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Peter Fogel

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RE: The President That Hates His Country By Joan Swirsky
10/26/2012 9:40:54 PM
Hello Friends,

This is a must watch video in which Rush Limbaugh speaks with a retired Lt. Col. who was a Special Operations Planner for 15 years. It's very disturbing and shows how B Hussein ignored the incoming information that the Ambassador and all the Americans serving in the Benghazi embassy were under attack and their lives in danger.

His actions border on the criminal if not actually being criminal.

Below the video I'm posting one of the comments I found interesting and can only add that I hope he's right.

Shalom,

Peter

MUST WATCH: Rush military caller says beyond shadow of doubt Obama knew about Benghazi attack and ordered no response

This is an amazing phone call from a retired Lt. Col. and Special Operations Planner for 15 years who knows the inside baseball of what goes on in the White House. He told Rush that protocol dictates that as soon as the situation room got the email about the Benghazi attack, someone marched up to the president and informed him of the attack. He says it’s a bald faced lie if they say otherwise.

He also says that it was the president who gave the order at his 5pm meeting that day to not respond to the Libya attack in progress.

He explains it all below and I’m calling this is a MUST WATCH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lljKmmZyCiw

Oh dont worry. This is now a fight between Obama and the Clinton machine
The Clintons will not go down without a bloody fight Watch as the Clinton's leak docs and info to destroy Obama to save themselves.
The Romney camp and affiliates should do what it can to embolden the Clinton's efforts. Liberals do in fact need a reason to point to that Obama lost the election by a landslide , to take the heat off their awful polcies.
This is one of those time we can work in a bi-partisan manner.

(Edited by author 1 hour ago)

Peter Fogel
Babylon 7
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Peter Fogel

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RE: The President That Hates His Country By Joan Swirsky
10/27/2012 11:11:56 AM
Hello Friends,

The revelations and new information on Benghazi Gate gets worse every day. We now know that not only did the State Department send 3 emails to the White House detailing the attack, they saw it on live stream and worst of all the CIA contingent close by sent 3 requests for help and were denied. I don't think anyone has any doubts where the "denial for help" originated from.

This criminal administration where the pathological liar B Hussein keeps on denying this influx of information and keeps on insisting that their main objective is the security of Americans where ever they might be is nothing more then the biggest lie and cover up in many years if not the worst of all.

These people should be indicted and sent to prison for their criminal acts. Americans regardless of their political affiliation should repudiate this despicable excuse for a human being and send him packing and straight to jail.

The below article covers this with all the sordid details.

Shalom,

Peter

WANTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND TREACHERY

Charles Woods, the father of Tyrone Woods, said in an interview, “And apparently even the State Department had a live stream and was aware of their calls for help. This was my son, he wasn’t even there. He was at a safe house about a mile away. He got the distress call. He heard them crying for help. That’s why he and Glenn risked their lives to go that extra mile just to take care of the situation. And I’m sure that she wasn’t the only one that received that distress call: “Come save our lives.”

When I heard that there’s a very good chance that the White House as well as other members of the military knew what was going on, and obviously someone had to say, “Don’t go rescue them.” Because every person in the military, their first response is, “We’re going to go rescue them.” We need to find out who it was that gave that command.”

So who gave that command?

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that three urgent requests from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack nearly seven hours later were denied by officials in the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. Consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When they heard the shots fired, they radioed to inform their higher-ups to tell them what they were hearing. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. An hour later, they called again to headquarters and were again told to “stand down.”

Woods, Doherty and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the Consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The quick reaction force from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the Consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. 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.

Now we know who is taking responsibility for denying support to the consulate and the safe house.

The photo, which is the official one put out by DOD, from the press conference held by Panetta and General Dempsey is horribly eloquent in terms of body language.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the failure to go in by claiming that the issue was a lack of reliable intel, despite the fact that they had multiple distress calls and a drone overhead.

Blaming a lack of reliable intel is fine if you want to pull away from intervening in Syria, but not when a US diplomatic facility and its personnel are under sustained attack. And how much intel was really needed to send two jets to buzz the area and possibly scare off some of the attackers, who would not have posed any threat to the aircraft?

Although forces were on alert and ready to launch an operation if needed, the US military commander for Africa, General Carter Ham, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, and Panetta all decided against any intervention as they had no clear picture of events unfolding in Benghazi, he said.

