The Latest "Update" from the Administration... via the Washington Post
The CIA [supposedly] rushed security operatives to an American diplomatic compound in
Libya within 25 minutes of its coming under attack and played a more
central role in the effort to fend off a night-long siege than has been
acknowledged publicly, U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday.
(*SNORT*)
Folks...
quite simply... I don't believe this. It goes against what we've
already been told and as far as I can tell the MSM (starting yesterday
with ABC News and now today with this Washington Post piece) is simply
pretending their own previous reporting is no longer valid without even
so much as a "he said, she said" breakdown with supporting evidence.
The agency mobilized the evacuation effort, took control of an unarmed
U.S. military drone to map possible escape routes, dispatched an
emergency security team from Tripoli, the capital, and chartered
aircraft that ultimately carried surviving American personnel to safety,
U.S. officials said.
The key word here being "surviving."
Folks...
again... putting aside the conflict between this latest story and past
reporting... why would the CIA be taking lead? Why wouldn't the State
Department - or the military - have the lead? But putting that too
aside... where's Obama...? Where's Hillary...? Who (supposedly) put the
CIA in charge...? And if Obama and/or Hillary and/or Panetta put the CIA
in change and the CIA knew that this was a terrorist attack - knew it
in real time - how to explain the days and weeks of LIES following the
events of September 11, 2012?
The account provided by senior U.S. intelligence officials offers the
most detailed chronology yet of the Sept. 11 assault that killed the
U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.
Political
appointees...??? Obama political loyalists or career agency personnel?
And in any case... how about some names?! If this is "on the record"
from "senior officials" than who exactly are these officials and what
paper/audio/video evidence have they produced to verify this... er...
latest story?
U.S. officials said they decided to offer a detailed account of the
CIA’s role to rebut media reports that have suggested that agency
leaders delayed sending help to State Department officials seeking to
fend off a heavily armed mob.
Unnamed officials. (And who gave them the ok... the instructions to release
this... er... new and contradictory information? Hmm...???)
Oh...
and as for "media reports that have suggested that agency leaders
delayed sending help"... these weren't "suggestions" - they were
allegations. Allegations made by insiders in a position to know whose
info was obviously vetted by the media organs which carried the stories!
Folks...a few days before the election the administration "puts this out" and the Washington Post runs with it...? Really...?
U.S. intelligence officials insisted that CIA operatives in Benghazi and
Tripoli made decisions rapidly throughout the assault with no
interference from Washington.
Uh-huh...
With or without Obama, Clinton, and Panetta being in the loop?
(*SMIRK*)
Yeah...
folks... if this newest story is true than how to explain Obama's
post-9/11/12 behavior... or Hillary's... or Panetta's...? How to explain
Susan Rice's going on five Sunday news shows - speaking for the
administration - trying to blame the Benghazi attack and murders on
"public outrage" against... er... a video teaser on the internet?
The information does not address the main source of political
controversy surrounding the siege: the shifting assessments offered by
Obama administration officials over whether the assault was a protest
that turned violent or a planned terrorist attack.
Ha! Ha!
Yeah... paragraph eight... the Washington Post writer/editor finally gets around to addressing the issue!
(*SNORT*)
But officials reiterated that the initial intelligence was fragmentary
and often contradictory. They said talking points for members of
Congress and senior administration officials did not discuss possible
links between the attackers and al-Qaeda because the information was
classified.
Classified,
huh? Why? For what possible reason? Funny how Bush didn't hide the fact
that Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were behind 9/11/01.
Folks...
it's obvious what happened! The administration has known all along that
Libya - and particularly Benghazi - was a total cluster-fuck even as
they tried to portray their Libya policy as successful. It was in the
service of this deliberately false narrative by the administration that
our consulate was attacked, overrun, and an American Ambassador and
three other Americans were murdered.
As
to the post-9/11/12 lies... obviously Obama thought he and the
administration could get away with sweeping reality under the rug and
pretending Benghazi was part and parcel of the region-wide disruptions
of that day.
The briefing and material provided Thursday focused on the hour-by-hour
developments in Benghazi. Among the disclosures is that the CIA station
chief in Tripoli sent an emergency security force, with
about a half-dozen agency operatives as well as two U.S. military
personnel, to Benghazi aboard a hastily chartered aircraft while the
attack was underway.
Funny
how the Washington Post is ignoring the issue that there were CIA
agents in Benghazi itself chomping at the bit to try and rescue our
people and who say they were denied permission not once but twice... and
then went anyway on their own accord. What about that...???
