UPDATE: An AC-130U Gunship was indeed on the scene in Benghazi and was denied permission to fire. Also, CIA brass throws Omaba under the buss and openly says that it was NOT the CIA who denied the permission to fire! On the aftermath, here.
UPDATE 2: This article has excellent write up with all the currently known facts.
Revelations have been pouring in all day about the fiasco in Bengazi.
This charts some of the details that came out today, but does not draft the full picture. Yet, it is well worth noting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t82D8QT4TPs
It has now been definitively established, from multiple sources, that there were 2 drones in the air over Benghazi, feeding live video of the attack to the US – including to the Situation Room’ in the White House, where Barack Obama was scheduled to be that evening. (Aside – lots of intriguing links in this link.)
They had hard evidence, 2 hours into the attack, that the terrorist group ‘Helpers of Sharia’ had taken responsibility for the attack.
But it gets worse – much worse.
Ambassador Stevens was running guns to Islamists – that much is clear.
But…
And this is where it gets very, very nasty.
The security of the buildings was being provided by the 17th of February Brigade – a militant Islamist group. As in, militant and violent jihadists!
WHY?!?!?
Who would ever hire an organization whose avowed goal is to kill all non-Muslims and use force to install Sharia worldwide, who would hire one’s declared enemies to be the security force for their Ambassador?
That’s a lot like getting Nidal Malik Hasan to provide pre-natal care to Francheska Velez!
We now also know that one of the people in the compound posted a message onto a gaming site saying that the ‘police’ (and he put the word ‘police’ into quotation marks, as if mocking the very concept) who are supposed to be guarding them are taking pictures and that something is up – and expressed fear that they may not live to see the morning…
Then, after this, the Ambassador met with a ‘Turkish diplomat’.
(We know Stevens was running the guns into Syria through Turkey…)
The ‘Turkish diplomat’ left.
Less than an hour later, the attack started…
Please, consider the information in the following newscast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwqZuEgNmoE
But, there is more.
Yes, the SEALs went in against orders!
Then, when they returned to their compound, their compound came under fire….almost as if all the people who had been in the first location were supposed to have died in order not to say what they knew – and since some got out, the attackers followed them in their ‘mop-up’ operation!
What is this – a B-movie or reality?!?!?
We know there were 2 surveillance drones, tag-teaming, over the area. Please, keep that in mind.
The compound (second location) was being shelled by the attackers.
One of the people inside the compound went onto the roof and illuminated (tagged) the equipment firing at the compound with a laser – no, not a pointer but a target-identification tag for a guided strike from the air.
The drones in the air may or may not have been armed – but the two AC-130U’s in theatre (since March) certainly were.
And, tagging the target does not occur unless (and until) the targeting system is synchronized – on location, and ready to fire. It is the ‘last step’ in the firing procedure before the trigger is pulled – because by going out and tagging the target, the person doing the tagging is exposed and vulnerable. Hence, it is the last step.
This means that in one way or another, there was someone in the air who had the attackers in their sights and was ready to fire.
But, was denied permission to take the shot!!!
It was only AFTER this that the shelling from this very ‘no-longer-target’ hit the compound and killed 2 Americans!!!
Can you get your mind around it?
Only orders from either the White House or head of the Africa theatre would have had the power to deny the permission to shoot – and, as a direct result of this inaction, American lives were lost!
This is beyond a scandal – it is criminal!
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