No 'Stand Down' Order In Benghazi, Despite What Darrell Issa Said

[Lakhota]

I remember that first 24 hours.. A lot of us were here posting.. A report came out that Barry went to bed.. That's the last I heard regarding his whereabouts that night.

Barry went to bed? Holy shit, imagine that. The military was in charge, so what was he supposed to do - knowing there would be a shitstorm the following morning. The man needed rest.

 

[kaz]

I have faith that as CinC he did what his experienced military and civilian advisers gave him the options of doing. It's like the Bush Goat Book 911 shit -- what was he gonna do?

Geesh!

Well, Kerry said he'd jump up flinging the kids on his lap into the wall, run around in circles grabbing his head like his hair was on fire screaming, "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die" then run out of the room and take tactical command of the situation.

At that point, the first plane had flown into the tower and the second was about to. No, there's nothing that shrieking and freaking out like the leftists like Dante wanted would have made any difference.

However, Benghazi was different for two reasons. First, they had hours to respond, they weren't in the middle of the attack. Apparently Dante didn't follow it too closely. Second, it wasn't a military decision that prevented them from getting help, it was a political one.

Those of us who care about the Country and the truth want to know why. Those of us who care about the Democratic party don't want to know because you know it's not going to be good for the Democratic party. We all know that, but "what difference does it make now?" It makes a shit load of difference. That's what difference it makes now.

what makes you certain that a political decision, not a military decision, was the reason troops weren't sent?

Because if the military is requested for assistance, they don't wait hours to respond. And then don't respond at all, which is what happened.

 

[Peach]

Issa's criminal record makes his statements suspect:

A member of Issa’s Army unit, Jay Bergey, told Williams that his most vivid recollection of the young Issa was that in December, 1971, Issa stole his car, a yellow Dodge Charger. “I confronted Issa,” Bergey said in 1998. “I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.”

Ok, maybe that was a prank, but after that, there was this:

On March 15, 1972, three months after Issa allegedly stole Jay Bergey’s car and one month after he left the Army for the first time, Ohio police arrested Issa and his older brother, William, and charged them with stealing a red Maserati from a Cleveland showroom. The judge eventually dismissed the case.

While the Maserati case was pending, Issa went to college. Just before 11 p.m. on Friday, December 1, 1972, two police officers on patrol in the small town of Adrian noticed Issa driving a yellow Volkswagen the wrong way down a one-way street. The police pulled him over, and, as Issa retrieved the car registration, an officer saw something peculiar in the glove compartment. He searched it, and, according to the police report, found a .25-calibre Colt automatic inside a box of ammunition, along with a “military pouch” that contained “44 rounds of ammo and a tear gas gun and two rounds of ammo for it.” Issa was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. The policeman asked why he was armed. “He stated in Ohio you could carry a gun as long as you had a justifiable reason,” the report said. “His justifiable reason was for his car’s protection and his.” Issa pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of possession of an unregistered gun. He paid a small fine and was sentenced to six months’ probation.

Never made to Vietnam, of course.

 

[kaz]

I have faith that as CinC he did what his experienced military and civilian advisers gave him the options of doing. It's like the Bush Goat Book 911 shit -- what was he gonna do?

Geesh!

Well, Kerry said he'd jump up flinging the kids on his lap into the wall, run around in circles grabbing his head like his hair was on fire screaming, "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die" then run out of the room and take tactical command of the situation.

At that point, the first plane had flown into the tower and the second was about to. No, there's nothing that shrieking and freaking out like the leftists like Dante wanted would have made any difference.

However, Benghazi was different for two reasons. First, they had hours to respond, they weren't in the middle of the attack. Apparently Dante didn't follow it too closely. Second, it wasn't a military decision that prevented them from getting help, it was a political one.

Those of us who care about the Country and the truth want to know why. Those of us who care about the Democratic party don't want to know because you know it's not going to be good for the Democratic party. We all know that, but "what difference does it make now?" It makes a shit load of difference. That's what difference it makes now.

lots of wingnutty opinions masquerading as facts...is that all you've got?