Folks...
I'll let you read the full WP story for yourselves. I ask that you
consider the points I'm raising and engage your own personal bullshit
detectors. I also urge you to once again review the various stand-alone
posts and newsbites here at Usually Right concerning this matter which
have been posted since 9/11/12.
I
fear this latest reporting... this latest administration info dump...
has much more to do with attempting to further muddy the waters prior to
election day than with attempting to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth to the American People.
12 comments:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_is_no_way_to_get_us_up_running_egrMk4ukpzFCGhSF8oM5kN
As hundreds of thousands of Big Apple residents suffer in homes left without power by Hurricane Sandy, two massive generators are being run 24/7 in Central Park — to juice a media tent for Sunday’s New York City Marathon.
And a third “backup” unit sits idle, in case one of the generators fails.
* BLOOMBERG SHOULD BE DRAGGED OUT OF GRACIE MANSION, TARRED, FEATHERED, AND RUN OUT OF TOWN ON A (NON-FUNCTIONING) RAIL LINE!
The three diesel-powered generators crank out 800 kilowatts - enough to power 400 homes in ravaged areas like Staten Island, the Rockaways and downtown Manhattan.
(*TAPPING MY FINGERS ON THE DESK*)
Since emergency executive orders have been issued, the governor, mayor - or even President Obama - could take the generators for a more important use, explained Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman.
* BLOOMBERG IS THE ONE WHO INSISTED ON NOT CANCELLING THE MARATHON! CUOMO COULD OVERRULE HIM BUT HASN'T AS OF YET. HE SHOULD!
Con Ed said yesterday that some of its customers would remain without power for more than a week.
"I am from Coney Island where everything is flooded and underwater," Yelena Gomelsky, 65, said. "I live 1 block from the ocean where everything is floating. "[Seeing the generators and water] makes me feel so bad. People have no food, no water, nothing. ... They should bring all of these generators to buildings where old people live and give them power."
* BLOOMBERG IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER ASS. INDEED, I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT HE'S A MEGALOMANIAC!
Meanwhile, sources told The Post precious city resources were also being diverted to prepare for the marathon, including more than a dozen NYPD flatbed trucks taken from disaster-relief work at sites including Breezy Point, Queens, where more than 100 homes burned to the ground.
The trucks, normally used to carry metal barricades for parades and other events, had been transporting residents hard hit by the storm.
But they’re all being recalled to get cleaned up so they can bring the barriers that will line the route of the marathon, a police source said.
* INSANITY!
Plans call for up to 100 cops from all around the city to deploy the barricades today.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
A veteran police lieutenant noted the National Guard was distributing free food last night at several spots in lower Manhattan - while the administration keeps the marathon a priority.
(*SNORT*)
“How can you run a marathon when you have people starving in Manhattan?” he asked.
Other sources said NYPD and Department of Transportation personnel who had been providing relief on Staten Island were told to drop what they were doing and report to Brooklyn today to get ready for the marathon.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/02/sources-emails-point-to-communication-breakdown-in-obama-administration-during/
* FILE UNDER: "WHO DO YOU TRUST?"
Senior counter-terrorism officials felt cut out of the loop the night of the attack on the Benghazi consulate, according to emails that were shared with Fox News by military sources who are familiar with discussions of how to respond the night of the Sept. 11 attack.
* DO WE KNOW WHO THESE SENIOR COUNTER-TERRORISM OFFICIALS ARE...??? IF THERE ARE EMAILS AREN'T THERE EMAIL SENDERS AND RECIPIENTS...??? I SAY RELEASE THE EMAILS!
Top State Department officials decided not to send an interagency rapid response unit designed to respond to terrorist attacks known as a FEST team, a Foreign Emergency Support Team.
* WHICH... TOP... STATE... DEPARTMENT... OFFICIALS...?!?!
This team from the State Department and CIA has a military Joint Special Operations Command element to it and has been routinely deployed to assist in investigations -- for instance, after the USS Cole bombing and the bombings at the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
That team, these counter-terrorism officials argue, could have helped the FBI gain access to the site in Benghazi faster. It ultimately took the FBI 24 days.
