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I will never forget a comprehensive poll taken just before the 1972 Presidential election in which less than 1% of Americans knew what Watergate was. One of the biggest political scandals in United States history that occurred months before the election had nary a ripple on the electorate at the time but eventually led to the presidency of Gerald Ford. Flash forward to the present and we have twice the fun looking us in the eye over the next few months in Fast & Furious and Benghazi. Both of which involve extremely poor decision and cover ups like Watergate, only this time people died as a result of these poor decisions and cover ups. If subject to any close scrutiny, either scandal will lead to the impeachment of President Obama – Hello President Biden.
Fast & Furious/Obama Murdergate
In two programs code-named “Project Gunrunner” and “Operation Fast and Furious” President Obama’s Justice Department, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (the “ATF”), approved the sale to Mexican drug cartels of more than 1,800 AK-47s and 50 caliber sniper rifles. The ostensible plan was to follow the weapons across the Mexican border to allow the ATF to chart a path to the leadership of the cartels. One not so small problem, the ATF “lost track” of more than 1,000 of the assault and sniper rifles.
Unfortunately, these weapons started turning up at crime scenes and two were found at the murder of United States Border Agent Brian Terry who was killed in a gun battle with members of a Mexican drug cartel. When Agent Terry’s mother was informed about the connection between the ATF sold guns and her son’s death she responded that she was “flabbergasted.” “At first I didn’t believe it,” she said.
This program started two months into the Obama administration and was the responsibility of United States Attorney General Eric Holder. The ultimate responsibility for the programs lands at President Obama’s feet, but the President has denied any knowledge of the operations until details of the murder of Agent Terry started to emerge.
As the first shots rang out at the American Consulate in Benghazi at about 9:40 p.m. on September 11, former Navy SEALs immediately contacted their superiors informing them of the attack and requesting military assistance. Not only were the SEALs told that there would be no additional military assistance, those SEALs were told to “stand down” and not participate in the defense of the consulate. (Stand down orders) Here is the new timeline that has emerged regarding the Benghazi Consulate attack:
9:40 p.m. – First shots fired by attackers at the consulate. Navy SEALs and other personnel at the nearby annex call CIA officials requesting assistance but are told to “stand down” and not to join in the defense of the consulate. Included in those requesting assistance were Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were part of a small team who were at the CIA annex.
10:15 p.m. – The assailants gain entry to the complex and the main building is engulfed in flames. Many of those trapped inside escape but Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith and a regional security guard remain. The security guard manages to escape and returns shortly afterwards with others to try to rescue Mr Stevens and Mr Smith. They find Mr Smith dead and pulled him from the building, but no sign of Mr Stevens. They are driven from the building by thick black smoke, fire and gunfire. 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. (Fox News) Reports have clearly indicated that most if not all of the attack were watched by senior members of the State Department real-time as the battle unfolded.
10:40 – Those at the annex make a second call for military assistance and are once again told that not only will military assistance not be coming, but those on the scene are once again to “stand down” and not participate in the defence of the American Consulate. Woods, Doherty and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the Consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The quick reaction force from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the Consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight. (Attack details)
11:20 – Fighting at the consulate moves to the annex where rooftop heavy machine gunner with laser sites on attackers continually calls to request a nearby Specter gunship which is typically used to support the defense of just this kind of attack. The machine gun operator is told to “wait.” There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters.
12:00 – The fighting at the consulate and the annex went on for more than seven hours and both Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty were killed by a mortar attack at the very end of that seven hour battle. There had been plenty of time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. In addition, two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators. The forces at Sigonella Air Base could have been deployed in time to save lives:
A Special Operations team, or CIF which stands for Commanders in Extremis Force, operating in Central Europe had been moved to Sigonella, Italy, but they too were told to stand down. A second force that specializes in counterterrorism rescues was on hand at Sigonella, according to senior military and intelligence sources. According to those sources, they could have flown to Benghazi in less than two hours. They were the same distance to Benghazi as those that were sent from Tripoli. Specter gunships are commonly used by the Special Operations community to provide close air support.
