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Subscribe to RSSSens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, address the Senate Homeland Security Committee's 31-page report on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi which criticizes U.S. intelligence sources and the State Department for not acting on a warning signs ahead of the incident.
A report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security Committee lambasted the handling of security around the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September when a deadly attack took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attack, there was a "rising crescendo" of evidence from U.S. intelligence sources and State Department personnel that the situation was becoming dangerous and unstable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of the report's authors, said in a press conference on Monday.
"The tragedy is, however, that the reaction to the flashing red indicators was woefully inadequate," said Leiberman.
The 31-page report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya’s second-largest city, where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.
Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican member, said the congressional investigation found that "terrorists essentially walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment."
Collins said the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the facility's vulnerability to a terrorist attack of this kind.
"While the Department and the Intelligence Community lacked specific intelligence about this attack, the State Department should not have waited for — or expected —specific warnings before increasing its security in Benghazi, a city awash with weapons and violent extremists," she said.
Both of the senators said the U.S. facility should have been closed, given the absence of sufficient security.
Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames, Sept. 11. Armed gunmen attacked the compound, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.
The report noted that as the security situation deteriorated in eastern Libya in 2012, "the Department of State did not provide enough security to address the increased threats and did not adequately support field requests for additional security."
The congressional report follows a separate investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), which blamed State Department officials for "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" that led to "grossly inadequate" protection for the Benghazi facility. In response at the time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the problems highlighted by the ARB were unacceptable, "problems for which — as Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said — we take responsibility."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a hospital being treated for a blood clot, the result of a concussion suffered earlier in December. Collins said she hopes that after Clinton recovers, she will carefully review the congressional report and see if there are officials that "need to be held accountable."
Collins said that she did not see the tragedy as the fault of the Pentagon, but an indication that the Defense Department has insufficient assets to mount an effective response.
Among the report's recommendations:
- U.S. intelligence agencies need to "broaden and deepen their focus in Libya, and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups."
- If a host nation can’t provide adequate security for a diplomatic facility, "the Department of State must provide additional security measures of its own, urgently attempt to upgrade the host nation security forces, or decide to close a U.S. Diplomatic facility and remove U.S. personnel until appropriate steps can be taken to provide adequate security."
- The State Department needs to establish a "mandatory process" to determine what security standards are applicable to temporary facilities, such as the Benghazi consulate, to ensure that they are "adequately protected."
"Flashing Red" was the final joint investigation by Collins and Leiberman, who is slated to retire on Jan. 2.
'Inconsistent' statements from the administration
As for the controversy over what the administration knew about the attack — and when — the report said officials in the State Department and the intelligence community were "inconsistent" in stating that the deaths in Benghazi were the result of a terrorist attack.
The candidacy of Ambassador Susan Rice to the post of Secretary of State was scuppered after allegations by Republican lawmakers that she misled the public about the attacks during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sept. 16.
The administration said Rice, the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was repeating talking points provided by the intelligence community when she initially characterized the Sept. 11 assault as a spur-of-the-moment response to a crude, anti-Muslim film.
In her interview, Rice said that "what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of — of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video."
Independent panel: 'Systematic failures' within State Department
In a letter to President Obama on Dec. 13 withdrawing her candidacy for the top diplomatic post, Rice said she wanted to avoid a "very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive" confirmation process.
For its part, the congressional report said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had offered to provide the committee with a detailed timeline regarding the development of the intelligence community's talking points on Benghazi. "At the time of writing this report, despite repeated requests, the committee had yet to receive this timeline," the report notes.
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The failures in this case go all the way to the top. Clinton was well aware of the deficiencies in the security in Benghazi and did nothing to rectify the situation. This was despite numerous requests from Ambassador Stevens and his staff. The people designated as the scapegoats have already resigned, so I would not expect much more to happen as a result of this new report. Of course those people who took the bullet for Clinton and her boss will be well taken care of. Once things die down they will pop up in high paying jobs in one of the DC area government contractors or lobbying firms. This is the typical way screw up at the very top are handled. A few underlings take the hit and then in return for their loyalty are well rewarded so that their careers do not suffer as a result. Then business goes on a usual in DC and nothing changes.
How do you know that Clinton was aware of the deficiencies?
Were you there?
Obama is to busy attacking our Constitution to be concerned about Ambassadors being assassinated or trying to cut the national debt or creating jobs or the fiscal cliff or upgrading the power grid or stopping wars. He is to busy trying to get illegals into the country , slashing the military, disarming the citizens and attacking success.
Clinton can't recall what the definition of is is.
Hey Gusto....would you agree with me that a 10 year old has the right to purchase a firearm according to the 2nd amendment?....No where in the 2nd amendment does it state an age for the right to bear arms...If you are a true believer in the 2nd amendment you should have no problem for a 10 year old to have a firearm to protect himself from a bully at school...
JS, Those people did not resign, they are on leave, still on payroll and after the Christmas holiday will be reassigned to another job in the same department, meaning NO ONE WAS PUNISHED.
MC Gusto----Well said! 2013 may start a rough ride of the next four years.
Obama didn't win on merit or on his record....he couldn't run on either of those....so he
spent all his time and money painting a very ugly picture of his opponent---THAT was his only plan---
that....and BUYING votes from illegals and crumb tossing to 50 million on food stamps to secure
re-election. Nov.6 really didn't have much to do with policy or qualifications at all. OMGosh!
Just keep beating this dead horse. Screwed up big time, people died in a miserable and violent country, learn from it and move on. Better yet, just close all North African and ME consulates - try Skype instead.
I had my first gun at about 14. I still have never been caught shooting anyone.
Actually, Obama DID win on his record of achievement. No one had to paint Romney as a terrible candidate, he did that to himself more than once. The only rap on Obama is that he couldn't work miracles with the lousy economy and our tremendous deficit provided to him by his predecessor who put two wars on all of our credit cards. Notice you don't hear anything from Romney? Notice you don't hear anything from GWB? The Republicans simply have no one credible to run for anything national because people are completely fed up with them and their ideas.
Wasn't it the congress who cut State Department funding for security? I don't see anyone taking any responsibility for that.
I find it ironic that all this fuss is being made over lack of security and blame for a democratic administration when; we had similar breakdowns in information, security, and deaths with a republican administration. Where was the outcry and calling for heads to roll during Bush's administration regarding embassy attacks and deaths? Where was the outcry and heads rolling when the bombing in Beirut went on? Republicans are constantly calling for smaller government and cuts in all departments, but, when an ambassador and others are killed, it's all Obama's and the democrats fault for not foreseeing such events.
Show me one f*cking example of how he's disarmed us citizens. If he hasn't done that yet, show me one f*cking piece of legislation he's pushing that's going to take your guns away.
Oh and I guess the fact that 2012 had the fewest amount of illegals crossing the border in the last 18 years means he's down there busing the others in.
The stink of bullsh*t in your rhetoric is extremely pungent.
JackieK, independent
Some have to find a legitimate reason to knock the administration and this actually was a legitimate reason. I have no idea why there was not this kind of reaction when similar things happened with a Bush in the White House. Maybe there are so many people out of work or disabled that live on computers plus the way the news networks are pushing the news now. I don't think anyone is blaming just the Democrats for this. I think everyone is more aggravated due to being misled by the supposed ignorance of Susan Rice when she put the blame on a you tube video.
It is just politics and the country has really become polarized with hate pouring out from both sides. Someone seems to be wanting the country like this, and Congress is not helping the people or the country by failing to work together. Mr. President Obama seems to be trying, but he does not seem to have the ability to bring people together peaceably enough to even talk. There is just too much not going right in this country. There seems to be a massive loss of morals and values. I have no idea how this can be corrected, either.
Chris from Yucaipa
That was a really nasty response. You could have made the point quite well without the inuendos. Mr. President Obama has made it clear that he does not like guns. People are just on edge, even though he has not done anything yet. Heck, my neighbor went and bought 4 more guns this weekend along with whatever else goes with them. I have no idea. But I don't use terrible language in response even to you. People are just scared and looking for reasons. Please be nicer to people and on these comment pages. Thank you.
Numb,
I agree with most of your post. I disagree with your analogy with Susan Rice though....Condi Rice did the same thing with flawed intelligence, used the flawed intelligence as talking points direct from the intelligence community and was not called every name in the book, called ignorant, stupid, irresponsible, and crucified by congressional members and media when she was on talk shows, and even testifying in front of congressional hearings. I agree mistakes were made and that we should learn the facts and take steps to ensure the same things don't occur.
What many of the posters are doing is blaming Obama, this administration, Susan Rice, and Hillary Clinton for the intelligence agency screw ups.
JackieK, independent
Since I have no idea what Susan Rice actually knew, I did put "supposed ignorance". I honestly have no idea who knew what about anything. Hillary will probably not be able to clear things up further unless she gets well from the concussion and the blood clots (dvt - deep vein thrombosis) that she is suffering from. I have not taken either side on the Benghazi mess. I do feel something went wrong and that there were errors in judgement that prevented those people to be saved. But what I feel is not fact.
I do blame Mr. President Obama for not doing more to bring this country together. I blame all in Congress for failing to do their job, and voting themselves a raise this year. I am not against any one party. I just want this country back to being what I would consider the best in the world.
To me, anyone that is going on bashing political parties is just ignorant. The election is over and everyone that has been elected should be doing their job for the United States and the people here. The United States should be their only worry and concern. If Congress does not do their job now, we go after the legislative individuals and be sure to vote them out next election, regardless of party!
With the current uncertainties of the economy and discontent everywhere, so many people are just plain scared and do not know exactly what the cause is. They are blaming what looks legitimate, even if it is not. That is part of being human. Even the highly educated are worried. There is no simple answer or cure. We shall find out fairly soon as today is New Years Eve.
Happy New Year to all !!!!!!!!!!!!!
LTC Wood's and his US Army Special Forces Specialized Support Team was working for the US Department of State and wrote up a Security Assessment for the US Embassy at Tripoli and the US Consulate at Benghazi as well as a "On The Ground" Intelligence Summary (INSUM). These Reports would have gone thru multiple channels including cc President Obama: US Department of State, US Military, CIA, etc..
SOS Clinton, "Funding was not an issue". How about researching what the "issue" was (actually who the "issue" was/is).
JackieK, independent,
How about this, you go research the reasons why the US Intelligence Agencies turned into sh!t.
Never mind. It was President Clinton's Belief that the "Cold War Era" US Defense Budget, US Intelligence Agencies, US Military were no longer needed. So President Clinton as Commander In Chief Ordered the Chopping of the US Defense Budget, Gutting of the US Intelligence Agencies (that were previously built up by Director of the CIA Bush (President 41), and Cut to the Bone Reduction In Forces of the US Military. And do not even say NO, as I survived the above and unfortunely had to suffer the consequences (Team Members killed) of going into Hostile Nations without any local intelligence asset linkups and current on the ground situational intelligence.
example: Shortly after the ink dried on President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" Justification Section 2 WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein, with US Congressional Appropriations, we went into Iraq to hire hundreds of thousands of Shia Iraqis as assassins and insurgents to Overthrow Sunnis President Hussein. When we went into Iraq we did not have any local Iraqis intelligence assets to link up with, as they were no longer funded, so many to survive and make a living turned into Iraqis Counter Intelligence Agents (anti US). Same thing happened at Afghanistan. What took Decades to build was destroyed in months by President Clinton, this left the US Blind and Deaf to the Events leading up to the 9/11 2001 Attacks, per Bipartisan US Congressional 9/11 Commission (Committee) Investigations, Findings and Recommendations with former President Clinton saying, "I'm a so sorry".
In 2003 President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655, "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" became 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom.
Posts not novels David
beachbum-579275
How do you know that Clinton was aware of the deficiencies?
Were you there? Didnt need to be if you read the article it tellls you.. You must be spending to much time at the beach collecting your free stuff.
The 31-page report paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya’s second-largest city, a place about which there was sufficient information available to U.S. officials to cause them to beef up security and where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH and the most corrupt administration just moves along.
These murders are on the hands of Barrack Hussein and Hitlery Clinton. The ignorance of allowing our brave Ambassador and 3 other diplomats to stay at a Consulate in one of the most unstable nations in the world on the anniversary of 9/11 is just criminal.
But, as is typical in government, and especially the Barrack Hussein tenure, no one is ever implicated at the top. They already issued the stock statement about all the problems and the 4 "head's that will roll".
Of course the heads never roll out of the government in the corruptocracy we call Washington, they just roll over to a different part of Washington. This is the typical "never-ending" job in the Beltway.
And of course, more than 95% of Americans can be labeled true "useful idiots" as they wander through life today. They have no use for this type of information as they are consumed by "Dancing With the Stars" and 35 College Bowl Games.
Today we are on the brink of a massive failure of governance in our government, once again. The fiscal cliff is simply a distraction to the dysfunction of our incompetent inexperienced president Barrack Hussein. Of course he deflects the blame to the Republicans and the limp-wristed Libbies favorite bogeyman, the TEA Party! The typical unwashed masses believe this even though Barrack Hussein has been lying to us for 4 years. Since the 2008 campaign we have been lied to about how "focused like a laser" Barrack Hussein has been on the economy. Only the Liberal chair-sniffers truly believe this.
Some insignificant deal will be worked out with a lot of bravado on both sides or nothing will happen and we will "go over the fiscal cliff". Whatever that means.
If the Bush tax cuts are as bad as the Libbies claim, they should be thrilled they're going to finally end. But we all know the Liberals, in typical hypocritical fashion, want them to continue. This is purely a political ploy, it has nothing to do with policy. Barrack Hussein has no policy.
We as a nation have suffered through 1,390 days without a budget for the largest economy in the history of the world. This doesn't bother most Americans because they don't even know what that means. Hell, most Americans have no budget.
Barrack Hussein has divided our nation more than any president in history. Our economy is a disaster. Growth is stagnant. Jobs are an embarrassment. Americans are illiterate. Consumer confidence is at record lows. Holiday shopping was an embarrassing bust. Barrack came back from another vacation to deflect more blame as is usual for his incompetence.
I say let the fiscal cliff and sequestration happen. Let Americans realize what a blight this president has been and continues to be on our great Republic.
Of course the limp-wristed Libbies and the goose-stepping lamestream media will cling to whatever nonsense comes from Barrack Husseins mouth and nothing will change for 4 years. More incompetence, more inexperience will just bring more uncertainty.