* TWENTY-FOUR FRIGGIN' DAYS... AND THEN... THEY ONLY SPENT THREE HOURS AT THE CONSULATE BEFORE BUGGING OUT! AND AS WE ALL KNOW, THEIR "INVESTIGATION" SUCKED! THE AMBASSADOR'S DIARY... ALL SORTS OF CLASSIFIED AND UNCLASSIFIED PAPERS... ALL SORTS OF EVIDENCE WAS JUST LEFT THERE - WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE "INVESTIGATORS" TOOK PICTURES OF ALL THE DOCUMENTS LEFT FOR LOOTERS AND THE PRESS TO FIND!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
"The response process was isolated at the most senior level," according to one intelligence source.
THE PRESIDENT IS THE MOST SENIOR LEVEL. BELOW HIM IS HILLARY. NEXT... PANETTA. (IN ANY CASE, I WOULD LIKE A NAME FOR THIS INTELLIGENCE SOURCE.)
Further, the Counter-terrorism Security Group, or CSG, was never asked to meet that night or in subsequent days, according to two separate counter-terrorism officials, as first reported by CBS News.
* AS... FIRST... REPORTED... BY... CBS... NEWS...
The CSG is composed of experts on terrorism from across government agencies and makes recommendations to the deputies who assist the president's Cabinet in formulating a response to crises involving terrorism.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Fox News, "the most senior people in government worked on this issue from the minute it happened. That includes the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of State, National Security advisor, etcetera. Additionally, the Deputies Committee -- the second in command at the relevant national security agencies -- met at least once and more often twice a day to manage the issue."
* SO IF THE "MOST SENIOR PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT" WEREN'T ASKING FOR AND RELYING UPON THE CSG...???
* OH... YEAH... I FORGOT; SUPPOSEDLY (NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN... TODAY IN FACT) "SOMEONE" AT CIA WAS TASKED TO "TAKE CARE OF THINGS" AND YET AFTER THIS FIGHTING WENT ON FOR HOURS... NO RESCUERS CAME... ON SCENE CIA AGENTS WERE DENIED PERMISSION TO ATTEMPT A RESCUE... AND THUS OUR CONSULATE WAS OVERRUN AND OUR PEOPLE WERE MURDERED. DO I HAVE THAT ABOUT RIGHT...?!
But the latest revelations, including reporting by Fox News that the State Department was warned a month before the attack that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated strike, have sparked renewed criticisms from top GOP lawmakers.
* FUCK GOP LAWMAKERS! WE SHOULD ALL BE OUTRAGED! THIS ADMINISTRATION FUCKED UP AND THEN TRIED TO COVER IT UP! THIS GOES BEYOND INCOMPETENCE. THESE BASTARDS GOT OUR CONSULATE DESTROYED AND OUR PEOPLE MURDERED!
"Enough already, Mr. President," Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said in a statement. "You need to address the American people and account for your leadership in the attack on our Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. You should explain to the American people what you knew, when you knew it, and what you did about it before, during and after the attack."
* NOT OFTEN DO I AGREE WITH LINDSEY FRIGGIN' GRAHAM... BUT HE'S RIGHT!
Several government spokesmen suggest that the president's top advisers were meeting that night to oversee the response, suggesting the employment of the Counter-terrorism Security Group was not necessary.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)
As to why the FEST was not sent, State Department spokesman Philippe Reines responded that "the first thing to know is that it's not a security team. It's primarily a resource that State can send to help restore a facility. Best example is Nairobi after the bombing because the Embassy suffered such significant damage. It couldn't function properly without resuming basic infrastructure needs like communications. In this case, that was not necessary as Embassy Tripoli wasn't impacted and could, as it does today, continue to function normally."
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
* THAT CONSULATE - OR SHOULD I SAY THE REMAINS OF THAT OVERRUN CONSULATE - SHOULD HAVE BEEN SECURED BEFORE THE NIGHT WAS OVER! THIS IS INSANE!
Administration officials didn't know in the initial hours whether they had a potential hostage situation.
* SO...???
* IN ANY CASE, FOLKS, DON'T FORGET... WE HAD CIA ASSETS (AND A FEW SEALS) IN BENGHAZI PROVIDING REAL-TIME REPORTING! THEY EVEN HAD LASER TARGETING CAPABILITY BUT NO ARMED DRONES... NO ATTACK HELICOPTERS OR AIRCRAFT... CAME TO THE RESCUE!
According to an account now provided by the CIA and quoted by the Washington Post's David Ignatius, at 1:15 a.m. (more than three hours after the attack began) when Stevens was still missing: "the first idea is to go to a Benghazi hospital to recover Stevens, who they rightly suspect is already dead. But the hospital is surrounded by the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia militia that mounted the consulate attack."
* MORE... THAN... THREE... HOURS... AFTER... THE... ATTACK... BEGAN...
