Patterico's Pontifications

11/1/2012

All Benghazi, All the Time — Until the Jobs Report Comes Out

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:31 pm



Tomorrow’s jobs report is important, and the economy is still issue #1 — but this Benghazi thing is hard to ignore, isn’t it, Mr. President (try as you might)?

You had a meeting the day before September 11 about 9/11 threats. We’re all kind of wondering what you were told in that meeting. Did Libya come up?

(I’ll note one other thing that happened on September 10: Marc Thiessen was asking why, unlike President Bush, you skip about half of your daily intelligence meetings.)

And why didn’t you convene the Counterterrorism Security Group on 9/11?

CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).

“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.”

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.

The circumstances of the attack, including the intelligence and security situation there, will be the subject of a Senate Intelligence Committee closed hearing on Nov. 15, with additional hearings to follow.

We’ll get to the bottom of this, er, after the election!

Except I want to know now. Why wasn’t it convened? Ace has a suspicion: “It was decided from the first moments that this wasn’t terrorism, because it would be politically harmful if it were terrorism.”

Well, sir, if you won’t tell us, all we can do is speculate.

That should be enough to keep us going until the jobs report. Hey, last month is going to get revised upward, isn’t it? So we can see an increase in employment this month. Did I guess right?

UPDATE: Upward, not downward. Duh.

109 Responses to “All Benghazi, All the Time — Until the Jobs Report Comes Out”

  1. This is agonizing. Make it all stop.

    This election can’t happen soon enough for me.

    Patterico (8b3905)

  2. Hows that 6 week long investigation going for you so far Mr.President. I know you’ll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.

    Dave Cardot (76f3aa)

  3. “Abandon the Benghazi conspiracy theory, remember Hanlon’s Razor” I got a few minutes ago from a local Democrat. Really? I should vote for The Stand Down Team because they’re not conspiring, they are incompetent or stupid?

    htom (412a17)

  4. I’m optimistic about the ultimate outcome but the time period from the last debate to next week’s election day feels like it has gone on forever. I think it’s because almost every day brings a big story. Past elections might have a big story every week, but this one seems to have a big story every day.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  5. Some of the raw material behind these finding;

    http://www.conservativecommune.com/2012/10/big-libya-unclassified-docs-dump/

    narciso (ee31f1)

  6. Racists

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  7. If the folks at BLS don’t correct the record and report accordingly, I’m wondering what federal crimes those officials can be held to account for.

    Steven W. (908822)

  8. ABC News reported on a timeline provided by intelligence officials tonight. They acknowledge the CIA played a greater role in responding to the attack than has previously been disclosed. Frankly, as more of these “reports” are released, the more confusing it all becomes…maybe that’s the point.

    A senior U.S. intelligence official also insisted that the CIA security team that initially responded to the attack was not given orders “to stand down in providing support,” as had been suggested in media reports.

    “There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing support,” said the official. The official’s comments appeared to be a direct rebuttal of a Fox News report that CIA teams on the ground had been told by superior officers to “stand down” from providing security support to the consulate.

    According to the official, upon learning of the attack at the consulate, the security team at the annex responded “as quickly and effectively as possible.”

    Dana (292dcf)

  9. CSG….
    I think that Fox scooped CBS on this, or Bret Baier was fibbing as just after reading the report, he looked down at his monitor and said that CBS was now moving the story.
    But, at least the networks are finally starting to pay attention to Benghazi, and how nothing seems to add up.
    The only question is:
    Is it enough?

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Really Sucks! (2bb434)

  10. Ace is probably right.

    I suspect it went down thus: Obama is notified of the attack, talks to Pinetta and Clapper in the Oval Office, Dempsey (CJCS) & Petraeous by phone. He asks what they know, what the chances of a successful rescue are.

    They don’t know, but can get assets there in x time. Someone voices the concern that one of the loose MANPAD portable surface to air missiles floating around could take down an AC-130. Someone else should have mentioned the possibility of landing a strike team at the airport, which was considered secure at the time.

    Too much risk for not enough reward for Obama. He nixes any rescue ops and goes to bed.

    When the media attention is all on Romney, they decide to treat the attack as a spillover from the other embassy protests in the region, and blame the video to divert attention from their inaction.

    Estragon (13e813)

  11. His ship has sailed, though I gag saying that, as a squid. Personally, I’m enjoying the payback and watching Zero and the libs squirm.

    BigDogJunction (e4f5ef)

  12. He was called upon to be Commander-In-Chief, but he decided to vote “Present.” He’s a disgrace! The phone rang at 3AM and he let it go to voice mail. Please people, vote him out!

    Bill M (2f7437)

  13. Anyone want to bet that last month’s jobs numbers get revised down, this month’s are double-plus good, and the MSM only points out the increase?

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  14. Ah, yes. Bam-Bam records another “Gutsy Call” of Present.
    Too bad about those speed bumps.

    Bill G (acef5e)

  15. Obama’s getting to the bottom of this just as well as OJ is finding the real killers

    Hawkins (fc3536)

  16. New Jersey will not let anyone work in their state unless your a union member. Hey, New Jersey F U. Christie should run as a democrat, what a puke.

    mg (31009b)

  17. On Halloween foriegn terrorists almost killed Harry Truman, a private killed the last terrorist with his last shot before succumbing to his wounds, quite possibly saving Truman’s life. what does this have to do with all of this? = everything = the democrat party knows right from wrong and the value of people like the seals who sacrificed everything and should be totally Ashamed of the Obama administration

    In May 1952, President Truman dedicated a plaque to Leslie Coffelt in front of Blair House. The fortunate president spoke from the heart and with wisdom gained from experience that day when he vowed to cooperate with his guards in every way possible. He did so, he said, not because he was personally afraid, but because he had learned the hard way the extent of his own responsibility for the safety of the men assigned to protect him.

    http://www.historynet.com/president-harry-s-truman-survived-assassination-attempt-at-the-blair-house.htm

    EPWJ (c5f1fc)

  18. 7.9% unemployment rate.

    JD (d2dac5)

  19. a lot of piggy piggy jersey union whores got their homes flooded too you would think

    happyfeet (e5eb5a)

  20. 7.9 still doesn’t represent the mess president romney inherited we have to wait and see what it is when he gets inogitated

    happyfeet (e5eb5a)

  21. 18 mg- saw a blurb about Alabama NON-UNION utility workers refused entrance to storm area and told to stand down. I know there were others also blocked. Thought it was NYC but I’m sure you’re right about Jersey. Yeah, no doubt if someone’s suffering from outages, they look for the union label and don’t want non-union. On a related note, looters are donning Con Ed uniforms to enter damaged homes. Meanwhile president photo-op is away looking for votes elsewhere. At least he shows he cares, unlike the evil Bush did with blacks and the poor. I’m sure sleeeeepy and chimperor are proud of him and how he stood by greek column christie and also those benghazi patriots.

    calypso louis farrakhan (13b04f)

  22. I’m done looking at unemployment numbers. It’s too hard to determine just how much of that is people leaving the workforce or finding part time work to scrape by.

    What I care about is full time jobs created.

    The day Obamacare is repealed is the day that number turns around.

    Dustin (73fead)

  23. The employment rate is going in the wrong direction Mr Dustin and that’s WITH the trillion dollar stimulus plus frighteningly large deficits PLUS bernanke printing printing printing dollars like they were those little packs of chiclets the beggar mexican children sell in dusty border towns

    happyfeet (e5eb5a)

  24. It is scary to think how bad it could get when it’s time to pay the piper for Obama’s spending, Happyfeet.

    Only a truly strong American economy can even pretend to have a hope of absorbing that, and even then, there’s going to be a lot of inflation.

    Hope y’all don’t like food.

    Dustin (73fead)

  25. I don’t see a way out for the American economy. Doesn’t matter who’s elected. The only question is when the hyperinflation hits.

    What scares me is how The Stand Down Team has erased our image of competence. The sage says, “It is best, not to be attacked.” Not any more. And even electing Romney is only a first step into that battle.

    htom (412a17)

  26. I’ve raised this question on other boards. Though it was a crass, a$$hat comment when Biden said “Did your son always have balls the size of cue balls?”

    Yes, it’s crass and it is Joe B, but what makes a person say that? Even if it’s not at a funeral. biden could have reviewd Ty Woods records as a navy SEAL, and if he wanted to, got the detail, not just the dedacted summaries. But what makes him ask a question like that?

