Back In Benghazi

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reports on the ongoing cover-up.

Comments

[rse]

I have joked about finding the intl searches interesting. Like Egypt. But today is not the first time someone is looking from Teheran and yesterday the Phillippines.

Mercy it feels like we are being played by the political class of every party except probably the Tea all over the world.

That really is what we are dealing with at the global, federal, state and local levels. The nomenklatura and their minions want to continue to feast and direct at our expense.

Which is why bo sold it at Ohio State in that creepy commencement address that dovetails with stated UN policy from a 2006 Economic Affairs report I have.

[Porchlight]

Hannity had a caller yesterday afternoon who claimed to be on a drone over Benghazi the night of the attack. According to him, drones are unmanned in that they are piloted remotely, but they do carry a man to work the surveillance camera. And that was this guy.

He said that the tapes should have been archived and he is confused as to why no one has ever contacted him to ask about what he saw. Perhaps the fact that he was up there got "lost" in the chain of command after the attack. It was odd, though. My guess is that Issa didn't know this guy existed (but he presumably does now, b/c he was a Hannity guest on the tv show last night IIRC).

[Porchlight]

OMG, should have refreshed and read before commenting (as usual)...Jane at 10:57 beat me to it.

[Captain Hate]

Here comes the boom: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/3-explosions-heard-in-Tehran-near-missile-facility-312369

[Dave (in MA)]

Castro the perp wrote about one of the kidnapped girls after she was kidnapped. Now that is warped.

I'd heard that it was the perp's kid, writing for the school paper.

[NK]

UAV 'observer'?-- this was a joke right?

[Jane]

Seeing half of what everyone posts never gets published, it is a good idea to double post everything Porch!

[narciso]

That' the Ballard way, but sometimes it doesn't work.

[Janet]

THis is sickening -

"All votes for Colbert-Busch "go to Colbert-Busch," regardless of whether the voter selects the Democratic Busch or the Working Families Busch. "

[Captain Hate]

I almost feel guilty for having no problems posting on this wonderful software. I think the key is that you have to insult typhus at every opportunity.

[narciso]

I have a C;/Window Prefetch disabled message, WTF is that about.

[Clarice]

I COULDN'T POST YESTERDAY FROM MY KINDLE, BUT I HAVE NO PROBLEMS FROM HOME.

[Danube of Thought]

and for another thing, your point was?

My point was that to imply that Romney is a Democrat who slyly ran as a Republican is silly.

[Porchlight]

WTF - she gets to be on the ballot twice? How is that even possible?

[centralcal]

That ballot is just sickening and ire inducing!

[Nick]

Whatever

[centralcal]

The special election should be cancelled and rescheduled when the ballots are corrected.

[NK]

ballot- 'cross-endorsements' from more than one party -- and getting more than one ballot line-- are very common in NYS/NYC elections, have been for almost 50 years,

[sbwaters]

Of course the ballots for a candidate one one line are added to the same named candidate on a second line to get the candidate's overall vote total that is compared to other candidates' combined vote totals to select the winner.

It has always been thus.

[sbwaters]

And the "observer in the unmanned drone" is quite a yank.

Gullible, much?

[pagar]

"That really is what we are dealing with at the global, federal, state and local levels."

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/msnbc-dunce-toure-open-borders-will-reduce-muslim-poverty-thats-threatening-our-securityvideo/

The leftists working at every level to defeat America.

[centralcal]

To clarify - the caller to Hannity clearly states that an operator remotely "flies" the drone, and another operator remotely controls the "cameras" on the drone.

He, the camera operator is NOT actually in the drone.

[Old Lurker]

Even Hannity was confused about who was manned where.

The caller was not very well spoken but he meant that the drones are piloted by a pilot somewhere else and in that same remote location is where the camera/systems operator and a supervisor are stationed.

[jimmyk]

"People saw an opportunity to conduct business on line and now the carpet is being pulled out from under them. Well done, Senate tools."

I overheard an NPR report on this which said "conservatives consider this a tax increase." How is it anything but a tax increase? Is there a liberal who could claim that it's not?

[Porchlight]

I admit I didn't understand the caller exactly. I was driving and couldn't pay full attention.

sbw, charming as always.

[Jack is Back! (On his iPad)]

If that was an Air Force drone, I doubt an active duty zserviceman would call in to Hannity much less wonder why he hasn't been contacted. Same if he is CIA. Also, what did he see that the camera didn't see. Now, if he is witness to comms that in anyway support "no" or "stand down" or other negative reaction then I can see his concern but no way if he is active duty.

[Old Lurker]

Porch he was not very clear and Hannity made it worse. I was not convinced the caller was who he claimed to be either because he did not sound confident about how long the tapes are kept. Seems to me that those tapes are probably the subject of very clear archiving protocols etc that would be well known to all in the trailer.

[daddy]

From commenter Pogo at Althouse;

Tin soldiers and Clinton coming,
We're finally questioning.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Benghazi.

And FWIW, posters for the new Robert Redford/Susan Sarandon movie glorifying Terrorist Bombers are posted all over Paris. But, of course.

[sbwaters]

I apologize, Porch. I was thinking about the absurdity of the thought, not the quality of the person.

Wait a minute. . . Even that sounds like I'm criticizing a good and decent human being when that is not my intent.

[Old Lurker]

Jimmy, we both need to turn off the radio. When I heard that story (about the internet sales tax), the reporter I heard said SOME conservatives think it is a new tax. The word SOME belittles conservatives even more than what you reported from NPR.