* SO, FOLKS... WHAT ABOUT TODAY'S WASHINGTON POST STORY? WHAT ABOUT THAT SUPPOSED "WITHIN 25 MINUTES RESPONSE" TODAY'S WP NEWS STORY REPORTED? THAT'S WHAT THE CIA IS... er... NOW SAYING. IS IGNATIUS ON BOARD WITH THE "REVISED" CIA TIMELINE OR IS HE STANDING BY HIS PREVIOUS REPORTING? FUNNY... APPARENTLY THE EDITORS OF THE WP AREN'T INTERESTED IN THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
This part of the CIA timeline released by the agency on Thursday suggests that the night of the attack, the CIA's Global Response Staff, or GRS, agents knew that an Al Qaeda-linked group was at the hospital where the ambassador's body had been taken -- and yet days later the CIA provided talking points to the administration before U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice went on five separate Sunday talk shows and made no mention of terrorism.
* THANK GOD FOR FOX NEWS! SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... COMPARE THIS REPORTING TO THE MOST RECENT WP STORYLINE AS WRITTEN BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. APPARENTLY THE WP ISN'T ALL THAT INTERESTED IN SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION - AT LEAST TILL AFTER ELECTION DAY.
Fox News has learned that U.S. military intelligence was informing senior commanders as early as 7 p.m. ET -- less than four hours after the attack began -- that Ansar al-Sharia carried out the attack. The intelligence was relayed to the military with no caveats, according to a source familiar with the intelligence.
* WE NEED THESE SOURCES IDENTIFIED.
Further, Fox News has been shown two independent State Department cables, which have now been published by Foreign Policy magazine, that show that on the day of the attack Stevens' team sent cables expressing concern that the consulate was under surveillance.
* YEP! I POSTED THIS INFO WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT!
At least one of the cables says the Libyan police themselves -- the security force provided to the U.S. consulate by the Minister of Foreign Affairs -- was photographing the Consulate at 6:43 a.m. on the morning of the attack.
U.S. intelligence officials tell Fox News there were reports from eyewitnesses in Benghazi on Sept. 11 that an armed militia was gathering three hours before the attack on the consulate began at 9:47 p.m.
* FOLKS... THIS WHOLE THING STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.
* ANOTHER FOUR-PARTER... (Part 1 of 4)
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/the-smoking-gun-of-the-benghazi-cover-up/
On June 6 of this year, a bomb planted at the U.S. compound in Benghazi ripped a 12-foot-wide hole in the outer wall.
On June 11, the British ambassador’s motorcade was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, wounding a medic and doctor. (The next day, the British ambassador was gone, and the British Benghazi post was closed.) At the same time, the Red Cross, after a second attack, shut down and fled the city.
“When that occurred,” says Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, who headed the military security team in Tripoli, “we were the last flag flying in Benghazi; we were the last thing on their target list to remove.”
On Aug. 15, at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, an emergency meeting was convened to discuss the 10 Islamist militias and their training camps in the area, among them al-Qaida and Ansar al-Sharia. On Aug. 16, a cable went to the State Department describing the
imminent danger, saying the compound could not defend itself against a “coordinated attack.” The cable was sent to Hillary Clinton – and signed by Ambassador Chris Stevens.
On Sept. 11, Ambassador Stevens died in a coordinated attack on the Benghazi compound by elements of Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaida.
Catherine Herridge of Fox News, who unearthed the Aug. 16 cable, calls it the “smoking gun.”
* FOLKS... LET ME JUST ASK YOU... CAN ANY OF YOU SAY YOU BELIEVE THAT IF THE PRESIDENT WERE GEORGE W. BUSH THAT THIS "SMOKING GUN" ACCORDING TO FOX NEWS AND OTHER CONSERVATIVES WOULDN'T ALSO BE A "SMOKING GUN" TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA...?
Yet, on Oct. 11, Joe Biden, during the vice presidential debate, asserted, “We weren’t told they wanted more security there.”
* WOULD SUCH A LIE BY DICK CHENEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN SO LITTLE ON-AIR COVERAGE WERE HE PRESENTLY THE VP AS OPPOSED TO BIDEN...?
While House spokesman Jay Carney said Biden’s “we” applied only to Biden, Obama and the White House.
* OH... PLEASE...!!!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 4)
As the National Security Council is part of the White House, Carney was saying the NSC was in the dark over the Aug. 16 cable that had warned about the exact attack that occurred.
* YEP! THAT'S WHAT CARNEY WAS SAYING!