So the buck has been passed to Panetta and Dempsey and Ham. Dempsey is a soulless administration toady and Ham is deeply invested in Libya. Panetta is a Clintonite who is completely expendable, especially if the charges get pinned to Hillary. But Panetta still seems filled with self-loathing and Dempsey looks disgusted with him.

Not doing something because there is no intel is a common excuse in these circles when they don’t want to do something. Just as with Iran, there would never have been enough intel.

And how much intel was needed really? Benghazi had an extended profile and was the cause of the entire Libyan war. The consulate had an extensive intelligence apparatus and the declassified cables we’ve seen are a fraction of the actual classified cables that would have been at Panetta, Dempsey and Ham’s disposal.

They knew about the Islamist militias and had descriptions of their armament from the RSO’s reports. They didn’t know the exact number of attackers or every single possible detail, but you can never really know everything before going in.

“There’s a basic principle here, and the basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on, without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told a news conference.

But there were already forces in harm’s way, who were trying to provide some real time intel from their point of view. What Panetta means is that the decision was made not to send aid to them, and it wasn’t about risking more lives, but about the politics of intervening in Libya and offending the Libyans. It was done for the same reason that US soldiers have at times been abandoned without air support in Afghanistan.

“I feel confident that our forces were alert and responsive to what was a very fluid situation,” General Dempsey said, which is one of those strange statements that leaders issue after a complete screw up.

The full transcript of the conference was fairly well hidden on the site, but turned up here, it shows the full exchanges.

Q: Can I follow up on that? One of the reasons we’ve heard that there wasn’t a more robust response right away is that there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture over Benghazi, to give you the idea of where to put what forces.

But when there was, in fact, a drone over the CIA annex and there were intelligence officials fighting inside the annex, I guess the big question is, with those two combined assets, why there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture that would have given you what you needed to make some moves, for instance, flying, you know, F-16s over the area to disperse fighters or — or dropping more special forces in.

SEC. PANETTA: You know, let me — let me speak to that, because I’m sure there’s going to be — there’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here.

We — we quickly responded, as General Dempsey said, in terms of deploying forces to the region. We had FAST platoons in the region. We had ships that we had deployed off of Libya. And we were prepared to respond to any contingency and certainly had forces in place to do that.

But — but the basic principle here — basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place. And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.

Q: So the drone, then, and the forces inside the annex weren’t giving enough of a clear picture is what you’re saying.

SEC. PANETTA: This — this happened within a few hours and it was really over before, you know, we had the opportunity to really know what was happening.


Peter Fogel
Babylon 7
+0
RE: The President That Hates His Country By Joan Swirsky
10/27/2012 1:44:30 PM

Peter, I honestly wonder how many, if any, of Obama's supporters have finally opened their eyes. This is just one of many instances of illegal and treasonous things from this administration and you have to wonder what it will finally take for some to open their eyes and see what they helped put in the highest office of the land.

Quote:
Hello Friends,

The revelations and new information on Benghazi Gate gets worse every day. We now know that not only did the State Department send 3 emails to the White House detailing the attack, they saw it on live stream and worst of all the CIA contingent close by sent 3 requests for help and were denied. I don't think anyone has any doubts where the "denial for help" originated from.

This criminal administration where the pathological liar B Hussein keeps on denying this influx of information and keeps on insisting that their main objective is the security of Americans where ever they might be is nothing more then the biggest lie and cover up in many years if not the worst of all.

These people should be indicted and sent to prison for their criminal acts. Americans regardless of their political affiliation should repudiate this despicable excuse for a human being and send him packing and straight to jail.

The below article covers this with all the sordid details.

Shalom,

Peter

WANTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND TREACHERY

Charles Woods, the father of Tyrone Woods, said in an interview, “And apparently even the State Department had a live stream and was aware of their calls for help. This was my son, he wasn’t even there. He was at a safe house about a mile away. He got the distress call. He heard them crying for help. That’s why he and Glenn risked their lives to go that extra mile just to take care of the situation. And I’m sure that she wasn’t the only one that received that distress call: “Come save our lives.”

When I heard that there’s a very good chance that the White House as well as other members of the military knew what was going on, and obviously someone had to say, “Don’t go rescue them.” Because every person in the military, their first response is, “We’re going to go rescue them.” We need to find out who it was that gave that command.”

So who gave that command?

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that three urgent requests from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack nearly seven hours later were denied by officials in the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. Consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When they heard the shots fired, they radioed to inform their higher-ups to tell them what they were hearing. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. An hour later, they called again to headquarters and were again told to “stand down.”

