[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]ZEB wrote:
…Say what you want about the Romney 47% tape, but he’s right on the money!
[/quote]
Yes, he is. I would have no problem with him repeating it.
[/quote]
Quoting this gem so it’s preserved.
The former head of a Special Forces “Site Security Team” in Libya tells CBS News that in spite of multiple pleas from himself and other U.S. security officials on the ground for “more, not less” security personnel, the State Department removed as many as 34 people from the country in the six months before the terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
Lt. Col. Andy Wood will appear this week at a House Oversight Committee hearing that will examine security decisions leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi.
Speaking to CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, Wood said when he found out that his own 16-member team and a six-member State Department elite force were being pulled from Tripoli in August - about a month before the assault in Benghazi - he felt, “like we were being asked to play the piano with two fingers. There was concern amongst the entire embassy staff.”
Congress to probe security flaws for Libya diplomats
Libya consulate: Was security added or taken away?
State Dept. to take hot seat over Libya security
He said other staffers approached him with their concerns when the reduction in security personnel was announced.
“They asked if we were safe,” he told Attkisson. “They asked… what was going to happen, and I could only answer that what we were being told is that they’re working on it - they’ll get us more (security personnel), but I never saw that.”
Wood insists that senior staff in Libya, including Ambassador Stevens, State Department Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom, and himself, all wanted and had requested enhanced security.
“We felt we needed more, not less,” he tells Attkisson.
Asked what response their repeated pleas got from the State Department in Washington, Wood says they were simply told “to do with less. For what reasons, I don’t know.”
“We tried to illustrate… to show them how dangerous and how volatile and just unpredictable that whole environment was over there. So to decrease security in the face of that really is… it’s just unbelievable,” Wood tells CBS News.
One State Department source tells CBS News the security teams weren’t “pulled,” that their mission was simply over.
State Department officials have told CBS News that Wood was not part of the security assessment in Benghazi and that his assignment to Tripoli means he was unfamiliar with the local situation in the smaller port city in the country’s east.
Wood, however, says some of the members of his own team and additional personnel from the State Department’s elite security detail - the two teams which left Libya in August - would have traveled to Benghazi with Ambassador Stevens had they still been in the country. He did not say how many additional security agents might have been deployed for the Ambassador’s trip to the city, which is at least 400 miles east of Tripoli, but he tells Attkisson that he’s wondered if it might have made a difference on the night of the attack.
Lt. Col. Wood, Nordstrom and State Department official Charlene Lamb, based in Washington, will offer some of the key testimony at this week’s House Oversight Committee hearing, led by committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan reports that the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Management, Patrick Kennedy, will be the highest ranking official from the State Department to testify before the committee.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the State Department is cooperating fully with the congressional investigation, according to Brennan.
I had to stop reading at “playing piano with two fingers”… This infuriates me
For days this administration made this out to be a spontaneous mob reaction to a you-tube video. The intel community wasn’t pushing that. Even the mainstream media wasn’t buying it. So, why? Because a pre-planned attack, which killed an ambassador, was politically damaging? Perhaps. Especially when it turns out repeated security requests were denied.
Perhaps it might have even cost Obama the Presidency. Who knows. But what SHOULD be certain, is that Obama must not be allowed a second term, due to his administration’s response. It was nothing but ass covering. And considering the event and it’s consequences, this is an unforgettable outrage.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
For days this administration made this out to be a spontaneous mob reaction to a you-tube video. The intel community wasn’t pushing that. Even the mainstream media wasn’t buying it. So, why? Because a pre-planned attack, which killed an ambassador, was politically damaging? Perhaps. Especially when it turns out repeated security requests were denied.
Perhaps it might have even cost Obama the Presidency. Who knows. But what SHOULD be certain, is that Obama must not be allowed a second term, due to his administration’s response. It was nothing but ass covering. And considering the event and it’s consequences, this is an unforgettable outrage.[/quote]
I wish selfish ass covering were impeachable. Not that I hold any hope that politicians will open themselves up to that sort of possible recourse, but I’m just that furious. Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable. Advanced awareness of a threat + repeated requests for more security, even from the ambassador HIMSELF! Fuck that.