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
What else have we lately learned?
The State Department was following the Benghazi assault in real time.
* DIDN'T THE WHITE HOUSE COME OUT WITH A STATEMENT THAT "THEY" HAD NO VIDEO IN REAL TIME JUST THE OTHER DAY? (RHETORICAL QUESTION... CHECK PAST POSTINGS AND NEWSBITES - THEY DID!) AND WHEN THAT CAME OUT I QUESTIONED WHETHER THEY WERE PLAYING WORD GAMES...
(*SHRUG*)
Three emails came from the compound that night.
* THREE...!
The first described the attack; the second came as the firing stopped; the third reported that Ansar al-Sharia was claiming credit.
(*SHRUG*)
From an Oct. 26 report by Jennifer Griffin, also of Fox News, we now know there were two drones over Benghazi the night of Sept. 11 capable of sending pictures to U.S. commanders within reach of Benghazi, and to the CIA, Pentagon and White House. We also know that ex-SEAL Ty Woods, in the CIA safe house a mile away, was denied permission to go to the rescue of the compound, and that he disobeyed orders, went and brought back the body of diplomat Sean Smith.
* DENIED PERMISSION TWICE! TWICE...!!!
* FOLKS... THESE ARE THE FACTS... I'VE BEEN SHARING THEM WITH YOU AS I'VE GOTTEN THEM. DON'T LET THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND THEIR MEDIA ALLIES MUDDY THE WATERS AND CONFUSE YOU!
* AGAIN, FOLKS... THAT ABC STORY YESTERDAY... THE WASHINGTON POST STORY TODAY... THIS ARE SIMPLY OBAMA SUPPORTERS WITHIN THESE ORGANIZATIONS "DOING THEIR PART" TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE AT LEAST TILL ELECTION DAY IS PAST!
After the attack on the compound, the battle shifted to the safe house – for four more hours.
* FOLKS... FORGET THE CIA IN BENGHAZI... FORGET THE CIA IN TRIPOLI... WE HAD ACTUAL ASSETS - HELICOPTER GUNSHIP AND THE ABILITY TO GET AN ARMED MILITARY FORCE TO BENGHAZI WITHIN AN HOUR - AT MOST TWO HOURS - OF THE FIRST SHOT BEING FIRED! (AGAIN... THIS IS DOCUMENTED IN PREVIOUS STAND-ALONE POSTS AND NEWSBITES!)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 3 of 4)
Another ex-SEAL, Glen Doherty, made it to Benghazi from Tripoli. Seven hours after the initial assault that killed Ambassador Stevens and Smith, Doherty and Woods were still returning fire, when, having been abandoned on the orders of someone higher up, they were killed by a direct mortar hit.
* AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHO DENIED OUR PEOPLE RESCUE!
Due to stonewalling and the complicity of the Big Media in ignoring or downplaying the Benghazi story during the last weeks of the campaign, the Obamaites may get past the post on Nov. 6 without being called to account.
* YEP. THAT'S THE GAME-PLAN. THAT'S THE OBAMA GAME-PLAN. THAT'S THE MSM GAME-PLAN.
Hillary Clinton said she takes full responsibility for any security failure by her department at the Benghazi compound. But what does that
mean?
* SHE HASN'T RESIGNED IN DISGRACE.
Did she see the Aug. 16 secret cable sent to her by Stevens describing his perilous situation?
* IF NOT, WHY NOT? IT WAS SENT NOT BY A LOWER LEVEL FUNCTIONARY BUT BY THE AMBASSADOR HIMSELF!
Was she oblivious to the battle in her department over security in Benghazi?
* BEYOND THAT, WAS SHE OBLIVIOUS TO THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVER-CRUMBLING SECURITY SITUATION THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN JUST FROM THE FOREIGN MEDIA WHICH HAD BEEN REPORTING ON ALL THE VIOLENCE IN BENGHAZI AND THE TRUE SITUATION THROUGHOUT LIBYA?!
* NO, FOLKS... HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ISN'T A STUPID WOMAN. SHE SIMPLY PUT POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY ABOVE HER RESPONSIBILITIES AS SECRETARY OF STATE. IT'S THAT SIMPLE. SEE NO EVIL... HEAR NO EVIL... ADDRESS NO EVIL... AT LEAST UNTIL THE EVIL BURNS A CONSULATE TO THE GROUND AND KILLS FOUR AMERICANS - INCLUDING A U.S. AMBASSADOR!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 4 of 4)
This failure that occurred in her shop and on her watch, that Stevens warned about in his Aug. 16 cable, resulted in his death and the most successful terrorist attack on this country since 9/11.
