New Disclosures on Benghazi

[uke2se]

Why can't you answer my questions?

What, exactly, is the issue with SOCAFRICA denying authorization for the four Special Forces soldiers in Tripoli to go on the 6:30 AM flight? Be specific.

Why do you think he kept talking about the lack of fighters and why did he not correct the questioner when the questioner talked about "if the military had allowed a jet to fly over" when he was very specifically told why no fighter was available for a Benghazi mission?

I'm interested in hearing 16.5's answer to these questions, which I notice have remained unanswered.

 

[A'isha]

Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, testified before a House committee that he was frustrated when the U.S. military turned down a request to dispatch four Special Operations troops from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning, saying he felt they were urgently needed to help evacuate Americans.

“People in Benghazi had been fighting all night,” he said. “They were tired, exhausted. We wanted to make sure the airport was secure for their withdrawal.”

Which confirms exactly what I said earlier in this thread about how they knew that those four troops would not have been able to help during the actual attack on the Annex, and that they would have been sent knowing that Benghazi was already in the process of evacuation.

 

[The Big Dog]

Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, testified before a House committee that he was frustrated when the U.S. military turned down a request to dispatch four Special Operations troops from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning, saying he felt they were urgently needed to help evacuate Americans.

“People in Benghazi had been fighting all night,” he said. “They were tired, exhausted. We wanted to make sure the airport was secure for their withdrawal.”

I'm interested in hearing 16.5's answer to these questions, which I notice have remained unanswered.

That "is the issue with SOCAFRICA denying authorization for the four Special Forces soldiers in Tripoli to go on the 6:30 AM flight?"

 

[A'isha]

That is why Hicks asked for the Special Ops troops.

Which wasn't one of the two questions.

 

[uke2se]

That is why Hicks asked for the Special Ops troops.

Like ANTPogo says, your answer did not belong to any of the questions.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

No, it means you make an estimate based on the information that you think is the most reliable, and you probably also add the disclaimer that the issue is still being investigated and the estimate could change, and then change that estimate based on the new information you learn in the course of that investigation.

Like this.

If they had wanted to use the most reliable information then they should have used the information given to them by the people who were actually there. The ones who have said that there was no protests going on at the location and hadn't been any all day long.

The narrative being pushed wholeheartedly by the administration for a week was that it was because of the video and that it had nothing to do with the date. They later reversed that opinion but only after the news cycle had moved on to other things and the evidence was overwhelmingly against their first position. It reeks of playing politics just before an election, after all, who would want to be the guy who missed a terrorist attack and didn't even attempt to send the help being requested by the people under attack?

 

[The Big Dog]

Like ANTPogo says, your answer did not belong to any of the questions.

Lets agree to disagree.

Thanks.

 

[A'isha]

If they had wanted to use the most reliable information then they should have used the information given to them by the people who were actually there. The ones who have said that there was no protests going on at the location and hadn't been any all day long.

Again, you're conflating "there was no protest against the video outside the consulate which preceded the attack on the consulate" and "the video had nothing to do with the motivations for the attack on the consulate".

 

[uke2se]

Lets agree to disagree.

Thanks.

Let's not, and let's have you answer the questions, or admit that you can't/won't.

 

[A'isha]

Lets agree to disagree.

Thanks.

Your edit still isn't any kind of answer.

What, precisely, do you think is the problem with the denial of authorization for four pistol-armed troops on a non-combat assignment to travel to the Benghazi airport to help with the evacuation and instead having them stay in Tripoli where the potential security issue was still unclear, such that this denial of authorization needs to be brought up in Congressional hearings?

 

[The Big Dog]

Let's not, and let's have you answer the questions, or admit that you can't/won't.

Let me make it easy, friend:

The "the issue with SOCAFRICA denying authorization for the four Special Forces soldiers in Tripoli to go on the 6:30 AM flight" is that Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, testified before a House committee that he was frustrated when the U.S. military turned down a request to dispatch four Special Operations troops from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning, saying he felt they were urgently needed to help evacuate Americans.

“People in Benghazi had been fighting all night,” he said. “They were tired, exhausted. We wanted to make sure the airport was secure for their withdrawal.”

I've answered it as best I can. Thanks for asking, again.

 

[uke2se]

Let me make it easy, friend:

The "the issue with SOCAFRICA denying authorization for the four Special Forces soldiers in Tripoli to go on the 6:30 AM flight" is that Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, testified before a House committee that he was frustrated when the U.S. military turned down a request to dispatch four Special Operations troops from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning, saying he felt they were urgently needed to help evacuate Americans.

“People in Benghazi had been fighting all night,” he said. “They were tired, exhausted. We wanted to make sure the airport was secure for their withdrawal.”

I've answered it as best I can. Thanks for asking, again.

Four guys not equipped to secure an airport?