I don't have anything, Homer, which is what I said, I said I want to know what happened. What are you afraid of that you're in favor of blocking finding out?

 

[Lakhota]

Well, Kerry said he'd jump up flinging the kids on his lap into the wall, run around in circles grabbing his head like his hair was on fire screaming, "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die" then run out of the room and take tactical command of the situation.

At that point, the first plane had flown into the tower and the second was about to. No, there's nothing that shrieking and freaking out like the leftists like Dante wanted would have made any difference.

However, Benghazi was different for two reasons. First, they had hours to respond, they weren't in the middle of the attack. Apparently Dante didn't follow it too closely. Second, it wasn't a military decision that prevented them from getting help, it was a political one.

Those of us who care about the Country and the truth want to know why. Those of us who care about the Democratic party don't want to know because you know it's not going to be good for the Democratic party. We all know that, but "what difference does it make now?" It makes a shit load of difference. That's what difference it makes now.

what makes you certain that a political decision, not a military decision, was the reason troops weren't sent?

Because if the military is requested for assistance, they don't wait hours to respond. And then don't respond at all, which is what happened.

Really? I suggest you go back and carefully read through this thread again...

 

[kaz]

Well, Kerry said he'd jump up flinging the kids on his lap into the wall, run around in circles grabbing his head like his hair was on fire screaming, "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die" then run out of the room and take tactical command of the situation.

At that point, the first plane had flown into the tower and the second was about to. No, there's nothing that shrieking and freaking out like the leftists like Dante wanted would have made any difference.

However, Benghazi was different for two reasons. First, they had hours to respond, they weren't in the middle of the attack. Apparently Dante didn't follow it too closely. Second, it wasn't a military decision that prevented them from getting help, it was a political one.

Those of us who care about the Country and the truth want to know why. Those of us who care about the Democratic party don't want to know because you know it's not going to be good for the Democratic party. We all know that, but "what difference does it make now?" It makes a shit load of difference. That's what difference it makes now.

what makes you certain that a political decision, not a military decision, was the reason troops weren't sent?

Solely military as the MILITARY officers testified; those cheering ISSA are ignoring his repeated half truths, and shady political moves.

So you seriously believe that the request for assistance went to the military, the politicians stayed out of it, and the military twiddled their thumbs for hours and never could figure out what to do until finally they were dead and they still hadn't done anything.

Seriously, you believe that.

 

[kaz]

what makes you certain that a political decision, not a military decision, was the reason troops weren't sent?

Because if the military is requested for assistance, they don't wait hours to respond. And then don't respond at all, which is what happened.

Really? I suggest you go back and carefully read through this thread again...

The thread says there was no "stand down order."

There also was no action. Liberals are equating "no stand down order" with that the politicians stayed completely out of it and didn't interfere. I don't know if you're more stupid or more gullible, it's not an easy call.

 

[Little-Acorn]

I see the liberals are still frantically juggling words and parsing phrases, tryin to pretend we didn't let the personnel in Benghazi die when we could have helped.

"Stand Down" has a slightly different meaning from "No, don't go to where they are fighting, go back to your barracks and put away your equipment".

As if that difference had any real significance to what was going on.

But the liberals are screaming (as they did right after the actual events), "See?? See?? There WASN'T a "Stand Down" order!!! Not exactly!"

These people are quite sick.

Diplomat: U.S. Special Forces told "you can't go" to Benghazi during attacks - CBS News

Diplomat: U.S. Special Forces told "you can't go" to Benghazi during attacks

by Sharyl Attkisson/CBS News
May 6, 2013, 6:20 PM

The deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens has told congressional investigators that a team of Special Forces prepared to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi during the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks was forbidden from doing so by U.S. Special Operations Command Africa.