* AND YET THE MSM TREATS IT AS...???
(*SHRUG*)
Why has Hillary not explained her inaction – or stepped down?
* WHY HAVE THEIR NOT BEEN EDITORIALS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, ETC., DEMANDING SHE EITHER EXPLAIN OR STEP DOWN?
The CIA has issued a terse statement saying it gave no order to anyone not to try to rescue the ambassador or not to move forces to aid
Doherty and Woods, who died because no help came.
* BUT, NOW... AS OF TODAY... THEY'RE CLAIMING THEY WERE "IN CHARGE" ALL ALONG.
(*SNORT*)
Who, then, did refuse to send help?
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Who did give the orders to “stand down”?
* NOTICE PAT BUCHANAN ASKS THE QUESTIONS THE MSM REFUSES TO.
The president says he is keeping Americans informed as we learn the truth. But is that still credible?
* STILL...?!?! JEEZ... IT WAS NEVER CREDIBLE!
When did Obama learn that State was following the Benghazi attack in real time, that camera-carrying drones were over the city that night, that a seven-hour battle was fought, that desperate cries for help were being turned down.
* AND WHY WASN'T HE WATCHING TOO...?! WHY WASN'T HE TAKING THE LEAD...?!?!
The CIA had to know all this.
* AND STATE (MEANING HILLARY) HAD TO KNOW ALL THIS AS WELL!) AND SO DID THE MILITARY!
Did Tom Donilon of the NSC not know it? Did he not tell the president?
* TOM DONILON IS A TOTAL INCOMPETENT... BUT I DON'T BELIEVE FOR A MOMENT THAT HE KEPT OBAMA IN THE DARK!
Five days after Benghazi, Susan Rice went on five national TV shows to say the attack was a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video. Did the president not know she was talking nonsense?
* MY GUESS IS NOT ONLY DID HE KNOW, BUT IT WAS HE WHO ULTIMATELY AUTHORIZED THIS ATTEMPTED COVER-UP ATTEMPT!
* OF COURSE OBAMA KNEW RICE WAS TALKING NONSENSE! OF COURSE HILLARY KNEW! OF COURSE PANETTA KNEW! MY GOD, FOLKS, ONCE SUSAN RICE WENT OUT AND DID HER MEDIA TOUR AND NO ONE IMMEDIATELY SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT THAT WAS ALL THE PROOF ANYONE NEEDS TO KNOW THAT OBAMA IS BEHIND A COVER-UP!
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332250/romney-carmakers-china-and-all-kevin-d-williamson
In the last week of the presidential campaign, this is where we stand: Former Chrysler boss and Carter-era bailout baby Lee Iacocca says Mitt Romney is the better presidential candidate.
Union boss and Obama-era bailout baby Bob King strongly disagrees, and repeats some dishonest to half-dishonest allegations about Romney’s relationship with the automotive business.
To begin with, King attributes Mein Kampf thinking to Romney, saying that the candidate was engaged in a “big lie” strategy by suggesting that Chrysler’s owners were considering moving Jeep production to China. Indeed, this accusation has been a favorite of Democrats and their media factota in the past couple of days, and Chrysler has publicly denied that it has any such plans.
So where would Romney get a crazy idea like that?
From the people who own Chrysler, of course.
As Bloomberg reported: “Fiat SpA, majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.”
(*SNORT*)
Which is to say that the owners of Chrysler, a firm with a great debt to the Obama administration, were openly contemplating shifting Jeep operations to China - right up until the second that fact became embarrassing to the Obama administration.
(Now they say that they are considering no such thing. Check back in after the election for a straight answer on that question: You can be sure that one will not be forthcoming before then.)
King also claims that Romney himself turned an eye-popping 3,000% profit on the bailout from an investment in Delphi.
* A BAILOUT HE OPPOSED... RIGHT? (KINDA PUTS THE WHOLE THING IN CONTEXT...)
Hoping that this was true, I looked into the claim, and was a little disappointed. It’s the usual thing we see with these crazy stories about Romney’s finances: an investment in a trust that was invested in another company that invested in something else, etc. In this case, the claim involves not Mitt but Ann Romney, who maintains a blind trust that invested at least $1 million in Elliott Management, a hedge-fund operator that made a big investment in Delphi debt when the auto-parts manufacturer was in bankruptcy and its bonds were toxic.
