[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t8HeHEO-Qk[/youtube]
Well, it took over a year, but 60 Minutes last night ran a feature on the Benghazi attack on September 11, 2012 that is absolutely damning for the Obama administration. With Lara Logan as the lead reporter, it revealed an administration indifferent to the security for our diplomats and who left men fighting for us in the aftermath of the attack to fend for themselves. It did not ask the key question of why no military assets were sent to rescue them. From the transcript of the report:
The same force that had gone to the compound was now defending the CIA Annex. Hours later, they were joined by a small team of Americans from Tripoli. From defensive positions on these rooftops, the Americans fought back a professional enemy. In a final wave of intense fighting just after 5 a.m., the attackers unleashed a barrage of mortars. Three of them slammed into this roof, killing former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Lara Logan: They hit that roof three times.
Andy Wood: They, they hit those roofs three times.
Lara Logan: In the dark.
Andy Wood: Yea, that’s getting the basketball through the hoop over your shoulder.
Lara Logan: What does it take to pull off an attack like that?
Andy Wood: Coordination, planning, training, experienced personnel. They practice those things. They knew what they were doing. That was a– that was a well-executed attack.
We have learned there were two Delta Force operators who fought at the Annex and they’ve since been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross — two of the military’s highest honors. The Americans who rushed to help that night went without asking for permission and the lingering question is why no larger military response ever crossed the border into Libya — something Greg Hicks realized wasn’t going to happen just an hour into the attack.
Lara Logan: You have this conversation with the defense attache. You ask him what military assets are on their way. And he says–
Greg Hicks: Effectively, they’re not. And I– for a moment, I just felt lost. I just couldn’t believe the answer. And then I made the call to the Annex chief, and I told him, “Listen, you’ve gotta tell those guys there may not be any help coming.”
Lara Logan: That’s a tough thing to understand. Why?
Greg Hicks: It just is. We–, for us, for the people that go out onto the edge, to represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble, they’re coming to get us. That our back is covered. To hear that it’s not, it’s a terrible, terrible experience.
Go here to read the transcript. This administration bungled security for our diplomats and then, I think for crass political puposes, failed to provide military backup for Americans fighting on the ground. In a just world the individuals responsible would be out of power and facing criminal charges. In the world we inhabit they remain in power and the two American heroes they betrayed, Tyrone Woods and Greg Doherty, remain dead.
The combination of the administration’s indifference and the public’s indifference toward this evil administration is mind numbing.
If the embassy in Benghazi was so vulnerable, Obama ought to have recalled our ambassador and closed the facility.
“Sufian bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and long-time al Qaeda operative, was one of the lead planners along with Faraj al-Chalabi,”
The coward in the White House released an al Qaeda operative and refused help to our ambassador.
Donald McClarey, please repost this every six months until after the 2016 election.
UNCONSCIONABLE!
I also watched the 60 minutes Benghazi report. Two things were noticeable: First,
CIA rep Andy Wood said that when the Al Qaeda operatives hit the Delta-Force defenders with a mortar shot, it was the equivalent of “getting the basketball through the hoop over your shoulder”, implying it was a lucky and also triumphal “hit”. In fact the mortar fire was incoming for several hours (one witness said over 6 hours): as you know if you are aware of military tactics, when an opponent has a mortar, you must move continuously, or it is simply a matter of time, maybe a few minutes (think Omaha Beach). And it isnt that difficult to effectively operate state-of -the art mortars: it is a matter of time: you will eventually hit a target that is pinned down. The fact is, while Obama went to bed and Hillary disappeared, these two outstandingly brave men were eluding their attackers for hours, until their ammunition ran low and their luck —and Hillary and Obama — ran out. Second, when Lara Logan ran through her questions, she skillfully avoided asking questions about who should have dispatched reinforcements. Bases in Sicily and ships in the Mediterranean could have had jets and helicopter gun ships on site in a period of 30 minutes up to 1 hour. Just like with the IRS scandal — no one is responsible.
Much of this information came out over a period of months – either through Fox News reports or other investigative journalistic endeavours.
But that does not make it any easier to watch when it is all pulled together in a doco.
When are the “Impeach Obama” signs going up?
“When are the “Impeach Obama” signs going up?”
Going up? I’ve had mine on the back of my van for years. (Actually my wife put it there!)
🙂
…for the people that go out onto the edge, to represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble, they’re coming to get us. That our back is covered. To hear that it’s not, it’s a terrible, terrible experience.
Agreed. It has been a terrible experience. And to find out how many Americans reacted to the death of an American Ambassador with “win some, lose some,” e.g. Spiliakos at First Things: I’ve never been able to get worked up about the Benghazi attack. I always thought that the refusal to order a prompt rescue mission was a judgment call.