CIA: We Didn’t Ask for Help During Benghazi Attack

[DonViejo]

Source: TDB



by Eli Lake Nov 15, 2012 4:45 AM EST

The agency’s acting director will tell Congress today that agents on the ground the night Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed never requested military assistance, Eli Lake reports.

When the CIA’s acting director, Michael Morell, testifies Thursday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he is expected to say that the agency never requested Europe-based special operations teams, specialized Marine platoons, or armed drones on the night of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official.

The disclosure may put an end to one line of inquiry into the Benghazi affair about why reinforcements from the region were not sent on the night of the attack. “Assistance from the U.S. military was critical, and we got what we requested,” the senior U.S. intelligence official said.

According to a Pentagon timeline made public last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta prepared multiple military responses from the region at around midnight Benghazi time, more than two hours after the initial assault began. Those orders included mobilizing two special Marine platoons known as Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) from Rota, Spain, to deploy to Tripoli and Benghazi. Panetta also ordered a special operations force, training in central Europe, to deploy at the Signonella Airbase in Italy. Another special operations team based in the United States also prepared to deploy to Libya.

The CIA, however, requested none of that assistance. Neither did the State Department. None of those teams ever arrived in Benghazi.

-snip-


Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/15/cia-we-didn-t-ask-for-help-during-benghazi-attack.html

[Thrill]

1. Ouch. Sorry McCain and Faux

[toddmiller]

47. Someone Should Keep a Running Tally of GOP Conspiracy Theories

Someone Should Keep a Running Tally of GOP Conspiracy Theories and then break them down by the number that blow up in their faces vs. ones that don't. If you did IMO, you'd realize that the probability of any GOP conspiracy theory being correct is nil.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

2. HAHAHAhahahaa. nt

[Jester Messiah]

3. Sorry repubs, this thing's got no legs.

It's going nowhere, just like your party.

[mainer]

4. It was a CIA op. CIA doesn't want the military blowing its cover.

Of course they preferred to handle it themselves.

[Schema Thing]

6. I wonder how they feel about craven republicans blowing their cover?

[yardwork]

20. I hope that they are really angry, and I suspect that they are.

I suspect that the CIA got a twofer when they threw Petraeus under the bus. They got rid of him and they embarrassed the Republicans. And I think that they did it on purpose.

[NoMoreWarNow]

24. exactly-- this all goes to how how fucking stupid the GOPers are

really maddening

[vlyons]

41. I have always thought that CIA operatives were being run

out of Benghazi. Of course they were! Probably assassin squads, or at least getting info about possible targets.

[Coyotl]

5. Oohh, toooo bad .. this won't provide cover for the Neo-Con Sexploits Scandal.

The Bush Neo-Cons Sexploits Scandal will be snatching the headlines instead

[Puzzledtraveller]

11. Do you know what a neo-con is?

[starroute]

18. Petraeus was the Neocons' best friend

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Neocons-Waterloo-by-Robert-Parry-121114-755.html

The decisive defeat of Mitt Romney in the presidential race and the forced resignation of ex-Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director have marginalized America's neoconservatives more than at any time in the past several decades, confining them mostly to Washington think tanks and media opinion circles.

The neocons bet heavily on a Romney victory as they envisioned a return to power, like what they enjoyed under President George W. Bush when they paved the way for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and dreamed of forcing "regime change" in Iran and Syria. During the campaign, Romney largely delegated his foreign policy to a cast of neocon retreads from the Bush era. . . .

The significance of Petraeus's resignation as CIA director is that the ex-four-star general was one of the neocons' last insiders who could be counted on to frustrate Obama's negotiations with Iran. Last year, Petraeus complicated U.S.-Iranian ties by pushing a dubious story about Iran planning a terrorist attack in Washington.

The White House and the Justice Department doubted that Iranian leaders were implicated in the harebrained scheme to assassinate the Saudi ambassador by blowing up a Washington restaurant. But Petraeus's CIA embraced the suspicions and won over the Washington press corps, which largely swallowed the story whole.

[deurbano]

22. More evidence

Kim and Fred Kagan are his "heroes":

http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3133

[ronnie624]

29. Good read. I'm glad you posted.

The article offers some hope for the direction of foreign policy.

This is fascinating:

To fill the CIA job, Obama named Petraeus partly to prevent the ambitious general from launching a political career as a Republican, including possibly becoming the GOP's presidential standard-bearer in 2012.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I like to think President Obama is such a discerning strategist.

