It is remarkable how laser focused people tend to be around Libya and Hillary Clinton. The focus is almost exclusively on the Benghazi attack which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
The Benghazi attack which occurred on Sept 11, 2012, was a symptom of foreign policy failure; the actual cause of the policy failure happened a full year-and-a-half earlier in February 2011.
Part 1 – The Origin of the Libyan Crisis
Part 2 – The White House Tries To Catch Up

Part 3 – R2P Gives Cover To al-Qaeda’s Rise

It is ironic to see press reports today “The U.S. government is trying to apprehend an al Qaeda terrorist wanted for his role in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans”. The irony is the terrorist we now seek, Muhammad Jamal, was released from Egyptian prison specifically because of the U.S. policy outlined in PART 1.
We digress.
In Part 1 we outlined the reality of President Obama remaining detached as the Libyan crisis began. In Part 2 we outlined the mistakes that were specifically a consequence of that disengagement strategy; including the failure to vet “the rebels”.
Today we’ll review the consequences of the March, April, May, June 2011 rush to catch up.
Senior foreign policy advisor Samantha Power exerted a strong influence during the response to a Libyan uprising. She was soon joined by then Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. Together they convinced Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to approach the Libyan rebels as “freedom fighters”.

While this was happening between the White House in D.C., and the U.N. in New York, Kaddaffi had regained his footing from an initial successful uprising and was asserting his military might toward attacking the “rebels”. He really had no fallback position once the International Criminal Court filed charges of War Crimes against him and publicly stated they fully intended to arrest him and his family.
In essence Kaddaffi had nothing to lose by fighting as no seat at a table of cease fire possibility was afforded. So Kaddaffi began to deploy his air force to attack the Benghazi rebels, as his ground troops moved in toward their positions.
If no-one intervened on behalf of the “rebels”, it was only a matter of time before Kaddaffi regained control. (more…)

It is remarkable how laser focused people tend to be around Libya and Hillary Clinton.   The focus is almost exclusively on the Benghazi attack which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
The Benghazi attack which occurred on Sept 11, 2012, was a symptom of foreign policy failure; the actual cause of the policy failure happened a full year-and-a-half earlier in February 2011.

PART ONE – The Origin Of The Libyan Crisis

President Obama lit the fuse on the Egyptian collapse, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, when he turned his visible back on Egypt’s former President Mubarak.
With Mubarak out of the way the law banning the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed.   The Brotherhood members held in Egyptian jails were freed.  This included Muhamed al-Zawahiri, the brother of al-Qaeda’s #1 man Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Initially there was great hope for a politically democratic approach toward Egypt.  However, by the time the FaceBook crowd was dispatched, CBS’s Lara Logan raped in Tahir Square and the visible rise of the hardline Islamists taking control – Egypt became a political risk of policy failure for the Obama administration.
 
Egypt and Libya share a very long and very porous border.  There is little to no actual impediment to the border itself so travelers can easily go from Western Egypt into Eastern Libya with as much ease as one travelling from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.   (more…)

Sunlight answers a question – Last week the New York Times and the New York Post ran articles based on a classified congressional hearing.
In essence Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Stephen Lynch, who was present for the hearing, was used to push a story centered around his proposal to Congress to pass a resolution asking President Obama to declassify an entire 2002 report, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”
The context of Lynch’s request centers around this newly identified intelligence community report which, according to non-specific leaks, outlines Saudi Arabia’s involvement in supporting the 911 hijackers.
The question we had at the time was “why now”?    Obviously someone is seeking to gain some form of benefit from this discussion – it would be intellectually dishonest to think such a conversation would happen in a political vacuum.
The answer to the “why” question can be found in an article published a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal.   Within the Journal article you discover how much current anxiety and tension exists between the current Obama administration and the Saudi government against the backdrop of Obama’s failed Syria “Red Line”, and the Iranian Nuclear goals. (more…)

May I ask why this is such a controversy ?   We all knew the impetus for OBL’s hatred of The United States was driven, in part, by his anger about being ostracized in Saudi Arabia for his vocal opposition to Saudi asking the U.S. for help when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and visibly threatened to drive his Republican Guard South into Saudi Arabia.

OBL was angry with the kingdom’s decision to align with the U.S. for protection – OBL was a Saudi National with massive internal support within the region.   So why would it be a shock that those OBL aligned elements within the house of Saud would be part of the 911 attacks?

The bigger question is: who, or what, benefits from this public discussion being injected into our body politic at this specific moment?

