* * *
Judicial Watch today released a new Benghazi email from
then-Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash to State Department
leadership immediately offering “forces that could move to Benghazi” during the
terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya on
September 11, 2012.
* NO ONE IS GOING TO CARE.
(*DISGUSTED SHRUG*)
In an email sent to top Department of State officials, at
7:19 p.m. ET, only hours after the attack had begun, Bash says, “we have
identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we
speak.”
* WHAT'S THIS "ONLY HOURS" BULL$HIT...? WHY SHOULD IT HAVE TAKEN HOURS?
The Obama administration redacted the details of the
military forces available, oddly citing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
exemption that allows the withholding of “deliberative process” information.
Bash’s email seems to directly contradict testimony given
by then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta before the Senate Armed Services
Committee in February 2013.
Defending the Obama administration’s lack of military
response to the nearly six-hour-long attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi,
Panetta claimed that “time, distance, the lack of an adequate warning, events
that moved very quickly on the ground prevented a more immediate response.”
The first assault occurred at the main compound at about
9:40 pm local time – 3:40 p.m. ET in Washington, DC.
* 3:40 P.M. TO 7:19 P.M. MEANS THERE WAS A THREE HOUR AND
THIRTY-NINE MINUTE LAG TIME. WHAT WAS HAPPENING BETWEEN 3:40 P.M. AND 7:10 P.M.
IN WASHINGTON? WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT AND HOW DID HE
RESPOND?
The second attack on a CIA annex 1.2 miles away began
three hours later, at about 12 am local time the following morning – 6 p.m. ET.
The newly released email reads:
From: Bash, Jeremy CIV SD [REDACTED]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 7:19 PM
To: Sullivan, Jacob J; Sherman, Wendy R; Nides, Thomas R
Cc: Miller, James HON OSD POLICY; Wienefeld, James A ADM
JSC VCJCS; Kelly, John LtGen SD; martin, dempsey [REDACTED]
Subject: Libya
State colleagues:
I just tried you on the phone but you were all in with S
[apparent reference to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton].
* THEN INTERRUPT THE MEETING!
After consulting with General Dempsey, General Ham and
the Joint Staff, we have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi.
They are spinning up as we speak. They include a [REDACTED].
* WE NEED MORE INFORMATION.
Assuming Principals agree to deploy these elements, we
will ask State to procure the approval from host nation. Please advise how you
wish to convey that approval to us [REDACTED].
* THE ORDER TO MOVE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN WITHIN
MOMENTS OF THE FIRST ATTACK REPORT WHICH CAME IN AT 3:40 P.M.
Jacob Sullivan was Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton at the time of the terrorist attack at Benghazi. Wendy
Sherman was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the fourth-ranking
official in the U.S. Department of State. Thomas Nides was the Deputy Secretary
of State for Management and Resources.
The timing of the Bash email is particularly significant
based upon testimony given to members of Congress by Gregory Hicks, Deputy
Chief of Mission of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli at the time of the Benghazi
terrorist attack.
According to Hicks’ 2013 testimony, a show of force by
the U.S. military during the siege could have prevented much of the carnage.
Said Hicks, “if we had been able to scramble a fighter or
aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack
commenced, I believe there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in
the morning because I believe the Libyans would have split. They would have
been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed
them.”
Ultimately, Special Operations forces on their own
initiative traveled from Tripoli to Benghazi to provide support during the
attack. Other military assets were only used to recover the dead and wounded,
and to evacuate U.S. personnel from Libya. In fact, other documents released in
October by Judicial Watch show that only one U.S. plane was available to
evacuate Americans from Benghazi to Tripoli and raise questions about whether a
delay of military support led to additional deaths in Benghazi.
* IT DID. NO QUESTION.
The new email came as a result of a Judicial Watch
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on September 4, 2014 (Judicial
Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01511)), seeking records related
to notes, updates, or reports created in response to the September 11, 2012
attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. This request includes, but is
not limited to, notes taken by then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
or employees of the Office of the Secretary of State during the attack and its
immediate aftermath.
“The Obama administration and Clinton officials hid this
compelling Benghazi email for years,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
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