Woods, Doherty and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the Consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The quick reaction force from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the Consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. 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.

Now we know who is taking responsibility for denying support to the consulate and the safe house.

The photo, which is the official one put out by DOD, from the press conference held by Panetta and General Dempsey is horribly eloquent in terms of body language.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the failure to go in by claiming that the issue was a lack of reliable intel, despite the fact that they had multiple distress calls and a drone overhead.

Blaming a lack of reliable intel is fine if you want to pull away from intervening in Syria, but not when a US diplomatic facility and its personnel are under sustained attack. And how much intel was really needed to send two jets to buzz the area and possibly scare off some of the attackers, who would not have posed any threat to the aircraft?

Although forces were on alert and ready to launch an operation if needed, the US military commander for Africa, General Carter Ham, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, and Panetta all decided against any intervention as they had no clear picture of events unfolding in Benghazi, he said.

So the buck has been passed to Panetta and Dempsey and Ham. Dempsey is a soulless administration toady and Ham is deeply invested in Libya. Panetta is a Clintonite who is completely expendable, especially if the charges get pinned to Hillary. But Panetta still seems filled with self-loathing and Dempsey looks disgusted with him.

Not doing something because there is no intel is a common excuse in these circles when they don’t want to do something. Just as with Iran, there would never have been enough intel.

And how much intel was needed really? Benghazi had an extended profile and was the cause of the entire Libyan war. The consulate had an extensive intelligence apparatus and the declassified cables we’ve seen are a fraction of the actual classified cables that would have been at Panetta, Dempsey and Ham’s disposal.

They knew about the Islamist militias and had descriptions of their armament from the RSO’s reports. They didn’t know the exact number of attackers or every single possible detail, but you can never really know everything before going in.

“There’s a basic principle here, and the basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on, without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told a news conference.

But there were already forces in harm’s way, who were trying to provide some real time intel from their point of view. What Panetta means is that the decision was made not to send aid to them, and it wasn’t about risking more lives, but about the politics of intervening in Libya and offending the Libyans. It was done for the same reason that US soldiers have at times been abandoned without air support in Afghanistan.

“I feel confident that our forces were alert and responsive to what was a very fluid situation,” General Dempsey said, which is one of those strange statements that leaders issue after a complete screw up.

The full transcript of the conference was fairly well hidden on the site, but turned up here, it shows the full exchanges.

Q: Can I follow up on that? One of the reasons we’ve heard that there wasn’t a more robust response right away is that there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture over Benghazi, to give you the idea of where to put what forces.

But when there was, in fact, a drone over the CIA annex and there were intelligence officials fighting inside the annex, I guess the big question is, with those two combined assets, why there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture that would have given you what you needed to make some moves, for instance, flying, you know, F-16s over the area to disperse fighters or — or dropping more special forces in.

SEC. PANETTA: You know, let me — let me speak to that, because I’m sure there’s going to be — there’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here.

We — we quickly responded, as General Dempsey said, in terms of deploying forces to the region. We had FAST platoons in the region. We had ships that we had deployed off of Libya. And we were prepared to respond to any contingency and certainly had forces in place to do that.

But — but the basic principle here — basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place. And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.

Q: So the drone, then, and the forces inside the annex weren’t giving enough of a clear picture is what you’re saying.

SEC. PANETTA: This — this happened within a few hours and it was really over before, you know, we had the opportunity to really know what was happening.


+0
RE: The President That Hates His Country By Joan Swirsky
10/27/2012 1:46:04 PM


WND EXCLUSIVE

Candidates in nationwide blitz that tells different story from 2008
by Jerome R. Corsi

TRAVELING WITH THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN – What a difference four years makes.

Mitt Romney is drawing overflow crowds in well-organized barnstorm campaigning, skipping across the nation from Colorado and Nevada, to Iowa and Ohio, with side-trips to Florida, holding two to three rallies a day.

The Obama campaign is also in a cross-country blitz. But comparing the modest crowds Obama is drawing today with the unprecedented crowds that came out for him in 2008 begs the question: “What happened to the Obama magic?”

By the end of October 2008, the campaign of then-Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain was in trouble, as the momentum had swung clearly and irretrievably in the direction of Obama’s “hope and change” campaign.

But this year, Romney, emphasizing jobs and economic growth, is grabbing the enthusiasm from an Obama campaign hard pressed to find a plan for the next four years that successfully explains away the economic hardship of the past four.