[LiberalArkie]

53. And who better to keep an eye on Petraeus than the CIA?

[cynzke]

39. Eric Cantor

Looks like Obama owes Eric Cantor a heaping bowl of thanks for helping get Patraeus out of the CIA where it sounds like he was running his own foreign policy and with leaving Patraeus anchored to a sex scandal thus spoiling future political prospects to boot!

[starroute]

44. I'm not sure that was Cantor's intention

I think he just wanted to make trouble for the president.

Besides, it's beginning to look like the CIA itself may have more reason than anyone to breathe a sigh of relief now that Petraeus is gone. He certainly wasn't a good fit there.

[notadmblnd]

58. Cantor was not going to use the info for doing President Obama any favors

You can bet your butt that Cantor was sitting on it while trying to figure out a way to use it against the President.

[Coyotl]

49. yes

[AntiFascist]

48. There may be a lot of secret neocon exploits around Benghazi...

I wish the Administration could just bring an end to all the games. If nothing else, we could certainly use the funding that would otherwise be spent on unending wars.

[monmouth3]

7. But...but..what about the impeachment???..n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. There are still grounds for impeachment ...

... according to our constitution, we can't have a Kenyan president.

So, he's got to go.

The impeachment, and the furor over Benghazi, plus the Petraeus kerfuffle, these are ALL more important than dealing with jobs, taxes, or the fiscal cliff.

[Supersedeas]

16. Bingo -- anything to distract from the people's business

[AlbertCat]

30. or the fiscal cliff.

Which is not a cliff....


I wish everyone would stop using that term!

[are_you_serious_1234]

54. Tea Party could hire Donald Trump as the special investigator.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

57. Maybe the Bad Whig party. nt

[are_you_serious_1234]

62. Snort!

[2naSalit]

61. Yeah, along with

his special agent Sheriff Arpaio

[are_you_serious_1234]

63. I forgot about him.

The Arizona birther.

If this birth certificate crap wasn't so pathetic, it would be humorous. .

[Victor_c3]

25. yeah, we need to move forward with the impeachment of President Obama and his crimes against America

I can't believe that I voted for that Kenyan born Muslim Socialist. If it wasnt for all of the handouts that I receive as a solidly middle-class white American I probably would have voted for Romney. Yup lets bring back the good ol' days - where women and minorities knew their place and gays stayed in the closet.

Obama should have handled Libya like bush #43 handled Iraq. Instead of commiting a minimal force and spending $896 million to topple Qadafi, he should have commited 100,000+ personnel and more than $808 billion to do the same thing. That's the way a true patriot like bush does it. If you love truly love the military and support the Soldiers, send them to fight a war based on a bullshit premise like bush did. That's how a real patriot does it!

(I hope you guys can pick up my sarcasm here. I absolutely love and believe in our president. He made me feel proud to be an American for the first time since I was a small boy.)

[monmouth3]

38. Excellent..

[Berlum]

8. "...so you Republican hacks need to stop lying about this." - CIA Dude

"You Republicans and your propaganda catapults -- Fox, Rush, Hannity, and the other lameass draft-dodging chickenhawk hacks you overpay to spin your heinous crap -- need to STFU and sit down. Try supporting America for a change, instead of lying 24/7 about reality.."

- CIA Dude

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. This doesn't mean that someones head will not roll though

What I am hearing is that someone should have initiated help, at the Cia level by those in direct command as it is not disputed that the Cia did not have knowledge that the attack was happening as it happened. You would not wait to be asked for help. So who dropped the ball?

[CJCRANE]

12. “Assistance from the U.S. military was critical, and we got what we requested,”

the senior U.S. intelligence official said.

There's no indication yet that anyone dropped the ball in the circumstances (except maybe Congress for refusing extra funding for embassy security).

Maybe we should wait until all the facts are in.

[BouzoukiKing]

23. Did you read the OP?

Do you see the conflict in what you're saying?

Firstly, Panetta initiated several channels of aid, without waiting for any requests. As he should have.

Secondly, if - as you say - "...someone should have initiated help, at the Cia level by those in direct command..." - how, exactly, were these CIA people supposed to know that help was needed? Because you go on to say that - "...the Cia did not have knowledge that the attack was happening as it happened."

??

It doesn't really sound like anyone "dropped the ball", does it?

[amandabeech]

59. A security officer from the diplomatic compound called the embassy in Tripoli,

some sort of extraction team (maybe the force that eventually pulled them out), and Washington.

It is not clear whether that person was CIA or whether he was an employee or contractor for the State Department since he was in the diplomatic compound.