This is the legacy of Barrack Hussein.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Nobody knows what Clinton was aware of, thanks to the Immaculate Concussion.
The Entire Truth is NOT a Oneliner Tweet.
Facts and details for Newsvine's "Get Smarter Here" not Lawyer's Errors of Ommission (aka lies by leaving out details).
Nobody is twisting your arms to read my posts.
I don't know if Clinton knew. I know she should have known. I've always given her credit for being really smart and savvy when it comes to keeping her nose clean of trouble. However, as usual with people who do live on the edge of right and wrong this time she screwed up by trying to cover up their mistakes. This when it was obvious to everyone their story made no sense. Now someone has to pay. Most likely not going to be her other than the fact this may cost her a shot at the White House. I wish her well with her medical issues but some of the shine has worn off her as being the smartest women alive.
End tax breaks for the wealthy and fully fund embassy security then, Senators!
Chris from Yucaipa
But they are still crossing the border.
I love how the okie dokes want to make a mountain out of Benghazi forget very easily who it was who covered Cheney's ass for the outing of a CIA agent and ended up in jail as a result? Scooter Libby anyone? Oh bois....did you all forget that cute little episode with the WMDs that got us into a war in Iraq that killed over 4,000 of our military? Nice for you loonies of the right to forget that which never should have been allowed to happen but for right wing mouths all sealed up so tight during 8 Bush years.
Not once did the Crawford Cowboy utter the words, "I was wrong." But now all the right wing testosteronies with raisins in their jeans are bellowing like banshees to crucifiy everything this president and his administration has done, is doing and will EVER do. As if President McClain or Palin could have done any better.
It's not working anymore joi bois...no one cares what you think of this president. Your states live off the taxes the rest of us pay for. Your conservatism liberally grants you the right to use federal dollars like oil gushers until you have to start using those fat wads of state taxes these blowhards love to brag are so low...How about get a life for a change? Or is bitching the only real job you righties have?
Fast and Furious was a program that was designed to show that firearms were going from the US to Mexico, It was specifically designed so that the administration could use it to try to craft stricter gun control. Basically the Gun dealers were forced to make sales to straw buyers that the Justice Dept knew was smuggling into Mexico
The reason we have the fewest illegals crossing the border has to do with the economy and nothing Obama has done, Well I guess we can blame him for the crappy economy considering the recession was over in 2009 and here we are entering 2013 and we still have a crappy economy, His inflated deportation numbers by including the numbers of illegals turned back at the border is just another view of his dishonesty, His Dream act program to legitimize millions of illegals and give them preference over millions who are on waiting lists to legally enter this country was just another attempt to buy votes. Mandating that only those with criminal records be deported and others be released back on the street flies in the face of all who came here the legal way, Using the justice dept to try to block a states legitimate attempt to safeguard its citizens form bands of criminal crossing its borders is another. The Fast and Furious program where the US Government was a conspirator in smuggling firearms across an international border into Mexico without the Mexican Govts knowledge or approval is a criminal act and a violation of not only US Law but International law, It resulted in the deaths of agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican citizens inside of Mexico, That is complicity in Murder.
There, I composed my whole response without using any childish vulgarities. Something you seem unable to do.
David,
I was not aware of the info in your above post. That said, were you this critical of the Bush administration and the faulty, flawed info that Condi Rice and Colin Powell used, stated, and read from the intelligence agencies as you are regarding the Obama administration's use of said flawed, faulty intelligence. If your post is true....were you not posting and placing blame on the 8 years of the Bush administration and this critical of the Clinton administration for letting the Bush administration have a faulty, flawed intelligence community.
I still find it ironic that Condi Rice did the exact same thing as Susan Rice did, yet Condi Rice was nominated, went thru confirmation hearings without a peep from congress and fulfilled 4 years as Sec. of State; and still has the admiration of the republicans. Susan Rice was never nominated, withdrew her name for nomination, and has been vilified for using talking points that the intelligence agencies gave her, NOT the Obama administration. Condi Rice is held in high esteem for using talking points that the intelligence agencies gave her, that were faulty, and flawed; never chastised, criticized, or vilified.
A special panel was convened to investigate that and people were held accountable, People went to jail and people lost their jobs, Your comment that it was a coverup to protect Cheney has no factual basis and is unprovable and is just the ramblings of hateful fools like yourself.
Wow...I'll bet you have no problem with the lies that your hero Kennedy or Johnson used to get us into Viet Nam which cost us over 58,000 American lives, Clinton Bombed the sh!t out of Iraq in 1998 for the very same WMD reason and Clinton never proved there was WMD's there, It is ironic that there is great concern now that the WMD's that are in Syria and the world is worried that will fall into the hands of Islamic terrorists aks Al Quaida are the very same WMD's that were smuggled out of Iraq and into Syria.
False, California has over 1 million 4 hundred thousand people on their welfare roles NY, PA ,Ill, Michigan are the next highest welfare states and are all blue states, There are more people on welfare in California alone than there are in all the red states combined,Foodstamp roles follow the same patterns as the welfare roles and show that blue states by far have more people on their roles The federal monies going to the red states includes monies going to Military bases and to SS retires who have fled the high tax blue states to warmer low tax southern states. Your contention that blue states pay more than red states is a bogus argument and does not hold water when thoroughly reviewed.
FYI, I live in the same blue state you live in
Hey Chris.. why dont you Youtube the interview with the Presidents Aunt Zeituni who has lived here illegally in Boston and feels that she deserves money she never put into.. Or the President illegal Uncle , who also lives in Massachusetts where they say "its not illegel to be illegal" and how he almost killed a cop driving drunk and yet is still in the country.. The problem is with the illegals that are already here and NOT sent back..
Foggy Bottom (state dept), has been a haven for the far out crowd since before WW2; the Dutch in the far east told State that a large Japanese fleet was headed toward Hawaii and the Philippines on Dec. 3 1941, State did not bother to pass the info along to the War dept., since they wanted to exam the info first, same thing happened in Korea, British informed State that the North Koreans were preparing a invasion of the South, State decided to study the situation first, nothing ever gets done at foggy bottom, except talk, no action.
@LostInThePineBarrens
Well then let's thoroughly review.
States receiving the most federal funding per tax dollar paid:
1. New Mexico: $2.63
2. West Virginia: $2.57
3. Mississippi: $2.47
4. District of Colombia: $2.41
5. Hawaii: $2.38
6. Alabama: $2.03
7. Alaska: $1.93
8. Montana: $1.92
9. South Carolina: $1.92
10. Maine: $1.78
6 of those are Red states. Plus you left out the fact that welfare is just one part of the Federal funding. Social Security and Medicare make up a much larger proportion. And yes that's federal aid. Every person collecting SS will receive much more in benefits than they ever paid into it with taxes.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/09/02/red-states-are-the-real-welfare-states/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/even-critics-of-safety-net-increasingly-depend-on-it.html?pagewanted=4&_r=2
@ewent - You should be ashamed of yourself equating the Libya incident with that other stuff you mentioned. 4 people died in Libya because of the gross incompetence by this administration who than attempted to cover it up. How many people died because of that other stuff you mentioned? People like you amaze me. This president and his people step in front of a camera and lie to you for weeks and you still defend them. Nixon quit because he was caught up in wrong doing, which didn't cause anyone to loose their lives but you people give this president a pass on an incident that caused the lives of 4 people.
I did not leave out the part about Social Security, If you bothered to read my post you would have noted where I indicated that Social Security makes up a large portion of it and that Social Security payment to red states in directly related to people retiring and fleeing the blue states to avoid their higher taxes, It is the people from the blue states moving south to the red states after they retire that cause this, I do find it iroinic now that you are acknowledging that people on SS will collect more than they paid in,I have been saying this all along and the reduction in witholding taxes will cause this to be an even greater problem Since these people originally lived in blue states and since some people do stay in blue states are you making a comparison between the two, I mean if they did not pay in enough when they were in a blue state and now that they have moved to a red state are they somehow different people, Were they good when in a blue state but now a burden on government now that they are in red states.
Further to compare the amount per dollar returned is not the same as comparing the actual amount of federal dollars given to a state, By far the blue states receive a far greater amount of federal dollars
When you actually analyze what those federal dollars go for then you can understand that the perpetuated myth that red states get more than they pay in is a distored and mistated lie.
Let me correct a few misconceptions;
The official US Embassy is in Tripoli. The consulate, where Ambassador Stevens died, is in Benghazi, about 400 miles away. It is a set of office buildings surrounded by a wall. It is not a regularly-staffed office, no people actually work out of it, it is a satellite location for the diplomatic team to conduct meetings with parties on the east half of the country.
Part of the responsibility for the incident must lie with Ambassador Stevens himself. He traveled to the consulate that day from the (fortified and guarded) Embassy in Tripoli for some local meetings that took longer than he expected; he decided not to travel back to the embassy, but to stay overnight at the consulate and resume meetings the next day. There were only about seven people in the consulate that night when Stevens saw his last visitor (a Turkish diplomat) out of the building at about 8:30 local time. Knowing the area was full of unrest, and protests had been going on about the anti-Muslim video throughout the day (a Libyan witness interviewed about the incident said he saw a few members of the militia responsible gathering ordinary people outside the consulate to protest the video) in hindsight the decision to overnight in a building with inadequate protection was inappropriate.
Stevens and Smith were the only two that died at the consulate; Doherty and Woods, both former Navy SEALS privately contracted by the CIA, were killed in the attack on the CIA annex some distance away three hours later. They were killed while helping 30+ Americans evacuate. Stevens and Smith died of smoke inhalation.
When the attack began, two members of Stevens' security detail locked him and Smith in a panic room while they went to retrieve weapons; however by the time they got back with weapons and tactical gear the consulate was filled with smoke. They found Smith's boy but not Stevens'; they retreated from the burning building and headed back to the CIA building.
A group of locals found Stevens in a small locked room, pulled him out of the window, found he was still alive and rushed him through the streets to the nearest hospital, where doctors worked for 45 minutes to save the ambassador, then, failing that, placed his body on an airlift and sent him on to Tripoli, to the US Embassy there.
In the meantime the militants had followed the retreating CIA security team to the CIA building in Benghazi and commenced an attack roughly 3 hours after the consulate burned. Doherty and Woods, both ex-Navy SEALS now privately contracted by the CIA to provide security, went up to the roof machine guns to lay down cover fire, to cover the retreat of the 30+ Americans being evacuated. A mortar went off, killing them and crumbling the roof of the building, but the rest of the Americans were evacuated safely.
Surely by now it can't just be Republicans. There is a internal State Department report that proves this for God's sake. Not the end of the world but the truth matters so we can fix the problems. I can assure you next 9/11 we won't be sitting on our hands and our Ambassadors won't be skipping around the tulips. Ambassador Stevens obviously was a great man and he was most likely doing something important with the Turkish rep but c'mon man the war is still on. Whoever designed that safe room should be demoted.
It's quite unbelievable to me that you nitwits could get your wires so crossed. Somehow you must have FORGOTTEN that:
1. The intelligence agencies here and in Europe all agreed that Saddam had WMD's.
2. The Democrats agreed that Saddam was a threat and VOTED to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
3. Saddam violated the terms of the cease-fire agreements when he kicked the weapons inspectors out of the country.
You foaming-at-the-mouth hate-filled crazies on the far left can't even remember what your own people voted for, then try to blame it on someone else. That's not liberal at all!
Onyango Obama is the step-child of President Obama's grandfather. That makes him an uncle by marriage, not by blood.
He first came to the US in 1967 on a student visa, through an exchange program that allowed students from other countries to study in the US. He filed extensions to stay on that original visa every year he was required to until the 90's, when he sent in paperwork but it was not received by the filing deadline. Because his paperwork missed that deadline, a deportation order was issued.
He requested permission to file an appeal to that deportation order; since it was a paperwork error and he had no criminal record, USCIS allowed him to file that appeal. And the law states that any deportation order must be suspended until the appeals board has had a chance to review the case and the deportation ruling.
He was still waiting for his case to come up in appeals when he was DUI one evening and hit a cop's car. He was arrested for DUI, went to court in MA, and pled no contest to the charges. Since no lives were lost and only minimal damage was done, the case was suspended for a year and if he attends an alcohol education class, pays a fine and performs community service and stays out of trouble until March 2013, the state will drop the charges.
ICE made the mistake in arresting him after the DUI; they apparently didn't realize his appeals request had been upheld and he was awaiting a court date. This happens quite commonly; while immigrants are waiting for their paperwork to be processed or court cases to come up, they can and have been mistakenly deported even though the law itself says deportations have to be suspended until an immigration court records a ruling--and in some cases, even after a court has ruled that a person is allowed to stay, they are still (wrongly) deported.
When his appeals case comes up in immigration court, the DUI, even if no conviction has been registered in the State of MA, can be factored into their decision to either uphold the deportation order based on the missed paperwork filing deadline, or they can find in favor of his appeal and allow him to re-file the paperwork.
Our ambassador and three others were slaughtered after repeatedly requesting more security.....so what? Obama's state run media toadies and the the low-information lemmings who elected him will simply spin it to avoid any blame on the administration...or even better, try to blame it on the GOP. Business as usual for the teflon president and his bumbling cronies.
four died in benghazi and 26 in Newtown
Wait.... There was an investigation?? A report?? Then why does the GOP keep yammering about wanting an investigation. Oh... They want another investigation that will tell them what they want to hear, not the truth. Just think if the Dems had gone rabid after GWB lied about WMD and soooo many of the other lies HE told. End the witch hunt already, you're starting to look a little pathetic. Amazing that republicans would even care so much about a gay man that they would get this riled up. Oh that's right, it isn't really about him, it's a witch hunt, I forgot. GOP looking for any reason to impeach like they did to Clinton.
Ethan Chorin of the NY Times was on a first-name basis with Ambassador Stevens and in fact was in Benghazi the night of the attack--because he was to meet with Ambassador Stevens the next morning. The timing of that meeting was probably a factor in the decision to overnight at the consulate. His account of the entire fiasco is a powerful, moving one, and definitely worth reading:
ON Wednesday morning, my colleagues and I were to meet in Benghazi with J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador to Libya, to discuss a plan for a new division of emergency medicine at Benghazi Medical Center, the largest and most modern hospital in eastern Libya. The meeting never took place. The night before, militants laid siege to the American Consulate in Benghazi, killing the ambassador and three other Americans. The ambassador was taken, without a pulse, to the hospital we hoped to upgrade.