    Ty Wood couldn’t and wouldn’t have spoken to anyone about his missions. It’s not like biden could have spoken to the senior Woods and said “How about that Mali mission back in 2005 Ty was on, huh? Real barn burner and boy did things get hot over there, boy did he raise up.”

    It’s not like the senior Woods can kibbitz with biden about mission details. What makes a person ask that type of question? I have a hunch:

    Obama, Biden & Penetta watched these folks get slaughtered. Like this article and many others have said: Obama is asking for an investigation into what he did or did not do so he can know the answers before he says what he did himself.

    Anyone who votes for this jacka$$ deserves the same fate as those four Americans. You’re voting for a guy who will let Americans die so he can be re-elected. Feel good about yourselves?

    Steve in SoCal (457fff)

  27. Now up at Hot Air:

    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/11/02/fox-news-benghazi-consulate-warned-3-hours-before-attack-of-militia-gathering-arms/

    This makes sense, and it fits in perfectly with the Libyan eyewitness reports that Ansar al Sharia and their allies were setting up roadblocks to seal off the consulate beginning at nightfall.

    These forces couldn’t just materialize at their objective with their equipment. No matter how long they had planned this there would have been visible preparations in the hours prior to the assault. Such as the Benghazi cop reconnoitering the compound that morning.

    The embassy in Tripoli was clearly aware of the nature of the threat to their consulate in Benghazi. They had warned Washington. The LCOL in command of the special security team had warned Washington specifically about Benghazi; he testified he expected an attack because we were “the last flag standing.” All the other western nations had packed up and left because of the threat.

    Apparently the ambassador continued to warn Washington of the detieriorating security situation right up to the day he died. Reporters have found unsent letters scattered on the floor of the sacked buildings dated 9/11/2012 detailing troubling security incidents and the fact the Libyan government was not providing the support they promised.

    8. Frankly, as more of these “reports” are released, the more confusing it all becomes…maybe that’s the point.

    Comment by Dana — 11/1/2012 @ 9:55 pm

    Dana, one thing to keep in mind is this “fog of war” talk is really just BS. Which isn’t to say the Obama administration wasn’t operating in a fog. But it was entirely of their own creation.

    They are so incompetent, when they defend their actions they not only reveal their incompetence but they don’t even know they are revealing massive depths of incompetence.

    The “Panetta rule,” we have already discussed, is complete BS. We don’t send in people into harm’s way unless we have good, real-time intel? Really? Someone might want to tell that to the USMC special operators. You know, Force Recon, short for Force Reconnaissance companies. Getting sent in without knowing what’s going on but to find out is what reconnaissance is all about. SEALs, too, have reconnaissance as a primary mission. I don’t know any special forces that don’t train to go into situations where we don’t know what’s going on but need to find out. Even regular infantry units, Army and Marine, were used that way in Iraq and A-stan.

    And Panetta is SecDef?!?!

    Obama thinks he’s such a “sophisticated” consumer of intel, according to his spokesman, he doesn’t need briefings. All that demonstrates he doesn’t know the first thing about making sense out of intel, because if he did he’d need to ask questions. If he were that “sophisticated” he would see gaps and ask questions.

    This is why he needed to convene the CSG. These guys are professionals. They would have known what they were looking at. This is why combat leaders with after a year of experience are much more effective than inexperienced combat leaders who’ve been in theater for less than a month. They may have not seen exactly the new situation they’ve been thrust into, but they’ve seen something like it.

    Actually, the situation isn’t becomeing more confusing as more information leaks out. It’s becoming clearer. The amateurs cut out the professionals. And no one was really in charge. It wasn’t so much the situation was confusing. It’s that we have a bunch of confused incompetents, in way over their heads, running a clusterf*** of an administration, and they’re too incompetent to know when they need to turn to the pros.

    Steve57 (320590)

  28. Sorry for the wall of text. It’s just that the more that comes out, the more po’d I get. It isn’t just the specific bits of information coming out. It’s a clear sign that the lower echelon professionals are saying the problem lies with the political types at the top of the executive branch. Everything, including the varying and conflicting cover stories the incompetent democratic party hacks keep coming up with, points to that.

    They are so incompetent they can’t even come up with a believable lie. Because they still totally misunderstand the situation.

    Steve57 (320590)

  29. One perspective, via Blackfive:
    http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/a-tale-of-four-heroes/

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  30. Pentagon: Secret U.S. military commandos deployed to Libya

    A U.S. official would not provide details on the classified unit in the region but said it includes…

    The CIA also is said to be secretly setting up covert armed aerial drone units in the country.

    Well, those “secret commandos” aren’t secret anymore, and those “covert armed drone units” aren’t covert anymore. The Libyans already denied permission to arm the drones operating in their country, so I guess we’ve got to do “covertly.”

    Typical Obama admin M.O. Release information that should be classified for very good reasons, no matter how it compromises the mission or national security, if it will make Obama look good.

    Clearly this is a political appointee in the Pentagon, and this is an authorized leak. Obama has always seen this as an issue of political damage control even while the attack was ongoing. Which is why they didn’t think to react. Even his “three clear directives” indicate that because none were specifically directed at the Benghazi attack.

    Steve57 (320590)

  31. Thanks for the link, Doc.

    I don’t buy fog of war. I don’t buy “confused situation.”

    I don’t think anyone who’s been in the service buys the “fog of war” story. And frankly it shows Panetta is unworthy to be SecDef. Even if he knows better, it still shows he’s just a politician who’ll insult the intelligence of everyone in uniform serving under him without a second thought.

    It isn’t just special forces that reacts on short notice to “confused situations.” Alert aircraft do as well. I was on a Helicopter Assault ship in the South China Sea when we got a call from a sub transiting on the surface (too shallow to dive) under attack by small craft. We didn’t know any more than that when we launched the alert Sea Cobras.

    Aircraft carriers, too, have alert aircraft on deck ready to launch on short notice when they don’t actually have aircraft up that you vector into a “confused situation” on essentially no notice.

    I swear, when the people in this administration lie to me I get the feeling I’m dealing with a bunch of 14 year olds who don’t know any better. And they don’t think I do, either.

    Steve57 (320590)

  32. CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).

    …I want to know now. Why wasn’t it convened?

    Probably a lack of of presence of mind. They probably had not rehearsed this also, or done any planning or thinking about such a contingency as an ongoing attack. The Counterterrorism Security Group is probably something left over from the Bush Administration.

    It also looks like maybe the failure to formally convene this is being used by some people as a kind of an excuse for doing nothing.

    Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group

    They were helpless?

    a senior U.S. counterterrorism official


    The leaker?

    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.

    Quite possibly somebody acting independently, by the way, without consulting the Secretary of State.

    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.”

    So what he’s saying they couldn’t act on their own, and the request did not come from high enough up. (if it had come from someone high up, then presumabably the official would have replied, we need this and that…this agency has to get involved….You needed to do a lot of things.

    But this does not have to be done through a Counterterrorism Security Group.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  33. So somebody asks the FBI to do something it cannot do or doesn;t want to do on its own, maybe, and the people in the FBI let the subject drop.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  34. Also – this is where the video and the demonstration in Cairo comes in: It looked like more of the same. It didn’t look like anything would be needed to be done. And before they could gather themselves together, they were told it was all over and the Ambassador was OK.

    Then, they were communicating with the Liobyan government, except contradictory information was coming in. So they were telling people to get ready and then that they didn’t need to do anything, and maybe then to get ready again.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  35. …I want to know now. Why wasn’t it convened?

    It wasn’t convened because to do so would be a tacit admission that there are terrorists still operating against the USA, and that would be 180-degrees from the political message from the Oval Office, and the Chicago-campaign.

    No terrorists, no need for a meeting of the Counter-terrorism Security Group!

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  36. But this does not have to be done through a Counterterrorism Security Group.

    It does when there’s no other body capable of putting together a coordinated response.

    As the ad hoc group President Tiger Beat demonstrated it was not.

    The official says the FBI received a call during the attack representing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and requesting agents be deployed.

    Quite possibly somebody acting independently, by the way, without consulting the Secretary of State.

    Quite possibly not. But then, no one was exercising leadership. Case in point; two of the Prom Queen’s three “clear directives” were inane. While the attack was ongoing, he directed that there be an investigation to find out what happened and who’s responsible, and then bring them to justice.

    So it is entirely possible that SecState was following up on Prom Queen’s directives and did have a subordinate call the FBI.

    But either way none of these people are capable of leading a group of deaf mutes in a silent prayer, let alone the executive branch and its cabinet departments.