There is no indication as to whom the security officer talked to in Washington.

This is from a reprint of a State Department telephone briefing reprinted in part on Oct. 16 by The Atlantic on line. The entire reprint is fascinating reading.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/the-amazing-story-of-what-happened-in-libya/263597/

[2naSalit]

32. I think that the "ball"

Was being held in fmr genrl's hands and he refused to make the obvious play because he had an alternative "play strategy" that ended up blowing up in his face. I also contend that the sexy scandal was designed to be an easy "out" for him, orchestrated by the neocons and intended by them to keep him from the hearings. He did just return from a "fact finding" mission when he was outed as an adulterer. McCain can't keep his temper in check so I think that shill held his press conference at the time of the hearing so he could spout off about BS while he was being exposed, or at least his intentions were, in the hearings. I think that McCain might go down in this too. He hates the prez, has had it in for him since he lost the presidential election to him, and can't let go of a hatred. Especially since he's a devout follower/participant of/in the 1% principle.

I think the reign of the multi-trophy-home clan is about to come to a screeching halt. At least, that's what I'm hoping for.

[meegbear]

13. Which will be reported on FauxNation as ...

"The agency’s acting director will tell Congress today that agents on the ground the night Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed ... requested military assistance, Eli Lake reports."

[Dokkie]

14. What in god's living hell

was an honorable Ambassador to the US doing at a CIA torture prison in the night of Sept 11 2012? That is what I would like to know

[1StrongBlackMan]

19. And you know this was a ...

"CIA torture prison", how? Don't tell me ... you heard it on fox and saw it at theblaze and drudge, right?

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. I don't know if Stevens was at "a CIA torture prison," but...

...there are certainly lots of unanswered questions here that have little to do with pointing fingers over the Sept 11 attack.

Why did the CIA have a large base in Benghazi?

What were those CIA guys up to in Benghazi?

Were there Libyans being held by the CIA there, as Paula Broadwell let slip?

Was the CIA setting up gun-running operations to the Syrian rebels?

The fact that Republicans are attempting to make political hay over the attack should not distract us from trying to figure out just exactly what the hell our government is up to over there.

[2naSalit]

33. Just a thought but

perhaps Broadwell's "slip" wasn't a "slip" but an orchestrated confirmation of the FuxNoose propaganda BS so that the red herring had a faux-credible source? I need more coffee, but I couldn't help wonder about that idea.

[Dokkie]

36. Coffee and some rolls of tin foil maybe?

[2naSalit]

45. You know...

Thinking things out is important. The tin foil hat ruse is okay if that's what your version of "lalalala... I can't hear you" head in the sand belief system allows you. I, on the other hand have been witnessing too many insider hacks screwing America into buying too much BS to drive us blindly to ruin, and have little to no trust in anyone within the DC loop. Altruism claims are lost on them.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/11/11/a-covert-affair-petraeus-caught-in-the-honeypot/

Here's another thought that I suspect you'll include in your list of tin foil hats scenarios...

I bet that BibiN is now having his own little temper-tantrum over POB's win and is now going off on a W-stye pre-emptive whirlwind which is calculated to result in dragging us further down the rat-hole of endless war in the ME by bombing the hell out of Gaza today. He's gong to be the catalyst one way or another and he's not waiting for anyone to okay what he's doing. I think he's acting out at the recent resignation of one of the neocons best buddies last week. With him out of power, Bibi probably feels he needs to get things rolling and so we see what's happening in Gaza today. His actions are sure to give rise to retaliation in a big way, and that's what he wants. In his mind, he stands to gain a great deal from this.

Aside from using white phosphorus weaponry, he's looking to give the neocons a smoke-screen to attract their appetite for war that goes on forever, and likely so they can have control of the oil in the region. It's what they are all about and it's what will be the end of us as a nation eventually if we don't stop feeding the beast.

[Dokkie]

35. Couldn't agree more with that post

Anyone looking at this with an open mind knows that we don't have an embassy in Benghazi, rarely do the US have 2 embassies in an African country, talk-less of one that just been in a war. This is was most likely a covert operation run out of Benghazi which probably explains the silly reason given by the state dept for this attack.

[mainer]

43. It wasn't even a consulate.

Consulates are charged with issuing visas. The building in Benghazi didn't even do that.

It was mostly a space for meetings or other official events, scarcely staffed by permanent State Department personnel. This is NOT the place that more security was requested for.