The draft agreement we were working on was the kind of visionary effort to improve life in Libya that Ambassador Stevens liked — in this case, a collaboration between doctors in Boston and Benghazi, brokered by a nongovernmental organization that a Libyan-American and I had organized after the recent revolution. Our goal was a center that could also serve as a training facility for all of eastern Libya. It was the kind of public-private and Libyan-American partnership that Ambassador Stevens believed could help Libya move beyond decades of stagnation and despotism.
On Tuesday night, even as the men who would kill him were closing in, Ambassador Stevens told us by phone how happy he was that the project was nearing fruition. He told us it was important to show our government’s support for such initiatives, and we made plans to meet with the medical center’s director general, Dr. Fathi al-Jehani, at the hospital the next morning. Dr. Jehani himself had been a target of violence for his forward-thinking views.
About half an hour later, I called the ambassador’s security detail to discuss the visit, only to hear the words “we’ve got a problem here” — with an alarming expletive inserted. The line went dead. And we were left to listen helplessly as the sounds of distant violence carried across the city to our hotel room — a long rocket-propelled grenade volley, and machine-gun fire that continued for the better part of an hour.
Ambassador Stevens arrived after midnight at Benghazi Medical Center, where we were to have met. Its emergency room staff, which included Libyan expatriates who had returned from well-paid jobs abroad, worked for 45 minutes to try to resuscitate him. It was no use.
The tragedies of this situation simply compound one another. For a forthcoming book about the Libyan revolution, I have interviewed scores of current and former Western officials, many of whom were either pessimistic about or indifferent to Libya’s growing pains. In their eyes, Libya continues to be a sideshow of the broader Arab Spring.
Ambassador Stevens did not agree. I discussed Libya’s future with him last spring in a Washington cafe, as he awaited confirmation as ambassador. He had already been the deputy chief of mission in Libya, and he had been the United States envoy to Benghazi during the dangerous early days of the revolution. So he knew Libya, and he believed that it could become one of the first full success stories of the Arab Spring — that Islamic radicalism there could be nipped in the bud if Western governments acted decisively to put the country on a path to stability and social progress.
Now, his death may derail the very processes he championed.
Mr. Stevens understood that Libyans had suffered under Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and that conflict and post-revolutionary instability were to be expected. He also understood that some, if not all, of the hatred that had pushed some of Libya’s youths to join radical factions in Afghanistan and Iraq had sprung from years of neglect and oppression. Now, he felt, new opportunities needed to be created to wean these people away from ideologies rooted in hate.
No doubt that was one reason he made a point, as ambassador, of continuing to visit Benghazi, the East’s largest city, despite the clear risks; there had been attacks on other high-level diplomats there in the previous months. It is a mystery at this point why the consulate compound was so lightly fortified, but I would not be surprised if Mr. Stevens had decided to stay overnight in Benghazi simply because his list of planned meetings with Libyans there was too long to be accomplished in one afternoon.
The morning after the attack on the consulate, my colleagues and I returned to the medical center, where we witnessed an outpouring of sadness and, as one physician put it, shame. The emergency room staff members who worked to save Mr. Stevens broke down in tears, as did the physician in charge. Some knew or had met Mr. Stevens; some had not. But all were aware that he had been a champion of Libya, and of Benghazi in particular, and that his death may have rolled back Benghazi’s stupendous revolutionary accomplishments by months — even if it does not set off a period of heightened instability in eastern Libya. Many Libyans outside the hospital also offered condolences and expressed profound regret for America’s loss.
In the West, we can now expect a strong temptation among governments and private enterprise to declare the Libyan experiment a failure, and to respond by disengaging, retreating or focusing only on the extirpation of radical elements. That would be a terrible mistake. The attack has already entered into the American presidential debate in a base fashion, with Mitt Romney’s first instinct being to criticize President Obama over the timing of his denunciation of the attack. But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton got it right when she spoke of the Libyan people as allies in the fight against extremism.
The gravest mistake would be for the United States to write off Libya as an irredeemable terrorist haven, or for politicians in Washington to regret having intervened in support of Libya’s rebels. Libya is still far better off today than it was under Qaddafi. The grip of fear has been broken. Election posters festoon the country. Election schedules have been met. And there is a rich expression of individual opinions.
Nevertheless, the Libyan people need support to consolidate gains, and to continue a fight against largely foreign-financed radicals who wish to hijack the revolution in the name of intolerance. And the United States must help the Libyans do that. The loss of Ambassador Stevens will, I hope, goad the Libyan government into matching its discipline about election schedules with far bolder steps to crack down on extremists and disarm the country’s militias. And Libya should press the American government for even more support in that effort, even as it encourages American organizations to find common cause with their Libyan counterparts to improve the lives of Libya’s citizens.
This week the United States lost one of its most admirable public servants, and I can report that at least some Libyans are profoundly aware that the loss is theirs as well. As we arrived at the airport under armed escort, a member of the airport ground crew said: “Today I will go home, I will take off these clothes, and I will put on only black. As a Libyan, I am so sorry this has happened.”
Amanda-2017567
There are no misconceptions Amanda.
These Americans should have never been left alone in Libya anywhere near the 9/11 anniversary.
Libya is STILL no more than a puppet government with no organization whatsoever. It doesn't matter if they were at the consulate or embassy, they should have all been put in a safe environment. Especially in the Middle East or northern Africa.
They should have never been allowed to stay in Benghazi regardless of the situation. All of Stevens diplomatic corp. should have been brought to Tripoli. It would have cost a few hundred dollars and a few hours to transport them to the main Embassy.
Everybody on the planet knows the Middle East is in chaos. Hitlery and the State Department are complicit in this disaster. The buck stops here has to be on both Barrack Husseins and Hitlery Clintons desk.
Unfortunately we'll never really ever find out what happened in Benghazi for less than 24 hours that caused 4 innocent Americans to be murdered. From orders to logistics to death this administration will not allow us to know the truth. Just like "Fast and Furious" was obstructed by Executive Fiat don't be surprised that this won't suffer the same fate.
This is why our great Republic is collapsing.
Look, everyone knows the world is a very dangerous place. $hit happens. What bothers real American's is, why can't we find out the truth? And don't go postal on me about Bush either. I wasn't happy with their excuses either. It doesn't matter who is in power, WE THE PEOPLE deserve to know. This is OUR Republic, with OUR Constitution, that WE THE PEOPLE honor OUR elected representatives and civil servants with OUR VOTE!!!!
Our government has become dysfunctional since we allowed Progressivism to erode our Honor, Morals and Dignity as a society. From its irrational social and economic justice for the collective nonsense to this ridiculous political correctness that consumes common sense, American's are losing.
We should trust our government, NOT FEAR IT!
Our government should never limit our accomplishments to just being middle class.
No government agency should strike the fear in good Americans that the IRS does.
We should be told exactly what our economic and fiscal situation is and what EVERYONE, not just a selected class of bogeymen (the rich) need to do to fix it.
This class warfare and envy meme of Barrack Husseins is an insult to any real American--rich, poor or middle class. Every American should be told to achieve as much as possible not just become middle class and be happy about it. No one grows up wanting to be poor or middle-class, everyone wants to be rich.
Leadership is all encompassing of EVERYONE in our society, not just a certain class. It requires our leadership to be open and honest. From Benghazi to our massive economic mess, we American's deserve better.
We didn't do this, our government has for 100 years.
Good point.
During the Bush administration somebody outs a spy. The spy resigns and collects a pension. Scooter Libby goes to jail.
During the Obama administration somebody doesn't take security seriously. Four people die. One of the presumed culprits resigns, the other three stay employed. Nobody goes to jail.
Those saferooms are designed to keep people out, not to keep people in.
The militants rattled the grating at the door of the safe room trying to get in--when that failed they decided to try smoking the ambassador and Smith out. They poured gasoline, lit fires, but then were driven out of the area by the smoke from the fire they themselves had set. When they were gone, Smith and Stevens left the saferoom since it too was filling with smoke, tried to make their way out. They lost each other in the smoke and got separated.
When the quick-response team from the CIA annex got there, they found Smith but not Stevens, and they retreated before they too were overwhelmed by smoke. A group of locals came up behind the consulate and spotted Stevens in a locked room, they broke the window and climbed in, got him out, found him unconscious but alive, cheered 'God is Great', and scrambled him to the closest hospital, where doctors worked on him for 45 minutes before declaring him dead.
Yes, the safe room could have been better designed--if it had it's own self-contained air supply/air recycling system, smoke would not have been able to get in to force Stevens and Smith out. However,if you did that, AND made it so that the door could not be opened from the inside, eventually the system might run out of gas/fuel/whatever killing the occupants of the saferoom, or militants can sabotage the system and still force the occupants of the safe room out anyway.
And remember also that this was saferoom in a temporary, little-used, not regularly staffed walled office complex in which no one was expected to overnight in.
security at the embassy isnt great.i wonder how many millions that startling revelation cost us.who cares.and for most of you bashing the president come up with something new please.this was boring and of no consequence the day after it happened
This fallis into the category of "Ho Hum, Zzzzzz". Like anybody in the entire world (except a few Anti-American Tea Party nuts) care about anything this do nothing Congress has to say about anything. Our entire U.S. Congress should be banished to China where they belong (And they can take Norquist, Boehner and Cantor with them). This is so "Yesterday's News". Ho Hum, Zzzzzzzzzzz.
So 4 Americans dieing was boring and of no consequence to you the day after it happened, This is what we get with you Obama drones, You still don not get it, There was basically no security, Amb. Stevens made repeated request and they were denied, being a dedicated public servant he continued to do his job knowing that he could be killed at any moment, He was right and you think it is boring and of no consequence.
So the deaths of 4 Americans is ho hum Zzzzzzzzz to you, Would it have mattered a little more if one of the dead was related to you, Probably not you seem to be oblivious to anything but your hero Obama, There are no words to discribe the disgust and disdain I have for people like the two of you.
The fact is, with Bush there were plenty of other more significant foreign policy screw-ups for opponents to criticize. With Obama, this is all they got and they have to milk it for all it's worth. That being said, it is still true that the Benghazi incident was a regretable failure from which we have to learn and prevent from recurring.
I will respectfully point out to you that in your prior post, yes, there was some misinformation. You said:
"Our brave ambassador and 3 other diplomats"
If you read the information I posted, there were two people at the consulate that night who died; the other two were CIA contractors at a building a mile away who died three hours after the consulate attack.
There was a CIA team about a mile away. Just for reference, I can run a mile in just under 10 minutes--the distance would have been significantly quicker for a vehicle.
I would disagree with that. While they are still dealing with unrest,the transition from extremist rule to moderate, slightly more secular government has been achieved with much less bloodshed than in other countries of that region. Look at what happened in Libya AFTER Ambassador Stevens' death.
The Libyans were extremely sorry and there was an outpouring of support. There were demonstrations in Benghazi and Tripoli on September 12, condemning the violence and holding signs such as "Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans," "Benghazi is against terrorism," and other signs apologizing to Americans for the actions in their name and in the name of Muslims. The NY Times noted that young Libyans had also flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks. It was noted that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors. A 2012 Gallup poll noted that "A majority of Libyans (54%) surveyed in March and April 2012 approve of the leadership of the U.S. -- among the highest approval Gallup has ever recorded in the... region, outside of Israel." Another poll in Eastern Libya, taken in 2011, reported that the population was at the same time both deeply religious conservative Muslims and very pro-American, with 90% of respondents reporting favorable views of the United States.
A week after the attack on the consulate the ordinary people of Benghazi rose up against the militants responsible, storming their compound and driving them out while shouting slogans like 'Justice for Chris' and 'Libya Lost a Friend' as they did so. Two days later the Libyan government declared these unauthorized militias illegal and decreed they disband. The decree also made public carrying of weapons illegal; and the next day hundreds of Libyans handed over their weapons. The government also started raiding bases and compounds held by these rogue militia, to the general approbation of the people.
If a gun-toting militia of nutjobs shot up another country's embassy here on American soil, do you think Americans would give up their guns as the Libyans did? I think not. And if the government went cracking down on rogue militia, do you think we would tolerate it? I don't think that would happen either.
I don't know if Stevens even thought about phoning the State Dept to 'allow' him to overnight at the consulate. It appears to have been a spur of the moment decision--he saw his last visitor out at 8:30, the attack commenced at about 9:40. But I will agree with you that, in hindsight, Stevens'decision to overnight at the lightly-fortified consulate was a poor one and one that should not be allowed to happen again. If any actions are to arise from this, I think policy made clear to diplomatic staff anywhere should be not to overnight in a minimum-security facility, no matter where you are or what country you're in.
Er, last I saw the US is not 'collapsing'. we are the us--I don't see us collapsing. We are somewhat strongly divided, of course, at the moment, but I wouldn't say we're collapsing.
And if you want the truth...truth is subjective. What I posted above IS the truth, as I read from hundreds of articles and press reports on the subject, not just from US papers and media, but from the British, Australian, Arabic and Asian media sources as well. The only truths worth having are what you find for yourself, so if you're so minded, take a look at what has been written out there and form your own conclusions instead of waiting to hear what someone else thinks as'the truth.
Speak for yourself--my fear isn't the IRS, it's Homeland Security.
We should not wait for our government to tell us this, we should educate ourselves in the causes and effects and tell them what we the people want done to fix it.
If what you have is adequate to meeting the necessities of your life, the secret to happiness is not wanting more stuff but to be happy with the stuff you have. As the majority of America's population self-identifies with 'Christian', doesn't the Ten Commandments say 'thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy neighbor'? What is capitalism but simply coveting other peoples' stuff?
Of course, this is my viewpoint..my 'truth'. You're welcome to find your own.
Security at the embassy was adequate. Security at the consulate wasn't adequate but then no one was expecting Ambassador Stevens to decide to overnight at the consulate either. The Embassy is in Tripoli, the consulate was on the other side of the country, 400 miles away, in Benghazi.