According to sources on the ground during the attack, the special operator on the roof of the CIA annex had visual contact and a laser pointing at the Libyan mortar team that was targeting the CIA annex. The operators were calling in coordinates of where the Libyan forces were firing from. (Fox News)
2:00 a.m. - Ambassador Stevens suddenly appears at a nearby hospital where doctors spend an hour trying to revive him. He is pronounced dead from smoke inhalation. (BBC)
3:00 a.m. - A motorcade of dozens of Libyan vehicles, some mounted with 50 caliber machine guns, belonging to the February 17th Brigades, a Libyan militia which is friendly to the U.S., finally showed up at the CIA annex at approximately 3 a.m. An American Quick Reaction Force sent from Tripoli had arrived at the Benghazi airport at 2 a.m. (four and a half hours after the initial attack on the Consulate) and was delayed for 45 minutes at the airport because they could not at first get transportation, allegedly due to confusion among Libyan militias who were supposed to escort them to the annex, according to Benghazi sources. (Fox News)
5:00 a.m. – The American special operators, Woods, Doherty and at least two others were part of the Global Response Staff, a CIA element, based at the CIA annex and were protecting CIA operators who were part of a mission to track and repurchase arms in Benghazi that had proliferated in the wake of Muammar Qaddafi’s fall. Part of their mission was to find the more than 20,000 missing MANPADS, or shoulder-held missiles capable of bringing down a commercial aircraft. According to a source on the ground at the time of the attack, the team inside the CIA annex had captured three Libyan attackers and was forced to hand them over to the Libyans. U.S. officials do not know what happened to those three attackers and whether they were released by the Libyan forces. (Fox News)
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HotAir
Geoff – It is coming up on 2 years since Brian Terry was killed. How long do you think it takes a competent administrator to determine what went wrong with that operation? In the private sector heads would have rolled in one to two months at the max. Now that Obama has been re-elected it will NEVER get to “who at the top” was responsible.
As to Bengazi it will quietly get swept under the rug as to exactly what happened at the top. This is the way government operates regardless of which Party is in power.
And don’t forget the mainstream media will assist in keeping it out of the limelight since it wasn’t the republicans that were involved in these two fiascos.
You and Geoff are a little behind the times, the year long Fast and Furious investigation wrapped up in Sept.;
LA Times
Inquiry assigns blame in Fast and Furious; 2 officials quit
An independent government investigation of the gun-tracking operation clears Atty. Gen. Eric Holder but suggests disciplining 14 other officials, two of whom promptly step down.
September 19, 2012|By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — A gun-trafficking investigation on the Southwest border that went awry was a “significant danger to public safety,” according to an independent government report that recommended that the Department of Justice consider disciplining 14 officials, from field agents in Arizona to top managers in Washington.
Less than an hour after those findings were announced, two of the officials — Kenneth E. Melson, the former acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Jason M. Weinstein — announced they were stepping down. Others cited included Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny Breuer, who runs the Justice Department criminal division, and Gary Grindler, who was the No.2 Justice official during Operation Fast and Furious.
Actually I am not behind the times. I was and am aware that the “Official Investigation (read “coverup”) had been completed.
The republicans in congress had been saying that they would get to who at the top knew what and when regarding this fiasco that resulted in the death of Brian Terry. Now that Obama has been reelected that will never happen.
If you believe that no one at a higher level than those two scape goats knew what was going on in “fast and furious” you are unaware of how our government operates.
By the same token if you believe it takes close to 2 years for our government to get aligned on “who will be the scape goats” then you are aware of how inefficient our government operates.
Why would you think that Obama would be masterminding some obscure operation based in an ATF office in Phoenix?
It doesn’t make sense and if it doesn’t make any sense it probably is just some crazy conspiracy theory cooked up and hyped by the right-wing media to smear the president.
A year was spent investigating this and there wasn’t any smoking gun or big revelations this was just low level, garden variety, bureaucratic incompetence. Get over it.
“But it’s not the outcome I WANT so it can’t be the “correct” outcome.”
There…fixed it for ya, Stan.
Two things ARE missing from all the “investigating”.
1) Never has it been shown the guns found at the scene were the ones that fired the fatal bullets. Carefully crafted language only intimates such.