Ironically, it’s the Romney campaign that has incorporated the message of “real change, real recovery” into the candidate’s stump speech, with Romney writing emails to supporters that read: “This has become more than just a campaign. It has become a national movement. Americans recognize we can do better as a nation than we’ve done over these last four years.”

That message is oddly reminiscent of Obama’s tactic in 2008 to run against George W. Bush.

The proposition Romney placed before voters in three campaign rallies Thursday in Ohio was that he could deliver where Obama had failed.

Red Rocks

On Tuesday, Romney drew a crowd the Secret Service put at 12,500 – the maximum fire marshals would allow – at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colo., north of Denver.

People of all ages began arriving at noon, ready to make the high-altitude climb from the facility’s many parking lots to the tiered seats of the famed outdoor music venue.

Romney campaign workers handed out red, blue, yellow and white T-shirts to those seated in the center of the audience in a pattern designed to form the logo on the Colorado flag.

The applause for Romney and Ryan in the amphitheater was

thundering as the candidates promised supporters that this year the Republican ticket would beat Obama in Colorado, something McCain failed to do in 2008.

In 2008, Obama drew a crowd of 100,000 that filled the parks in front of the state capitol in downtown Denver. A crowd that exceeded by 25,000 the 75,000 capacity the Broncos football team draws at Invesco Field watched Obama’s acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

But on Wednesday, Denver’s fire chief generously estimated just 16,000 came to see Obama at the modest venue of Denver City Park.

At Red Rocks, the Republican enthusiasts heard candidate Romney proclaim “What a place this is!” to loud shouts and wild applause accompanied by the clapping of thundersticks.

In Denver, Obama countered by claiming: “I love Red Rocks more than just about anybody, but it could never hold all of you guys.”

On the low road

As the Obama campaign enters the final days, its message appears heavily focused on causes of the far left that are calculated to motivate the Democratic Party’s base in an apparent decision to deemphasize the large mass of independent voters to Romney.

Politico, a Democrat-friendly website, reported this week the Democrats have “gone all in for abortion rights,” noting that contraception advocate Sandra Fluke is prominent on the campaign trail, and Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood, recently introduced Obama at a Virginia campaign rally.

Foreign Policy noted the sexually suggestive “first time” ad featuring Lena Dunham is a rip-off of a presidential campaign ad used earlier this year by Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Keeping Obama off the campaign trail for a series of MTV-like interviews may be calculated to appeal to college voters, but the strategy does not address the fear of graduating with large tuition debts and meager prospects of jobs equal to the educational levels achieved.

All indications are that Obama intends to run a negative closing game, as the Des Moines Register front page suggested this week, attempting to scare a far-left base regarding how much it will lose in social welfare and lifestyle benefits if Romney is elected, while Romney advances a positive plan to revive the economy, reduce energy prices and put the nation back to work.

If the Red Rocks rally was any indication of the mood across the country, the Republican base has enough energy to propel its ticket to the White House.

+0
Peter Fogel

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RE: The President That Hates His Country By Joan Swirsky
10/28/2012 1:43:25 PM
Hi Evelyn,

Treasonous is right and illegal is putting it mildly. His acts are both criminal and treasonous. This guy's gotta go and we have the chance to rid ourselves of this cretin and save America at the same time.

This is a failed president is a pathological liar, cheat, fraud and so much more. It's our duty to vote and bring in a President who can save the economy, create jobs and repair the damage to our foreign relations that B Hussein made a mockery of.

Shalom,

Peter


Quote:

Peter, I honestly wonder how many, if any, of Obama's supporters have finally opened their eyes. This is just one of many instances of illegal and treasonous things from this administration and you have to wonder what it will finally take for some to open their eyes and see what they helped put in the highest office of the land.

Quote:
Hello Friends,

The revelations and new information on Benghazi Gate gets worse every day. We now know that not only did the State Department send 3 emails to the White House detailing the attack, they saw it on live stream and worst of all the CIA contingent close by sent 3 requests for help and were denied. I don't think anyone has any doubts where the "denial for help" originated from.

This criminal administration where the pathological liar B Hussein keeps on denying this influx of information and keeps on insisting that their main objective is the security of Americans where ever they might be is nothing more then the biggest lie and cover up in many years if not the worst of all.

These people should be indicted and sent to prison for their criminal acts. Americans regardless of their political affiliation should repudiate this despicable excuse for a human being and send him packing and straight to jail.

