today was that General [Carter] Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.

    General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.

    The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham’s place as the head of Africom. ”

    Link

    Also from Africa Command:

    “WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct 19, 2012 — President Obama has nominated Army General David M. Rodriguez to succeed Army General Carter F. Ham as the commander of U.S. Africa Command, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said, October 18, 2012.

    U.S. Africa Command is the newest combatant command, and its headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany. The command encompasses all of Africa and its adjacent waters except for Egypt.

    The Senate must confirm Rodriguez, who currently is commander of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.”

    Link to Africa Command

  5. momdear1 says:

    If there was ever any doubt, Obama’s behavior in this situation proves he is a Muslim and did not act because his religion prevents him from taking actions against other Muslims. Not only that but those radical Imans are likely to put a fatwa out on him.

    Obama’s every action has been to aid and abet and install radical Islamist governments in all Middle Eastern countries.

    What’s this we hear about him building Mosque’s in the Middle East with US Taxpayer’s money? Where are those separation of church and state people. If this is true, it in direct conflict with the Constitution.

  6. […] The Strata-Sphere wonders if Obama allowed the Benghazi attacks to continue in order to rally the country […]

  7. Frogg1 says:

    It looks more and more to me that everyone was doing their job and was ready to go (CIA, Pentagon, and even State Dept) but that Obama would not make the call.

    Benghazigate: General Ham: “No Order to Protect Consulate” (VIDEO)
    http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/benghazigate-general-ham-no-order-to-protect-consulate-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+the-point+%28FrontPage+Magazine+%C2%BB+The+Point%29&utm_content=FaceBook

    “General Ham told Chaffetz that the forces were available, but that no order to use them was given. Defense Secretary Panetta had claimed that the refusal to use force had come from him, General Dempsey and General Ham.

    General Ham appears to have broken with that story and is taking no responsibility for the decision not to bail out the consulate and the Navy SEALS.”

  8. This is the first extensive article on the Benghazi military response in the mains stream media.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/USA/Military/2012/1027/Benghazi-attack-Urgent-call-for-military-help-was-denied-by-chain-of-command

    It quotes USMC Gen. Bing West (ret.) extensively —

    “Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour; the commandos inside three hours,” Mr. West wrote. “If the attackers were a mob, as intelligence reported, then an F-18 [Navy fighter jet] in afterburner, roaring like a lion, would unnerve them. This procedure was applied often in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Conversely, if the attackers were terrorists, then the U.S. commandos would eliminate them. But no forces were dispatched from Sigonella.”

    “For our top leadership, with all the technological and military tools at their disposal, to have done nothing for seven hours was a joint civilian and military failure of initiative and nerve,” writes West, a Vietnam combat veteran who has reported extensively on US combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Secretary of State Clinton has said the responsibility was hers. But there has been no assertion that the State Department overruled the Pentagon out of concern about the sovereignty of Libyan air space. Instead, it appears passive groupthink prevailed, with the assumption being that a spontaneous mob would quickly run out of steam.”

    I expected SF quick response teams for embassies and knew about the “jet overflies” tactic from the Philippines coup against Pres. Cori Aquino, but I didn’t know we have had to use overflies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    There has been a story floating over on the Right-O-Sphere blogs fronted by Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely (U.S. Army-Ret.) chairman of the non-profit, non-partisan Stand Up America (see link) that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Secretary of Defense William Gates, Admiral Bill Mullen and General David Petraeus effectively cut Pres. Obama and particularly Obama aide Valerie Jarrett out of the loop to execute the Abbottabad, Pakistan, SEAL TEAM 6 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. (See link for a story example)

    http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2012/10/obama-description-of-osama-killing-full-of-falsehoods-says-top-general/

    A lock up of the Chain of Command for Benghazi is exactly what you would expect from _any President_ if Abbottabad went down the way Gen. Vallely described.

    Hillary Clinton was right in 2008 about Obama, and she had a inside the room experience as her attack ad prediction happened.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ_z9Tpdl9A

    Life is funny that way.