I am perfectly happy with what I have and it is not coveting to want to increase my lot in life, I am not taking from someone else when I gain wealth, I am earning it thru hard work, It is more those who do not work and sit around complaining how bad their life is and that their govt should tax the evil rich more so that they can work even less for what they get. I am wondering Amanda, Do you have any problem with the tens of millions of dollars of wealth that President Obama has been able to amas all the while he has been a public servant. Is he a covetous sinner? Do you work for nothing, Do you strive to make yourself better, Do you think it is covetous to work hard and plan for your future so that you are not a burden on your family or government.
My guess is that you believe that your government should take care of you, Remember when they are taking care of you the are coveting what I have worked for to do it.
amanda do you go walking around detroit at midnight with wads of cash hanging from every pocket.no.why?its dangerous.he was in a country full of people that hate americans.he loved the people and knew the risks.he frequently walked among the people.thats the job.using this guys death as a political talking point is boring and of no consequence.only a weak minded fool cant see through such a thin facade
ed said -- "Our entire U.S. Congress should be banished to China where they belong (And they can take Norquist, Boehner and Cantor with them)."
since that is a long flight we should allow reid, pelosi and around another 250 senators and representatives as members of the 1% to buy a first class upgrade?
@MC Gusto,
"I had my first gun at about 14. I still have never been caught shooting anyone."
Wow...........nice answer;) - LOLZZZ How you haven't become an expert on Miranda Rights is beyond me. As anyone stupid enough to make a comment like that online with law enforcement keeping an eye out for nutjobs should have gotten a date with Miranda long ago - (sigh)
One cannot get the facts from the news media here in US. I have to go online and search it out for myself i.e., DailyMotion etc. With NewsWeek PRINTING ITS LAST ISSUE this illustrates the mistrust of Americans in our media. Concerning Benghazi, I am sure there are more facts that will never surface and any further investigations just give our Congress people access to the media for sound bites for political reasons. "Flashing Red"?! How lame can Congress get? It is my understanding the CIA is responsible for intelligence in the region and they report to not only the Administration and Congress but also the State Department. Request for more security was done but budget concerns limited the resources. Much of the protests that led to the attack on the consulate could have been linked to pro Gadaffi groups and their resentment for NATO attacks. Simply because they are anti American does not mean they are Al Qaeda specifically because Gadaffi was ANTI AL QAEDA and gave his concerns to Tony Blair in 2004 meeting. If anyone is responsible for the ambassador's death it is the "do nothing" Congress and the Administration -- both equally. And having Lieberman involved in the investigation is like having the Sugar Industry involved in the research of Diabetes !! Anytime the Americans with help of the British and Israel --all hiding behind NATO--get involved in the ME one can be assured it will get screwed up. The west now has "the makings of a pro western government in Lybia" and access to the oil! F%CK DEMOCRACY! Can't have it unless you have the TRUTH and you are not going to get it with multi national corporation and the Jewish influenced media all corrupting the political process and our politicians. Then the media with its myoptic vision looking through tinted glasses.
Benghazi is mostly a CIA operation. The Ambassador was there to negotiate with the Turkish the means of transfer of CIA collected weapons to Syria. Because of the CIA outpost, the State Department, CIA and Defense Department were all on different pages with the Defense Department being the stepchild. This lack of coordination is why the response was so lame. It is the same reason there is still predatory lending by banks, we never solve the root causes to our problems.
I'd liketo see
the part
that explains
WHY
the Ambassador
was at the neighborhood Consulate
and NOT
at the heavily fortified
Libyan
US Embassy.
You have a point, and it's not one that I have considered. Hmm. Thank you for your thoughtful response.
I don't like those 'welfare queens'--I saw plenty of them during my own stint in my municipality's welfare system. They disgust me as much as they do you, apparently.
I don't know how much he makes as President, but no, I don't have a problem with it. He works, as do I. I work for a private employer, he works for the American people, but he still works.
As I am not Christian (anymore) and my belief system doesn't buy into the concept of 'sin' I wouldn't be able to tell you.
When I was first hired at my company, I was a receptionist on a salary. Four years later, I am also a licensed trained biometrics technician, janitor, technical writer, graphics assistant, and electric vehicle supply equipment installer. I also co-authored a couple of my boss's books. I'm doing all of that on a receptionist's salary; I haven't gotten a raise or any extra pay for the additional duties I've been assigned; and with the extra workload, I'm doing roughly 10 hours a day and no lunch--I don't have time. Others at work, the tech guys who have access to our executives' computers, have told me that I am basically doing a lot of what I do for nothing--our other part-time biometrics techs make $5 more per hour than I do full time.
I don't believe the government should 'take care of me'. If you're referring to Social Security when I get older, that is money that I worked for and paid into the system that is basically being given back to me, and I do intend on continuing to work after I retire. I'm an amateur writer, plan on becoming a full-time writer after I hit Social Security age. I have sold a few works already, by the time I reach retirement age, I should have enough of a reputation that the checks should be steady, and I should be able to be comfortable while also taking care of my autistic son.
If you're referring to welfare/Social services, which I went through fora few years prior to my getting the job I have now, yes, I worked for that--in my municipality if you are on welfare you have to do 20 hours of work at a government building, 20 hours volunteer work for a local non-profit, turn in 10 job contacts a week, and you have to take the first job offered unless it is is a job which your worker does not approve--I got offered a job in a 'gentleman's club' by someone on the subway and my caseworker refused to approve it--said I had other marketable skills that would not require me to remove 90% of my clothing. I did almost 40 hours at animal control as dispatcher, admin assistant, and VDHB (Vicious Dog Hearing Board) case recorder when my supervisor found out I was familiar with shorthand, did more than 30 hours volunteering with the animal shelter attached to animal control, and even after getting a job and leaving the program I continue to volunteer at the shelter.
RI Mom:
Per my post at 1.34:
Part of the responsibility for the incident must lie with Ambassador Stevens himself. He traveled to the consulate that day from the (fortified and guarded) Embassy in Tripoli for some local meetings that took longer than he expected; he decided not to travel back to the embassy, but to stay overnight at the consulate and resume meetings the next day. There were only about seven people in the consulate that night when Stevens saw his last visitor (a Turkish diplomat) out of the building at about 8:30 local time. Knowing the area was full of unrest, and protests had been going on about the anti-Muslim video throughout the day (a Libyan witness interviewed about the incident said he saw a few members of the militia responsible gathering ordinary people outside the consulate to protest the video) in hindsight the decision to overnight in a building with inadequate protection was inappropriate.
And per Ethan Chorin of the NY Times, who was in Benghazi the night of the attack because he was scheduled to meet with Ambassador Stevens the morning after the attack:
Mr. Stevens understood that Libyans had suffered under Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and that conflict and post-revolutionary instability were to be expected. He also understood that some, if not all, of the hatred that had pushed some of Libya’s youths to join radical factions in Afghanistan and Iraq had sprung from years of neglect and oppression. Now, he felt, new opportunities needed to be created to wean these people away from ideologies rooted in hate.
No doubt that was one reason he made a point, as ambassador, of continuing to visit Benghazi, the East’s largest city, despite the clear risks; there had been attacks on other high-level diplomats there in the previous months. It is a mystery at this point why the consulate compound was so lightly fortified, but I would not be surprised if Mr. Stevens had decided to stay overnight in Benghazi simply because his list of planned meetings with Libyans there was too long to be accomplished in one afternoon.
See post 1.41 for the entire NY Times article. It is eye-opening, and informative, giving us a bit more of a glimpse into Ambassador Stevens' character and motivations.
1.59
Amanda-2017567
Kudos
and
THANK YOU
How much would anyone care to bet that the funding for State Department security will be cut, again, in the next round of budget/deficit/debt ceiling/appropriation (pick your name) talks.
And NO ONE in Congress will take any blame. Its like if children are starving in the United States, no one cares if we cut the budgets for WIC and SNAP.
dirp:
My guess would be that certain factions in the government may ask for the State Dept to be absorbed into Homeland Security as a matter directly involving the safety and security of US citizens (Ambassadors). After all, the State Dept already issues US citizen passports and work permits for immigrants so it would be a short step away into simply making them a domestic division of Homeland Security, like the Office of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties and the Office of Legislative Policy became domestic divisions of Homeland Security.
Joe Lieberman is on the Homeland Security Oversight Committee along with John McCain and John Boehner, and they would be able to add the State Dept's budget into Homeland Security's $98 billion per year budget, then approve expenditure into research of more technology that should enhance security at embassies.
Amanda-2017567
Come on. You’re from the Barrack Hussein Liberal/Progressive mold of, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his
needswants”.Notice I cut out the word “needs” and replaced it with “wants”. There is a significant difference between a persons needs and his/her wants.
Our definition of poverty, especially the Liberal cabal’s definition, is dramatically different than what the real world proves is poverty. Yes, there are many who live in poverty due to circumstances they cannot control, but many more have turned it into a lifestyle. This has been going on for decades.
In 1965 we had 14% of the population in poverty.
Since then we have spent over $17 trillion dollars on the “War on Poverty”.
Today our poverty level is 14.3% (corrected due to recessionary effects to 15.1%).
This year the Federal government will spend a more than $668 BILLION on at least 126 different programs created to fight poverty. States and local governments add about $284 BILLION annually to fight poverty. Almost $1 TRILLION dollars is spent on poverty every year. This amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America, or $61,830 per family of three. To put this in perspective our defense budget, including Iraq and Afghanistan is only $685 billion.
How much is enough?
You can’t legislate ambition or social strata.
Now let me show you a finding by our own government auditors that should outrage even the most rabid Liberal/progressive.
Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them–costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually–fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve. (emphasis mine)
Almost 25% of your coveted social programs that you promote with your irrational social and economic justice for the collective does NOTHING for the intended population!
AT A COST OF ALMOST $125 BILLION EVERY YEAR!!!!!!!
This is $1.25 TRILLION over 10 years.
It may also interest you that this study by governments own auditors was started under Bush in 2003. When the results were revealed the study mysteriously ended in 2009.
Coincidence?
I think not.
It would be acceptable and assumed that this could be corrected IF it were the only evidence of our massive bureaucracies fiscal malinvestment. But it’s not!
The federal government made at least $125 billion in improper payments in 2011.
Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.
The Congressional Budget Office published a “Budget Options” series identifying more than $140 billion in potential spending cuts.
Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. This report identifies more than $100 billion to $200 billion in annual government spending on 1,500 different programs that are wasteful, duplicative, or inefficient.
A recent study by the Institute of Medicine shows health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $750 billion annually.
Cumulatively this adds up to over $1.25 TRILLION annually of waste, fraud abuse and corruption. If we assume that 50% of these studies overlap we still end up with $625 billion of waste, fraud abuse and corruption (WFAC) every year.
This is $6.25 TRILLION EVERY 10 YEARS!!!!!!
Yet with all this evidence of how corrupt and wasteful our criminal bloated monolithic government is, you Liberals/Progressives STILL want to tax the American people more.
No one. Let me repeat NO ONE, poor, middle class or rich, should be made to pay another penny to our government until this massive WFAC is corrected.
Of course Barrack Hussein, or Hairy Reed or Nanny Piglosi or Tammy Faye Boehner will tell you about this, but all this information is freely found on the internet.
BTW, I have over 400 more examples of specific WFAC if you’re interested.
Conservatives, such as myself, are just amazed that Liberals/Progressives dismiss this evidence and continue the dog and pony show of class-warfare and envy against the wealthy and successful.
Doesn’t it bother you that Barrack Hussein only promotes that Americans can become middle-class? When was the last time he EVER promoted being rich or more successful? When did he ever advocate you become the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?
He never has. Barrack Hussein is a statist. As such he doesn’t believe the collective should succeed. Only the Ivy League faculty-lounge elitists should be the successful ones in his Shangri-La for the collective. This is the true Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
Remember, America is the land of equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. That’s impossible.
Greed isn’t someone wanting to keep more of what they earn, its people demanding a greater share of money that someone else has earned.
During a radio interview on October 26, Obama said that in the immediate wake of the attack he issued several directives, including one to “make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.”
In response to this, Rep. Howard McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee wrote, “to whom did you issue this first directive and how was this directive communicated to the military and other agencies — verbally or in writing?”
A simple question, that Obama has refused to answer. The very fact that he continues to ignore all of the important questions about the affair, is the clearest admission possible that he is guilty of lies, a coverup and probably gross incompetence (at best).
He was caught in a bald-faced lie. Far from issuing an order to protect our Mission, it is more likely that his orders were to let it fall.
Jim Spence:
And how is your information on the country's spending habits is relevant to the topic at hand (Benghazi)?
Your altering the names of some of our elected politicians to a rather childish level doesn't indicate much about your own level of maturity, especially in conjunction with your off-topic (though informative, thank you) musings on government wastage. It is possible to express disagreement with elected officials without descending to namecalling.
President Obama did say that he had isued directives to "make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to do".
No, he did not specifically answer the question to WHO he gave those directives to, but there can be no doubt that the message was received:
After the September 11 attack in Benghazi, Clinton convened an Accountability Review Board to investigate. The panel's vice chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, presented the findings on December 18.
"The board found that the security posture at the special mission compound was inadequate for the threat environment in Benghazi and in fact grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place that night," he said.
Clinton has accepted all 29 of the report's recommendations. Senator John Kerry, Clinton's nominated successor, praised her decisions at a congressional hearing.
"In fact, she’s gone above and beyond the board’s recommendation by taking immediate steps to strengthen security at high-threat posts and request from Congress the authority to reprogram funds to increase diplomatic security spending by $1.3 billion," he said.
IndiaToday reported on September 12 that the US embassy security at all five embassies throughout India had been increased to include round-the-clock monitoring and armed personnel security moinitoring.
The Nigerian embassy also reported that armed guards monitoring the ingress and egress of every person approaching the US embassy.
From CNN on Sept 12:
The United States moved to increase embassy security around the world after the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three staffers.
"I have directed my administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe," President Barack Obama said in a statement issued Wednesday morning in response to the attack.
The United States deployed a group of Marines called a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team to Libya to help secure U.S. facilities, two U.S. officials said Wednesday. Such units are specially trained to retake or guard diplomatic installations and other U.S. facilities in troubled regions.
About 50 Marines were headed to Tripoli and could deploy elsewhere in Libya after their arrival, U.S. officials said.
Other U.S. troops and units abroad have been notified they could be ordered to move to embassy installations around the world to provide additional security, a senior U.S. military official said.