    Steve57 (320590)

  37. Steve57 — the “wall of text”, I think, was well said. I really wonder if any of them ever played Stratego. Or Battleship.

    htom (412a17)

  38. htom, if they did I’m sure they lost a lot.

    But given their past performance I’m sure they never heard of those games until one of Obama’s adolescent speech writers told him it’s be a good zinger to use against Romney.

    Essentially, Sammy’s wrong. The response did need to be handled by the CSG.

    Because it wasn’t, we got exactly the kind of response you’d expect from a Chicago community organizer, a woman who rode her husband’s coat tails as First Lady to a Senate seat, a beltway lawywer/lobbyist, an ex-Congressman, and Joe Biden.

    Steve57 (320590)

  39. Quote of the day over at Powerline:

    It is one thing to think you’re Lebron. It[‘]s another thing to keep missing the basket and losing games and still think you’re Lebron.

    Peggy Noonan, of all people, speaking of BHO and his combination of arrogance and incompetence.

    Steve57 (320590)

  40. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in print. Even stupider than the leaks that result in headlines that actually discuss “secret commandos:”

    WSJ: CIA Takes Heat for Role in Libya

    The U.S. effort in Benghazi was at its heart a CIA operation, according to officials briefed on the intelligence. Of the more than 30 American officials evacuated from Benghazi following the deadly assault, only seven worked for the State Department. Nearly all the rest worked for the CIA, under diplomatic cover, which was a principal purpose of the consulate, these officials said.

    Let’s not be naive; everybody knows that diplomatic missions provide cover for intelligence officers.

    But no nation is stupid enough to admit that. But to state publicly that he primary purpose of some of our diplomatic missions is to provide cover for a CIA operation is beyond stupid. It’s brain dead.

    The brunt of the public criticism for security lapses has so far been directed at the State Department, rather than the CIA, which, by design, operates largely in the shadows.

    Not anymore!

    This account of the CIA presence in Benghazi sheds new light on the events, and how the essentially covert nature of the U.S. operations there created confusion…

    The CIA’s secret role…

    The “covert nature” of the CIA operation didn’t create confusion. There was no confusion.

    At least, not among the attackers. They knew the exact grid coordinates for their mortar fire, so not-confused were they.

    This is exactly the kind of stupidity I’ve grown to expect from these people. You’re going to have a “secret” CIA operation out of “covert” facility in Benghazi. Then you’re going to have your ambassador call attention to it by his very presence. You can’t very well provide “cover” to the CIA operation by running a US diplomatic mission in a town that so little justifies a diplomatic presence that no other western country would risk having one.

    And now, we have leakers telling the world that in some places our missions are primarily if not solely intended to house CIA operations, with the majority of officials operating using false diplomatic passports.

    Great. Great headwork.

    Steve57 (320590)

  41. …I want to know now. Why wasn’t it convened?

    Probably a lack of of presence of mind

    I don’t understand this. They were watching the attack in real time and knew it was terrorism. They have a group specifically intended to handle this problem. Surely someone in the room at some point would have had the presence of mind to convene the group.

    It is more rational to assume that they consciously decided not to convene the counter terror security group than it is to assume they forgot about it that day.

    I think the musing that there was an early decision to say this wasn’t terrorism explains a lot of questions about administration behavior.

    Dustin (73fead)

  42. Good comments, Steve. It’s unfortunate that the effort to explain this mess away is actually making our administration look even worse.

    If only Obama had said, 9/12, that mistakes were made and he takes responsibility for that and will improve their responses, America would give him leadership credit. There would be no need for leaks about the CIA, either.

    But no, he isn’t strong enough to take it.

    Dustin (73fead)

  43. He knows he’s lost and the treason will become obvious?

    htom (412a17)

  44. Maybe this is the transparency he’s always talked about.

    htom (412a17)

  45. Jewish World Review Nov. 2, 2012/ 17 Mar-Cheshvan, 5773

    Benghazi investigator too biased to find truth

    By Diana West

    http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1112/west110212.php3?printer_friendly

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  46. They have a group specifically intended to handle this problem. Surely someone in the room at some point would have had the presence of mind to convene the group.
    Comment by Dustin — 11/2/2012 @ 1:19 pm

    Perhaps since Obama thinks he knows more than anybody else no matter what their specialty is, he thought he knew more about responding to terrorist attacks in real time than anybody else as well.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  47. Of course President Obama knows precisely what he was told, what he told those inside and when. If he were put under oath, we would know exactly what happened and when. Even Bob Woodward snorted and said, “Look, if they really wanted to find out what happened, they would have an independent investigation take place.” That administraiton continues to bank on the public’s gullibility and a complicit media. Heck, why wouldn’t they? Four years ago that M.O. reaped amazing results and has continued to do so.

    It is more rational to assume that they consciously decided not to convene the counter terror security group than it is to assume they forgot about it that day.

    Just as it is more rational to assume that when Tyrone Woods pointed his laser at the target where mortar fire was coming from and simultaneously gave away his own location, he did so convinced there was air support right there to take out the target rather than just being hopeful someone, somewhere would see the signal. That assumption would not be rational.

    Dana (292dcf)

  48. My theory is, is that by the time “Hamlet” the Village Idiot in the WH decided what to do, Chris Stevens was missing and presumed dead.

    So he went to full coverup/campaign mode. Nothing left to lose!

    Patricia (e1d89d)

  49. Now if this reminds you of an episode of burn notice, it’s not an accident

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/02/exclusive-classified-cable-shows-benghazi-consulate-considered-suspending/

    narciso (ee31f1)

  50. Perhaps since Obama thinks he knows more than anybody else no matter what their specialty is, he thought he knew more about responding to terrorist attacks in real time than anybody else as well.

    Comment by MD in Philly — 11/2/2012

    Indeed he probably does think he’s a better counter terror expert than his counter terror experts.

    Just as it is more rational to assume that when Tyrone Woods pointed his laser at the target where mortar fire was coming from and simultaneously gave away his own location, he did so convinced there was air support right there

    I hate thinking about that moment and its aftermath.

    Dustin (73fead)

  51. 48. Perhaps since Obama thinks he knows more than anybody else no matter what their specialty is, he thought he knew more about responding to terrorist attacks in real time than anybody else as well.

    Comment by MD in Philly — 11/2/2012 @ 2:05 pm

    There’s a large element in truth to that. But in addition there’s the list of who his NSC spokesman say he worked with that night. Biden, Panetta, Clinton, Petraeus, and Donilon.

    His running mate, or his appointees. People also, if the allegations about the primary purpose of that consulate are true, would have been in on the plot and would have just as much reason to cover their tails as Obama.

    The CSG would not have been such a group.

    I’m not claiming those allegations will turn out to be true (although it is stupid, stupid, stupid if someone who’s high enough in the USG to have credibility to leak those allegations as a false cover story). But it could very well be that he also didn’t want to reveal anything about the nature of the consulate to people not in his inner circle.

    They would have recognized patterns. If something suspicious was going on in Benghazi, the members of the CSG would have picked up on it.

    Hey, come on! We all know that if you want someone who can deal with a crisis of a military nature the first thing you’re going to think of is “community organizer.” But in addition to Chicago Jesus being confident he could deal with the situation he may not have wanted to share information with the CSG because they wouldn’t have been members of his inner circle.

    Steve57 (320590)

  52. 51.My theory is, is that by the time “Hamlet” the Village Idiot in the WH decided what to do, Chris Stevens was missing and presumed dead.

    So he went to full coverup/campaign mode. Nothing left to lose!

    Comment by Patricia — 11/2/2012 @ 7:54 pm

    Well, Nothing. Except Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty. And potentially a couple of dozen or so other brave Americans. Which suggests either a certain callous disregard or criminal negligence due to insane amounts of incompetence.

    But I do agree that the evidence points to the fact Obama didn’t convene the CSG because he was ideologically blinkered to the idea what happened in Benghazi wasn’t terrrorism or because it had become a political problem to be managed.

    As an aside, earlier MD in Philly linked to an article comparing the actions of these former SEALs to the Delta operators Shughart and Gordon in Mogadishu.

    A comparison I entirely agree with. There’s another, older comparison. To the USS Pueblo and USS Liberty. Mostly because of the imbecilic “Panetta rule” about how you don’t send people into harm’s way without knowing what is going on.

    Here’s a newsflash, Leon: If your consulate is getting overrun because you didn’t consider earlier reports of danger important it means you ALREADY HAVE sent people into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on. And now you have an obligation to fix it.

    I’ve read the transcripts of the comms between the Pueblo and shall we say higher authority. I won’t say what I read. But when I hear about Woods and Doherty, and no doubt many other brave men in Benghazi, requesting aid it’s deja vu all over again.

