US Embassy Stormed in Cairo...

[myboynoah]

Where are the moving pictures of Obama, Hillary and the team in the White House situation room following this drama as it unfolded?

[il Padrino Ute]

[YOhio]

Where are the moving pictures of Obama, Hillary and the team in the White House situation room following this drama as it unfolded?

Woods also repeated a version of events that the White House says is not accurate, that “the White House Situation Room was watching our people die in real time, as this was happening.”

White House officials say there was no video stream available. So what kind of real-time information was coming in? State Department official Charlene Lamb testified before Congress that officials in the consulate “were making multiple phone calls and it was very important that they communicate with the annex in Tripoli because this is where additional resources were coming from. So they would hang up on us and then call back.” A Defense Department official confirms that there an unarmed ISR (“intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance”) drone overhead over part of the assault in Benghazi.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...-report-raise/

[myboynoah]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...-report-raise/

Still waiting on those pictures of Obama and Hillary waiting for the phone to ring.

And what's up with the need to hang up and call the annex, and then hang up with them to call Washington? They only had one phone line in that place? No cell phones? No other forms of communication? I guess that CIA isn't all that sophisticated afterall.

[Eddie]

With drones overhead, I don't understand why this administrations didn't use them.

I'm wondering if the drones were observation/surveillance only and if they even had ordinance with which they could do something.

That aside - this sure doesn't look good for someone. Multiple "stand down" orders in the face of an ambassador being attacked, failure to put a couple of different quick response teams into action (were they even put on standby or some sort of alert?). Failure to even consider that there may be a follow up attack on a location that was apparently not well protected. Etc.

Someone has a lot of 'splanen to do.

[UtahDan]

Because this administration is the most transparent in modern political history! Their explanations to this point on the matter have been clear and forthright. UD is right to give them the benefit of the doubt because they have earned his , and our, trust. To suggest anything else is cynical and partisan.

It has nothing to do with giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. I am equally skeptical of everyone. At this moment, that decision seems completely irrational to me. Which tells me there must be something else I don't know. I have a hard time believing that anyone in our government twiddle their thumbs with indifference as Americans died. especially since most of the people employed by the State Department and the military are career individuals and not political appointees. This situation absolutely demands a better answer than we have received. But it seems like many here are very keen to believe a version of events that includes someone or numerous people in the chain of command simply not caring about what was happening. No, you are right, I am NOT going to believe that without very good evidence.

[Goatnapper'96]

It has nothing to do with giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. I am equally skeptical of everyone. At this moment, that decision seems completely irrational to me. Which tells me there must be something else I don't know. I have a hard time believing that anyone in our government twiddle their thumbs with indifference as Americans died. especially since most of the people employed by the State Department and the military are career individuals and not political appointees. This situation absolutely demands a better answer than we have received. But it seems like many here are very keen to believe a version of events that includes someone or numerous people in the chain of command simply not caring about what was happening. No, you are right, I am NOT going to believe that without very good evidence.

I agree with you. I don't think President Obama would sit idly by while Americans died. I do think he would seek to not be real transparent about it in the aftermath for political expediency as would any other politician on this earth, but I am convinced he is every bit as honorable a human being as you, I or Mitt Romney.

I find this incident to be offensive in how it is being leveraged for political gain with the various comments from the families of the deceased. I dislike President Obama as much as most here, except for IPU perhaps , but it bothers me and feels cheap to me when we start using how a grieving parent "thinks" the President felt when he met with them to offer the condolances of a grateful nation. Here is a newsflash...most members of the armed forces and their families tend to be conservative and have the same partisan desires at this time of year as you and I.

[Eddie]

It has nothing to do with giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. I am equally skeptical of everyone. At this moment, that decision seems completely irrational to me. Which tells me there must be something else I don't know. I have a hard time believing that anyone in our government twiddle their thumbs with indifference as Americans died. especially since most of the people employed by the State Department and the military are career individuals and not political appointees. This situation absolutely demands a better answer than we have received. But it seems like many here are very keen to believe a version of events that includes someone or numerous people in the chain of command simply not caring about what was happening. No, you are right, I am NOT going to believe that without very good evidence.

First - I've had first hand knowledge of incidents that were later reported on the news or in print and after hearing the "facts" from the reporter wondered if I was really there or not. I've even seen myself quoted saying things I know I did not say - usually it wasn't relevant but once or twice I KNOW that it must've been completely fabricated. So I agree with not necessarily trusting everything you hear on the news or read in the paper. There is always more to it than that.

That aside: usually there is some semblance of truth in those newspapers and reports. And it wouldn't take too much truth from these reports to indicate some concerns. Either someone is completely making stuff up, the most crazy and wild set of coincidences and worst case scenarios happened all at once, or someone has made some royal screwup mistakes here.