There was no protest outside of the consulate…
ABC: No Protest Outside Libya Consulate Before Attack - YouTube!
Hilary is distancing herself from obama, but she stood in front of those caskets and lied too.
This is a major cover-up and every journalist not blowing this up and could have has blood on their hands.
Fuck the media in this country. The state department didn’t include Fox on the call.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Hilary is distancing herself from obama, but she stood in front of those caskets and lied too.
This is a major cover-up and every journalist not blowing this up and could have has blood on their hands.
Fuck the media in this country. The state department didn’t include Fox on the call. [/quote]
I can’t believe this thread isn’t blowing up more. There WASN’T EVEN A PROTEST OUTSIDE OF THE CONSULATE! Sorry to yell, but this is an outrage.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Hilary is distancing herself from obama, but she stood in front of those caskets and lied too.
This is a major cover-up and every journalist not blowing this up and could have has blood on their hands.
Fuck the media in this country. The state department didn’t include Fox on the call. [/quote]
I’m going to hold off on the media bashing for now. CNN has called into question the administration’s response. And this report, in which we find out there was no protest, is from ABC. Though, at this point, this should be the lead story until the administration provides the date and time when a terrorist assault was first offered as an explanation. Then, whatever intelligence agency is responsible, should be made to verify that. If he was notified about the suspicions of a terrorist attack within 24 hours, then he should at least can Rice.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
I’m going to hold off on the media bashing for now. CNN has called into question the administration’s response. And this report, in which we find out there was no protest, is from ABC. Though, at this point, this should be the lead story until the administration provides the date and time when a terrorist assault was first offered as an explanation. Then, whatever intelligence agency is responsible, should be made to verify that. If he was notified about the suspicions of a terrorist attack within 24 hours, then he should at least can Rice.
[/quote]
Fair enough.
This time line seems pretty relevant.
(Got this linked from http://ace.mu.nu/ if no one has heard of Ace of Spades, funny righty blogger.)
They knew within 24 hours. Folks, they lied, hoping it would stick until at least the election. Absolutely unforgivable ass covering. That was a great link. And it wasn’t just Fox reporting on the 24 hour deal. This thread should stay at the top.
Answers better come quickly and with detail.
Breaking News on Fox: State Dept says IT never linked the consulate attack to the youtube video…
[quote]smh23 wrote:
Answers better come quickly and with detail.[/quote]
Won’t happen without serous media pressure and/or public pressure.
We’ll get deflection and big bird talk, then obama will drone strike an empty bunker the night before the debate to deflate Mitt’s point in the debate.
But, Mitt may have taken the drone strike off the table:
If Mitt is full of shit with this story I’m gonna be pissed. (having trouble finding the video, but it is better than this article.) I’m telling you, if Mitt is lying about this story, he is done.
Looks like this:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/09/will-the-media-help-romney-surrogate-catapult-b/190480
Seems a little silly at this point.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Looks like this:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/09/will-the-media-help-romney-surrogate-catapult-b/190480
Seems a little silly at this point.
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Yeah, rofl. And, bogus Libya hearings? What a disgusting group of people.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Looks like this:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/09/will-the-media-help-romney-surrogate-catapult-b/190480
Seems a little silly at this point.
[/quote]
Yeah, rofl. And, bogus Libya hearings? What a disgusting group of people.
[/quote]
Yes, apparently finding out the truth about 4 dead American’s is some horrible republican ploy.
interesting.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
interesting.[/quote]
But when questioned, Lamb denied that budgetary concerns had influenced her decision. committee â??It has been suggested that budget cuts are responsible for a lack of security in Benghazi, and Iâ??d like to ask Miss Lamb,â?? said Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R., California). â??You made this decision personally. Was there any budget consideration and lack of budget which lead you not to increase the number of people in the security force there?â??
â??No, sir,â?? said Lamb.