    They had been sent into harm’s way thinking that if they sent out the call the cavalry would come charging over the hill. And it never came.

    I don’t chalk this up to any great conspiracy. Just incompetence. The BP oil spill indicated to me that Obama wasn’t just too incompetent to execute the National Contingency Plan. He didn’t appear to know there was a pre-existing plan at all.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Obama didn’t know there was a Counterterrorism Security Group until he started getting criticized for not convening it.

    Point being, it appears to me that the people who knew there was a plan and what it consisted of weren’t consulted. It just became amateur hour all over again. 50 years of collective experience counts for nothing, when the baby ducks get elected.

    Steve57 (320590)

  53. Romney blew a big chance to say, “Valerie Jarrett, the real President”.

    nk (875f57)

  54. Iranian born valerie jarret.

    mg (31009b)

  55. Valerie Jarrett’s problems have nothing to do with being Iranian.

    Dustin (73fead)

  56. 59- Perhaps not, but she has showed no love for the U.S.A. Valerie would look better with a burka.

    mg (31009b)

  57. you’re truly a excellent webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing. It sort of feels that you are doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a great activity on this topic!,

    KerenShiels (a81be6)

  58. 59- Perhaps not, but she has showed no love for the U.S.A.

    I agree. In my opinion she is one of the most damaging aspects of this administration. An unelected yet incredibly powerful person, thanks largely to Obama not being up to his job.

    Reportedly she ordered the Bin Laden raid cancelled repeatedly over three months. I’m surprised the raid ever actually happened, and I lay most of the botched handling of that triumph at her feet (though ultimately this is Obama’s administration).

    She’s one of many Chicago radicals that really should have stayed in Chicago.

    Dustin (73fead)

  59. 59- I hope Romney uses better judgement on hiring. Like for instance, hire an American, we need the work. Biased-you betcha.

    mg (31009b)

  60. Dustin- Pat Dollard has some news on valerie and her intentions for the next 4-years. Payback to all who have opposed them.

    mg (31009b)

  61. I hope Romney hires Americans too, but Valerie Jarrett is American, so he’ll need to consider more than that

    So far, the folks Romney’s choosing are a huge improvement over the people Obama’s chosen. The VP selections alone speak volumes.

    Dustin (73fead)

  62. Pat Dollard has some news on valerie and her intentions for the next 4-years. Payback to all who have opposed them.

    Comment by mg — 11/3/201

    I am sure that’s right. These folks are Chicago democrats and they abuse power. We’ve seen this over and over.

    Dustin (73fead)

  63. The time is now to halt the regime. And put them in jail for breaking the laws of decency.

    mg (31009b)

  64. You’re wasting everyone’s valuable per-election time on this nonsense. People. Don’t. Care.

    Keep it simple: the economy, economy, economy.

    And failed sandy response by ineffectual government. Americans don’t need Uncle Sam to save them, they can dig out themselves without handouts.

    Unless they’re lazy sons of Kenya of course…

    Dry Powder (1a953c)

  65. “Except Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty:

    Right, Steve. He didn’t count on them being heroes and disobeying his orders to surrender.

    Patricia (e1d89d)

  66. Balls bigger than poppy seeds, all four of them.

    htom (412a17)

  67. People. Un-American. Scumbags. Don’t. Care.

    FTFY, Dry Powder.

    Steve57 (320590)

  68. narciso, two excellent links.

    Once the alarm is sent – in this case, from the consulate in Benghazi — dozens of HQs are notified and are in the planning loop in real time

    And part of the planning process is gathering the essential elements of information to meet the commander’s intelligence requirements.

    Thus the author’s statement here is correct as far as it goes.

    Leon Panetta is falling on his sword for President Obama with his absurd-on-its-face, “the U.S. military doesn’t do risky things”-defense of his shameful no-rescue policy. Panetta is utterly destroying his reputation. General Dempsey joins Panetta on the same sword with his tacit agreement by silence. But why? How far does loyalty extend when it comes to covering up gross dereliction of duty by the president?

    The author doesn’t go far enough because the second part of the statement is equally horseshit.

    “(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.”

    Earlier I mentioned that units are trained to gather exactly that kind of real-time intelligence. They are trained infiltrate behind enemy lines (or be left behind in an area expected to be overrun) undetected, remain undetected, and gather exactly the sort of real-time intel Panetta claims he lacked. Some of the units are named for the mission. Hello! USMC Force Recon! US Army Long Range Surveillance!

    But here’s the kicker, and it’s sort of so obvious it hadn’t occurred to me to mention it. Panetta, we know for certain, had personnel already on the ground trained to conduct exactly that mission.

    At least two former SEALs. We don’t know exactly the backgrounds of those other CIA operators and contractors at the annex, but I’m sure at least some had similar backgrounds.

    And Panetta claims he just couldn’t get “some real-time information about what’s taking place?”

    The administration is spinning like a top. They didn’t have a live video feed from the drone, they claim. Which is of course BS, but OK, for the sake of argument. The next question should be, “You had personnel trained in special reconnaissance on the site, in good communications we know, giving you a blow by blow. Trained observers who could tell you anything you needed to know in terms of what you are up against. Are you saying you do not trust the intel you are getting from your own special operators who have the specific mission of getting you that intel?”

    Really, between the surveillance drones and the personnel on the ground no commander could have asked for better sources of “some real-time information about what’s taking place” than that.

    Steve57 (320590)

  69. As far as your second link, narciso:

    British sources on the ground in Benghazi said they are extremely frustrated by the attack and are still wondering why they weren’t called for help. “We have more people on the ground here than the Americans and I just don’t know why we didn’t get the call?” one said.

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/03/exclusive-security-officials-on-ground-in-libya-challenge-cia-account/#ixzz2BCVj4ZE5

    What these amateurs aren’t aware of as they issue lie after lie about what they knew and what they did don’t realize about this investigation in which they’re attempting to bury the truth is this: a lot of the witnesses are beyond their jurisdiction. They can’t shut them up with this “can’t comment it’s an ongoing investigation” directive I’m sure they’re trying to impose on people in the know.

    Steve57 (320590)

  70. 56. Romney blew a big chance to say, “Valerie Jarrett, the real President”.

    Comment by nk — 11/3/2012 @ 12:15 am

    Reading this thread has me convinced even if Romney misses his big chance to say it Joe Biden may not.

    Oh, about Benghazi:

    Benghazi and the Missing Obama 9/11 Timeline

    They’re still lying.

    Steve57 (320590)

  71. It strains credulity, Steve, the excuse that the team was detained at the Benghazi airport, didn’t they call ahead, or the notion that more forces were’nt deployed across the Mediterranean,

    narciso (ee31f1)

  72. So much about this strains credulity it’s mind boggling, narciso.

    The only thing that doesn’t strain credulity is that the Obama admin is covering up, no doubt generating a false paper trail now that they’ve been informed by there critics that one exists while destroying the real one, and that the press is dutifully reporting whatever propaganda the WH puts out to mislead the public.

    That’s really the only thing the WH has proven capable of, and then only with lots of outside support to prop them up.

    Steve57 (320590)

  73. 78 – Petreaus is coming across as a feeble minded democrat.

    mg (31009b)

  74. mg, another Collin Powell in the making perhaps.

    I’ve long understood that you really can’t make flag rank without demonstrating your political pliability.

    Powell demonstrated the concept with his recent Obama endorsement. I had hoped for more from Petraeus, but I was prepared for a let down.

    Uncompromising types just don’t get that far.

    Steve57 (320590)

  75. Steve57 – It’s outrageous that are troops have gutless generals ,who would rather be at a ben affleck movie premier. Especially on the night we lost those brave men. Sick, but true. And teh leader was in sin city doing his partisan hack routine. We need a overhaul of leadership throughout our govt.

    mg (31009b)

  76. This is a skeleton timeline, based mostly on Wall Street Journal article this Friday. I haven’t had time to format it. It needs additions and corrections.

    Approximately 7:00-8:00 Libyan time: Dusk in Benghazi. Ansar al Sharia (or people using that designation) begins putting up roadblocks around
    the U.S. mission (called a consulate, although it actually did not have that status)

    8:30: Turkish Ambassador leaves the consulate. Amb Stevens goes to bed. One person goes online.

    3:40 / 9:40 Consulate notifies Tripoli it is under attack.

    4:05 /10:05 Bulletin about attack goes out on State Department alert system. Pentagon, White House probably notified shortly after this time.

