Friday, October 26, 2012

CINC goes AWOL: SEALs in Benghazi begged for help, AC-130 was on-scene, Obama refused--flew to Vegas instead

Benghazi-gate is spinning out of control and the Obama administration is dying right before our eyes, thanks especially to leaks that are coming fast and furious (no pun intended; oh, and here's a helpful hint for future Democrat Presidents in the mold of Carter and Obama: throw the intel community under the bus at your own peril).

Jennifer Griffin of Fox News has exclusively reported that "CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack."

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack several hours later was denied by officials in the CIA chain of command -- who also told the CIA operators twice 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 and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. 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."

...[At midnight,] 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...

Unbelievably, The Tatler is also reporting that an AC-130U Gunship was on-scene in Benghazi -- and the president refused to unleash it. Obama refused to make an effort to save Ambassador Stevens and the operators who were trying to protect him.

If you don’t get torches-and-pitchforks irate about this, you are not an American:

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.

There were two AC-130Us deployed to Libya in March as part of Operation Unified Protector... The AC-130U is a very effective third-generation fire-support aircraft, capable of continuous and extremely accurate fire onto multiple targets. It has been used numerous times in Iraq and Afghanistan to save pinned-down allied forces, and has even been credited with the surrender of the Taliban city of Kunduz...

It was purpose-built for a select number of specific mission types, including point-defense against enemy attack. It was literally built for the kind of mission it could have engaged in over Benghazi, if the administration had let it fire. As the excerpt above clearly shows, we had assets on the ground “painting” the targets with the laser.

In recounting this sordid abdication of leadership (or worse), Glenn Beck stated this afternoon that, "Today, officially, is the day that I no longer recognize my country."

And Karin McQuillan asks, "Did Obama watch while they fought for their lives?"


Update: Obama refuses to answer when asked directly if security was denied during the Benghazi attack. Meanwhile, the White House Briefing Room has been dark for 16 days and Jay Carney's face was spotted on a milk carton.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...


Interesting link here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2950882/posts


Comment #2 -- Gen Ham was fired 30 seconds after deciding to intervene in Benghazi: I heard a story today from someone inside the military that I trust entirely. The story was in reference to General Ham that Panetta referenced in the quote below.
quote:

“(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 Pentagon reporters. “And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.”

The information I heard today was that General 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 Africon.


I found this story when I got home after hearing this story.
quote:

President Barack Obama will nominate Army Gen. David Rodriguez to succeed Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced.
As I was typing this I heard John Bolton on Greta say that there are conflicting reports of General Ham’s comments on this tragedy and why a rapid response unit was not deployed. Bolton says someone needs to find out what Ham was saying on 9/11/12.

Anonymous said...

President Reagan planned and executed the successful INVASION OF GRENADA in 6 hours. Morsi's son/son-in-law/nephew was in charge of "security" for the Ambassador. Obama meant to kidnapp the Ambassador and trade him to Morsi for the Blind Sheik. The Seals ruined his party.

We have a traitor in the WH. Impeach and imprision - and not in an Hawaiian Mansion - in Leavenworth.

Unknown said...

OK, things that appear to be true:
1. Time line unfolded over at least seven hours, over several locations with both sides exchanging fire.
2. Opposing forces appear to have been Muslim and well-armed.
3. State and the Ambassador to the UN specifically stated this attack was related to a u-tube video.
4. Messages were sent to the National Command Authority almost immediately.
5. There is a press release out noting that President is nominating a replacement for Gen Ham, Commander AFRICOM. (I see no firm information that Gen Ham is relieved due to Benghazi, only speculation.)
6. CIA employees came to that aid of the State people under attack, two were killed. They were NOT part of the embassy protection detail.
7. Attack occurred on Sep 11.
Things that have are floating but not really confirmed at this point, or are various proliferating speculations:
1. CIA agents asked for support and were denied, by someone. (CIA says no CIA person denied support.)
2. There might have been an AC-130 airborne over the fighting but it didn't fire. This one is based almost solely on speculation that one of the defenders was lasing a mortar position during the fight.
3. There has speculation that there were armed drones involved. Reports seem to indicate that there were drones, that they were armed isn't clear.
4. There is speculation that there were forces at Sigonella in Sicily that could have helped. If they were not on some time of ready alert, the command and control system would be hard pressed to plan a mission, task the unit, get the resources (bombs, fuel, aircrew, mission plans, targeting, ROE etc.) This speculation completely supports SECDEFs call that people are second guessing. The question here is not that forces were in the Med - they are and they could help. But only if that mission had been assigned prior to this attack could one rationally believe they were available, even over the seven hour battle. Yes, there is a chance that they could have been inserted into the fight near the end of the battle, but with almost no chance of helping and great chance of worsening the situation with faulty targeting or error from poorly prepared operators.
If Congress wants to know what happened? First step is to bring in Gen Ham and ask him under oath. This occurred in his AOR (Area of Responsibility).
This appears to be a failure of a foreign policy based on, "Why can't we all just get along?" rather than a "Trust, but verify" approach.
Of course the cover up with all the propaganda being passed out by our elected leadership, including the President is beyond mere contempt.
Oh, by the way, where is the National Security Advisor in all of this? This is his legal responsibility yet we never hear nor see him about.

Anonymous said...

@Unknown:

Want to add to your No 5:

Yes, Gen Ham was relieved of command:

After repeated demands of 'stand down', Gen Ham decided to ignore and assist to save these men's lives; 30 sec later - his 2nd in command - Gen Rodiguez - arrested Gen Ham, and relieved him of his command.
Panetta and obama are promoting Gen Rodigues as next commander for AFRICOM.

Would love to hear what Gen Ham would say, if he could; sure he isgag-ordered; may he resign in protest.

grandmafaith said...

This reminds me of a nightmare I have had when I call 9-1-1 and they won't answer...only the victims here didn't get to wake up from it. General Ham is still living the nightmare, and I assume others not yet revealed. God bless America and the condition of all her people...

Le said...

Excellent work.....i would think someone would do serious checking on this! God bless!

Anonymous said...

Bob in Minnesota:

These comments, and all of the speculation going on, strike me as reaching for evidence of some kind of conspiracy that just, logically, doesn't exist. Ask yourself what benefit there would be for anyone, at the White House or elsewhere, to not take every rational, reasonable, step to help the people in our Bengazi embassy. It's not at all clear that even if there had been 50 troops at the embassy that it would have made any difference.

Everyone should just lighten up with respect to these sorts of situations until all of the FACTS are in.