U.S. diplomat contradicts White House on Benghazi

The account from Gregory Hicks is in stark contrast to assertions from the Obama administration, which insisted that nobody was ever told to stand down and that all available resources were utilized. Hicks gave private testimony to congressional investigators last month in advance of his upcoming appearance at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

According to excerpts released Monday, Hicks told investigators that SOCAFRICA commander Lt. Col. Gibson and his team were on their way to board a C-130 from Tripoli for Benghazi prior to an attack on a second U.S. compound "when [Col. Gibson] got a phone call from SOCAFRICA which said, 'you can't go now, you don't have the authority to go now.' And so they missed the flight ... They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it."

No assistance arrived from the U.S. military outside of Libya during the hours that Americans were under attack or trapped inside compounds by hostile forces armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles.

Hicks told congressional investigators that if the U.S. had quickly sent a military aircraft over Benghazi, it might have saved American lives. The U.S. Souda Bay Naval Base is an hour's flight from Libya.

 

[kaz]

Well, that's good enough for me. Will these facts from military leaders stop the Benghazi conspiracy theorists? I doubt it...

Let's say that it's true there was no stand down order. That doesn't explain why the Obama administration didn't send anyone to help them. I don't know what "conspiracy theorists" will look for, but those of us with critical minds want to know why we didn't send them help, which this doesn't answer, and why the Obama administration impeded an investigation into the matter, which this doesn't matter for either.

The CIA launched a rescue attempt on the building within 25-30 minutes of the initial assault.

http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/benghazi2014/benghazi.pdf

Did their choppers get lost in a desert sandstorm? Where were they for the hours between the request for help and the death of the people in the consulate? Don't give me an 85 page government document, I've read too many of those already.

 

[TooTall]

Issa's criminal record makes his statements suspect:

A member of Issa’s Army unit, Jay Bergey, told Williams that his most vivid recollection of the young Issa was that in December, 1971, Issa stole his car, a yellow Dodge Charger. “I confronted Issa,” Bergey said in 1998. “I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.”

Ok, maybe that was a prank, but after that, there was this:

On March 15, 1972, three months after Issa allegedly stole Jay Bergey’s car and one month after he left the Army for the first time, Ohio police arrested Issa and his older brother, William, and charged them with stealing a red Maserati from a Cleveland showroom. The judge eventually dismissed the case.

While the Maserati case was pending, Issa went to college. Just before 11 p.m. on Friday, December 1, 1972, two police officers on patrol in the small town of Adrian noticed Issa driving a yellow Volkswagen the wrong way down a one-way street. The police pulled him over, and, as Issa retrieved the car registration, an officer saw something peculiar in the glove compartment. He searched it, and, according to the police report, found a .25-calibre Colt automatic inside a box of ammunition, along with a “military pouch” that contained “44 rounds of ammo and a tear gas gun and two rounds of ammo for it.” Issa was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. The policeman asked why he was armed. “He stated in Ohio you could carry a gun as long as you had a justifiable reason,” the report said. “His justifiable reason was for his car’s protection and his.” Issa pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of possession of an unregistered gun. He paid a small fine and was sentenced to six months’ probation.

Never made to Vietnam, of course.

Character assassination of Issa has NOTHING to do with help not being sent to Benghazi. Why don't we talk about Clinton and his 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinski." It would be just as germane to the subject of this thread.

 

[Borillar]

Did Obama sit there and watch those men die or was he playing cards with his friend while they died?

He was roasting puppies over a fire fueled by aborted fetuses.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Originally written May 2013

Finally, after puttering around with stories and videos and lies after the attacks, Congress is beginning to get at the real scandal in Benghazi.

What happened after the attacks, and who lied to whom and how, is less important than why security there was left to deteriorate for months, even while attacks were going on, bombs were blowing 12-foot holes in the consulate walls, and Amb. Stevens was pleading for months for more security.

That summer, Obama was crowing over "Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive!". He was desperately trying to fool American voters into thinking he had defeated Al Qaeda and they were "on the run". And the increasing attacks by Al Qaeda were not fitting into the glossy image he was trying to project.

Sending MORE security into areas like Benghazi, Cairo etc. would have done even more harm to his story... so he simply didn't do it. Instead he reduced security, pulled out American agents, and in some cases substituted Libyan personnel for the American security troops. He was hoping this would look good to American voters who weren't paying much attention.