And what about the second question? You can use normal sized font if you want.

 

[The Big Dog]

Back to the testimony:

"Earlier you talked about the ARB fixed blame on mid-level, or those career employees, not those at a senior level or the political appointees, is that correct?"

Nordstrom: That's correct. Ambassador Pickering asserted that it was made at the assistant secretary level and below. That's at variance with what I've personally seen.

Meadows: So you personally believe that the decisions are made at a much higher level. Mr. Hicks, I see you're nodding your head, is that correct?

Hicks: Yes, I believe so.

Meadows: So the ARB in looking to place blame in those career employees ignored a whole lot of the, what you would say, the decision makers in terms of assigning blame, correct?

Nordstrom: Absolutely.

 

[A'isha]

I've answered it as best I can. Thanks for asking, again.

So, you're asserting that the military overriding a diplomat about the best place for four pistol-armed military personnel on a non-combat assignment to be during a chaotic crisis where there were still a lot of unknowns about the security situation of the Tripoli embassy is a matter that requires Congressional hearings to investigate?

 

[A'isha]

Back to the testimony:

"Earlier you talked about the ARB fixed blame on mid-level, or those career employees, not those at a senior level or the political appointees, is that correct?"

Nordstrom: That's correct. Ambassador Pickering asserted that it was made at the assistant secretary level and below. That's at variance with what I've personally seen.

Meadows: So you personally believe that the decisions are made at a much higher level. Mr. Hicks, I see you're nodding your head, is that correct?

Hicks: Yes, I believe so.

Meadows: So the ARB in looking to place blame in those career employees ignored a whole lot of the, what you would say, the decision makers in terms of assigning blame, correct?

Nordstrom: Absolutely.

I see the word "believe" there a lot, and no actual evidence cited.

 

[RandFan]

You should let Nordstrom know how you feel.

And the family of dead American troops sent to Iraq based on lies? Nordstrom has every right to demand answers and accountability. When do we get accountability on the dead soldiers? What about their families? Where is the outrage over that?

I have no beef with Nordstrom. I have a beef with those who turn a blind eye to atrocity when its from their side but go ape **** crazy when the Obama administration gives some faulty information.

I see no moral consistency. I'm perfectly happy to condemn anyone who lied or covered up facts that led to the death of Americans. Are you?

 

[AlBell]

Are they scheduled to testify at the hearings? And why aren't any lawyers other than the partisan hacks who demanded that Scooter Libby get pardoned and that lied to Congress about Valerie Plame involved?

What does that have to do with Benghazi?

If it was his call, he wouldn't have needed authorization, now would he? And considering that his group was just an advisory survey team armed with pistols, and Embassy Tripoli had just sent all of its own protection to Benghazi to assist there, what, exactly, is the issue with SOCAFRICA denying authorization for them to go on the 6:30 AM flight?

I admit missing those facts.

That's your inference. Hicks' quote is elided in the transcript, so we don't know. I'm curious as to why it was edited, and what the rest of his reply was.

Aren't you?

Yes, me too, although 'why' isn't the top of my concern; the rest of his reply is.

Is the whitehouse paying you to carry their water on the demean, deny, and obfuscate action now ongoing? If not they should be.

 

[The Big Dog]

Four guys not equipped to secure an airport?

And what about the second question? You can use normal sized font if you want.

Not secured to "secure an airport" WTF? Take it up with Hicks, friend.

What about the second question? Why did Hicks "not correct" the questioner? Hell if I know, bro.

What he said was the U.S. might have prevented the night’s second deadly attack if the military had been able to get a fighter jet to Benghazi as soon as possible.

 

[uke2se]

Back to the testimony:

"Earlier you talked about the ARB fixed blame on mid-level, or those career employees, not those at a senior level or the political appointees, is that correct?"

Nordstrom: That's correct. Ambassador Pickering asserted that it was made at the assistant secretary level and below. That's at variance with what I've personally seen.

Meadows: So you personally believe that the decisions are made at a much higher level. Mr. Hicks, I see you're nodding your head, is that correct?

Hicks: Yes, I believe so.

Meadows: So the ARB in looking to place blame in those career employees ignored a whole lot of the, what you would say, the decision makers in terms of assigning blame, correct?

Nordstrom: Absolutely.

Shall we take this as an admission that you will never give a rational answer to the first question, nor any answer at all to the second?

 

[RandFan]

Let's not, and let's have you answer the questions, or admit that you can't/won't.

Good luck. There are a lot of questions being ignored. I still don't understand his response to my post. He refuses to clarify his position.

Exactly. It's the same nonsense as 9/11. A malevolent presidential administration was indifferent to Americans in harms way and they did everything they could to have them die... or something. I don't know but its got CT written all over it.

Just so we are clear here, using your analogy, we never should have had the 911 Commission hearings?

Interesting.