Benghazi mistakes made

[tb-av]

No one is to blame.

Business as usual at Obamaworld

[Voodoochild]

Dude it is business as usual. The State Department and Sec State are clearly just as responsible for the deaths of the 4 Americans as the terrorist who attacked the compound. But hey who gives a shit right as long as Hillary can retire and write a book and get ready to run for office in 2016 if she so decides.

I would hound that bitch to the day she died about why she and the other ****sticks at State decided to ignore not only the RSO but the Ambo about the lack of security and safety there.

What really, really chaps my ass is that I used to work for the State Department and did the same job as Sean Smith so it hits very close to home.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Benghazi what?

I watched Mr. Obama's speech today about gun control and he will protect us too; just ask Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

[Belmont31R]

Government accountability what? :rolleyes:

[tb-av]

Well... they did get that transparency thing right....

You can see right through them.

[jaxman7]

Yes mistakes were made.....but made by no one individual/individuals. Thus no one can be fingered.

Absolutely enraging . These men who defied a stand down order deserve to have the truth told to honor what they did. My God this pisses me off.

-Jax

[Belmont31R]

Yes mistakes were made.....but made by no one individual/individuals. Thus no one can be fingered.

Absolutely enraging . These men who defied a stand down order deserve to have the truth told to honor what they did. My God this pisses me off.

-Jax



I think we can ask the people who were in contact with the Ambassador, and others why no action was taken on his requests for more security.

We can ask why no US Gov assets were sent there in response.


We need to know why there was no response, and those people were left out there on their own. Doesn't matter if it took 8hrs or 24 hours or a week to get a response. Nothing was done. We sent some FBI agents for a few hours a few weeks later. Thats what we do when this happens?

Who wants to get assigned to some diplomatic mission, and realize if you get attacked no help is coming? Would you want help that might take 8hrs or just accept no help at all?

[Moose-Knuckle]

And why did this administration blame the attack on protests of a cheese ball anti-Islam YouTube film instead of a coordinated al-Qaeda attack on the anniversary of 9/11?

[Grizzly16]

If the truth came out high ranking officials would have to be found guilty of genuine treason. That ain't gonna happen.

[platoonDaddy]

Hillary as Bill will come out clean. :(


Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/04/benghazi-names-whistleblower-witnesses-revealed/

[R0N]

When everything is declassified on this in about 25 years; people will see there is a clear email trail and people who said no to more security.

[MountainRaven]

This was originally brought to my attention by a man who is not a partyline voter, but is conservative (Rush Limbaugh-listening, Molon Labe, retired Marine conservative) and accordingly tends to vote GOP:

http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m335/dmhlt48/Republicans%20Humor/Poster_Terrorist-Attacks-Bush_Deaths-at-Embassy-Consulates_List_zps6c5a5a5e.jpg (http://s332.photobucket.com/user/dmhlt48/media/Republicans%20Humor/Poster_Terrorist-Attacks-Bush_Deaths-at-Embassy-Consulates_List_zps6c5a5a5e.jpg.html)

[R0N]

This was originally brought to my attention by a man who is not a partyline voter, but is conservative (Rush Limbaugh-listening, Molon Labe, retired Marine conservative) and accordingly tends to vote GOP:

http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m335/dmhlt48/Republicans%20Humor/Poster_Terrorist-Attacks-Bush_Deaths-at-Embassy-Consulates_List_zps6c5a5a5e.jpg (http://s332.photobucket.com/user/dmhlt48/media/Republicans%20Humor/Poster_Terrorist-Attacks-Bush_Deaths-at-Embassy-Consulates_List_zps6c5a5a5e.jpg.html)

Who ever did that really needs to do some research; yes US embassy and consulates have been attacked numerous times in the past however DoS and the US government was forthcoming about what happen.

In about ever case cited the Host Nation, Local Guard Force, MSG and building design worked as intended instead of what happen at the temp facility in Bengazhi in which there was a total failure both in selection of the site and belief the LGF would stand and fight.

[kmrtnsn]

Overseas postings can be dangerous. Everyone involved knows this going in. Opening new posts in countries that are far from stable brings additional dangers. Adding cryptic missions that the Chief of Mission wants to keep low profile and discreet, while at the same time traveling far from the principle post compounds an already bad situation. Doubling or tripling the number of DS Agents in Benghazi would not likely have altered the outcome. In the end, the one person ultimately responsible for this particular foray decided he was going, with the people he went with, at the time he went. That person was on the ground, in Benghazi, with a first-hand view of the threat situation and he made the call. That person decided it was safe enough and the people who worked for him lacked the horsepower to countermand his decision, whether they could or would have or not, as arguing with the Ambassador is neither career enhancing nor a winnable proposition. In the end this was in the hands of one particular person and he died at the scene and no one at DOS or Congress or the White House is going speak negatively about the Ambassador now that he is dead. You want a scapegoat? Look in the right direction.

[R0N]

You are correct the COM has quite a bit to say about it; but ever what has been revealed about this particular event from open sources shows he, the RSO and SST all asked for additional security to only have it denied to 1) save money and 2) more egregiously "normalize relations"

[kmrtnsn]

There exists a certain critical mass of need versus capability. For instance it is one thing to want and need X number of personnel, however, to house, feed, and secure that number requires additional assets, structure, and equipment. It is one thing to triple the number of protective agents but if you can't house them safely, equip them properly, and provide the vehicles to move them around there is no point in having them present as they are just taking up space.

Building up a mission or post is not an instant proposition, it takes time. It takes time to build the needed structures and housing that meet Congressionally mandated standards. It takes time to ship all of those Congressionally mandated American built vehicles. It takes time to train and equip a local guard force and to negotiate with the host nation for the presence of additional personnel, as all of this requires the concurrence of the host nation.

It is one thing to ask for something, and another to get it as there are always competing priorities, such as the annual United Nations General Assembly, which happens every September. Ambassadors, DS Agents, Attaches, Admin Officers, Finance Officers, Consular Officers, and everyone else at post is trying to build up the capability of the mission, especially a brand new mission where one had not existed for decades, all the while conducting as must embassy business as possible because that is the whole point, to be our country's representatives to the Libyans. That is what they were there for, that is what they were doing.

Personally, I think we were in there too soon, with too much. I think we should have waited, and moved into Libya at a slower pace as the situation was too unstable at the time. DOS and the White House, however, saw some compelling need to have representation on the ground at that time and solicited for volunteers to go in early when they did, to accomplish what exactly, we may never know.