By the first week in September 2012, there were exactly three American security personnel at the consulate in Benghazi. The gate guards and patrols had been replaced by Libyans... and they were unarmed, with nothing but whistles and batons. And so, when the major attack came on Sept. 11, 2012, the people in the consulate didn't have much chance.

Basically, the lives of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans, were sacrificed so that Obama could get more votes three weeks later in the November, 2012 election.

And that is the real scandal of Benghazi. Obama hopes fervently that people will keep complaining about Susan Rice and lies about a video afterward... because then they aren't complaining about what killed Amb. Stevens and three other Americans: Months of fatal, flagrant neglect of consulate security for the purpose of gaining votes.

------------------------------------------------------

CBS News - Breaking News, U.S., World, Business, Entertainment & Video

The Obama administration -- and the State Department in particular -- has been accused by Republican lawmakers and some former U.S. officials who worked in Libya of ignoring warning signs and even rejecting pleas for increased security around American offices in the country ahead of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, which left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others dead.

The House Oversight Committee will begin questioning three senior State Department staff on Capitol Hill Wednesday over claims that dozens of U.S. security personnel were removed from Libya in the six months leading up to the attack, in spite of alleged requests to increase personnel levels from American officials on the ground.

According to one of the key witnesses expected to testify before the committee this week, even Ambassador Stevens himself had repeatedly requested more security personnel, but was turned down.

Lt. Col. Andy Wood, the former head of a U.S. Special Forces "Site Security Team" in Libya, has told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson that he and many other senior staff at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, "felt we needed more, not less" security personnel in the country, but were told "to do with less.

For what reasons, I don't know."

This begins to get at the real scandal in Benghazi.

 

[ogibillm]

Well, that's good enough for me. Will these facts from military leaders stop the Benghazi conspiracy theorists? I doubt it...

That doesn't explain why the Obama administration didn't send anyone to help them. I don't know what "conspiracy theorists" will look for, but those of us with critical minds want to know why we didn't send them help, which this doesn't answer, and why the Obama administration impeded an investigation into the matter, which this doesn't matter for either.

this lie that no help was sent will live on. facts don't matter, it's that narrative that has been accepted.

 

[kaz]

Well, that's good enough for me. Will these facts from military leaders stop the Benghazi conspiracy theorists? I doubt it...

That doesn't explain why the Obama administration didn't send anyone to help them. I don't know what "conspiracy theorists" will look for, but those of us with critical minds want to know why we didn't send them help, which this doesn't answer, and why the Obama administration impeded an investigation into the matter, which this doesn't matter for either.

this lie that no help was sent will live on. facts don't matter, it's that narrative that has been accepted.

Explain how if help was requested hours before they were attacked and it was sent that they died. The "lie" will end when you can explain it so it makes sense rather than sounding like a pathetically shallow talking point to protect your messiah.

 

[ogibillm]

That doesn't explain why the Obama administration didn't send anyone to help them. I don't know what "conspiracy theorists" will look for, but those of us with critical minds want to know why we didn't send them help, which this doesn't answer, and why the Obama administration impeded an investigation into the matter, which this doesn't matter for either.

this lie that no help was sent will live on. facts don't matter, it's that narrative that has been accepted.

Explain how if help was requested hours before they were attacked and it was sent that they died. The "lie" will end when you can explain it so it makes sense rather than sounding like a pathetically shallow talking point to protect your messiah.

you claim no help was sent. that's been proven false in this very thread. you're sticking to your guns, claiming no help was sent, proving my point.

the facts don't matter. the myths will live on.

 

[Siete]

Robert Gates former Secretary of Defense under Bush described the comments of those calling the Benghazi event as "cartoonish"

judging from the RW numbskulls on this thread I say he was being kind.

 

[Siete]

Gates defends Benghazi response, says critics have ?cartoonish? view of military | TheHill


To send some small number of special forces or other troops in without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on on the ground, I think, would have been very dangerous,” said Gates in an interview aired on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“Personally, I would not have approved that because we just don't it's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces,” he continued. “The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way. And there just wasn't time to do that.”