Apart from its embassy in New Delhi, the United States has four consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The five US diplomatic missions are considered 'high risk' category buildings and are being provided round-the- clock security including monitoring of ingress and egress of every individual.
The directive to beef up security has come in the wake of American ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other embassy staff being killed in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
They were killed when protesters angry over a film deemed offensive to Islam attacked the American consulate there last night.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/security-at-us-missions-in-india-being-beefed-up/1/217067.html
The official added that the Pentagon is involved in intensive discussions with the State Department and White House on how to implement Obama's order to step up diplomatic security.
"We are looking at the requirements, what we need and identifying what assets could have to move," the official said, adding that could include troops, aircraft, ships and other equipment if needed.
Two U.S. Navy warships were moving toward the Libyan coast Wednesday, two U.S. officials said. Both are equipped with Tomahawk missiles that could be used if a strike was ordered, which "will give the administration flexibility" if action is ordered against targets in the country, a senior official said.
The moves come a day after the attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens amid protests at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Heavily armed protesters assaulted the consulate, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Demonstrators also attacked the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday. Protesters in both countries were apparently angry about an online film considered offensive to Islam.
On Wednesday, the State Department urged Americans to avoid the area around the embassy in Kharthoum, Sudan, due to "anti-U.S. protests outside." There was no immediate word of violence.
"There's a lot of skittish people at the State Department right now," CNN foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott said.
Apart from its embassy in New Delhi, the United States has four consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The five US diplomatic missions are considered 'high risk' category buildings and are being provided round-the- clock security including monitoring of ingress and egress of every individual.
The directive to beef up security has come in the wake of American ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other embassy staff being killed in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
They were killed when protesters angry over a film deemed offensive to Islam attacked the American consulate there last night.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/security-at-us-missions-in-india-being-beefed-up/1/217067.html
And of course everyone has heard about President Obama closing our embassy in the Central African Republic earlier this week due to security concerns over the unrest there.
This and your definition of "covet" are the reason for my post.
I guarantee you 99% of Americans have no idea the amount of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption in our government. If they did they wouldn't advocate another penny of our hard earned money be given to the government. You may dismiss is as "business as usual", I demand it is criminal. We don't work for our government. We work for ourselves and our family. The government has its mandated costs defined in the Constitution.
Our government works for us.
Yes, and our government has no right to "covet" anything that belongs to us.
@Amanda-2017567,
"It is possible to express disagreement with elected officials without descending to namecalling."
Nuh Uhhh..............Not for Jimmy its not - LOLZZZZ
Obama also knew about the terrorist attack before he went to bed that night, hope he didn't lose any sleep over it. Then he woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and started lying to the American people. This is nothing short of criminal, and something should be done immediately.
James Clapper did not turn over information that was asked for, I can feel an executive privilege coming up in the near future.
No he lost no sleep. Everything is going according to the plan...
How about impeachment and invalidation of the November 6 presidential election......
Oh and what did Obama say.
If you have a problem with Secreatary Rice you have to talk with me.
Clinton, Rice and Obama All losers FOS.
Damage control experts and Leaders good at propaganda and BS.
End Of Story
There approach just make it go away - POS all of them.
Along with Petraeus
Thay can't hanlde fact or truth just BS
Right on JOKER!
Just another addition here....all the lies, coverup, and contempt of Congress (nada from that of course)all in reference to the Horrible, Horrible gun running murderous fiasco of FAST and FURIOUS! ....still stinks, hundreds in Mexico were MURDERED with our walked guns---and Brian Terry lost his life by a murderer who also used one of them. Just brush it under the rug like everything else---E. Holder is a master at that--part of the Chicago — — — now running our country out of W. DC.
Scary times!
Eric Holdup and POS hussein obami jumped up and down after the Sandy Hook tradgedy and got their air time along with the CT. reps Chris "The Cockroach"murphy ,Bloodsucker Blumenthal,Dirt bag Delauro and the rest while they ranted about gun control while they continue to block the investigation of this administration supplying Illegal weapons that were used in the murder of a federal officer. The supposed head law enforcement official and the president and his gang are going to propose gun control laws for the country? The 2nd ammendment was designed for us to be able to protect ourselves from crooked,corrupt government officials like this gang. Hopefully the patriotic citizens of the USA will wake up and handle the matter if the corrupt court system wont.
alwtx: Gun coverup by Congress, hmmmm? What about Pres. Obama and Eric Holder? Congress has been fighting just to get the files to no avail.
More elitist neocons so concerned with the death of four people which was clearly tragic - but responsibility falls on shoulders of people asleep at wheel in intelligence community. Not President Obama or Rice.
Bush started two ten year wars that have seen the slaughter of over 6,000 US troops and over 400,000 INNOCENT Iraqi and Afghan men,women and children who many racist neocons simply dismiss as ragheads . The neocons even celebrated the carnage with events like MISSION ACCOMPLISHED....remember?
And what have we achieved in these two wars.....other than enrich the military industrial complex in the U.S. - which President Eisenhower warned us so much about?
A hundred things could be going wrong and you would still say Obama had nothing to do with any of it.
BLINDERS.
MC Gusto - how do you refute this?
Bush started two ten year wars that have seen the slaughter of over 6,000 US troops and over 400,000 INNOCENT Iraqi and Afghan men,women and children who many racist neocons simply dismiss as ragheads . The neocons even celebrated the carnage with events like MISSION ACCOMPLISHED....remember?
And what have we achieved in these two wars.....other than enrich the military industrial complex in the U.S. - which President Eisenhower warned us so much about?
And you talk about "blinders"...yikes!
Don't live in the past beach bum,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, It will kill you.
What do you think about the security at the Embassy? Was it adequate?
why didn't the company that hired the 2 seals provide more security for it's employees?...Since when do civilians have the right to call in the military?..Just wondering....
Beach Bum---your handle indicates you may not do much but "surf" the net and the agua.
Agreed that WARS are a very sad, nasty (and very expensive) business! HOWEVER, the two you mention were approved by Congress not Bush solo. Dems went along, too---check it out.
HOWEVER, the big deal with Libya and the little "Arab Spring" that Obama touts, was pushed through
by executive directives ---not submitted to or approved by Congress....and was not supported by
advisors to the POTUS....yet he went full steam ahead----SAVING the country----assisting rebels....
Gadhafi was killed and the "promise" of a new world order in the Middle East was described with
great flourish. Oh yeah? Well, that was sorta short lived, wasn't it? So what's happening now? Kinda fell apart didn't it? Our POTUS jumped in on that one entirely on his own---check it out! Yet another "hidden" truth.....OMG!
Yeah, sure, it's just that the intelligence was wrong. I seem to remember the last President giving a similar excuse when we didn't find any WMDs. But I guess that doesn't have anything to do with Bush.
Beach Butt, you are too funny! Your Golden Boy's big claim to fame while campaigning was that he decimated Al Queda. That was until Benghazi happened. Ooops!
Right now there's death threats by al Queda against the US Ambassador in Yemen. You think Obama or Clinton will heed the warnings this time and permit a little extra security detail?
hey beachbummmmm who you gonna blame for the war we are about to jump in the middle of (oops we already started). in Syria. Your god obama is as much a war monger and bush was. He just does it differently more secretive. Hes real good with secrets and it helps he has bums like you to follow him.
beachbum-579275,
http://money.msn.com/investing/11-things-wrong-with-congress
Since you care so much about Afghanistan and Iraq so much (I have been involved with Iraq since the US Military Training Teams to US Ally Iraq during the Iran Iraq Wars, and Afghanistan as rotated to Operation Cyclone). Was also at many of the Islamic Nations of Africa.
First, the lack of US Intelligence Assets at Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was President Clinton's Belief that the "Cold War Era" US Defense Budget, US Intelligence Agencies, US Military were no longer needed. So President Clinton as Commander In Chief Ordered the Chopping of the US Defense Budget, Gutting of the US Intelligence Agencies (that were previously built up by Director of the CIA Bush (President 41), and Cut to the Bone Reduction In Forces of the US Military. And do not even say NO, as I survived the above and unfortunely had to suffer the consequences (Team Members killed) of going into Hostile Nations without any local intelligence asset linkups and current on the ground situational intelligence.
example: Shortly after the ink dried on President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" Justification Section 2 WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein, with US Congressional Appropriations, we went into Iraq to hire hundreds of thousands of Shia Iraqis as assassins and insurgents to Overthrow Sunnis President Hussein. When we went into Iraq we did not have any local Iraqis intelligence assets to link up with, as they were no longer funded, so many to survive and make a living turned into Iraqis Counter Intelligence Agents (anti US). Same thing happened at Afghanistan. What took Decades to build was destroyed in months by President Clinton, this left the US Blind and Deaf to the Events leading up to the 9/11 2001 Attacks, per Bipartisan US Congressional 9/11 Commission (Committee) Investigations, Findings and Recommendations with former President Clinton saying, "I'm a so sorry".
After the 9/11 2001 Attacks President Bush (43) sent in his Executive Intelligence Agency, the CIA, to Overthrow the Fundamentalist Islamic Taliban Government and Locate and Capture Osama Bin Laden. Both Missions Failed since there were no local Afghan intelligence assets (locate one person in all of Afghanistan).
In October 2001 we attached to the CIA's SAD/SOG go into Afghanistan to Overthrow the Fundamentalist Islamic Taliban Government, eliminate Al Quada, and the Islamic Jihadists Training Camps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxKhJIjIiY
What is not mentioned in the link above, is that we split into two groups, group one with the Afghans that hid in the Afghan Mountains as the Northern Alliance accomplished what is stated in the link above; group two went into the Afghan Cities to Overthrow the Fundamentalist Islamic Taliban Government and fight the Fundamentalist Islamic Taliban Government Militias (underestimated in size since President Clinton's Gutting of the US Intelligence Agencies, as they were a Army fully supported by the Fundamentalist Islamic Shia Republic of Iran). We (group two) ended up in fierce urban warfare at the Afghan Cities of Qala 'i' Janghi, Mazar 'i' Sharif, etc. with most of us not surviving. At the last moments (we ran out of ammunition, grenades, ran out of enemy weapons, etc.. bayonets do not run out of ammunition) group one with the Northern Alliance on horseback arrived literally as Cavalry on horseback to the rescue and reinforced us. That other President Obama lie, We have less horses and bayonets; wrong we have more (horses, pack horses, pack mules, etc.) now here at Afghanistan to conduct Mountain Warfare than during the Korean War.
We drove the Taliban, Al Quada, Islamic Jihadists on the Old Silk Road into Northern Iraq and some fled into Pakistan. We were ordered to stop killing them with extreme prejudice and stop pursuit as not to violate the Sovereign Nations of Iran and Iraq.
The Fundamentalist Islamic Kurdistanis (PKK, HPG, KGK) of Northern Iraq gave them Islamic Sanctuary and combined together became Ansar Al Islam.
In 2001 those of us that survived combined with the US Army 10th Special Forces Group went into Northern Iraq as Operation Viking Hammer to eliminate the Taliban, Al Quada, Islamic Jihadists that escaped us at Afghanistan and became Ansar Al Islam. Before we could eliminate them, the Fundamentalist Islamic Shia Republic of Iran gave them Islamic Sanctuary.
Because Afghanistan was a United Nations Mission, NATO f**ked up and appointed Gentleman British General McColl as Commander ISAF with no knowledge of Asymmetric War Afghanistan and only British Conventional Warfare, so he did not stop the Taliban, Al Quada, Islamic Jihadists from returning to Afghanistan thru Iran or from Pakistan. The typical British Conventional Warfare Mentality of "Fair Fight" by allowing the enemy to gather and meet on a Battlefield at a specific time and place. Everything we had done, all our gains, paid in our blood and loss of lives was lost.
While still at Northern Iraq our mission is changed to conduct Operation Hotel California. We vetted, trained, organized, armed the Pro US Kurdistanis to fight against the Fundamentalist Islamic Kurdistanis PKK, HPG, KGK and the Iraqis Military. As our new Mission is to create a Strategic Operational Feint to get the Iraqis Political Leadership and Iraqis Military Command believe that the Main US Military Forces would come thruUS Ally Turkey so that they would deploy their main Iraqis Military Forces to Northern Iraq to stop us from accomplishing the US Military Overthrow of President Hussein in accordance with the US Policy of President Clinton's US Law, H.R.4655 Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein as amended before to authorize the use of US Military Force since President Clinton's Failed 1998 Operation Desert Fox that resulted in the over 1.5 Billion Islamic Believers condemning the US as the Great Satan.
We attacked, seized and secured the Iraqis Chemical Weapons Facility at Sargat Iraq. Then attacked, seized and secured the Northern Iraqis Oil Fields. Our Company sized units destroyed five Full Strength Iraqis Armored and Mechanized Infantry Divisions without airsupport*. The Iraqis Political Leadership and Iraqis Military Command believed that the main US Military Forces would be coming thru US Ally Turkey and deployed over ten Full Strength Iraqis Divisions to Northern Iraq.
*Credited to the US Army 10th Special Forces Group.
We knew that the Iraqis Military was Command Driven, Orders Only, no individual initiative. So if they do not recieve Orders the Iraqis Military will do nothing. E-Bombs are used that cause 20th Century Iraq to plunge into the Stone Ages without any electricity or electronic devices of any kind (no communications). Without Communications the Iraqis Political Leadership and Iraqis Military Command cannot form a cohesive defense of Iraq nor redeploy their Iraqis Military Forces to the South.
Will Saddam Fall Victim to the Elusive E-bomb?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125336&page=1
President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" Justification Section 2 WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein with US Congressional Appropriations amended to authorize the use of US Military Force became 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom.
President Clinton's US Law, H.R.4655
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1057063/posts
We start LRS-D and Pathfinder Operations for the US Military Forces coming from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom.
President Hussein is Overthrown and goes into hiding. We are assigned to the Joint Special Operations Task Force Iraq to locate and capture President Hussein.
Why don't you listen to the WHOLE speech, the Mission Accomplished was the US Military Overthrow of President Hussein in accordance with President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein, and the rest of the speech included the next phase of United Nations Mission Iraq of Nation Building (not the President Obama Lie of the US Military Unilateral Invasion of Iraq).