The below article covers this with all the sordid details.

Shalom,

Peter

WANTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND TREACHERY

Charles Woods, the father of Tyrone Woods, said in an interview, “And apparently even the State Department had a live stream and was aware of their calls for help. This was my son, he wasn’t even there. He was at a safe house about a mile away. He got the distress call. He heard them crying for help. That’s why he and Glenn risked their lives to go that extra mile just to take care of the situation. And I’m sure that she wasn’t the only one that received that distress call: “Come save our lives.”

When I heard that there’s a very good chance that the White House as well as other members of the military knew what was going on, and obviously someone had to say, “Don’t go rescue them.” Because every person in the military, their first response is, “We’re going to go rescue them.” We need to find out who it was that gave that command.”

So who gave that command?

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that three urgent requests from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack nearly seven hours later were denied by officials in the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. Consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When they heard the shots fired, they radioed to inform their higher-ups to tell them what they were hearing. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. An hour later, they called again to headquarters and were again told to “stand down.”

Woods, Doherty and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the Consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The quick reaction force from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the Consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. 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.

Now we know who is taking responsibility for denying support to the consulate and the safe house.

The photo, which is the official one put out by DOD, from the press conference held by Panetta and General Dempsey is horribly eloquent in terms of body language.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the failure to go in by claiming that the issue was a lack of reliable intel, despite the fact that they had multiple distress calls and a drone overhead.

Blaming a lack of reliable intel is fine if you want to pull away from intervening in Syria, but not when a US diplomatic facility and its personnel are under sustained attack. And how much intel was really needed to send two jets to buzz the area and possibly scare off some of the attackers, who would not have posed any threat to the aircraft?

Although forces were on alert and ready to launch an operation if needed, the US military commander for Africa, General Carter Ham, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, and Panetta all decided against any intervention as they had no clear picture of events unfolding in Benghazi, he said.

So the buck has been passed to Panetta and Dempsey and Ham. Dempsey is a soulless administration toady and Ham is deeply invested in Libya. Panetta is a Clintonite who is completely expendable, especially if the charges get pinned to Hillary. But Panetta still seems filled with self-loathing and Dempsey looks disgusted with him.

Not doing something because there is no intel is a common excuse in these circles when they don’t want to do something. Just as with Iran, there would never have been enough intel.

And how much intel was needed really? Benghazi had an extended profile and was the cause of the entire Libyan war. The consulate had an extensive intelligence apparatus and the declassified cables we’ve seen are a fraction of the actual classified cables that would have been at Panetta, Dempsey and Ham’s disposal.

They knew about the Islamist militias and had descriptions of their armament from the RSO’s reports. They didn’t know the exact number of attackers or every single possible detail, but you can never really know everything before going in.

“There’s a basic principle here, and the basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on, without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told a news conference.

But there were already forces in harm’s way, who were trying to provide some real time intel from their point of view. What Panetta means is that the decision was made not to send aid to them, and it wasn’t about risking more lives, but about the politics of intervening in Libya and offending the Libyans. It was done for the same reason that US soldiers have at times been abandoned without air support in Afghanistan.

“I feel confident that our forces were alert and responsive to what was a very fluid situation,” General Dempsey said, which is one of those strange statements that leaders issue after a complete screw up.

The full transcript of the conference was fairly well hidden on the site, but turned up here, it shows the full exchanges.

Q: Can I follow up on that? One of the reasons we’ve heard that there wasn’t a more robust response right away is that there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture over Benghazi, to give you the idea of where to put what forces.

But when there was, in fact, a drone over the CIA annex and there were intelligence officials fighting inside the annex, I guess the big question is, with those two combined assets, why there wasn’t a clear intelligence picture that would have given you what you needed to make some moves, for instance, flying, you know, F-16s over the area to disperse fighters or — or dropping more special forces in.

SEC. PANETTA: You know, let me — let me speak to that, because I’m sure there’s going to be — there’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here.

We — we quickly responded, as General Dempsey said, in terms of deploying forces to the region. We had FAST platoons in the region. We had ships that we had deployed off of Libya. And we were prepared to respond to any contingency and certainly had forces in place to do that.

But — but the basic principle here — basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place. And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.

Q: So the drone, then, and the forces inside the annex weren’t giving enough of a clear picture is what you’re saying.

SEC. PANETTA: This — this happened within a few hours and it was really over before, you know, we had the opportunity to really know what was happening.


Peter Fogel
Babylon 7
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