(New York Post)  After the 9/11 attacks, the public was told al Qaeda acted alone, with no state sponsors.

But the White House never let it see an entire section of Congress’ investigative report on 9/11 dealing with “specific sources of foreign support” for the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals.

It was kept secret and remains so today. (more…)

(Via Heritage)   Last week’s closed-door testimony by five CIA operatives who witnessed the attack on the U.S. special mission in Benghazi has finally created an opening for the congressional investigating committees.

The five CIA contractors, who testified in closed-door hearings before the House Intelligence Committee Thursday and Friday, were stationed at the “CIA annex” in Benghazi, about one mile from the U.S. special diplomatic mission. This was the facility that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tasked Ambassador Chris Stevens to turn into a permanent consulate, even though security staff there was totally inadequate. (more…)

Does anyone, beside me, find it curious that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was meeting in closed door sessions with Rep. Mike Rogers and the House Intelligence Committee prior to his assassination in Benghazi Libya ?   (story here)   What was that about ?

John Kerry says that “President Obama has prosecuted al-Qaeda with unprecedented intensity”.   I swear; he did, he said that – we have video to prove.
Yet, al Nusra Front (aka al-Qaeda in Syria) are now considered on “our team”, and Kerry says they are the “best fighters”.   In Afghanistan, at Obama’s behest, we are now negotiating with Taliban (aka. al-Qaeda in Afghanistan).  And lest we forget Benghazi, Libya, and our dead Ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans, where not a single al-Qaeda terrorist has been held to account.
…. President Obama is prosecuting al-Qaeda?   Uh-huh.   And Chris Christie is “Conservative”.   Gotcha.

(more…)

For those following the backstory surrounding the players in/around the Benghazi consulate on 9/11/12,  things again took an unusual twist.    Within 48 hours after appearing on the 60 minutes expose’,  Security Agent, Morgan Jones, was ‘outed’ by the Washington Post – as intelligence operative “Dylan Davies”.   It appeared to be a strategic attempt to discredit his reporting to Lara Logan and CBS’s 60 minutes.
Someone, presumably from within the State Dept, leaked an unsigned incident report, to the Washington Post, supposedly written by Dylan Davies while he was contracted by Blue Mountain – the UK security firm.    However, Davies is now disputing the report saying he never wrote it – and apparently it might have been authored by an executive inside Blue Mountain specifically for the FBI and Congressional Committee investigation.

(The Daily Beast – Eli Lake)  The Benghazi whistleblower whose new book details massive security failures in the run-up to the September 11, 2012 attacks denies he wrote an incident report made public this week that undermines key details in his memoir.
The debate over the Obama administration’s actions before and after the attack on the U.S. mission was reignited following an Oct. 27 60 Minutes report featuring an interview with Morgan Jones, a pseudonym for a British security contractor who trained and advised the local Libyan guard force for the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Jones’s book, The Embassy House, was released two days later and contains a firsthand account of his time in Benghazi and his actions during the series of attacks that resulted in the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. (more…)

Pinch me. Chris Matthews goes a little off the water-carrying range in this discussion around Benghazi? It actually appears that Chris Matthews is either a.) embarrassed by CBS’s Lara Logan, who actually did a direct 60 minutes segment, or, b.) struggling to reconcile that Hillary’s “at this point what difference does it make” comment is pure obfuscation not grounded in fact.

Could it be that Chris Matthews actually does recognize, albeit 13 months after the fact, that President Obama and Hillary Clinton chose to let Americans be slaughtered in Benghazi ?
Could the truth of this be comprehensible to Obama/Hillary defender Matthews?
Nah, me neither.
The White House will call him and yank his leash back shortly.

(Via Truth Revolt) In a 60 Minutes special on CBS News that featured a trainer for security at the Benghazi consulate in Libya, a Green Beret lieutenant colonel, and top State Department official Gregory Hicks speaking about security shortcomings in Benghazi prior to the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that killed four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens, CBS News mentioned President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton precisely zero times.

Lt. Col. Andy Wood testified, “We had one option: ‘Leave Benghazi or you will be killed.’…. I made it known in a country team meeting, ‘You are gonna get attacked. You are gonna get attacked in Benghazi. It’s gonna happen. You need to change your security profile.’” But the story never says to whom Wood made that clear.
“Morgan Jones,” a pseudonym for a security trainer in Benghazi, said of Libyan security, “we realized they were all inside drinking tea, laughing and joking….Instantly I thought we’re going to have to get rid of all these guys.” But to whom did he direct his information? CBS News doesn’t say. (more…)