* SO... ANN ROMNEY'S BLIND TRUST INVESTED A MILLION DOLLARS AND THAT BECAME THIRTY MILLION...???
The Elliott-Delphi story is a fascinating little saga, a fair summary of which can be found in the New York Post’s reporting here:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/parts_extra_LSHpDSm7UQr2aaTUHWfCZN#ixzz13T24Dd8j
Elliott and other creditors entered the drama when Delphi was already in the fourth year of its bankruptcy. That is worth keeping in mind: Elliott did not bankrupt Delphi; it was bankrupt when they found it. (In fact, that is precisely why they invested.)
Delphi had until 1999 been a division of GM, and was spun off into a separate entity - a very stupidly conceived separate entity. Like its GM mothership, Delphi was financially ruined by a combination of union-goon rapacity and overly compliant management. They’d barely changed the keys on the front door before they were in bankruptcy, where they sat, for years, with the unions, the shareholders, and GM (which maintained a financial interest in the new firm), unable to agree about how to proceed.
How bad was the management? By the time Elliott and the other creditors took ownership of the company, its pension fund already was underfunded to the tune of $7 billion - that for a firm that sold for only $3.5 billion.
(*SNORT*)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Given the underlying finances and that Delphi already was in bankruptcy, most of what critics blame Elliott for (GM’s taking a haircut on Delphi debt, and the collapse of its grievously underfunded pension program) was going to happen whether Elliott was on the scene or not.
Most of what is unusual about the Delphi story is not what Elliott did but what the Obama administration did.
* DO TELL! DO TELL!
Namely, the GM deal brokered by the administration required GM to bail out Delphi’s unionized pensioners, even though GM was under no contractual obligation to do so.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
The non-union white-collar workers were left twisting in the wind in what was plainly an Obama-administration sop to the labor syndicates that provide massive funding and thousands of foot soldiers to Democratic campaigns.
The difference between what happened at Delphi and what happened at GM proper is that, unlike GM’s pusillanimous secured creditors, Elliott and the other Delphi creditors refused to roll over and play dead when the Obama administration tried to foist a raw deal on them.
(Which is to say, they satisfied their moral and legal obligation to look after their investors’ interests.)
They did so by threatening to go thermonuclear on Government Motors by shutting down the supply of parts critical to the bailed-out firm’s operations.
(GM and the Obama administration were taught a lesson worth learning: Don’t take a hard-line position against somebody you can’t live without.)
The worst that can be said of Elliott is that the firm displayed excellent political instincts and a fruitful understanding of the peculiarities of bankruptcy law. In the end, Delphi was restructured and it had a successful public offering of shares. The 3,000% return that King and others attribute to Ann Romney’s investment is also certainly not accurate inasmuch as it does not account for costs involved with such a complex episode - but even if it were, more power to the blind trust.
Nobody should be under any illusions about the strategies of a firm such as Elliott. But that the bailouts produced profits for creditors and investors is an argument against bailouts, not an argument against investing.
* EXACTLY...!!!
It is worth repeating: Delphi was broke and bankrupt before Elliott was on the scene.
It was not Elliott and the other creditors who put Delphi’s pension fund into the hole, and it is hard to blame them for declining to inflict an unnecessary $7 billion hit on their investors.
What is most odd about this episode, though, is that the people most loudly decrying the intersection of finance and politics in this case are those who are most loudly celebrating the bailouts that created that nexus in the first place. Mitt Romney, recall, wanted GM and the other automotive firms restructured in private bankruptcy rather than propped up by the Obama administration. He lost that argument, and now the Democrats are blaming his wife for not losing money on the deal, too - a very strange thing for an administration that is always going on about the “investments” America should make.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
* FOLKS... I KNOW I'M PILING ON WITH THE BENGHAZI STUFF... BUT IT'S VITAL THAT YOU NOT BE DISTRACTED... THAT YOU NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE BALL OF REALITY!
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/332285/benghazi-dont-fall-misdirection-david-french
For the Washington Post, David Ignatius has obtained a CIA timeline of the September 11 attack. He begins:
"A detailed CIA timeline of the assault on U.S. facilities in Benghazi paints an anguishing picture of embattled Americans waiting for Libyan security forces who didn’t come and courageous CIA officers who died on a rooftop without the heavy weapons they needed, trying to protect their colleagues below. It’s a story of individual bravery, but also of a CIA misjudgment in relying on Libyan militias and a newly formed Libyan intelligence organization to keep Americans safe in Benghazi."