    4:05 / 10:05 CIA security team at secret annex/safe house heads out
    toward consulate.

    Approx 10:15 Security teams stops at third location to pick up heavy weapons, and possibly Libyan force.

    4:30 /10:30 Pentagon’s command center alerts Sect Def Panetta to attack

    4:30/ 10:30 CIA security team, with Libyans, arrives at consulate. They
    come under fire when they arrive, but attackers appear to
    retreat, leaving behind burning building(s)

    4:45/10:45? Unarmed drone diverted to Benghazi.

    4:54/ 10:54 Ambassador and two others reported safe in safe room on
    State Dep’t bulletin system. This can be 20-30 min out of date.

    5:11 /11:11 Unarmed drone, redirected from surveillance mission over
    Al Qaeda like training camps, arrives in Benghazi. Officials
    in Washington see which buildings are burning. This drone is
    of no use to CIA team on the ground.

    till 11:30 Security team looks for people. Find one person dead in
    burning building. Cannot find ambassador. At insistence of
    Libyans with them, leaves without the Ambassador. They come
    under fire as they leave.

    5:41/ 11:41 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephones CIA Director
    David Petreaus. Subject: co-operation of some kind.

    ??? In Tripoli, Libya, security team sets out to fly to
    Benghazi, but they encounter difficulties. They take
    cash to hire a plane, but Libyan authorities insist
    response be co-ordinated with Libyan force on the ground
    in Benghazi, and delay the flight. Eventually, force is
    assembled.

    6:07/12:07 Bulletin system reports Ansar al Sharia claimed responsibility.
    on Facebook and Twitter and promised to attack also in Tripoli.

    6:00/12:00? After arriving back at annex, the annex itself comes under
    attack from small arms fire and RPG rounds. CIA security
    team returns fire. Attackers disperse about 1 AM, as….

    7:00/ 1:00 Security team touches down at Benghazi Airport. They have
    to negotiate transportation into Benghazi.

    1-2 AM Team at airport learns annex is no longer under attack and
    Ambassador is missing. Then get told he is at the hospital.
    Make plans to travel to hospital with armed Libyan escort.
    Security team hears ambassador is almost certainly dead,
    and that sceurity at hospital unclear. They decide to head
    head instead to the annex.

    8:00/2:00 Ambassador pronounced dead at hospital.

    11:15 /5:15 Security team “races” to the annex.

    11:30/5:30 Annex goes under attack again. Two security officers killed by mortar fire. Attack lasts 11 minutes.

    ???? Ambassador’s body delivered to airport, and plane takes off
    carrying with it all Americans government employees based in
    Benghazi (about 30 people, 7 on the State Department payroll,
    and the rest on the CIA payroll, most with diplomatic passports)

    Sep 12 day CIA sends Libyans to destroy senstive documents at the
    annex. Consulate, with less sensitive documents is left
    exposed to looters, curiosity seekers and western
    reporters for weeks. Some documents taken by or sold to
    American reporters.

    Annex abandoned after supposedly being scrubbed. Owners
    move back inside by early October. (Man wife and two
    children) Refuse to comment to reporters. Neighbors never
    knew this was any place important – never had any visible
    guards , or extra security precautions or police presen e.

    Sept FBI delays arrival. Finally shows up weeks later.

    October 10 – Congress and others allude to fact “annex” was CIA facility.
    Leon Panetta decides to attend private screening of the
    movie “Argo” (for inspiration, or to educate himself?)

    Sept-Oct FBI does not get to see surveillance photos. Some Libyans
    interviewed in Tripoli, not promised protection, advise others not to go. Earlier people talked to New York Times
    and other papers and identity is protected.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  77. Some of these Libyans may have been double agents.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  78. Sammy, narciso’s right. The story doesn’t make sense. First, State issued a timeline on Oct. 9th. More recently CIA “leaked” a timeline. And they don’t square with each other. So you’re damned right “[i]t needs additions and corrections.” But those will have to come from the jokers who are making up these timelines. The ones who still can’t get their act together and come up with one consistent story across agencies. Let alone one that the people who are on the ground won’t throw the BS flag on.

    3:40 / 9:40 Consulate notifies Tripoli it is under attack.

    4:05 /10:05 Bulletin about attack goes out on State Department alert system. Pentagon, White House probably notified shortly after this time.

    4:30 /10:30 Pentagon’s command center alerts Sect Def Panetta to attack

    For instance, the above is BS. I’ve done serious incident reporting, although for nothing as serious as this (but it doesn’t have to be to meet the criteria for a SIR). The initial voice report is required within 5 minutes. Followed by a report via record message traffic within 20 minutes.

    Tripoli would have had to have notified the DS watch center within 5 minutes of becoming aware of the incident, so the DoS in Washington would have known by 3:45pm EDT at the latest. And would have in turn notified the WH situation room, the NMCC, CIA in Langley, and all other relevant watch centers immediately. Because when the message goes out it goes to all those watch centers at once. And any others that are on the list of recipients when you need to notify national command authority that the manure has hit the rotating ventilation device. Which would have been by 4:00pm.

    Again, at the latest as those deadlines are just that and normally you beat them by quite a margin. And you can and do get phone calls back from the WH situation room within minutes of notification, too.

    It is inconceivable that the Pentagon wouldn’t have notified SecDef until 4:30pm. What’s even more inconceivable is that apparently the President continued his normally scheduled activities until arriving back at the WH for a pre-scheculed meeting with Panetta shortly before 5:00pm. He was supposedly not told until he got back, or until about 4:50pm.

    Uhhh, no, that’s not how it works. Think Dubya and how the left was apoplectic that Bush arrived at an elementary school to read “My Pet Goat” 15 minutes after the first plane hit the WTC on the first 9/11 at 8:48am. He had been told of the crash, but apparently not many details, en route. “OMFG, he should have known that was no accident; he should have connected the dots!”

    Then think of how quickly the word got to him that it was a confirmed attack. An aid whispered into his ear while he was reading. I don’t know the exact time, but since it was scheduled to be a 20 minute event that means within 30 minutes Bush was informed the US was under attack. Which means that lower echelon officials such as cabinet secretaries already knew prior to that.

    Now, do you seriously believe that on 9/11/2012 that the WH had to wait an hour and ten minutes to fill President Tiger Beat sashayed back into the oval office to let him know the US (in the form of it’s diplomatic mission) was under attack again? That it took nearly an hour to notify Panetta?

    These guys are never out of reach. Bush got the word in Florida. CIA director Tenet got the word while having breakfast at a restaurant. I recall back in the ’80s George Schultz got the word that the Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner on the golf course.

    That was in the ’80s. There is no way the President wasn’t told of the attack (unlike Bush he didn’t have to connect any dots; he had been told of the threat forces, their composition, the specific manner of attack, and the target, and now he was unambiguously notified from the get go US soil was under attack) until after he gets back to the WH?

    The timeline is just as I predicted. Having discovered that they couldn’t just lie their way through this on their unsupported word, because to their surprise they found out there should be a papertrail and what’s more lots of people knew that before them, they’re trying to manufacture one.

    But as narciso points out, they’re doing a piss poor job.

    Steve57 (320590)

  79. Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about. And the sources for this type of sample report are “approved for public release; distribution is
    unlimited” so there’s no worries about compromising anything.

    SAMPLE OPREP-3 PINNACLE COMMAND ASSESSMENT/CINC ASSESSMENT

    Voice Report

    “This is a PINNACLE/CINC ASSESSMENT from USCINCCENT for the NMCC. In response to a report by USCENTCOM FORWARD BRIGHT STAR that an attack by rebel forces on Blueland Desert West Air Base has taken place, U.S. forces in position for Exercise BRIGHT STAR will maintain an increased alert posture and will be prepared to assist the Government of Blueland as required. Support will initially be limited to aerial warning and surveillance capability using E-3As and RC-135s currently in place at Desert West Air Base for Exercise BRIGHT STAR. Confirmation message will follow.”

    Message Report

    {PRECEDENCE}

    FROM: USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL

    TO: NMCC WASHINGTON DC

    {OTHER ADDRESSEES AS REQUIRED}

    C L A S S I F I C A T I 0 N

    OPER/BLUENOSE//

    MSGID/OPREP-3PCA/USCINCCENT//

    REF/A/VMG/USCINCCENT/120050ZAPRXX//

    AMPN/VOICE REPORT TO NMCC//

    FLAGWORD/PINNACLE/COMMAND ASSESSMENT//

    GENTEXT/COMMAND ASSESSMENT/

    1. ( ) REBEL FORCES HAVE ATTACKED BLUELAND A/C AT DESERT WEST AB. VOICE REPORT TO NMCC 120050Z APR _________.

