Saturday, July 27, 2013

Benghazi was a tragedy not a scandal

Understanding the Attacks in Benghazi Libya September 11 2012

yes---the attacks on that day WERE initially about a Youtube video insulting the Prophet---made by an Egyptian Copt (Christian) and Al Qaeda and Ansar Al Sharia took advantage of 9/11 anniversary and outrage over film to PLAN AN ATTACK on Benghazi

Protests around the world in response to ""Innocence of Muslims""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_Innocence_of_Muslims

MAP of Muslim Protests WorldWide on Sept 11 2012
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/09/map-muslim-protests-around-world/56865/

Where would YOU send troops??? would you have sent troops to Yemen?? Lebanon?? Nigeria?? (there are already troops in Afghanistan)

Benghazi--Tragedy Not Scandal
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/benghazi-incompetence-but-no-cover-up-20130508

Ambassador Pickering who led Accountability Review Board into Benghazi attack
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/299205-pickering-defends-state-benghazi-review

Robert Gates---Obama made right decision night of Benghazi
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0512/Robert-Gates-Obama-made-right-decisions-night-of-Benghazi-attack

""Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said if he had been at the Pentagonat that time, "Frankly … I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were.”

""Republican critics have said a Special Forces team or overflights by fighter aircraft based in Italy might have prevented the US losses or at least frightened off the attackers. Mr. Gates disagrees.
Such actions, he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, “without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on the ground, would have been very dangerous.""

"""It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces," Gates said, referring to morning-after analysis. "The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that."""

Defense Secretary Panetta and Martin Dempsey testify on Benghazi 

Red State website agrees---tragedy not scandal
Impeach Obama over a tragedy?? no---if it were a scandal?? yes



Dempsey disputes ""stand down"" order
http://www.ketknbc.com/news/military-chief-disputes-whistleblower-claim-on-ben


THE REAL POSSIBLE SCANDAL---covering up the CIA involvement there
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-white-house-benghazi-cover-up-2013-5

As Kessler correctly points out, the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was basically a covert CIA operation — a fact that Congressional investigators have had to dance around as they proceed with their Benghazi witch-hunt. 

To be fair, this bureaucratic explanation for the White House's Benghazi "cover-up" probably doesn't tell the whole story. And it definitely doesn't answer all the questions that Republicans have raised about Benghazi. 
But inter-agency finger-pointing is a fact of life in Washington, and it seems clear that both the CIA and the State Department screwed up in Benghazi.

Exposing 5 myths about Benghazi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-benghazi/2013/05/16/3baac71c-bcd1-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

GOP lied about emails
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57584947/wh-benghazi-emails-have-different-quotes-than-earlier-reported/

Embassy Staff undercuts Hicks statement that he was demoted for speaking out
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/10/1986251/benghazi-whistleblower-hicks/?mobile=nc


Behind the ""Scandal"" is history of cutting security funding

Timeline of the Libya rescue effort

U.S. intelligence and defense officials offered a timeline Thursday of the CIA's response to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, from its annex less than a mile from the diplomatic mission. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack, which occurred on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A minute-by-minute look at how the security teams' response played out. All times are local for Benghazi.

• 9:40 p.m. The CIA annex receives its first call that the consulate has come under attack.

• Less than 25 minutes later, the security team leaves the annex en route to the consulate.

• Over the next 25 minutes, team members approach the compound and attempt to get heavy weapons. When they cannot secure heavy weapons, they make their way onto the compound itself in the face of enemy fire.

• 10:30 p.m. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House and discussing the attack. Panetta returns to the Pentagon and has a series of meetings, including with Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command.

• 11:11 p.m. A Defense Department surveillance drone aircraft — an unarmed Predator — that had been requested arrives over the consulate compound. Some time later a second drone arrives and takes over the mission.

• 11:30 p.m. All U.S. personnel have departed the consulate except for Stevens, who is missing. The vehicles come under fire as they leave the facility.

• Over the next 90 minutes, the CIA annex comes under sporadic fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The security team returns fire, dispersing the attackers.

• 12:30 a.m. The first U.S. military unit is ordered to begin moving to Libya. By 3 a.m., two teams of special operations forces — one from Fort Bragg, N.C., and one from central Europe — and a Marine anti-terrorism unit are preparing to depart.

• Around 1 a.m., a team of additional security personnel from Tripoli lands at the Benghazi airport and attempts to find a ride into town. Upon learning that Stevens is missing and that the situation at the CIA annex has calmed, the team focuses on locating Stevens and obtaining information about the security situation at the hospital.

• Before dawn, the team at the airport finally manages to secure transportation and armed escort. Having learned that Stevens is almost certainly dead and that the security situation at the hospital is uncertain, the team heads to the CIA annex to assist with the evacuation. In the attack, the State Department also has said that a department computer expert, Sean Smith, was killed.

• 5:15 a.m. The team arrives at the CIA annex, with Libyan support, just before mortar rounds begin to hit the facility. Two CIA security officers — Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty — are killed when they take direct mortar fire while engaging the attackers. The attack lasts only 11 minutes before dissipating.

• Less than an hour later, a heavily armed Libyan military unit arrives at the CIA annex to help evacuate all U.S. personnel and takes them to the airport.

• A military medical evacuation aircraft flies all of them out of Libya.



The Unclassified Accountability Review Board Report









What SHOULD Congress focus on with Benghazi??? FIXING THE REAL PROBLEMS
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/on-benghazi-congress-could-take-a-lesson-from-beirut/276189/


Where is Benghazi???  39% who say its biggest scandal dont know where it is



Benghazi, Cuba???




Lets not forget those who died---and focus on ways to prevent future deaths


AND KNOW DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TERRORISTS AND MUSLIMS









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