That much we already knew.
The courage of the few defenders has been well documented (and can’t be praised enough). Equally well documented is the abysmal decision-making that left them out-gunned, out-manned, and vulnerable in the midst of a veritable hornet’s nest of terrorism. But then Ignatius [tries to sneak this one past readers]:
"While there were multiple errors that led to the final tragedy, there’s no evidence that the White House or CIA leadership deliberately delayed or impeded rescue efforts."
Yet the timeline he then reports is wholly irrelevant to deciding that crucial question.
* YEP! I POINTED THIS OUT WHEN IGNATIUS' PIECE FIRST RAN!
In that timeline, we learn that a band of six men raced to rescue Ambassador Stevens, our Libyan militia “allies” (with isolated exceptions) not only were ineffective, they apparently denied the six-man team the use of their .50 caliber machine guns, and a Predator drone did arrive but was unarmed.
* NOTE, FOLKS... SOME REPORTS IDENTIFY THE DRONE AS A PREDATOR - AN UNARMED PREDATOR - WHILE OTHERS JUST REFER TO "A DRONE." IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE, FOLKS! IF THEY HAD ACCESS TO A PREDATOR AND ALSO ACCESS TO PREDATOR MUNITIONS AND YET DIDN'T ARM THE PREDATOR...
(*SHRUG*)
* UNFORTUNATELY, SINCE IF THIS IS THE CASE IT MAKES THINGS LOOK EVEN WORSE FOR OBAMA, I DOUBT THE MSM WILL PUT MUCH EFFORT INTO GETTING AT - AND PUBLICIZING - THE TRUTH.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Unable to find the ambassador, the team retreated to the security “annex” where they are attacked for more than an hour. Four hours later, the attack is renewed, and while the mortars aren’t “painted” with lasers, some of the attackers are - as “warnings not to fire.” Three mortar shells then hit the roof, killing Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.
What is missing from this account? Any details at all about the military or White House’s situational awareness and decision-making.
* AND MORE IMPORTANT... WHAT "THIS" ACCOUNT FAILED TO NOTE IS THAT WE COULD HAVE HAD ACTUAL BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN NO MORE THAN TWO HOURS FROM THE NEAREST MILITARY BASE! (AND ATTACK HELICOPTERS AND/OR FIXED WING ASSETS COULD HAVE BEEN THERE MUCH SOONER!)
As I detailed on Monday, the White House and Department of Defense no doubt already have a timeline that includes the following information: (a) when the military learned of the attack; (b) the military’s state of situational awareness hour-by-hour; (c) whether it received any requests for help; (d) what assets - if any - were available to render aid in time; (e) what recommendations were made; (f) whether any definitive orders were given; and (g) who gave them.
* FOLKS... WE HAVE MUCH OF THIS INFORMATION! WE'VE HAD IT! IT'S BEEN DRIBBLING OUT IN DRIPS AND DRABS!
More than six hours passed between the arrival of the Predator drone overhead and the final, deadly attack on the annex.
* UNACCEPTABLE. INDEED CRIMINAL!
That is more than enough time to make a decision and bring military assets into the fight. Why were they not deployed?
* FOLKS... IT'S NOVEMBER 2... WE SHOULD HAVE HAD ANSWERS WEEKS AGO. INDEED, HAD THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NOT BEEN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION I DOUBT ANY OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! WE'D HAD MONTHS OF FORESHADOWING!
The Daily Beast says that the State Department “never requested military backup,” but that hardly answers the question.
That’s typically the responsibility of the ambassador, who was at that very moment cut off, alone, and dying.
* YET WHO HAD ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS PRIOR TO 9/11/12 ASKED FOR ADDITIONAL SECURITY BUT BEEN DENIED IT!
Interestingly, in that same report the Daily Beast wasn’t able to confirm or deny whether CIA officers made requests for air support.
(*SMIRK*)
The bottom line is that the president of the United States has the inherent authority to order immediate military assistance, regardless of whether a request comes from the State Department, CIA officials on the ground, or - in the confusion of battle - from no one at all. Why did you fail to give that order, Mr. President? And if you did, why was it not carried out?
* FOLKS... NO MATTER HOW THE MSM TRIES TO MUDDY THE WATERS WE ALWAYS COME BACK TO THESE SAME QUESTIONS...
The CIA timeline confirms only what we already knew: A small band of courageous Americans fought a desperate battle with insufficient resources and no effective help from the most powerful military in the world.
In other words, we left men behind.
Post a Comment