[AntiFascist]

50. Maybe this will help...

http://www.voltairenet.org/Once-NATO-enemies-in-Iraq-and

I ran across it last night. And, before anyone says something misleading, this is NOT based on Republican conspiracy theories. Neocons will try to push anything besides the actual truth.

[Coyotl]

51. Your lie was debunked before you retold it with flagrant added lying.

You are repeating the Fox/Broadwell lie as if it were fact, which had nothing to do with torture and postulated that prisoners were taken although that is against CIA rules today. Are you saying the CIA was kidnapping people?

[Window]

15. K/R

[barnabas63]

17. It's still all Obama's fault...

say the right wing. Doesn't matter what anyone says or what the facts are - they can just ignore them.

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. "It's a cover-up ...

a Whitehouse cover-up, I tell you!" - All of the rightwing press.

[valerief]

26. EXACTLY correct! Faux News will say the WH pressured the CIA to testify as it did.

I can't even imagine all the names they'll call the Prez.

[dvhughes]

27. Exactly right..

and this feigned outrage (along with the likes of FoxNews and Limbaugh to stoke the flame) is all that is needed to begin an impeachment hearing.

Mark my words.....since this procedure is initiated in the House of Reps, this will become an impeachment hearing.

[politicaljunkie41910]

34. I doubt it. They already played their impeachment card and the public will see them

as the obstructionists that they are if they try it again. Besides the entire House has to run again in 2014. Also, they wouldn't have the votes in the House to remove from office. Obama is still in charge of the Justice Dept and he could tell his Atty Gen to take another look at those Bush era high crimes and misdemeanors if they want to play that game. Obama pretty much gave a lot of people a free pass when he came into office in order to unify the nation. If the hatemongers try to bring him down, which they can't, what's to stop him from resurrecting some of their sins and investigating all their peeps.

[Coyotl]

52. OMG, imaginations are running out of the stable now

This feigned outrage will get them nowhere. They are nothings. They live in their own echo chamber.

This is all about keeping their base in check at a time when there should be a mass exodus!

[John2]

28. Well

I just heard a pundit bring out McCain Hypocracy when asking a question to a GOP surrogate. Just as I expected the first thing he took cover behind was to bring up a War decades ago and why McCain's credibility shouldn't be questioned. Well, like I said a lot of servicemen served in Vietnam and suffered but got no credit for it. McCain should not be able to hide behind his service in Vietnam just because he was a POW and that is what he has been hiding behind most of his career. This is coming from a veteran too. McCain has lost credibility and does not deserve to be a U.S. Senator as far as I'm concerned. You are the one needs to go McCain and I will keep using my first Amendment Rights to say so. You can only use your past service for so long.

[Milliesmom]

37. McCain never has been fit for Office

The ACSA challenges Senator McCain on his legislative history of Human Rights Violations: "a Skeleton in his closet: UNFIT to hold public office!"

(Public Law 93-531 as amended in 1996 (Partition), 1999 (Settlement), 2001 (Enforcement of Resettlement) and 2005 (Expansion of Resettlement) by bills introduced by Senator McCain - has led to the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Hon Abdeltalif Amor's condemnation of human rights violations inside the US, over the stripping of rights and forced resettlement of these gentle and deeply spiritual band of Dineh-Navajo Indians from Arizona, swept off of lands they'd owned since 1500 A.D. so that Peabody Western Coal could mine the Coal from beneath their farmlands and tap their wells to slurry pipe it to a power station in Nevada).





http://acsa2000.net/cain2004.org/Dine-Navajo-PressRelease.htm

[Andy Stanton]

40. The Repukes will Regret Holding Hearings

Once all the information about Benghazi comes out at the hearing the Repukes will look like idiots. Again.

[tanyev]

55. Please proceed, GOP.

[srichardson]

42. Limpballs

is using the excuse Mr. Morelli is/was lying to cover up the scandolous incident. Even when there is NO scandal, Limpballs,Beck, Hannity and the rest of the crazies will make up their own.

[Turbineguy]

46. Morell

is obviously a victim of the Obama Secret Mind Plot.

[Kingofalldems]

56. K and R for the Cave people.

[dipsydoodle]

60. That's difficult to reconcile

with the two deaths which occurred with those called over to the scene from Tripoli. They were ambushed en route to the scene.

[mrf901]

64. who is 'we'?

the people been hit by mortars were
begging for help.

[nc4bo]

65. No wonder the 5 traitors of democracy didn't attend that hearing.

No damn wonder.

Just how long will they be able to tow this great Benghazi lie?