[Porchlight]

Also, what did he see that the camera didn't see.

JiB, I don't think he's claiming to have seen anything the camera didn't see. I think he's wondering if investigators have seen the video at all.

If the video never turned up - possibly because none of the investigators knew it existed - they would presumably want to talk to someone who could confirm that there was indeed footage and what was on it.

And if it did turn up, one would want to know whether or not what was turned over was complete and unedited.

[Captain Hate]

Ya know, I've always had a hard time dealing with the deification of the Kent State victims (I knew one asshole who caught a pellet in his psoriasis laden scalp; a less sympathetic "victim" is hard to imagine) while *nothing* is said about the shootings at Jackson State at almost the same time.

[Jack is Back! (On his iPad)]

Porch,

I thought I read that the drone tape is in the hands of the FBI. Isn't that how we have the stills of the 3 perps we're looking for over there. Now, does Issa and his staff have access to that tape? That is the most immediate question.

[narciso]

I figured as much, JIB

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/07/islamist-militia-linked-to-sept-11-benghazi-attack-operates-freely-in-city/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29

[Porchlight]

It's okay, sbw, sorry I snapped at you. It is right to be skeptical of that call and when I was listening I was thinking it was awfully odd. Who knows. But the idea that there might have been drone surveillance seems worth following up on. At minimum Hannity would have informed Issa of the call and Issa can do with it what he wants.

[Porchlight]

JiB, I don't know - that's a good question. We will find out lots more tomorrow, I guess...

[pagar]

It looks like we have more trouble. Lots More!

http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2013/05/07/who-is-james-dobbins/

[Sandy Daze]

QUESTIONS:

1) Why was there substandard 9/11 security in the Benghazi consulate to begin with?

2) Why were repeated requests by Ambassador Stevens for increased security disregarded?

3) What is being done by the State Dept. so this doesn't happen again?

4) Were Navy SEALS/CIA contractors Woods and Doherty definitively told to stand down?

5) If Woods and Doherty were told to stand down...why?

6) Was anyone else at the CIA annex told to stand down?

7) If stand down decisions were made... who made the stand down decisions?

8) Why did they get no backup support despite repeated requests?

9) Were air assets really too far away to respond?

10) If they were to far to respond...why were they so far away?

11) Did Doherty or Woods laser a mortar as reported?

12) Did they assume they would have air cover when they lasered the mortar?

13) Were there commands to stand down on air support for Doherty and Woods?

14) If there were commands to stand down...who made those commands?

15) How many State Dept officials did Woods and Doherty save from terrorist attack?

16) Why has there been no coverage of the State Dept officials that Woods and Doherty saved?

17) What was the CIA doing in Libya?

18) Why has nobody done an interview w/ the accused filmmaker?

19) Who made the decision to have the filmmaker arrested?

20) Were the filmmaker's free speech rights infringed upon?

21) Why was the president unaware of Petraeus affair until 5 pm election day?

22) Was there political timing in Petraeus' resignation decision Friday evening 3 days post election?

23) Were the president, vice president, Secretary of State Clinton and UN Secretary Rice aware of editing of Petraeus intelligence memo?

24) Was National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon involved in the decision to redact "Al Qaeda affiliate" and replace with "extremist" in the CIA memo?

25) Was Petraeus sign off on edits to the intelligence memo compromised by his affair?

26) Was the CIA intelligence memo edited for national security purposes or to support a projected political narrative of the attack that would be favorable to the administration?

27) If it was edited for national security reasons why was this necessary for cabinet members (president, vice president, sec of state, UN secretary) who have the highest level of national security clearance?

28) Was the CIA intelligence memo edited because of concern of leaks within the administration?

29) Is there any merit to CIA Libya to Syria gun running rumors?

30) Did the president mean terrorism in Libya on his initial post Benghazi address or was he just giving a vague platitude on terrorism?

31) If Obama was implying terrorism in Libya (as both he and Candy Crowley said during the debate)...why did the administration then spend several days redirecting attention to the cause of the 9/11 attack as a natural spontaneous response to the film?

(Sorry if this is redundant to what someone else already posted in this thread, I have been remiss and too short of time to review all the comments.)

[narciso]

Hey, Sandt how have you been, yes we've focused on some of these pointa,

[Sandy Daze]

all good narc - thanks.

from 26 Oct 12:

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.

(emphasis added)

Inquiring minds want to know...

[cathyf]

ballot- 'cross-endorsements' from more than one party -- and getting more than one ballot line-- are very common in NYS/NYC elections, have been for almost 50 years,

Ok, so if one particular candidate is on the ballot four times, and you vote for that candidate 2, 3 or 4 times without voting for any other candidates, is that an overvote or not?

[Have Blue]

Interesting note about the multi-party ballots. Here in Connecticut the law is that the party which recieved the most votes in the last governors race ones the top spot on the ballots until after the next governors race.
The Dem Sec. of State tried to put the Dem party on the top ballot line and the Reps sued in the CT supreme court. Malloy, the Dem who won the last govern0.ors race ran on both the Dem and Working Families party line. He recieved fewer votes on the Dem line than the Republican, Foley, got. So even though Malloy won the election, the Republicans were the top vote getting party in the race.

By the way the Supremes slapped the SoS down 9-0. She still tries to get by with the idea that her interpretation was "reasonable" and the money it took to reprint the fraudulent ballots was wated.