BULLY BOY
PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID
TABLE
PRINCESS BARRY O WENT TO CONNECTICUT -- WHICH IS ALMOST LIKE GOING TO THE STORM RAVAGED NEW JERSEY OR NEW YORK, RIGHT? -- YESTERDAY TO DECLARE THAT GUN VIOLENCE IN THE U.S. WAS UNACCEPTABLE.
MEANWHILE IN PAKISTAN, THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD RESPOND THAT PRINCESS BARRY O'S DRONE ATTACKS ARE UNACCEPTABLE.
PRINCESS BARRY O IS PROMISING TO HAVE GUN CONTROL BEFORE THE U.S. CONGRESS IN 2 WEEKS.
WHEN WILL THE PRINCESS STOP MURDERING INNOCENT CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN? WHEN WILL PRINCESS BARRY O PRACTICE DRONE CONTROL?
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Today a report
was released on the September 11, 2012 attack on the US Consulate in
Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith, Glen
Doherty and Chris Stevens. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had a
classified briefing today on the report. The unlcassified version has
been [PDF format warning] posted online at the State Dept's website.
It's
a damning and disturbing report that will probably most disturb those
State Dept employees stationed overseas and their families -- including
the largest State Dept mission overseas, the one in Iraq. As noted on
page two of the report, "With State Department civilians at the
forefront of U.S. efforts to stabilize and build capacity in Iraq, as
the U.S. military draws down in Afghanistan, and with security threats
growing in volatile environments where the U.S. military is not present
-- from Peshawar to Bamako -- the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) is
being stretched to the limit as never before."
It's
hard to tell which details are the most disturbing? Take the death of
the Ambassador Chris Stevens. His body can't be found -- is he alive or
dead, at this point no one knows -- and, page 25 notes, after "many and
repeated attempts to retrieve the Ambassador having proven fruitless and
militia members warning them the SMC could not be held much longer, the
Annex team departed the SMC, carrying with them the body of IMO [Sean]
Smith." They left before Stevens was found -- dead or alive. Six people
(presumably Libyans, labeled "good Samaritans" in the report) would find
him later in the same area that "many and repeated attempts" failed to
find him. He would be taken to the Benghazi Medical Center (the report
states he was dead when he arrived but doctors attempted to revive him
for 45 minutes) and when the US Embassy in Tripoli was notified that
Stevens had been taken to the hospital? "There was some concern that the
call might be a ruse to lure American personnel into a trap. With the
Benghazi Medical Center (BMC) believed to be dangerous for American
personnel due to the possibility attackers were being treated there, a
Libyan contact of the Special Mission was dispatched to the BMC and
later confirmed the
Ambassador's identity and that he was deceased."
It
was not safe for American diplomats and those working with the
diplomatic coprs to be stationed in Libya. It was not safe and they
should not have been there. Magnify that 100 times and you have Iraq
where the State Dept has its largest presence.
It
was so dangerous in Libya that when the call came in that Ambassador
Stevens was at the hospital -- remember, his whereabouts were unknown
for hours -- the US was unable to send an American to a hospital to see
if it was Stevens and if was alive or dead. That is appalling. That is a
sign of how tremendously unsafe it was.
The
report notes that Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed in "an
Annex building," which "came under mortar and RPG attack." Sean Smith
and Chris Stevens apparently died from smoke inhalation. The description
of the two of them them in a so-called safe house which was under fire
and with only one ARSO-I (Assistant Regional Security
Officer-Investigator) to attempt to protect them is shocking and
chilling.
Among
the findings in the investigation led by former Ambassador Thomas
Pickering and Retired General Mike Mullen (former Chair of the Joint
Chiefs)?
The
attacks were security related, involving arson, small arms and machine
gun fire, and the use of RPGs, grenades, and mortars against U.S.
personnel at two separate facilities -- the SMC [Special Mission
Compound] and the Annex -- and en route between them. Responsibility for
the tragic loss of life, injuries, and damage to U.S. facilities and
property rests solely and completely with the terrorists who perpetrated
the attacks. The board concluded that there was no protest prior to the
attacks, which were unanticipated in their scale and intensity.
There is so much incompetence on display. Let's note one section.
About
2150 local [time], the DCM was able to reach Ambassador Stevens, who
briefly reported that the SMC was under attack before the call cut off.
The Embassy notified Benina Airbase in Benghazi of a potential need for
logistic support and aircraft for extraction and received full
cooperation. The DCM contacted the Libyan Presidnt and Prime Minister's
office to urge them to mobilize a rescue effort, and kept Washington
apprised of post's efforts. The Embassy also reached out to Libyan Air
Froce and Armed Forces contacts, February 17 leadership, and UN and
third country embassies, among others. Within hours, Embassy Tripoli
charted a private airplane and deployed a seven-person secruity team,
which included two U.S. military personnel to Benghazi.
At
the direction of the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM), DoD
moved a remotely piloted, unarmed surveillance aircraft relieved the
first, and monitored the eventual evacuation of personnel from the Annex
to Benghazi airport later on the morning of September 12.
Let's
again note this is the unclassified report. Additional details are in
the classified report. If there are additional details to the above,
they need to be revealed immediately because, as it stands, everything
in the two paragraphs above except for Chris Stevens' phone call, is
wrong -- not a little wrong, life-threatening wrong.
The
scramble being described above is for an extraction. As the public
report reads, extraction was the priority. A US Ambassador is on the
phone with you telling you that his consulate is under attack and the
line goes dead and your first throught is "extraction"?
No,
not if you're following protocol. Protocol wasn't followed as the
unclassified report presents events. Let's be clear, even with the
extraction, protocol wasn't followed. The scramble being described for
several hours inside Libya but outside Benghazi? Did no one receive
training or did they just ignore training? There are SOPs in writing
[Standard Operation Procedure outlines] of what to do in these cases.
There should have been no scramble on extraction, the existing SOP
should have been followed and if someone was too stupid to know what
that was, again, it is written down. But extraction shouldn't have been
the Tripoli staff's chief concern. A consulate was under attack and the
safety of the people at the consulate (and annex) should have been the
primary concern. Doesn't matter if a number of them were CIA (and there
were a number of CIA present). Attempting to secure their safety should
have been the primary focus for Tripoli with extraction being the
secondary focus -- a distant second.
There
was no knowledge of what was going on, who was alive, who was dead, and
you're focused on extraction? Let's remember too that Tripoli wasn't
under attack.
Valerie
Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, wouldn't have made the
mistakes that appear to have been made (the classified report will have
more details and may explain the above). When he was going up against
Sadam Hussein, he wouldn't have been channeling all efforts into an
extraction while other Americans in the country were under attack. This
is appalling.
This is disgusting for the message it
currently sends State Dept employees who are overseas. Let's take Iraq.
There's an attack on the US in Basra. Baghdad gets the call and instead
of addressing the attack and trying to ensure the security and safety of
those under attack, Baghdad runs around like a chicken with its head
cut off trying to figure out how to order an extraction for Baghdad.
That
is insane. Public hearings start tomorrow. This needs to be addressed
and US diplomatic staff and those working to protect them in foreign
countries need to know that, if an attack takes place, the response will
be to rescue them, not for the unattacked to figure how to quickly
leave the country.