Read more: http://thehill.com/video/sunday-sho...ave-cartoonish-view-of-military#ixzz376ftlDZ9
Follow us: [MENTION=27326]The[/MENTION]hill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

 

[NYcarbineer]

To paraphrase that old Popeye cartoon...

Benghazi, Benghazi, Baloney.

 

[kaz]

this lie that no help was sent will live on. facts don't matter, it's that narrative that has been accepted.

Explain how if help was requested hours before they were attacked and it was sent that they died. The "lie" will end when you can explain it so it makes sense rather than sounding like a pathetically shallow talking point to protect your messiah.

you claim no help was sent. that's been proven false in this very thread. you're sticking to your guns, claiming no help was sent, proving my point.

the facts don't matter. the myths will live on.

Where did it go? Did they get lost? I already asked you if the choppers got stuck in a sand storm in the desert. They requested help, hours went by, they got murdered. How does that constitute their having been sent help? Instead of dodging, answer the question. Did they send a boy scout who was on his way from Peoria? How if they had hours to rescue them and they died did they receive help? Did they stop in a lovely cafe on the way and just lose track of time? Did they send positive vibes? Where was this help if they ... wait for it ... died!

Obama: Hey, hand me the phone a sec. {Pause} Hey, we're with ya man, I feel ya. Never feel alone, we're here to help. Just call any time, we'll send help. That's why you're calling? For crying out loud, I said I'm with you, what do you want exactly? Soldiers? Tanks? What for? We're with you, you need more than that? You do? Well, that's just ridiculous. Call back when you get a grip. In the mean time, we're with ya man, just call anytime. But not before Thursday. See ya man, bed time!

 

[TooTall]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The testimony of nine military officers undermines contentions by Republican lawmakers that a "stand-down order" held back military assets that could have saved the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans killed at a diplomatic outpost and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya.

The "stand-down" theory centers on a Special Operations team of four — a detachment leader, a medic, a communications expert and a weapons operator with his foot in a cast — who were stopped from flying from Tripoli to Benghazi after the attacks of Sept. 11-12, 2012, had ended. Instead, they were instructed to help protect and care for those being evacuated from Benghazi and from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

The senior military officer who issued the instruction to "remain in place" and the detachment leader who received it said it was the right decision and has been widely mischaracterized. The order was to remain in Tripoli and protect some three dozen embassy personnel rather than fly to Benghazi some 600 miles away after all Americans there would have been evacuated. And the medic is credited with saving the life of an evacuee from the attacks.

Transcripts of hours of closed-door interviews with the military leaders by the House Armed Services and Oversight and Government Reform committees were made public for the first time on Wednesday. The Associated Press had reviewed the material ahead of its release.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the Oversight panel, has suggested Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the order, though as secretary of state at the time, she was not in the military chain of command.

MORE: No 'Stand Down' Order In Benghazi, Despite What Darrell Issa Said

Well, that's good enough for me. Will these facts from military leaders stop the Benghazi conspiracy theorists? I doubt it...

Here is what a retired General had to say now that Obama can't do anything to him.

WASHINGTON – A retired U.S. general who played a key role in counter-terrorism planning for Libya affirmed to Congress Thursday that when a barrage of heavily armed al-Qaida-backed terrorists overran a U.S. compound in Benghazi, the military did not run toward the sound of the guns.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Lovell, the deputy head of intelligence at the Africa Command when the attack occurred, was put on the spot by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.

Chaffetz asked, “We didn’t run to the sound of the guns. They were issuing press releases. We had Americans dying. We had dead people. We had wounded people. And our military didn’t try to engage in that fight. Would you disagree with that?”

Lovell replied: “Four individuals died. Sir, we obviously did not respond in time to get there.”

Chaffetz, whose time for questioning had expired, followed up, “Could we have?”

Lovell, who was testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, paused.
“We may have been able to, but we’ll never know,” he said.

“Because we didn’t try,” Chaffetz concluded.

Read more at General affirms: Military didn?t run toward sound of guns