  9. AJ,

    You need to read this donald sensing post —

    Benghazi attack and flash traffic
    By Donald Sensing

    http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2012/10/benghazi-attack-and-flash-traffic.html

    2. The White House’s excuse that Tripoli’s messages were lost in the noise of all the message traffic coming into the Situation Room is quite simply Bravo Sierra. The flash protocols are specifically designed to punch through that noise. It’s like this:

    Imagine you are giving a birthday party for a five year old who’s invited his entire school class. All those little kids are running in out of the party room, yelling and juking around.

    That’s the normal message traffic of a message center.

    Of a sudden, in runs Shaquille O’Neal to the middle of the room, waving his arms and yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hey! Look at me!”

    Shaq is flash traffic.

    There is no way that the White House Situation Room did not know it had received flash traffic. Remember, the staff of the Room are career professionals. They had received many, many flashes before and they knew what to do, how quickly, and with whom.

    It is not believable that President Obama was not notified of the attack within mere minutes of the message being received.

  10. UglyinLA says:

    As sickening as it sounds, it does appear that the administration was willing to leave the entire consulate staff to either die or become hostages.

    When Woods and the other brave men risked their lives and their careers to intervene and rescue those at the consulate, it appears that someone in the chain of command decided to punish them too.

    The fact that we had the mortar targets “painted” suggests that Spectre was in the air. The risk with painting a target is that the enemy can also see the source of designator. In essense, calling off Spectre at the last moment exposed the designators and guaranteed that they were the target of the next round of mortars. Someone in the WH paid them back for inteferring with the plan.

    The Kenyan Kid can hide behind Sandy’s skirt for a day or two tops. After the water recedes and the winds die down, it will be time to expose the traitor with a full frontal assault. Once the media firewall has been breached, the media RATS will be jumping off boat faster than one can say Photoshop.

    My biggest fear is that once the Kenyan loses the election, he will claim hate and racism as the cause and will do whatever he can to destroy this country before Mitt can assume power. Its what happens when homeowners lose their home so they trash it before leaving.

  11. sbd says:

    Articles from AFRICOM website

    AFRICOM Commander Details Current, Emerging Threats

    ARLINGTON, Virginia, Jun 26, 2012 — U.S. Africa Command’s top military officer detailed existing and emerging threats from extremist organizations on the continent in a speech at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C, June 25, 2012.

    Libya also is a concern as it comes out of its revolution and forms its new government, Ham said.

    “There very truly are those who wish to undermine the formation of that government,” he said. “And again, we see some worrying indicators that al-Qaeda and others are seeking to establish a presence in Libya.”

    Statement by the President on the Attack in Benghazi

    WASHINGTON, Sep 12, 2012 — I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.

    I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.

    Panetta Strongly Condemns Benghazi Attack

    WASHINGTON, Sep 13, 2012 — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta condemned yesterday’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in the “strongest possible terms,” a senior government official said today.

    Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of the U.S. Africa Command based in Stuttgart, Germany, briefed Panetta last night on the situation in Benghazi, the official said. The secretary has since received regular updates.

    “DOD is working closely with the White House and the State Department to provide all necessary resources to support the security of U.S. personnel in Libya,” the official said.

    This morning, the official said, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, placed a call to Pastor Terry Jones about a film by a U.S. producer that is insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.

    Jones, pastor of the fundamentalist Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., is known for his 2010 plan to burn Qur’ans, the scripture of the Islamic religion, on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. According to news reports, he also supports the recent film.

    The film also was reported to have caused protests by angry crowds yesterday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

    “I can confirm that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Martin Dempsey, spoke by phone this morning with Pastor Jones,” the official said.

    “This was a brief call in which Gen. Dempsey expressed his concerns over the nature of the film, the tensions it could inflame and the violence it could cause, and he asked Mr. Jones to consider withdrawing his support for the film,” he said.

    Jones did listen to the chairman’s concerns but was noncommittal, the official said.

    Source: U.S. Department of Defense