    2. ( ) USCENTCOM FWD {BRIGHT STAR} HAS REPORTED REBEL FORCES INFILTRATED DESERT WEST AB AND DETONATED EXPLOSIVE CHARGES ON TWO BLUELAND F-4S AND ONE F-16 CAUSING CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO THE A/C.

    3. ( ) ONE REBEL KILLED AND ANOTHER CAPTURED. IT APPEARS REBELS ARE BEING SUPPORTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF YELLOWLAND.

    4. ( ) INTENTIONS OF BLUELAND FORCES ARE UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.

    5. ( ) US FORCES IN POSITION FOR EXERCISE BRIGHT STAR ARE ON INCREASED ALERT AND WILL BE PREPARED TO ASSIST THE GOVERNMENT OF BLUELAND, AS REQUIRED.

    6. ( ) SUPPORT INITIALLY WILL BE LIMITED TO AERIAL WARNING AND SURVEILLANCE USING E-3AS AND RC-135S CURRENTLY IN PLACE AT DESERT WEST AB FOR EXERCISE BRIGHT STAR.

    7. ( ) ANTICIPATE FURTHER OPREP-3 REPORTS ON THIS INCIDENT.//

    DECL/OADR//

    Steve57 (320590)

  80. Steve57, sheesh, it was nearly 30 years ago that I was writing software to process teletype style message traffic like that …

    SPQR (291af7)

  81. My times may be off on the reporting deadlines. Sometimes memory doesn’t serve, at least to that degree of detail. But, again, when reporting a serious incident you do so as quickly as possible. In this day and age the deadlines are almost irrelevant.

    Bush knew within minutes of the planes hitting the WTC, even though he was in his car or in a classroom.

    Even when I was in this kind of info got turned around almost instantaneously. And I haven’t done any of this since the mid-90s.

    Steve57 (320590)

  82. SPQR, the format really hasn’t changed. At least it hadn’t by 2004. Although the means of communicating the message definitely has.

    Steve57 (320590)

  83. If anyone is interested in something more up-to-date than the older examples I’ve provided here’s a link to the JOINT REPORTING SYSTEM SITUATION MONITORING MANUAL, effective January 2011.

    http://www.dtic.mil/cjcs_directives/cdata/unlimit/m315005.pdf

    It doesn’t cover the OPREP that would be used in a situation like what happened at Benghazi, but you’ll get a good idea of the types of messages and an inkling of how they’re communicated now.

    Steve57 (320590)

  84. Those insisting Obama did call the Benghazi attack terrorism are directly refuted by Obama.

    This would make a great campaign commercial, but I don’t think there’s enough time left to really get this to sink in.

    Dustin (73fead)

  85. The MFM aided in running out the clock on Libya prior to the election.

    JD (8e5a8c)

  86. Exactly right, JD.

    I think a lot of journalists will finally come around to reporting this story, but they knew this was a really big problem for Obama so they hemmed and hawed as long as possible.

    The old Clinton model for scandals is to say ‘it’s under investigation’ for months and then say ‘this was months ago and we need to do our jobs now, so move on already’.

    Obama had a lot of help following this model.

    Our men are still dead.

    Dustin (73fead)

  87. Not only, hemmed and hawed. Lied. Accused others of simply being partisan, and dismissed criticism on its face as purely partisan. Accepted and reported clearly inaccurate statements as being true. Ignored contemporaneous accounts that would reflect poorly on Obama. They were partners in the cover up.

    JD (8e5a8c)

  88. Candy will go down in history for the degree of lying to help the cover up.

    Dustin (73fead)

  89. I have worked on a timeline. I am only looking at some of the information so far – also I did not try to figure out what the various Libyan forces were. Everything I look at or think about gets me to incorporate something more

    First thing: narciso link tells me is that this started well before 9:40. But the attack really did take those in the consulate by surprise.

    Some security people not connected with the mission/consulate were worried – they possibly did not realize what would be the object of the attack. The Ambassador was clearly not notified -only the secret annex.

    These people probably were only hired to safeguard the annex.

    Something seems to be very wrong with the security, including a “safe room” that was not fire proof and ventilated. There is aprobably a whole story behind that that needs to be investigated. Who designed that “safe room?” It coukld be the safe room was all part of the assassination plot.

    Can someone give me a link to the actual state Department timeline? What is Blue Mountain Security?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  90. About Blue Mountain:

    http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USBRE89G1TI20121018

    They were a small British firm. They worked for the State Department.

    The Libyans they themselves hired were probably honest – but were completely inexperienced and had not even taken part in the war.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  91. Don’t forget the SOOPER SEKRIT INTELLIGENCE

    JD (8e5a8c)

  92. Blue Mountain, is named after the SAS camp at Hereford

    narciso (ee31f1)

  93. narciso, do you know the color of the boathouse at Hereford?

    SPQR (b3e68a)

  94. 98. Comment by JD — 11/5/2012 @ 12:17 pm

    Don’t forget the SOOPER SEKRIT INTELLIGENCE

    I have that in my timeline:

    This is the second part of it (post Sept 11th)

    Sep 12 day

    State Department and White House announce that Ambassador and three others are dead.

    CIA station chief in Libya says in cable that this had been a terrorist attack.

    Also: CIA sends Libyans to destroy sensitive documents at the annex.

    Consulate, with less sensitive documents, is left exposed to looters, curiosity seekers, and western reporters for weeks. Some documents taken by or sold to American reporters.

    Among them: Notebook/diary of the Ambassador where
    he expresses the thought that he is a target of Al Qaeda and copy of message dated Sept 11
    from the Embassy to the Libyan government stating that
    guards had noticed a Libyan police officer across the
    street photographing the inside of the special mission.
    This was obtained by reporters the week of Oct 20-27. It
    had previosly been reported that Sean Smith had complained
    about that.

    Sept. Annex abandoned after supposedly being scrubbed. Owners
    move back inside by early October. (Man and wife and two
    children) Refuse to comment to reporters. Neighbors never
    knew this was any place important – never had any visible
    guards, or extra security precautions or police presence.

    Sept FBI delays arrival in Benghazi. Finally shows up weeks later.

    Sept 14 CIA prepared Presidential briefing says that attack on
    on consulate had been sparked by protest over a video
    and was spontaneous and unplanned but possibly people
    who had always had it in for U.S. took advantage of
    the protest.

    Sept 14-15 CIA does not incorporate into its analysis any information
    gleaned from reports of interviews of Benghazi evacuees
    conducted by the FBI, or anything anybody in Washington
    might know first or second hand.

    Sept 15-16 CIA intelligence analysis gets stronger and stronger
    that this attack had not been planned in advance and
    started with a (possibly unrelated) rapidly organized
    protest about the You Tube video, done in imitation
    of the one in Cairo.

    Someone in the White House decides that this welcome news,
    which could diminish criticism, should be publicized far
    and wide and sends U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice out to all
    the Sunday morning news interview shows.

    (The sources for the CIA were sooper sekrit intelligence
    they got from the same terrorist and Libyan government
    informants they’d been using for months, confirmed by
    published Libyan press reports and one cherry picked
    Sept 11/12 telephone call from someone in Ansar al Sharia
    to someone in Mali connected with Al Qaeda in which he
    was told that this started with a protest about a video)

    The informants may have been vouched for by the Saudis,
    so the consequences of having been fooled by them may be
    truly monumental. (My speculation. Of course, there never
    was any reason at all to trust Saudi intelligence and
    mistrust of the Saudis actually may have been what
    prompted the Ambassador’s trip to Benghazi, as he was
    trying to stop them from including ManPads in the arms
    shipments they were sending to their favorite rebels in
    Syria through Turkey. In fact, his instructions may have
    been to try to stop the entire shipment if possible.)

    [Saudi intelligence is now run by the man who probably killed
    Vincent Foster on July 20, 1993 and then rushed to President
    Clinton and persuaded him and Sandy Burglar to cover it up.

    Source for that: reading between the lines of Fred Barnes
    article in the March 14, 1994 New Republic. Key word: July.
    And the fact that’s it’s a pack of lies. And the fact that
    they ask people not to draw conclusions. And the timing of
    the leak: Early March, 1994, right at the time of other
    Foster case leaks.

