First the State Department, Eli Lake the only non-hack at the Daily Beast reports:
On the night of the 9/11 anniversary assault at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, the Americans defending the compound and a nearby CIA annex were severely outmanned. Nonetheless, the State Department never requested military backup that evening, two senior U.S. officials familiar with the details of military planning tell The Daily Beast. The only security backup that did arrive that evening were former special-operations soldiers under the command of the CIA—one from the nearby annex and another Quick Reaction Force from Tripoli. On Friday, Fox News reported that requests from CIA officers for air support on the evening of the attacks were rejected. (The Daily Beast was not able to confirm that those requests were made, though no U.S. official contacted for this story directly refuted the claim either.)
They NEVER even requested backup. Now remember, the state department has already testified that they watch the attack in real time, and now we find out they didn't even try to help! Did they think they were watching an action movie? Did they order out for pizza and popcorn or did they watch two American heroes die on an empty stomach!
It gets worse! Obama never even convened his top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG). Guess he was too busy packing for the Las Vegas trip.
"The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon."Oh they were ready, but they were never asked to help.
Information shared with CBS News from top counterterrorism sources in the government and military reveal keen frustration over the U.S. response on Sept. 11, the night ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans were killed in a coordinated attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.
Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack.They were like a deer frozen in the headlights of a car. Instead of leaving it to the experts, the big-shots huddled and did nothing but work out a cover story.
CBS News has agreed not to quote directly from the emails, and to protect the identities of the sources who hold sensitive counterterrorism posts within the State Department, the US military and the Justice Department.
Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group, a senior US counterterrorism official says the response to the crisis became more confused. The official says the FBI received a call during the attack representing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and requesting agents be deployed. But he and his colleagues agreed the agents "would not make any difference without security and other enablers to get them in the country and synch their efforts with military and diplomatic efforts to maximize their success."
Another senior counter terrorism official says a hostage rescue team was alternately asked to get ready and then stand down throughout the night, as officials seemed unable to make up their minds.
"The response process was isolated at the most senior level," says an official referring to top officials in the executive branch. "My fellow counterterrorism professionals and I (were) not consulted."This administration was impotent in the face of attack and did nothing but try (unsuccessfully) to cover their tracks. And now they want another four years. What they deserve is four years in Leavenworth or even longer the whole lot of them.
2 comments:
Cross posted with many thanks to you.
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2012/11/new-benghazi-revelations-the-administration-was-frozen-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights.html
The lack of action was all over politics
Post a Comment