Today’s hearing on Benghazi is just sad. We have the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the outgoing Secretary of Defense testifying to the Senate hearing that even though it was 9/11, who everyone and their mother understood is the anniversary of the worst attack on American soil…even though, due in no small part to Obama’s actions, Libya had become a hotbed of al-Qaeda activity, AND even though the ambassador to Libya had sent warning of impending threats, they did nothing to ensure the security of the embassy and our citizens.
“The United States military is not and should not be a global 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world,”
Bullshit.
No one expects our military to have assets in place everywhere but everyone expects them to have assets in place where an attack is most likely to happen.
The President, the Vice President, the CIA, the State Department and our military didn’t know that Libya had been over-run with al-Qaeda? They didn’t know it was 9/11? They didn’t know about the warnings sent by Ambassador Stevens?
Bullshit bullshit bullshit.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/dCrMts3vZrc[/youtube]
And the Chairman was a bit surprised himself to learn that Hillary Clinton testified she didn’t know of the cables sent by the Ambassador:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/WWhuIdrHqvo[/youtube]
When asked by Lindsey Graham if ANY assets were moved to help those under attack the answer by the chairman was
Got that?
No one was sent to help them.
His excuse? Because the attack was already ended to which Lindsey Graham stated the simple fact:
“but you didn’t know how long the attack was going to last.”
Why was our government so hesitant to protect that embassy, so hesitant to make this attack into a big deal?
Why?
What other nuggets did we learn today?
That Obama was MIA the night of the attack. He had one short conversation with Panetta, said “do whatever you need to do to be able to protect our people,” and then never asked about the attack again.
Panetta said, though he did meet with Obama at a 5 o’clock prescheduled gathering, the president left operational details, including knowledge of what resources were available to help the Americans under siege, “up to us.”
In fact, Panetta says that the night of 9/11, he did not communicate with a single person at the White House. The attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Obama did not call or communicate in anyway with the defense secretary that night. There were no calls about what was going on in Benghazi. He never called to check-in.
Lindsey Graham picked up where Ayotte left off, confirming the president only had one conversation with Panetta and Dempsey on 9/11 about the unfolding attack in Benghazi. Further, he found out no defense assets were launched to respond to the attack in real time. Visibly upset, Graham asked Dempsey: “is there a saying in the military, when you go in harm’s way, we’ve got your back? …Don’t you think that saying’s been undermined here?”
Graham question Panetta’s assertion that “the president of the United States was concerned about American lives,” saying he didn’t consider it a “credible statement” if the president never called to ask if the Americans on the ground in Benghazi were being helped or what was happening to them.
This is just so sad. So pathetic. So embarrassing.
See author page