    And the fact that there would be a record of such a meeting
    (somewhere) so that someone might feel impelled to placw on
    on the public record an exxplanation of the unscheduled
    Clinton-Bandar meeting. But also the fact that it was ot
    possible, using the Freedom of Information Act, to confirm
    or refute the fact of this meeting, and even a round-about
    attempt through a FOIA request to the State Department (om
    the theory that if the purpose was legitimate there would be
    some report sent to the State Department, but if it was not,
    there would not be) was not answered until early in the Bush
    Administration, and then provided no confirmation of this
    meeting.]

    Sept 16-22 CIA delays interviewing survivors from Bengazi who would
    contradict their sooper sekrit intelligence. Eventually
    begins doing it slowly, and they gradually revise their
    assessment, without, however, walking back the cat. (using
    the more old-fashioned meaning of the phrase)

    Late Sept Rumor spreads that CIA Director David Petreaus might
    resign to become president of Princeton – he issues a
    a statement saying that while he would not rule that
    out for the future, right now he’s “living the dream
    here at -IA.”

    Sept 28 Office of Director of National Intelligence says there
    was no protest at Benghazi.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  95. No, Sammy, they had it on their own Facebook pages, good allah

    narciso (ee31f1)

  96. Here is the first part of the (very much a work in progress) chronology:

    Approximately 7:00-8:00 Libyan time: Dusk in Benghazi. Ansar al Sharia (or people using that designation) begins putting up roadblocks around
    the U.S. mission (called a consulate, although it actually did not have that status)

    (this may have started even earlier. State Department security contractor gets worried. Ambassador possibly is told not to leave the consulate.

    8:30: Turkish Ambassador leaves the consulate. Amb Stevens goes to bed. Sean Smith goes online.

    3:40 / 9:40 Consulate notifies Tripoli it is under attack.

    9:40-9:42 Shots heard at or near the annex, which is located
    about a mile from the villa where the Amassador is.

    9:45 Several security people twice ask for permission to
    immediately go to the consulate and are told by their
    superiors in the annex to “stand down” They had previously
    provided security to the Ambassador when he traveled outside
    the mission, but it had not been their job to guard the
    consulate. This was done by the State Departments’s own
    Diplomatic Security force, and Libyans they trained and hired.

    9:48? Urgent request comes from the CIA annex for military back-up
    to help the compound (person in charge there apparently does
    not want to risk his own people, or diminish the defenses of
    of the annex.)

    4:05 /10:05 Bulletin about attack goes out on State Department alert system.
    Pentagon, White House probably notified shortly after this time.

    4:05 / 10:05 CIA security team at secret annex/safe house heads out
    toward consulate. (or partial security team, consisting of at least
    Tyrone Woods and two others, against orders to stay put.)

    Approx 10:15 Security team stops at third location to pick up heavy
    weapons, and possibly Libyan force. (possibly they never
    did get heavy machine guns, but were delayed waiting for
    them. The stand-down order may in fact have been only an
    order to wait until they got some heavier weapons. The
    official CIA statement the week of Hurricane Sandy saying:
    “No one at any level in the CIA told anyone not to help those
    in need” is consistent with being told to wait until they
    were better equipped, promising it would happen any minute,
    and would accout for asking to get going twice and finally
    just taking off.)

    They drive using an indirect route to avoid armed groups,
    so the 1-mile trip takes 24 minutes total. The last half
    mile they go on foot.

    4:29/ 10:29 CIA security team, with Libyans, arrives at consulate. They
    come under fire when they arrive, but attackers appear to
    retreat, leaving behind burning building(s)

    4:30 /10:30 Pentagon’s command center alerts Sect Def Panetta to attack

    4:45/10:45? Unarmed drone diverted to Benghazi.

    4:54/ 10:54 Ambassador and two others reported safe in safe room on
    State Dep’t bulletin system. This can be 20-30 min out of date.

    Before 5:00/11:00 – President Obama meets with National Security Council
    (this is a previously scheduled meeting or is added to a
    more limited meeting)

    Decision made to move military assets for possible use later.

    That ends high level/White House involvement.

    5:11 /11:11 Unarmed drone, redirected from surveillance mission over
    Al Qaeda-like training camps, arrives in Benghazi. Officials
    in Washington see which buildings are burning. This drone is
    of no use to CIA team on the ground. The drone offers only
    a “soda-straw” view and is of low resolution. Further
    processing normally creates a more intelligible panoramic
    picture.

    till 11:30 Security team looks for people. They find one person dead in
    burning building. Cannot find ambassador. At insistence of
    Libyans with them, leave without the Ambassador. They come
    under fire as they leave. (possibly closer to 11:20 than 11:30)

    5:41/ 11:41 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephones CIA Director
    David Petreaus. Subject: Need for co-operation of some kind.

    (She may not know at that time that some people from the
    annex actually went there. Or this possibly is over the
    fact that they left without finding the Ambassador.)

    ??? In Tripoli, Libya, security team (which really is made up
    of people who, at the moment, are working under the auspices
    of the CIA) sets out to fly to Benghazi, 480 miles east of
    Tripoli, but they encounter difficulties. They take cash to
    hire a plane, but Libyan authorities insist response be
    co-ordinated with Libyan force on the ground in Benghazi, and
    delay the flight. Eventually, Libyan force is assembled.

    11:30-11:45 Team returning from consulate to annex/safe house with
    several rescued Americans and dead body, is in constant
    radio contact with their headquarters. On their way back
    to annex from consulate, team gets lost or misdirected and
    so takes a long time also to get back. Tires were hit by gunfire.

    6:07/12:07 Bulletin system reports Ansar al Sharia claimed responsibility.
    on Facebook and Twitter and promised to attack also in Tripoli.

    6:00/12:00? After arriving back at annex, the annex itself comes under
    attack from small arms fire and RPG rounds. Local CIA security
    team returns fire. Annex calls for military support. (Or maybe
    this is later. There are no communications problems anytime
    during the night.)

    Attackers disperse about 1 AM, as….

    7:00/ 1:00 Security team (Quick Reaction Force) touches down at Benghazi
    Airport. They have to negotiate transportation into Benghazi.

    1-2 AM Team at airport learns annex is no longer under attack and
    Ambassador is missing. Then get told he is at the hospital.
    Make plans to travel to hospital with armed Libyan escort.

    7:15/1:15 It is reported, probably falsely, that terrorists from Ansar
    al Sharia have surrounded the hospital. This delays any
    trip to the hospital. Security team also hears ambassador
    is almost certainly dead.

    1:30-1:45? With security situation at hospital unclear, and Ambassador
    likely dead, they decide to head instead to the annex.

    8:00/2:00 Ambassador pronounced dead at hospital.

    Meanwhile: British personnel present in Bengazi never get called.
    Various U.S. military assets brought closer, but in the
    end, they just spin their wheels. Also alerted are some
    some small units from all over. Among them are Marines
    known as FAST teams, who are deployed at U.S. Naval bases
    and a special operations team based in central Europe,
    which goes to Sigonella, Italy, and*even people from
    Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Also: A second unarmed
    drone arrives at some point.

    11:15 /5:15 Security team “races” (?) to the annex. (Just when?)

    11:30/5:30 Annex goes under attack again. Two security officers killed
    by mortar fire. Attack lasts 11 minutes.

    A drone watches this, but officials in Washington decide they
    can’t tell friend from foe, from spectator, and this is all
    in a residential neighborhood, so they decide to do nothing
    from the air and rely on ground troops (The Quick Reaction
    Force.) A possible consideration maybe that the range of
    destruction from air power is usually much greater than
    that of ground forces.

    [Of course, even not knowing what the true loyalties of
    various armed groups or their commanders are, and who
    will stay out of any fight, and who won’t, and where they
    are, you can at least respond to someone who fires at
    Americans, but this possibility is overlooked in any orders
    issued.]

    One member of local annex security on roof of annex was
    manning a heavy machine gun when mortars fired at the CIA
    compound. The security officer had a laser. He repeatedly
    requests back-up support from a Spectre gunship (commonly
    used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to
    Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense
    firefights) but gunship does not get involved, perhaps because
    of prior contradictory order not to shoot till ordered to,
    except in self-defense.

    Person with
    laser finally points it on target that is firing in hopes of
    forcing intervention, or in desperation, but man who pointed the
    laser gets killed. This is former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods.

    Glenn Doherty is also killed during the attack, and others
    severely wounded.

    ??? People from annex evacuated. Three captured Libyan attackers are
    handed over to one of the Libyan forces that arrives at the
    scene and apparently freed immediately or later.

