re: Benghazi Whistleblowers: Reinforcements told to stand down/Refusal of help

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Being a Soldier on a training exercise is not the same. You may (or may not) have some live ammunition with you. Small arms only ( depending upon what type of range you are at) at best. You would probably not have a full complement of ordnance (combat load) with you. Arranging ground transportation to an airfield, coordinating air transportation, where will you land, how will you be transported to the site, communications procedures, link up procedures with those "in extremis", medical evacuation plans. There are a lot of moving pieces.

I know you meant well. Not even remotely comparable. That is why we build contingency plans and have units on alert status to be prepare for this.

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Solid post, full of excellent points!

Some have alluded to a CIA operation in the area. We know that Stevens and the aide were killed at the Passport Office. Later, 2 CIA security guards were killed at the CIA building while getting 23 CIA employees to safety AND 7 passport employees.

FOX is saying that Stevens was in secret negotiations with CIA and Turkey to move arms to the Rebels in Syria. We didn't want to upset radical Muslims.

30 lives were saved in the rescue effort.

Quote from earlier in the thread:
"Also, they may have been trying to keep unnecessary players, like the Brits, out of it due to some kind of CIA operation in the area. They made a gamble and lost big."

I'm obviously not a military guy, so am not qualified to discuss "logistics".

But, I do know a little about the political, diplomatic thing.

History will show that the Obama administration ignored threats that had already ocurred, and also the potential for attacks in the most dangerous area in the world, at an especially dangerous time-9/11 anniversary.

History will also show, that Obama was negligent in the handling of the situation once it began, i.e. going to bed, and was callous, going to Las Vegas the day after.

It will also show that his admin lied, misled and colluded with a willing media to keep their incomptence, negligence, and callousness hidden, from a public that is more concerned with "The Bachelor", than with National Security.

It takes too much energy and raises too many uncomfortable "feelings", to pay attention for most people, so they would rather it all just go away, so they can return to their TVs.

They are just as guilty as the media, in protecting an inept and ideologically twisted administration.

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a civilian calling the shots? No. He is asked for authorization when necessary. Technically he could jump in and tell all of the reinforcements to stand down, but if you believe he stood down career military without a hellish response you must be one of those conspiracy nuts.

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You lost all credibility here. The POTUS is the commander in chief of the US Military, he calls ALL of the shots.

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This is exactly what happened. There was no "terror attack", this was an arms deal that went to shite and the administration has been trying to cover its arse ever since.

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How do you figure and why would they choose a volatile Libya for that assignment if that were the case?

I hadn't heard about the arms deal so please shed more light on it if you can.

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This is exactly what happened. There was no "terror attack", this was an arms deal that went to shite and the administration has been trying to cover its arse ever since.

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There is no question the CIA had an unusual amount of agents in the area. Something doesn't add up about this entire situation when you step back and look at it.

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There is no question the CIA had an unusual amount of agents in the area. Something doesn't add up about this entire situation when you step back and look at it.

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And when you consider history, it is almost foolish to believe that this couldn't have been the scenario. I'm not saying it was, but dismissing it out of hand is ignoring history imo.

The US government through the CIA has made many a weapons deal with various despots, terror groups, and rebels over the decades.

Not saying it was the case, but it wouldn't shock me in the least if this was some sort of arms deal gone sour situation, and the O admin did everything they could in the wake of the attack to distort what actually happened. This scenario is at least plausible.

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On the night of Sept. 11, in what would become his last known public meeting, Stevens met with the Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and escorted him out of the consulate front gate one hour before the assault began at approximately 9:35 p.m. local time.

Although what was discussed at the meeting is not public, a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi to negotiate a weapons transfer, an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists. And although the negotiation said to have taken place may have had nothing to do with the attack on the consulate later that night or the Libyan mystery ship, it could explain why Stevens was travelling in such a volatile region on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

When asked to comment, a State Department spokeswoman dismissed the idea, saying Stevens was there for diplomatic meetings, and to attend the opening of a cultural center.

A congressional source also cautioned against drawing premature conclusions about the consulate attack and the movement of weapons from Libya to Syria via Turkey -- noting they may in fact be two separate and distinct events. But the source acknowledged the timing and the meeting between the Turkish diplomat and Stevens was "unusual."

According to an initial Sept. 14 report by the Times of London, Al Entisar was carrying 400 tons of cargo. Some of it was humanitarian, but also reportedly weapons, described by the report as the largest consignment of weapons headed for Syria's rebels on the frontlines.

"This is the Libyan ship ... which is basically carrying weapons that are found in Libya," said Walid Phares, a Fox News Middle East and terrorism analyst. "So the ship came all the way up to Iskenderun in Turkey. Now from the information that is available, there was aid material, but there were also weapons, a lot of weapons."

The cargo reportedly included surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, RPG's and Russian-designed shoulder-launched missiles known as MANPADS.

The ship's Libyan captain told the Times of London that "I can only talk about the medicine and humanitarian aid" for the Syrian rebels. It was reported there was a fight about the weapons and who got what "between the free Syrian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood."

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LINK

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MrCarton

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Nailed it. As usual.

What is more concerning is the SF element that had been supporting the DOS compound was not used when they were readily available (in Tripoi) and knew the terrain (physical and human). They were the organization that was not permitted to deploy and could have made a difference.

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I haven't been following this as closely as you guys have. How do we know the SF element in Tripoli was in direct support of DOS? It makes sense logically of course. But I just recently heard about these guys

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There was an SF element led by Lt Col Gibson. It is my understanding they were Army National Guard on an ADOS (it is a reserve component funding mechanism) tour. They had done several months in Libya but their mission had been discontinued. Apparently they were still in country but not permitted to deploy from Tripoli to Benghazi.

Bottom line, they would have been prepared to respond to an emergency.

Need to find some links that explain further.