The US Military Industrial Complex is NOT some Faceless Entity. The current US Military Industrial Complex as created by President FDR to get the US out of the Great Depression with the Sales of War Materials to England, France, Russia, China, etc., got the US out of the Great Depression in 1939 before US Entry into WWII 1941. The current US Military Industrial Complex directly and indirectly employs almost a hundred million overpaid too expensive US Citizens.
Go right ahead and call President Obama a liar, 2012, President Obama, "A 10% Defense Budget Cut will result in a Million (US) Civilians becoming Unemployed".
Also Eisenhower and Smelly Butt were hypocrites, as without the US Military Industrial Complex General Eisenhower would have had to borrow wooden row boats and bolt action rifles to conduct the D-Day (Normandy) Invasion; and after failing would have never become popular to become President Eisenhower. After becoming President, Eisenhower dismantled the US Military Industrial Complex, then volunteered the US Military for the UN Mission Korea, with the US Military Task Force Smith getting massacred due to lack of anti tank ammunition; there were many other retreats by US Military Forces and unnecessary deaths due to lack of equipment, winter clothing, ammunition. It took years for the US Military Industrial Complex to restart, while General MacArthur had to see his Military Forces being killed unnecessarily.
Stop being too lazy to do your own research. First, Ex (former) USN SEALs (not seals as in animals). Second, President Obama as US Military Commander In Chief (Boss of SOS Clinton, US Department of State), President Obama's Own Executive Intelligence Agency, the CIA, and Director of the CIA.
Here's how: actually look up the FACTS!!!!!!
It's quite unbelievable to me that you nitwits could get your wires so crossed. Somehow you must have FORGOTTEN that:
1. The intelligence agencies here and in Europe all agreed that Saddam had WMD's.
2. The Democrats agreed that Saddam was a threat and VOTED to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
3. Saddam violated the terms of the cease-fire agreements when he kicked the weapons inspectors out of the country.
By the way, the WMD's were not found because they were shipped to Syria on commercial aircraft with the seats removed according to an Iraqi general's report in 2007. (guess the news wasn't interested in reporting that one).
You foaming-at-the-mouth hate-filled crazies on the far left can't even remember what your own people voted for, then try to blame it on someone else. That's not liberal at all!
Proud Liberal - Our Zionist media said all those intelligence agencies agreed that Saddam had WMD, but that does not make it true. France, for one, never said Iraq had WMD.
Saddam did not kick out the inspectors, as you stupidly claim. We withdrew the inspectors, who were led by Hans Blix, after they could not find anything, despite looking every where we sent them.
As for your idiotic claim that the WMD went to Syria, why didn't ypour hero Bush and his crowd mention your alledged facts?
No Democrats voted for war. Some of them voted to give Bush the authorization to go to war.The idea for the war originated in the Bush Pentagon, with Paul Wolfowitz leading the way. The war had been planned by the neocons in the Progress For a New American Century, a far right wing "think tank" long before Bush even became president.
Furthermore, the Bush administration aided and abetted the attack on 9/11, with help from the CIA, NORAD and the Mossad.
There were warnings from Putin and leaders of several countries, which were purposely ignored. The FBI caught Moussaui taking airplane lessons and failed to look in his computer, despite the agent in charge begging superiors in Washington for permission. No one was even reprimanded.
Read "Crossing The Rubicon", by Michael Ruppert, to understand how 9/11 was accomplished.
We need a recall of the top-level administration. Conspiracy for treason and cover ups worst than Watergate since 4 Americans perished. There has been nothing but lies, cover ups and flat out election fraud against the American people. And remember the Romney-Obama debate where the bias moderator sided with Obama? Crooks!
Joe - the election is over.
You must stop living in the past.
Looking backward & living in the past will kill you....
beachbum.....
You realize Congress voted to use Military Force in Iraq, don't you? You also realize Obama publicly stated when running for president in 2008, he was against the Iraq war but believed we should of been in Afghan...... So do you blame all deaths from there on Obama? Your logic is flawed and you are very confused on how things work.
I completely understand that you have no peachy way to defend Hilary or Obama with Benghazi and make them look good! You can try to deflect topics when the going get tough but that doesn't change the topic at hand.
You also must realize this administration has a really hard time taking responsibility for ANYTHING. Do you really believe Obama is transparent? Don't you have questions about Benghazi and Fast Furious? Things you don't know, but the administration will do anything to not talk about it. I just don't understand how you can't see that. People can't make this stuff up......
So says the person who blames Bush in the previous post.
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." ---Kierkegaard
beachbum: So you don't believe the government who should represent ALL Americans should be held accountable?
I can still remember the lies told to us by the Bush Administration about weapons of mass destruction....Wasn't it the intelligence agengy who told them these lies but I never saw a firing of any kind for 9/11...If I remember rightly...wern't these 2 american seals civilians hired by a private firm...Why hasn't anyone ever questioned why there employers didn't provide more backup for them....Cannot remember civilians getting military backup....If thats the case...I may need some soldiers some day to help me out...Can I ask for them?...
Yes. You are correct.
Beachbum just said don't live in the past. (2 months ago)
and here you are going back 12 years to excuse Clinton's ignorance and Obama's lack of transparency and leadership.
RIGHT Beach Bum?
Greatest Lib. Looking back and living in the past will kill you.
Beach bum why did you attack a con for living in the past but agree with LIB who lives in the past?
Hmmmmmm.
You are making stuff up - FYI I am a registered Republican member of the 1% who thinks that George W. Bush is a war criminal for the death of 6,000 U.S. troops & 400,000 people in Iraq & Afghanistan. What have we achieved...other than enrich Halliburton +++++?
wished I was living in the past...way before a conservative ruined our country...back to where a true leader...Bill Clinton left his presidency with a budget surplus...a strong economy and a peaceful world...
Bill Clinton left us with a peaceful world?????
W T F do you smoke?
When I referred to not "living in the past" - I was referring to whining about the presidential debates.
Not policies.
Don't be stupid.
So does this mean the Republicans in congress will re-institute the funding for embassy and consulate security? Does the report mention that the Libyan government did not want private security firms like Blackwater in their country? Did it point out that the Libyan government did not want US forces running around their country?
Embassies and consulate facilities are by nature dangerous places and the job of Ambassador is a risky one in any country. The US has been attacked 33 time since 1958 and 409 people have been killed. But this is the first time a tragedy like this has been used for such obvious and partisan attacks on the administration at the time of the killings.
Well Gusto....I know Clinton wouldn't use our military to protect his daddy as Bush did...if fact...I don't believe ANY president would kill our service men for nothing...but bush and the cronies had no problem with sacrificing americans for the personal wealth of there buddies...there is a true criminal who got away with it and will be a blimish to our country forever...
Since when does the Libyan Government tell us what to do? They are 6 months old. Embassies are sovereign territory. If they don't allow us security we should have left.
If Bush is a criminal why doesn't Holder charge him?
Exactly what crime did Bush commit?
Embassy and consulate security are two different things. The US embassy in Libya is in Tripoli. The facility in Benghazi was a consulate.We did not invade Libya with ground forces and we would have been in violation of their sovereignty had we done so without their agreeing in the first place. All because you think the US can do whatever it wants to whatever country it wants doesn't mean the rest of the world will go along with it.
Do what ever we want to a country?????
We just spent several billion killing an entire army and setting up a NO fly zone. We also poured in CASH.
Maybe next time they shouldn't beg infidels to save their cowardly asses. They can stop an army on their own.
STOP BEING SO UNEDUCATED. Read post# 4.9.
And President Clinton's 1998 State of the Union Address:
President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" that became 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1057063/posts
1. "Budget Surplus", that is like your momma giving you $10.00 to buy something for $4.00 (including transportation, taxes, etc.) so you have a "Budget Surplus" of $6.00.
THE REAL ECONOMIC INDICATOR IS THE INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL DEBT.
President Clinton, $18.9 Billion
President Bush, $16.6 Billion
2. What was the titles of the US Laws that President Clinton eliminated that previously made Illegal the Causes of previous Depressions resulting in the current $60 Trillion to $100 Trillion Global Economic Crisis consisting of the Mortgage Crisis, Wall Street Crisis, Financial Crisis, Banking Crisis, Credit Crisis, etc..
And to add to the Credit Crisis what did President Clinton do regarding Loans (Mortgages) to those with no viable means to repay the Loans (Mortgages).
3. President Clinton gives China Most Favored Trade Nation Status in exchange for Donations (Bribes) from the Chinese, as mentioned as "Chinagate" during his Impeachment Hearings. And you thought it was a coincidence that he was the Governor before of Arkansas, Arkansas the Headquarters for Made In China Walmart.
4. Sure "Peaceful" (Extreme Sarcasm), over 1.5 Billion Islamic Believers Worldwide condemning the US as the Great Satan. United Nations Mission Somalia II aka Operation Continue Hope aka Battle for Somalia. President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 as later 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom. Killing off a bunch of innocent Libyans with Airstrikes and Cruise Missile Attacks. Killing off the poor Iraqis in the crowded urban poor areas of Baghdad with Airstrikes and Cruise Missile Attacks. What was that Bosnia Serbia thing (yes, there were US Military "Boots on the Ground").
You, the greatest lib, are only making all the Libs and Demoncraps seem extremely uneducated.
SOS Clinton, "Funding was not the issue". How about you researching what the "issue" was (who the "issue" is).
Nice try, the Diplomatic Mission Libya means that both the US Embassy and US Consulate were US Sovereign Soil.
Hey brain fart take a rough guess who stated that prior to President Bush (43).
President Clinton's US Law, H.R.4655 Section 2 Justifications:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1057063/posts
How does it feel to be a jackarse's arse, the greatest lib
David: OMG thanks for your posts. For the longest time I've been posting comments re. Bill Clinton's presidential major mistakes. Most Democrats think Clinton is a "god" and yet he's the one who got us into this mess in the ME and sold us out to China and relaxed the laws on the banks who caused the great melt down in this country. He was a crummy president but he's still their "god"
More JP-8 for the fire!
Obama in his interview with David Gregory attempted to recently preempt this report he knew was coming but still hasn't revealed his part in this fatal failure by this administration. He talked about taking steps to prevent more like it but never addressed how and why it occurred or his part in it was. What else is new as the his Benghazi Failure still him still slips and slides in all directions.
Hillary obviously won't be testifying any time soon and Kerry wants her to fall on the sword before he accepts any appointment which may not pass muster anyway. Who else is available to shove under the Benghazi Bus?
I hope the families come out and make a statement about how much they love the job Obama did on this.
I would really love to see that.
You can bet the Liberal Lame Stream Media has been very quiet about the victim's families concern about Obama's lack of explanation about how and why he failed. The buck does stop with him as he said before but that's about all he'll admit......
It's going on almost 4 months since the attacks and the dodge ball still continues.
How does this match up?
Bush started two ten year wars that have seen the slaughter of over 6,000 US troops and over 400,000 INNOCENT Iraqi and Afghan men,women and children who many racist neocons simply dismiss as ragheads . The neocons even celebrated the carnage with events like MISSION ACCOMPLISHED....remember?
And what have we achieved in these two wars.....other than enrich the military industrial complex in the U.S. - which President Eisenhower warned us so much about?
Still beating on Bush when Obama own's this one, deflection and diversion is't going to change his failure one bit. He needs to own up have some testes or crawl under a rock for the next 4 years.
Why do you keep repeating your generic response.
Bush did it!!!!
We get it.
Anytime something goes bad you just say' Bush did it.
It doesn't apply here. This is Obama's baby. And it's an ugly bastard.
Live in the NOW.
OMG you guys - none of this will ever stick.
It was bad - but the security people were private contractors.
Somebody screwed up in "the intelligence community" - and it was a Fok-up ......and sadly this is where the term FUBAR came from in WW II.
The President was not calling the shots......it was way down the line.
You idiots have taken the misinformation from the Fox News Network during the pre-election - hook, line & sinker. It was all bull@!$%# from Karl Rove!
The election is over - Obama will be fine.....you will never achieve your objectives. Get over it.
Karl Rove....got fired.......for losing.
beachbum,
You're following your leaders example, when in doubt, blame Bush and everyone else and hope it will stick. Obama won the election but he hasn't gotten past Benghazi although he hopes it would go away like yesterday. Hillary found a way to temporarily avoid testimony legitmate or not but Obama is where the buck stops, like it or not.
You can bet Executive Privilege to be used if push comes to shove should he asked to take the hot seat.
Hey Tad!
And our lovely "honest"....???? (using the word very loosely here)--- POTUS, even spoke before the UN on Sept. 25th --two wks. later---and deliberately LIED about the murderous attack in Libya as being caused by a horrible insulting anti-muslim movie. What a sham! ....and the media and most people pretend to care less. Sadly, when things eventually boil over, we may all be cooked in the same sorry pot. OMG!
By your logic, the Pope should not be held responsible for the actions of pedophile priests.
beachbum-579275,
I can spam also:
STOP BEING SO UNEDUCATED. Read post# 4.9.
And President Clinton's 1998 State of the Union Address:
President Clinton's US Law H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" that became 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1057063/posts
DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE REAL ISSUE SHOULD BE:
Unclassified:
Life during President Gaddaffi, contract with Libyan Citizens in his "Green Book":Loans to Libyan citizens were given with "NO interest". Students would get paid the average salary for the profession they are studying for. If you'd be unable to get the employment the state would pay the full salary as if you were employed. When you got married the couple got an apartment or house for free. You could go to college anywhere in the world, the state paid 2,500 euros plus for accommodation and a car. The cars were sold at factory cost. Libya does not owe money, (not a cent) to anyone, No credits. Free education and health care. 25% of population with a university degree. No beggars on the streets and no homeless. Bread costs $0.15. Gasoline $0.33 per liter, during the attacks $0.66 per liter. Human Rights and Libyan Citizen's Rights as praised by the UN and UA (African Union). All this disappeared after the Overthrow of President Gaddaffi.
President Gaddaffi and Libya as a US Ally, to get the President Bush US and UN Sanctions and Embargoes lifted so he would ship Libyan Oil to the US European Allies: Collaborated with the CIA. President Gaddaffi had his Libyan Military hunting the Islamic Jihadists at Libya. Stopped his pursuit of Nuclear Power. Turned over his Chemical Weapons to the US. Transfer of US Islamic Jihadists Prisoners from Guantanamo to President Gaddaffi's Prisons (including later President Obama's). Human Rights and Libyan Citizen's Rights as praised by the UN and UA (African Union).
