Despite Hillary Clinton’s emotional response, while defending her department’s actions/failures during the embassy fatal attack in Benghazi, few new facts emerged.
Quotes from the Hill: During today’s testimony, Hillary Clinton said, “I was focused on keeping our people safe.”
Which people?
Here are some quick facts about the assistance THAT WAS NOT SENT. From one of my articles last Oct., and confirmed by Fox News & NBC News:
- Benghazi was a 7 hr attack
- 8 special operations soldiers were sent from Tripoli to Benghazi
- Fast Team of Marines sent from Spain to guard embassy in Tripoli
- Special Operations force was moved from Central Europe to Air Force base southern Italy
- F16 Apache helicopters remained parked in Air Force Base in northern Italy
- 2 Navy Destroyers were moved that day to the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean but were never used
- The attacks were watched in real time either by drones above or cameras on site
“We didn’t know who the attackers were or what their motives were,” she said. “The picture remains still remains somewhat complicated.”
Well, apparently U.S. Intelligence officials knew because back on Sept. 26th they told the Daily Beast that within 24 hours they knew the operatives involved in the U.S. consulate attack in Libya were Al Qaeda affiliated; “There was very good information on this in the first 24 hours. These guys have a return address.”
Incidentally, the Obama Administration then scrubbed the website of the Overseas Security Advisory Council, that is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security under the U.S. Department of State. This screenshot was captured by blogger Speak With Authority who discovered that five days before 9-11 the US State Department sent out a memo reporting no security threats were reported for Sept. 11th.
See Gateway Pundit for details.
Also, Libyan officials warned the U.S. THREE DAYS EARLIER that security at the U.S. consulate was deteriorating.
From Fox News Sept. 19th:
Fox News has obtained a three-page intelligence report showing that two days before the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, a statement incited “sons of Egypt” to pressure America to release the so-called blind sheikh “even if it requires burning the embassy down with everyone in it.”
The web statement, apparently posted on Sept. 9, was in reference to the embassy in Egypt. It preceded a throng of demonstrators breaching the U.S. Embassy wall in Cairo, supposedly in protest over an anti-Islam film. Obama administration officials claim that attackers in Libya then took their cue from Cairo and seized the opportunity to attack the consulate in Benghazi.
Though the administration’s version of events is still evolving, the three-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report further highlights potential threats that were being picked up before last week’s attack.
The DHS report, released on Sept. 11, said an “unidentified user” on an Arabic-language forum posted the statement “inciting Egyptians to target the U.S. Embassy, indicating the U.S. Embassy shouldn’t remain in Egypt” until Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as the blind sheikh, is released. Abdel-Rahman, who played a role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other attacks, is serving a life sentence in U.S. prison.
The DHS document described the source of the warning as “fairly reliable.”
There has been a large disinformation campaign about Libya that really began the day of the attack, as I chronicled the timeline of events. The Heritage Foundation has also found this to be true:
Stubborn Fact #1:
Marine Security Guards do protect classified material. “The secondary mission of the MSG is to provide protection for U.S. citizens and U.S government property located within designated U.S. diplomatic and consular premises during exigent circumstances (urgent temporary circumstances which require immediate aid or action.)”.
Mrs. Clinton said, “Historically, Marine guards do not protect personnel. Their job is to protect classified material and destroy it if necessary.”
Stubborn Fact #2:
Military assistance during the Benghazi attack was denied.
Mrs. Clinton said:
“No delays in decision-making. No denials of support from Washington or from the military.”
From Fox News:
“Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later on the annex itself was denied by the CIA chain of command — who also told the CIA operators twice to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.”
Nearly 7 hours after the initial attack Woods & former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty were killed by mortar fire. TWO forces who “specializes in counterterrorism rescues” were less than TWO HOURS away in Sigonella, Italy. They were never called.
Stubborn Fact #3:
It wasn’t until Sept. 21st that Mrs. Clinton came out and stated that the attack on the Benghazi Embassy was indeed a “terror attack.” AP reported this, but that article has been “conveniently” moved or misplaced. Thankfully, the Daily Beast website is more reliable.
Mrs. Clinton said:
“The very next morning, I told the American people that “heavily armed militants assaulted our compound” and vowed to bring them to justice. And I stood with President Obama as he spoke of “an act of terror.”
Hmm, I guess Mrs. Clinton must have been on the plane to Las Vegas too, because that is where Mr. Obama flew off to the next morning so he wasn’t late for his fundraiser for his Re-Election Campaign.
“What difference, at this point, does it make?”
The difference is the American people were lied to for several days and told a tale that was shown to be a lie by everyone, including the Libyan President, but President Obama and the State Department.
Stubborn Fact #4:
“Both [drones] were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C.”
From Fox News:
Fox News has learned that there were two military surveillance drones redirected to Benghazi shortly after the attack on the consulate began. They were already in the vicinity. The second surveillance craft was sent to relieve the first drone, perhaps due to fuel issues. Both were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. Any U.S. official or agency with the proper clearance, including the White House Situation Room, State Department, CIA, Pentagon and others, could call up that video in real time on their computers.
From the Blaze:
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.): “At any time did you see the initial attack on a monitor with the president?”
Mrs. Clinton replied: “Congressman, there was no monitor, there was no real time. We got the surveillance videos some weeks later, that was the first time we saw any video of the attack.”
Stubborn Fact #5:
“They’re a greater threat than they were back on September 11, because of the fact that they are much more spread out, the fact that there is active recruiting going on, people under the radar screen, and if you talk to intelligence experts, most will agree with that.”
Rep. King from the Washington Times:
“That is the consensus of most intelligence experts,” he said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “What they’ve done is they are now more under the radar screen, they’re more spread out, and they’re harder to define. It was great killing … [Osama] bin Laden, I give President Obama credit for that, for bin Laden being killed, but having said that, he was one element, because al Qaeda [had] shifted. And it [had] shifted its emphasis from being a centralized force to being a diversified, diverse force, which is harder to track down. They’re under the radar screen in many cases.”
“They’re a greater threat than they were back on September 11, because of the fact that they are much more spread out, the fact that there is active recruiting going on, people under the radar screen, and if you talk to intelligence experts, most will agree with that,” Mr. King continued. “That on September 11 and the immediate years afterwards we knew who they were, we know we had a generalized idea of how to get them, and we were getting them one by one. And the culmination was when President Obama got bin Laden in May of 2011 … but the fact is, it has now spread out into many different groups, and that is why it is considered by most intelligence experts to be more dangerous now than it was then, and that’s the story the president is not telling.”
“I think we have to take seriously all of these terrorist groups, whatever they call themselves. Now, at the moment, they don’t necessarily have either the interest or ability to attack our homeland.”
And yet, Mrs. Clinton refuses to say one way or the other if the attack on the embassy in Benghazi was caused by a video or not. Apparently since then, and in her absence, nothing has been done to answer that question in the State Department.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher To Clinton: “The Only Person That’s In Jail Right Now Is The Filmmaker.”
With the testimony of Secretary Clinton, we are left with quite possibly more questions than we had before. With her ‘not knowing,’ ‘wasn’t told,’ or ‘not part of that decision,’ in areas where she should have been informed, should have asked, or motivated to find out for herself. For someone who had more than enough extra time to, at the very least, task someone else to find the information for her in which she knew she’d be asked, Mrs. Clinton was wildly unprepared. I believe I remember similar answers coming from Eric Holder’s testimony on Fast & Furious. I guess not knowing what is going on in your department is a prerequisite for this administration. John Kerry should fit right in.
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