2) We can pretty much guarantee the firefight still would have occurred whether F&F guns were “present” or not. Correlation (of F&F guns) does not equal causation (of firefight/Terry’s death). It’s like blaming an utomaker because cars were used to transport the shooters.
Don’t misread that I don’t think this was a horrible program. But when the beginning premise is “it’s Obama’s fault” and then (re)working the “evidence” to fit the premise, that is the real “conspiracy” and “corruption”.
“Why would you think that Obama would be masterminding some obscure operation based in an ATF office in Phoenix?”
I hate to burst your bubble but how did you come to the conclusion I said anything even remotely resembling the above??????
Perhaps it was this remark;
” Now that Obama has been re-elected it will NEVER get to “who at the top” was responsible.
Now, you can pretend that you’re not trying to pin this on Obama (and by extension that includes his AG), but if you knew that Issa’s investigation was over and they had named those responsible, then what the hell were you referring to?
Joe you are not capable of rational thinking if you try to put words in people’s mouths that they haven’t said. Peace!
Joe, the findings you quote are the tip of the ice berg and not the end of the investigation. Rep. Issa was ready willing and able to begin impeachment proceedings from AG Holder but held off until after the election so as to not be called out for “politicizing” the investigation. I think we have not yet scratched the surface of Obama’s Murdergate.
Yeah, keep beatin’ that dead horse. Democrats in the
meantime will focus on solving the nation’s problems, like immigration reform.
See ya at the polls in 2014!
I see that you’re backing off this statement;
“Among other things, we now know as an unequivocal fact that high ranking members of the State Department watched the attack in real time …”
I pointed this out to you the other day (at your request) and you ignored it. I PROVED YOU LIED. You should show some integrity and inform your readers when you CAN’T substantiate something you’ve posted.
I see that you’re still citing Fox News for your info. I would think after the hoodwinking they pulled on the election predictions (and you fell for) that you might show some healthy skepticism.
The “stand down orders” have been repudiated by the CIA, NEVER HAPPENED. You ‘re looking like a foolish dupe, this is just Fox over-hyping crap.
The republican party better give up these crazy conspiracy theories and unfounded witch hunts that Fox News promotes or they will lose even more elections in the future.
Joe, I stand by more story and sources. When I have investigated the alleged “repudiations” they tend to be on ver narrow issues truly not related to the original claims. Joe, you might prove to be correct, but the facts don’t support your view at this time
Sorry, but the FACTS DON’T SUPPORT YOUR CLAIMS. Please provide ONE, just one source to back up your assertion that offIcials watched the attacks in real time.
Just because your false assertions are on “very narrow issues” doesn’t mean you’re not a liar.
If you are willing to knowingly mislead your readers in order to smear the Obama administration then you are a lying propagandist. That is a fact.
Little lies are still LIES.
Whoops,there goes your moral high ground.
Don’t you find it the slightest bit ironic that you are willing to lie in order to prove that others lied?
” Among other things, we now know as an unequivocal fact that high ranking members of the State Department watched the attack in real time, making the “we are investigating” line a blatant lie – THEY KNEW.”
YOU KNOW.
Senior State Department Official Cheryl Lamb observed the entire attack through audio feed according to he own testimony before congress. In edition, two separate drones were present at various times during the attack, both of which have the ability to provide video feeds. Until we can pierce the cover-up, that is all we have so far.
Come on, how stupid do you think your readers are?
You don’t “observe”, audio.
From current info. the drone arrived at the end of the attack.
You write such purposeful misinformation (or in other words; lies). I despised Bush (because of all the things he did), but I wouldn’t lie about him as that would diminish me.
How do live with yourself?
I saw David Frum on Morning Joe today and I think he said some thing’s that people like yourself NEED TO HEAR;
“Republicans have been fleeced, exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex…there are too many to name. Because the followers, the donors and the activists are so mistaken about the nature of the problems the country faces…just a simple question, and I went to Tea Party rallies and asked this question, have taxes gone up or down in recent years? They can’t answer this question.
He continues, “The people who put the cement shoes on [Romney's] feet are now blaming him for sinking.”