The Fundamentalist Islamic Arab League of Nations is demanding President Gaddaffi's Death for Collaborating with the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers, a Death Penalty Fatawa is issued.
Most of the work that the Libyan Citizens do not want to do are done by Foreigners brought into Libya, and have no Libyan Citizens Rights nor the Libyan Citizens Entitlements listed in President Gaddaffi's Green Book.
The Holy Warriors of Islam (aka Islamic Jihadists) are gathering at Libya, after the Overthrow of US Ally Egypt. Many Intelligence Agencies are stating that these Islamic Jihadists are the Fundamentalist Islamic Al Quada Saudi Arabia (AQ), Al Quada Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al Quada Syria (AQS), Al Quada Yemen (AQY), Hezbollah, Al Quada Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), etc. as trained by the Quds Special Forces of the Fundamentalist Islamic Shia Republic of Iran at the Fundamentalist Islamic Autonomous Kurdistanis Region of Northern Iraq, Syria, Southern Turkey, and Northwestern Iran to Overthrow the Established Governments of US Allies.
President Gaddaffi warns everyone about the Fundamentalist Islamic Jihadists gathering at Libya, President Gaddaffi's Military starts to fight them, the Islamic Jihadists go back and forth between Libya and Egypt, so President Gaddaffi's Libyan Military cannot eliminate the Islamic Jihadists without violating Egypt's Sovereignty. President Obama ignores this just like he ignored US Ally Iraq, US Ally Egypt, US Ally Saudi Arabia, US Ally Turkey, US Ally Pakistan, US Ally Yemen, President of Syria, etc. until it was too late.
President Gaddaffi f**ks up, declares Libyan Oil Nationalization. Due to President Obama's Policies the US and US Allies have lost the Iraqis Oil after getting kicked out of Iraq, this makes the Libyan Oil of Strategic Importance to the US European Allies. Other Governments that previously declared Oil Nationalization, with them being Overthrown, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran (1953), President Hussein of Iraq "Modernization of the Arab World" (Iraqis Oil Nationalization). Failed US Overthrow attempt President Chavez of Venezuela (1999-2000).
US Ally Saudi Arabia, "President Obama gave Iraq to Iran as a Gift on a Golden Platter".
Why Benghazi:Thousands of Islamic Jihadists flood into Benghazi with the Asymmetric Warfare intent of killing the Libyan Military Guards, seizing the weapons, ammunition at the the 60 bunker Hight Razma facility on the eastern outskirts of Benghazi and a 35 bunker facility on the eastern outskirts of Ajdabiyah." The term "bunkers" is a misnomer as some of these "bunkers" were the size of warehouses. After the Libyan Military Guards were massacred at these Libyan Munitions Depots, the Facilities were left unguarded. This is how about 20,000 shoulder launched portable SA-7 anti aircraft missiles ended up "missing"; believed to be currently in the hands of Al Quada and the rest of the Islamic Terrorists (Jihadist, Worldwide Islamic Military), possible use shoot down US and US Ally Commercial Airlines (Aircraft) worldwide (after all the other publicly known failed attempts); most US Military and US Ally Military Aircraft have detection and countermeasures (some are still shot down by SA-7s, mistaken for RPGs (similar warhead). ). Then inciting the Foreign Workers brought into Libya to demand Libyan Citizens Rights and Entitlements.
President Gaddaffi sends his Libyan Military to fight the Islamic Jihadists and Foreign Worker Protesters and Demonstrators gone violent (murdered Libyan Military).
President Obama then claims that President Gaddaffi is a "Dictator Killing his own people" (not Gaddaffi's own Libyan Citizens but Islamic Jihadists).
President Gaddaffi orders the Foreign Workers to leave his Country, most do not and actively join the Islamic Jihad to Overthrow President Gaddaffi the Collaborator to the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers; again the Fundamentalist Islamic Arab League of Nations demands the Overthrow of President Gaddaffi.
The Libyan Oil:
During the "G" Meeting at France, that was attended by SOS Clinton, the European Oil Corporations Lobby the European Politicians to Overthrow President Gaddaffi to stop his Libyan Oil Nationalization (majority of Profits remain in Libya); the Fundamentalist Islamic Arab League of Nations (Original Charter the Elimination of the Jews) as a new Member, League of Arab States, aka Fundamentalist Islamic Arab League of Nations, demands the Overthrow of Former US Ally President Gaddaffi and February 22, 2011 remove President Gaddaffi from membership (President Gaddaffi's Military killing Holy Warriors of Islam originally went to Libya to Overthrow President Gaddaffi as previously demanded by the Fundamentalist Islamic League of Arab States.).
These European Oil Corporations demand President Gaddaffi's Overthrow to stop his Libyan Oil Nationalization:BP (Britain), Total, Elf (France), Eni (Italy), OMV (Austria), Statoil (Norway), etc.. So instead of these European Oil Corporations hiring cheap Libyan Labor then keeping all the Profits, with Gaddaffi's Resource Nationalization, they would get almost nothing and the majority of the profits would remain in Libya. So in anticipation of their Governments Military Actions to Overthrow Gaddaffi to stop his Resource Nationalization, "Non essential" personnel were evacuated February 21, 2011.
US Army Special Forces LTC Woods and his Specialized Security Teams are at Libya since February. It is Routine to attach US Military Asymmetric Warfare Forces to the President's Own Executive Agency, CIA's SAD/SOG, to conduct Targeting and Target Damage Assessments to minimize Civilian Casualties during Airstrikes and Cruise Missile Attacks. The US Military Asymmetric Warfare Forces Missions are routinely Special Reconnaissance, Special Surveillance, Foreign Internal Defense, Insurgency (training the locals to Overthrow a Established Government), Counter Insurgency (stop others from Overthrowing a US Ally's Established Government), etc..
President Obama as Commander In Chief ILLEGALLYOrders the US Military to attack Libya in violation of the US Law that Restricts or Limits the Presidential War Powers, US Law, 1973 War Powers Resolution (Act). President Obama failed to notify both Houses of US Congress 48 hours prior to ANY US Military Actions. US Congress does not have time to write a US Law with US Congressional Appropriations, like they did for President Clinton (42) and President Bush (43). President Obama uses not previously Budgeted for Discretionary Spending including to fund NATO's Bombs, Fuel, Cruise Missiles, etc.. Afterwards on behalf of President Obama SOS Clinton apologizes to US Congress as an Admittance of Guilt (Violation of US Law), "I'm sorry".
The Results:President Gaddaffi is murdered. Most of the Libyan Citizens that benefited as President Gaddaffi Supporters flee Libya (See Life During President Gaddaffi above). The Islamic Jihadists get another Islamic Nation. Mediterranean Ports closer to attack the US European Allies aka Crusaders. US European Allies lose the Libyan Oil to the Fundamentalist Islamic Shia Republic of Iran's Ally, the Chinese. 20,000 portable shoulder launched anti aircraft SA-7 missiles end up in the hands of the Islamic Jihadists with their stated goal of shooting down US Civilian Airlines "to cripple the US Economy". Strategic Location for the Islamic Jihadists to get the other African Nations, just like Egypt was key to get Libya.
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were those Islamic Jihadist Foreign Fighters that were killing US Military at Iraq, they become the Government of Libya.
The Fundamentalist Islamic Al Quada Saudi Arabia (AQ), Al Quada Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al Quada Syria (AQS), Al Quada Yemen (AQY), Hezbollah, Al Quada Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), etc. at Libya become Ansar Al Shariah to protect and instate Fundamentalist Islamic Shia (Sharia) Laws as the Rule of Law for Libya.
Update October 2012: As stated before Libya is Strategic to attack other African Nations, Ansar Al Shariah attacks Mali.
PRESIDENT OBAMA AND VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN FOR POLITICAL GAIN INFLAMED THE 1.5 BILLION ISLAMIC BELIEVERS WORLDWIDE TO VIOLENCE AGAINST THE US WORLDWIDE AS RELAYED TO THE ISLAMIC BELIEVERS AT ALL THE MOSQUES WORLDWIDE.
Biden at DNC (as well as months before): "Bin Laden is dead, General Motors is alive"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKCwQnIygcw
With the Islamic Believer Demonstators and Islamic Jihadists Worldwide chanting in Response to President Obama's "Osama Bin Laden is Dead, GM is Alive":
"OBAMA OBAMA WE ARE ALL OSAMA" DEMO IN TUNISIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfaKSX3m7Tk
Cairo protesters- Obama we are all Osama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pJGX1JzyFc
Incited to Violence by President Obama's Campaign Speech of "Osama Bin Laden is Dead, GM is Alive" Ansar Al Shariah starts planning their attacks against the US And US Allies, and eliminations of Pro President Gaddaffi Supporters as Collaborators to the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers. Worldwide Violent Demonstrations and Protests against the US Embassies and US Consulates are Planned to coincide with their Holy Warrior of Islam Superstar Osama Bin Laden's Greatest Achievement the 9/11 Attacks.
President Obama then blames this on a video that most did not see at Libya because many do not have electricity, cell service, nor internet; and were told the video existed by the Imams at the Mosques.
Result DEAD US CITIZENS and the Islamic World's Increased Hatred of the US for the "Murder" (their word) of their "Holy Warrior of Islam" Superstar Osama Bin Laden. This is worse than going to Italy and Murdering the Pope and continually bragging Internationally. Most Pro US and Neutral Islamic Believers Worldwide then join the Holy Warriors of Islam against the US and US Allies. This becomes the Unifying Force for the over 1.5 Billion Islamic Believers Worldwide (Majority being Fundamentalist Islamic Believers).
The other President Obama lie. It was President Bush that kept GM and Chrysler Alive with his: 2008 President Bush's GM and Chrysler Indicative Summary of Terms for Secured Term Loan Facility (Final Terms and Appendix).
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep/22/barack-obama/obama-says-bush-administration-put-no-conditions-a/
US Army Special Forces LTC Wood and his US Army Special Forces Specialized Support Teams writes up a Security Assessment for the US Embassy at Tripoli, and the US Consulate at Benghazi, as well as an "On the Ground" INSUM for Libya. This Security Assessment would have gone thru multiple channels, the President's Own Executive Intelligence Agency, the CIA, cc President Obama; SOS Clinton and the US Department of State, cc President Obama; Secretary of Defense and Pentagon, cc, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, cc President Obama; Redacted, cc President Obama; Commander US AFRICOM, cc Commander US SETAF, cc Commander US EUCOM, cc President Obama.
US Ambassador Stevens is a Presidential Appointee, with Direct Access to President Obama.
US Ambassador Stevens states his concerns, and requests that US Army Special Forces LTC Wood and his US Army Special Forces Specialized Support Teams remain at Libya (they were at Libya since before the Libyan Civil War), and or addtional US Security Forces (not Libyan). Before any of you start saying what could the few of US Army Special Forces LTC Wood and his US Army Special Forces Specialized Support Teams could have done, go learn about the previous Historically Documented DA (Direct Action) Missions of the US Army Special Forces.
I got to see the entire Video that is more than likely going to be posted in the future as an Islamic Jihadist Training Video, that starts with Ansar Al Sharia driving up with pick up trucks with heavy machineguns, and mortars mounted to the pickup truck beds and ending with the guy in the white shirt being interviewed with looters in the background. There are also the limited video surveillance cameras of the US Consulate Benghazi, the video recovery being one of the primary missions of US AFRICOM as coordinated thru US SETAF. Just because you don't have access, just like the mission cams, video conferences for the SR Mission that turned into a DA Mission (Raid) at Pakistan in accordance with President Bush's 2006 Amending the US No Assassination Policy and previously Presidential Delegated Authority Planned Mission; go right ahead, you can wait about 20 years and obtain the information about 20 years from now thru the FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act).
If you want to see the start to finish Islamic Jihadist videos attack on the US Consulate, learn to use the almost illegal means to circumvent the US Monitoring and Censorship that blocks the videos from the US based on IP Addresses, this training (how to) video is like the Islamic Jihadist's Training Video for their attacks against USMC Leatherneck (British Camp Baston) at Afghanistan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT62cLdygZE&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOD2TbDlgVg&feature=relmfu
Unarmed RQs (Drones) are sent during the 7-8 hours of Fighting to observe; instead of Armed MQ (Drones). President Obama as Commander In Chief does not send any of the US Military Forces from Italy during the 7-8 hours of Fighting. The RQ (Drones) fly slower than the AC-130s at Italy of previous Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya). The majority of the US Army Military Forces of US AFRICOM are less than 2 hours from Libya by slow aircraft located at Southern Italy (US SETAF, US Army Africa USARAF). The Ex USN SEALs of the US Ambassador's Security have Terminal Guidance Laser Designators on their M-4s to accurately Target fires from a AC-130, MQs, USAF Fighter Bombers, etc.; but, President Obama as Commander In Chief did not order any.
SOS Clinton, "Funding was not an issue".
Instead of President Obama putting a muzzle on his US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice; like he had previously done to his other Political Appointee Registered Demoncrap General McChrystal's Facts pertaining to the Fundamentalist Islamic Shia Republic of Iran and "This Administration Does Not Know What It Is Doing", President Obama allowed her to make a Fool of herself and President Obama's Administration.
What next you want me to explain to you the "Fiscal Cliff". Simple Translation: The Waitress arrived with the $2.1 Trillion Bill for the meal that President Obama ate, and now he is looking for everyone else to pay.
President Obama demanded in his President's Proposal to US Congress the spending of $2.1 Trillion that was previously not budgeted for. In another President's Proposal to US Congress to pay for the previously not budgeted for $2.1 Trillion he demanded "Across the Board" Budget Cuts (Automatic Sequestration) to all previously budgeted for Programs (like Medicare, etc.), Projects (like US Army Corps of Engineer Infrastructure Projects within the US, etc.), Agencies (like FEMA, Department of Education, Veteran's Affairs, etc.) including the chopping of Benefits and Entitlements of the "47%" (actual 49%).
Before you start your uneducated response, do you know what the $2.1 Trillion was spent on. By Reelecting President Obama what the $2.1 Trillion was spent on is not to be even considered nor discussed as part of the Budget Cuts as his "Mandate" (what you wanted). Yep, by Reelecting President Obama you "won" something the Greek Economy, borrow more money from the Chinese, print more money and severe austerity measures.