There may be some degree of all three involved. But I have a hard time imagining that there weren't some pretty big mistakes made. And when people die as a result, people who didn't have to, there are consequences.

[Eddie]

I agree with you. I don't think President Obama would sit idly by while Americans died. I do think he would seek to not be real transparent about it in the aftermath for political expediency as would any other politician on this earth, but I am convinced he is every bit as honorable a human being as you, I or Mitt Romney.

I find this incident to be offensive in how it is being leveraged for political gain with the various comments from the families of the deceased. I dislike President Obama as much as most here, except for IPU perhaps , but it bothers me and feels cheap to me when we start using how a grieving parent "thinks" the President felt when he met with them to offer the condolances of a grateful nation. Here is a newsflash...most members of the armed forces and their families tend to be conservative and have the same partisan desires at this time of year as you and I.

It has got to be awkward meeting with the family of a man who died while on assignment overseas. Anyone would be asking themselves if there was something they could've or should've done differently. And with how things have been politicized I could see them also wondering how much the family blames them for their loved one's death.

And then there's Joe Biden. He's seriously asking about the man's balls?

What must Dan Quayle think of Biden's treatment by the press...

[Goatnapper'96]

It has got to be awkward meeting with the family of a man who died while on assignment overseas. Anyone would be asking themselves if there was something they could've or should've done differently. And with how things have been politicized I could see them also wondering how much the family blames them for their loved one's death.

And then there's Joe Biden. He's seriously asking about the man's balls?

What must Dan Quayle think of Biden's treatment by the press...

Biden in his own classless way was paying the father a compliment. I think the father is grieving in his own way and lashing out. Probably natural but I don't think he really knows how it affects President Obama despite President Obama getting three snaps and a circle of support from the hosts of "The View" for his ability to feel the pain of every member of the middle class.

[Sleeping in EQ]

I agree with you. I don't think President Obama would sit idly by while Americans died. I do think he would seek to not be real transparent about it in the aftermath for political expediency as would any other politician on this earth, but I am convinced he is every bit as honorable a human being as you, I or Mitt Romney.

I find this incident to be offensive in how it is being leveraged for political gain with the various comments from the families of the deceased. I dislike President Obama as much as most here, except for IPU perhaps , but it bothers me and feels cheap to me when we start using how a grieving parent "thinks" the President felt when he met with them to offer the condolances of a grateful nation. Here is a newsflash...most members of the armed forces and their families tend to be conservative and have the same partisan desires at this time of year as you and I.

Even though I often disagree with your political views, I respect your ability to analyze a situation (and especially a Same Ol' Situation).

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXG0q0qesRw"]Motley Crue-Same Ol' Situation - YouTube[/nomedia]

[Omaha 680]

Patraeus denies the CIA gave any stand down order:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...us_657896.html

Either the stand down order didn't happen, or Patraeus is throwing the administration under the bus like the article claims.

[SCcoug]

Patraeus denies the CIA gave any stand down order:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...us_657896.html

Either the stand down order didn't happen, or Patraeus is throwing the administration under the bus like the article claims.

Panetta says we didn't send help because we didn't know what was going on.

“There’s a basic principle here, and the basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on, without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,”

“And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who’s …in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.”

I don't know why real time video feed from a drone and reports from the annex weren't enough.

The guys at blackfive have some interesting tidbits.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2012/1....html#comments

In other news General Ham is to be replaced at Africom. Maybe he was scheduled to be replaced or to retire but the timing is interesting.

http://www.stripes.com/news/obama-to...ricom-1.193564

[Devildog]

Even though I often disagree with your political views, I respect your ability to analyze a situation (and especially a Same Ol' Situation).

Motley Crue-Same Ol' Situation - YouTube

She's got an alligator bag
Top hat to match
Dressed in black on black
She's got a philipino girlie
She claims is her friend
I tell you boys, you just gotta laugh
Now I used to call her cindy
She changed her name to "sin"
I guess that's the name of her game
I really used to love her
Then, the kitty she discovered
It's got to be a sexual thing

[Devildog]

After more than a decade in the post 9/11 era, it would seem that the State Department and every American would be prepared for yet another tumultuous anniversary of September 11th. With Libya being the third country where a dictatorship was brutally overthrown by the US and allies, we should have known the other shoe was going to drop. Over 200 violent incidents just in Benghazi should have indicated that something was coming.

But what’s more, we should have acted differently after all hell had broken loose in Benghazi and four Americans—the Ambassador, a diplomatic staffer, and two former Navy SEALs—were dead. But we did know. Numerous requests and security reports by Ambassador Stevens and his security staff likened the situation to the “Guns of August”, a reference to the opening days of World War One. There was little subtlety in their requests for help. These requests were sent repeatedly sent to the State Department run by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and routinely ignored or dismissed or worse said they were never aware of.

http://blackwaterusa.com/low-profile...m_medium=email