    ???? Ambassador’s body delivered to airport, and Defense Department
    plane takes off from Benghazi Airport, headed towards Germany, carrying with it all
    Americans government employees based in Benghazi (about 30 people,
    7 of them on the State Department payroll, and the rest on the
    CIA payroll, most with diplomatic passports.)

    ??? State Department announces one American is dead. No public
    statement of any kind is issued about anything till past
    10:30 prompted by news that Mitt Romney is releasing a
    statement, complaining about nothing being said.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  97. I really think Sammy is parodying himself now.

    SPQR (b3e68a)

  98. 3:40 / 9:40 Consulate notifies Tripoli it is under attack.

    4:05 /10:05 Bulletin about attack goes out on State Department alert system. Pentagon, White House probably notified shortly after this time.

    4:30 /10:30 Pentagon’s command center alerts Sect Def Panetta to attack

    84. Comment by Steve57 — 11/4/2012 @ 2:52 pm

    For instance, the above is BS.

    I think it might be BS if it implied that these are the only important times or the only people notified.

    3:40 / 9:40 is the first alarm.

    4:05 /10:05 is not the first notification, but rather the one that goes out to everybody.

    “4:30 /10:30 Panetta notified”

    This stems from the followng sentence in last Friday’s Wall Street Journal:

    Shortly before that call at 4:30 p.m., the Pentagon’s command center had alerted Defense Secretary Panetta and others to the attack.

    By the way, there’s something wrong with that “shortly before” because that’s referring to a 5:41 pm call from Hillary Clinton to david petreaus “to make sure the two agencies were on the same page.”

    I noticed this was shortly after (10-20 min after) the CIA team had left the consulate without finding out what happened to the ambassador. And 4:30 would be nearly an hour before.

    Perhaps this is not when Panetta was FIRST notified.

    I’ve done serious incident reporting, although for nothing as serious as this (but it doesn’t have to be to meet the criteria for a SIR). The initial voice report is required within 5 minutes. Followed by a report via record message traffic within 20 minutes.

    This would be the report to the people at the top in Washington. That should take a little time.

    Tripoli would have had to have notified the DS watch center within 5 minutes of becoming aware of the incident, so the DoS in Washington would have known by 3:45pm EDT at the latest.

    Quite possibly. 4:05 is the news alert, which probably actually wqas issued in washington.

    And would have in turn notified the WH situation room, the NMCC, CIA in Langley, and all other relevant watch centers immediately.

    That’s the 4:05 message, unless there’s an earlier, classified, one.

    Which would have been by 4:00pm.

    Five minute difference and this probably is the second one, intended for wider circulation,

    It is inconceivable that the Pentagon wouldn’t have notified SecDef until 4:30pm.

    That one may be wrong – perhapos an assumption by the Adam Entous or Siobhan Gorman or Margaret Coker (the WSJ reporters who worked on the story.)

    What’s even more inconceivable is that apparently the President continued his normally scheduled activities until arriving back at the WH for a pre-scheculed meeting with Panetta shortly before 5:00pm. He was supposedly not told until he got back, or until about 4:50pm.

    Uhhh, no, that’s not how it works. Think Dubya and how the left was apoplectic that Bush arrived at an elementary school to read “My Pet Goat” 15 minutes after the first plane hit the WTC on the first 9/11 at 8:48am.

    You’re comparing an attack on a building in New York City to an isolated outpost in Libya?

    Now, do you seriously believe that on 9/11/2012 that the WH had to wait an hour and ten minutes to fill President Tiger Beat sashayed back into the oval office to let him know the US (in the form of it’s diplomatic mission) was under attack again? That it took nearly an hour to notify Panetta?

    They had been notified of this kind of thing all day. They had been worried about Cairo. The Cairo Embassy looked more important than this small Bengazi, Libya outpost. That meeting, in fact, might have been called to discuss Cairo.

    So, now, there’s another little thing that happened. They don’t even know that the compound has been breached!!

    The next bit of news is that the Ambassador and all others are safe. Which probably comes before 4:54.

    There is no way the President wasn’t told of the attack… until after he gets back to the WH?

    That might not be the first he was told, you are right. They don’t even say so. But decisions might have been delayed till the meeting.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  99. You’re comparing an attack on a building in New York City to an isolated outpost in Libya?

    Sammy, no one knew it was an “attack” at 8:48am. Dubya’s critics blame Bush for not connecting the dots. As if it’s the President’s role to play junior analyst at CIA and connect the dots.

    Obama didn’t need to connect any dots. It had already been done for him. Both in the months and days leading up to the attack, and during the attack itself. The consulate in Benghazi sent out the alert at 3:40pm stating explicitly it was under attack.

    This is the amazing thing about the people who try to defend Obama by playing the “What about Bush and 9/11” game (not saying you’re one of them, Sammy, but you’ve got to be aware that defense is being attempted).

    They blame Bush for not connecting the dots in the days leading up to 9/11 claiming he could have prevented it. The CIA had been warning that OBL was determined to attack the US.

    Yeah, OK, we knew that. He had attacked it; the first WTC bombing. And issued fatwas in ’96 and ’98. Tell us something we don’t know, CIA.

    He had been briefed on the Bojinka plot.

    OK, AQ had lots of plans and lots of targets. Again, tell us something we don’t know, CIA.

    Massoui had aroused suspicion at a flight school, and we later learned he had been arrested for an immigration violation.

    Well, thank you, Jamie Gorelick, for that wall of separation between law enforcement and intel.

    Essentially, the criticism of Bush is that he did not look at these vague, non-specific bits of information (not all of which he knew at the time, thanks to Gorelick) and immediately upon learning of the plane crashing into one of the towers shouted “that’s no accident; that’s bin Laden” and dashed off to personally stop the second plane.

    Or, he should have done much the same thing when learning of the second plane and being told it was an attack. As if it would have made that much of a time difference considering they had to get the motorcade loaded up and moving, then do the same with AF1.

    The judgement of history is going to be a lot harsher on Obama, and Bush is going to look very good in comparison. Unlike Bush, Obama knew the exact threat, the exact target, and given the target’s warning about surveillance on the significant anniversary date of 9/11, Obama’s administration had been given explicit warning of the day of the attack.

    Bush was johnny-on-the-spot compared to Obama, and unlike the genuises in the Obama administration, nobody in the Bush administration had the idiotic idea to say “it looks like the attack is over.”

    I find your “isolated outpost” comment revealing on many levels.

    We do have isolated outposts. In A-stan. And they’re a hell of a lot better defended than that consulate in Benghazi was. And they have air support, and artillery in many cases, on call, unlike that consulate in Benghazi.

    That’s what they get, precisely because they’re isolated outposts.

    But the consulate in Benghazi wasn’t an isolated outpost. It was a US diplomatic mission. Which means attacking those buildings inside that compound is exactly the same thing as attacking a building in NYC from both a legal and moral standpoint. An ambassador was killed. For a variety of purposes ambassadors are considered to be the equivalent or a flag or general officer.

    http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/comparison.htm

    You don’t place flag officers or general officers at an isolated outpost as a duty station.

    All in all, if your attitude toward the importance of that facility in Benghazi reflects the attitude of the members of the Obama administration it is, again, a scathing indictment. They were clearly guilty of wildly poor judgement leading to criminal negligence.

    The Salafists see that successful attack on our consulate, their first successful attack on US soil since 2001, as a huge victory and a model for future operations. And there will be future operations, now that Obumble has s*** the bed in North Africa and handed it them and their AQ allies.

    I’m not comparing the attack on the WTC to Benghazi. In many ways what happened in Benghazi will prove to be a harbinger of much worse to come, wait and see.

    Steve57 (320590)

  100. 102. 104 There are some serious errors in my timeline:

    1) The e-mails. It was already the first one, at 4:05, that said the ambassador was safe in a safe room.

    The one at 4:54 said it was over and that a response team at mission was looking for him and others.

    2) I said the plane which took off from Benghazi Airport went to Germany. It went to Tripoli.

    3) It was CIA Director David Patreaus, not Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who went to the private screening of the movie “Argo” on October 10. (some sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal made that into a bad thing)

    It sauys quite clearly in the paper Petreaus, but between seeing it and getting it down I got this wrong, becasue I was thinking about Panetta I think.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  101. Steve57:

    Sammy, no one knew it was an “attack” at 8:48am. Dubya’s critics blame Bush for not connecting the dots. As if it’s the President’s role to play junior analyst at CIA and connect the dots.

    The first one, especially if you didn’t hear the details, you might think was some kind of extremely serious accident, at least like TWA Flight 800. The second one told you this was a terrorist attack.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)


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