Looks like Beachgirl got slammed.
Tad: Pres.Obama NEVER takes reponsibility for anything hence the reason we have no leadership and no recovery in this country. His motto is "blame anyone else but me."
barack has not taken responsibility for one thing except owebammycare and he killed bin laden in the last 4 years. He has lied about and covered up every thing he has failed at. He always finds someone else to blame for his failures. He need to go away. barack needs to man up and take responsibility for the economy, lack of jobs, failed foreign policy, his socialist agenda, the national debt, the failed job market, the failure of his billion dollar stimulus package, the wars in the middle east, the terrorist governments he supports in the middle east, etc. Take responsibility for something, anything.
DRKangel----great list of failures! ---- good work there!
At the end of our next "scary" four---the list will be so long we'll have to scroll down through a
full "net page"......just to see what "they have done" (to our country). Thanks, but no thanks, folks!
drkangel: What's up with the "barack"? Show some respect for the President even if you disagree with his politics.
barack barack barack barack... this is an open forum and referring to a president by his first name is not disrespecting him unless he is the poster being responded to...barack...is that you?
The Animal Farmers seem confused. The difference with Bush was he was provided inaccurate information, the Obama administration was provided with accurate information, as the hearings testify, and failed to act.
Joe " Turrets syndrome " Biden.
Failed to react or refused help?
They were told to stand down and not assist.
Hope springs eternal for you conspiracy theory people. I can introduce you to Oliver Stone if you have a good treatment (script).
But.. I would not think you should hold your breath.
You are living in your own fantasy world...
Stupidity springs eternal for those who refuse look beyond their own ideology. Your fantasy world involves ignoring factual evidence of ineptitude and outright negligence.
Sociopathic personalities do not suffer from guilt feelings. Every successful politician has to be a sociopath or they would commit suicide from not being able to live with themselves.
beachbum: Stay in the present.
Under Beachbums idea of governing, the buck no longer stops at the president's desk. Libs have thrown holding somebody responsible for their failings out the window. Matters not to Beachbum that 4-Americans were slaughtered while our government watched on TV via a drone. Could it be Hillary fainted, hit her head, and got a concussion because of her anxiety knowing the report on this failed administration's security for our government representatives would point all the way through her to Obama? When I voted for Obama in '08, I had high expectations. The Obama Administration has become the administration of low expectations. And the Dems were able to buy the votes they needed to give Obama a second term from the pockets of those of us that still pay taxes and by borrowing money from China.
I wonder how many more times Beachbum will bring up Bush while talking about the warzone in Libya.
No more - but it is a valid comparison.....4 tragic deathes compared to 406,000 tragic deaths - how do you compare this MC Gusto? Seems kinda obvious to me....but over to you for your thoughts?
Beach bum. 4 people didn't die in Libya.
Estimates are over 75,000 died in Libya.
we ( America ) fired 22,000 rockets or missiles.
Obama did that. Most of the dead were sub Saharan Africans. Black men.
75,000> 4
you dumbarse liberals need mental health evaluations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's with the funny number?
I thought it was RENO 911.
What a shock. Droopy Dog Liebermann is involved in attacking a Democratic administration. He will NOT be missed.
What a shock. A Democratic administration denying any wrongdoing and having their sheeple lap it up.
No, not a shock,better term is joke. Come on to CT. and you still might have time to catch Lye -bermann on his farewell diner tour as he thanks the idiots of CT. for keeping him in office for so long. If your lucky,you might catch his replacement Chris "the cockroach"Murphy, and the "Bloodsucker" Blumenthal entourage as the funerals for the victims of Sandy Hook are over and their camera and live twitter opportunity has ended and would love any camera time they might get with Jerk off Joe!
I don't understand what the big deal is.
People saying there isn't enough security at schools now. Now people want armed teachers and police walking the halls at schools? Where is the money for all that?
Wasn't enough airport security before 9-11. Now we have absolutely over the top wasted money on security now. A British citizen that has trained for the Olympics in Portland OR for the last 8 years (Won 2 gold medals months ago) is now labeled a terrorist for no other reason than he travels to a lot. Gone way over the line of common sense in the airport department.
Seriously, are we suppose to have 3 dozen armed guards working 12 hour shifts in every single consulate/embassy we have around the globe? Metal detectors, wands, and bomb sniffers at every location? Maybe some armoured cars or light APC's? Maybe more to fight off a hoard of 2 thousand people?
It happened in Benghazi but it could have happened at ANY embassy we have in any country.
It was an ATTACK.
Was their anyway to see the OK City bombing before it happened? What about Pearl Harbor?
Be real people...
We got hit, learn the lesson and make a few changes, if changes are required. But there is NO attack that can be seen ahead of time. And it certainly isn't any one mans fault for a system that has been in place for years and years.
Did we blame the Secretary of Education for school shootings?
Did we blame the Secretary of Transportation for lack of airport security for 9-11?
What about OK City Bombing. Did anyone ask the building owner/manager why they didn't have enough security on the floor level to prevent a huge bomb truck from going off?
Did anyone point a finger at Roosevelt for letting Pearl Harbor be so poorly defended?
The answer is no.
Wrong Accountable, Benhgazi was known by this adminstration including the State Dept to be an AQ hotspot from previous attacks on the consulate during the summer. They failed miserably denying additional support after repeated warnings from Stevens and his staff about the increasing presence of AQ and more possible attacks.
There is no excuse for intentional ignorance and incompetence to defend Obama's claim that AQ was being defeated and on the run. That his Middle East foreign policies were and still are failure. Benghazi became a soft target because of it.
Pssst! Be Accountable, the State Department and Obama's administration was warned of impending attacks and terrorist activities in June, four months in advance and refused to fortify--per the hearing testimonies.
I agree with you one hundred percent. We always go in after the fact and try to make some one to blame. On that same day that those people were killed, we killed over 100 on the highways, just as dead, just as missed, just as stupid.
The so called junior officers that were thrown under the bus for the Benghazi debacle never left the payroll!
WTF?
Listen up all you ..us dumbasses. No one gives a damn..it's old news..just like the 3,000 killed in 911 on Bush's watch and the other thousands he sent to war in Iraq under false information. Oh and if we can just forget and wish away the fact that 20 babies were blown apart .. if there ain't nothing as important and brutal as that..to me it's like 911 unthinkable till it happened..next time i guess itsadly won't be that unthinkable.. ..well you get what you deserve. The GOP is so very dense and out of touch..no one gives a rat's ass about Ben-gay-z ..sleep tight holding your precious guns tontie..in case the boogy man comes..oh nooo..guess it was just a nightmare about Obamaaaaaaaaaaa..booooo!!
The report hasn't even been released yet.
No time line has been produced yet.
No one has lost their job yet.
Old news?
MC Gusto That must be Beachbums partner.
Beach bum can pound sand.
So....do you think you pretty much represent the viewpoint of most libs? What happened to the 'educated elite' libs?
A lot more were killed last month in CT. And they were children, lets put thing in perspective.
I must need to get an urban dictionary.
What does TRANSPARENCY mean?
Funny that there is absolutely no mention of the Republican consulate members (rats fleeing the ship) who were actually in control of security and are now resigning as fast as they can,,,,,,,,Or the fact that extra security was requested and denied by House Republicans
Where the hell do you get your misinformation from?
Barrack Obama POTUS via Hilary Clinton SOS were in charge of security and are responsible for the lives and safety of the ambassadors and staff that work for them. It all flows down hill from them, No republican are involved in any of this Charlene Lamb who works for the State Dept testified under oath that there was no funding problems, They had plenty of money for security, In fact they had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars installing charging stations for Chevy Volts used by state dept Officials at the Austrian Embassy. Money was never a problem, It was Incompetence and arrogance.
Bo: You are WRONG. More Democrats than Republicans voted for a cut in funds and like it or not Hillary Clinton AND our President dropped the ball. For god's sake it was 9/11, what did they think would happen when the Ambassador was requesting more protection.
Oh, come on, the solution is simple. What we do, see, is send a few of the gun enthusiasts over to each embassy. You know the people who need a Ozzie, or AR-15, or browning machine gun for home defense, and let them live there in the embassy. They might finally get their dream, to shoot at attacking hoards of crazies. And they'd be real, not just imagined.
Not bad, huh? They'd be happy living in a real fancy house and get free room, board and ammo. Maybe even free cable TV.
The repubs are beating this to death, I guess they don't have anything better to do.
"Beating this to death? Is it fair to say you don't care what happened to four of your fellow Americans?
I know it's fair to state that you're a bigot and that you likely cannot comprehend why anyone would call you that.
Justfor. Is it fair to say you are trying to use Benghazi for Political fodder?
Grandpa, Since when is investigating the deaths of 4 Americans and holding the persons responsible for those deaths accountable political fodder.
You are the same idiots that tried to blame Mitt Romney for the cancer death of a woman whose husband had worked at a company that Bain capital bought out when it was going bankrupt and that same husband was offered a substantial buy out compensation package even when that woman had her own health care package from the place she worked.
JUSTFOR,LOSTIN, no, I'm not happy that four Americans were killed. But all this is hindsight, full of "woulda, shoulda, coulda". If you want to blame somebody so bad, how about the terrorists that looked around for a good target, and picked that one? Most of them probably don't even live there. Oh, that's right, you couldn't make political hay out of that, could you?
The fact that the relatives of those men said they didn't want the memories of those men used like this, leads me to believe you don't care about the wishes of the relatives of those men or care about those men, except you've made them martyrs in your great political cause. I'm sure those men and their relatives would be happy that they were to be remembered not for themselves and what they accomplished, but that they were used as political tools.
"beating this to death" No 4 Americans died for no reason but a lapse in judgement from those who were elected/appointed to protect them.
God you all need to be hit over the head with a brick.. im not saying OLD NEWS as in WHEN it happened..im referring to the attention span of this country..and frankly yeah its sad that 4 gov't employees were killed but there are far worse horrors like i mentioned in my previous about those innocent lives of civilians, babes and our children sent to a war of lies in iraq to die. ...enough already..just take precuations that it does not happen again..we have more important issues.. the GOP wanting to hang someone..when actually they didn't even want to pass money for more security.. so stfu... and wake up no matter what your still going to have 4 years of Obama..get over it..lol
Seems like your meds are wearing off. We can all tell when you're hallucinating.
Sad???? Sad is what you can it when 4 Americans are killed??? I call it CRIMINAL, IRRESPONSIBLE, AND HANEOUS. They had warnings, and ignored them. That is CRIMINAL and wholsale deriliction of duty...you need to get your head screwed on a little tighter.
Dee: If someone is murdered in this country, you best believe the investigations are ramped up and someone has to pay for the murders. Someone has to be held accountable for the 4 Americans who were killed just because they were Americans otherwise we won't even feel safe on our own soil. The lapse in judgement by our Pres. and Hillary needs to be addressed with Americans knowing the whole truth. Our Ambassador was not in the military. He was a peaceful man on a mission to help the people of that country and he should have been protected.
Hmm; I was a contractor in Saudi from '87 to 2006 and a lone Pakistani was the 'security' at the Dhahran Consulate. Any trouble and he would outrun the Roadrunner into the desert.
I'm just astounded at the insolent comments from the Obama drones! You libs are either completely ignorant of the facts or you are so drunk on the koolaid that you don't care. Either way, it's quite clear that the lives of those serving our country mean little to you.
Libs tried to blame Repubs for making Benghazi a political issue, but the truth is that if the CNN reporter who found Ambassador Stevens' diary hadn't made it known - against this Administration's wishes - that Mr. Stevens feared for his life, Obama would still be whining on about a video.
Maybe if you'd gotten out of bed in time to watch the Hearings, you'd have known that money WAS NOT an issue in denying more security for Benghazi. However, as this was NOT an 'official' consulate and was undertaking some rather shady dealings, too much security would have drawn unwanted attention, and so was denied. Ask Eric Nordstrom, who stated that "The Taliban is in the White House".
There were specific reasons why Ambassador Stevens was operating out of Benghazi and not Tripoli, and why the CIA and SEALs were there and why they were dealing with officials from Turkey. Is it too complicated for you Libs to get beyond your own rhetoric and think for yourselves? Is it easier to yell "conspiracy theories", than to question why Obama was blaming some irrelevant video for the attack?
Aside from the fact that extra security requests were denied - several times - and the fact that those working in Benghazi knew the situation was a ticking time bomb, this Administration has yet to answer the specific questions regarding who gave the orders to stand down, what exactly was Mr. Stevens' mission, and why nothing was done to help when Americans were begging for assistance....in spite of the FACT that resources WERE available.
I could go on, but you libs obviously can't see beyond your Golden Boy. It's really a shame that you're not intelligent enough to do a little research, think for yourselves, and comprehend a fact when it hits you upside your head. Go ahead and continue blaming Republicans, other Americans...or whomever, and spew your garbage about Bush, Reagan....anyone but your own kind. I guess it's easier to dredge up the past or point your finger elsewhere, than to admit that the person you voted for is a failure in foreign policy and a chronic liar.
Where does the "buck" stop within this administration? What will the American people hold Obama responsible for? How about the American Press, when will we see some main stream media people hold the community organizer responsible?
Nixon was canned for far less than this. Did you get your Obama phone?
Someone in the government should pay dearly for this inability to perform their function as required. I say heads should roll. Fire who ever was responsible, all of them. We seem to have lost the ability to win in these situations. Screw the private contractors who are becoming ever more wealthy off the government. Send in the Marines and in the situations that arise we will give you security and a high body count of attackers.
This is just another story about failed US foreign policy that started in 1953 with the CIAs attempt at nation building in Iran , For over 60yrs the US agents have tried to shape the world in our image and likeness as thou we were the most civilized nation in history . We rank at the top for people imprisoned and close to the top in mass murders .
We can't accept any critique of our ways yet think the rest of the world is below us , classic might makes right attitude we got from our British forefathers or do you think that faded with our racist ways , NOT
You can't make people love us and telling them you have to kill them for their own good doesn't seem to work either . the CIA tells us every day there are more terrorist in the pipeline . People just like them that are willing to die to defend their version of life not ours .
So why be a pussy about , drop the bombs , we moralized it twice before so the third time should be easy