Since at least the Dark Ages days when Khazar goldsmiths realized that they could get away with issuing paper receipts for more gold than they were actually storing in their vaults for their Goy customers – that they could encourage their witless customers to exchange these receipts as if they were the gold – and that they could issue these worthless and unbacked receipts as loans so as to collect interest on gold that never actually existed, the battle for a rational and fair monetary system has been on. Mr. Biden hails from Delaware. His base has always been the debt manipulating credit card companies which have been allowed to thrive in that state for years. He was a huge supporter of the “Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005,” (an earlier version of which Bill Clinton had vetoed in the 90′s.) Arianna Huffington wrote that this legislation was “so hostile to ordinary American families that it could only have come about in a place as corrupt, cynical and unmoored from reality as Washington, D.C.” She concluded: “The bankruptcy bill is morally bankrupt. And so is any senator who votes for it.” She defined the problem:”So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child-support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of equity in homes and asset-protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to rein in lending abuses….” So it doesn’t surprise me at all to hear all the sour grapes neocons fantasizing about Rabbi Bidenstein somehow replacing Obama….good luck with that. Comparing Benghazi or even Fast and Furious to Watergate is so laughable I’m not going to comment further.
A LITTLE LESSON ON CIVICS IN PRACTICE : The POTUS election cycle is supposed to be three years of hard work on the business of government combined with lively debate and yes some fencing on the proper role of government, but the partisan snickering should be reserved as much as possible for the one year of each four that the campaign takes over the energies and resources of those who must win votes to keep their jobs. (Which, by the way, proves they work FOR US nd not the other way around.) We must set aside the Bulveristic bickering and do the best we can with what we have to work with now. Republicans – HE CAN’T RUN AGAIN! YOU DO NOT NEED TO BLOCK HIM AS IF ANYTHING HE DOES IS AGAINST YOUR DAMN RELIGION! We know we are in for a season of sickening neocon-hatched character assassination against Mr. Obama. We will try to nip those leaves in the bud wherever they start to sprout and we will do it in the name of conservatism and in the fucking faces of neo-Marxist Big Government Zionist Traitors and their bully-boy lackeys. END THE FED.
The Bush administration was letting “Guns run” starting in 2006. Alberto Gonzales has repeatedly refused to answer questions about it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-57461204-10391695/a-primer-on-the-fast-and-furious-scandal/
Darryl Issa voted to fund Project Gunrunner and Congress was briefed on it in 2008:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/21/1101851/-2008-Darrell-Issa-Voted-YES-to-Fund-Project-Gunrunner-Merida-Initiative
And the NRA is fighting attempts to make it easier to monitor gunrunning:
http://newmexicoindependent.com/70966/nra-sues-to-block-new-atf-reporting-rule-in-border-states
As for Benghazi, we simply don’t know enough at this point. But I believe it has been established that there was no order to “stand down.” That is a myth being perpetuated by right wing talk radio, where facts don’t matter.
Roger, I have detailed this at length in other stories, but the Bush gun running program and the Obama gun running program are apples and Oranges. Under the Bush program every gun had a sensor built into the weapon and was followed Before any of those weapons could disappear, they were seized by ATF and not allowed to go into the stream of drug traffickers.
On the other hand, in Fast & Furious the tracking devices were either removed by ATF or simply not installed in the first place. The thought was that the weapons “use” would help the ATF track to flow of the guns from the original fake “sale” by ATF agents directly to the drug lords. This plan was an immediate failure and more than 2,000 weapons were completely lost to the Mexican drug cartels only later to be used to murder hundreds of Mexican citizens and United States Officer Brian Terry.
No one outside of the Obama Administration ever gave the order to remove the tracking devices, and even the ATF argued against the tactic. It is clear that Attorney General Holder received frequent briefings on the operation, it seems that his only current defense is that he did not listen to those briefing.
What a load of B.S.
Guns WERE WALKED during Operation Wide Receiver;
In a statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley said that the documents showed that the “administration knew that guns were walked in Operation Wide Receiver, yet did nothing about it even as it was happening again in Fast and Furious.”
“I’ve said all along that walking guns is wrong, period. I don’t care who did it,” Grassley said. “We know that Lanny Breuer knew about guns being walked in Operation Wide Receiver, which is why he needs to do the right thing, hold himself accountable and resign.”
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