November 07, 2012|Mark Hosenball | Reuters
(ESAM OMRAN AL-FETORI, REUTERS)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just because the election is over, that does not mean that U.S. President Barack Obama is going to get an easy ride over his administration's handling of the September 11 attacks on
While Republican attacks on Obama over the handling of the
assault, which killed four Americans including Ambassador Christopher Stevens,
became a major part of the campaign in recent weeks, an investigator said on
Wednesday the inquiry was never related to the election.
With majority control of the House of Representatives,
Obama's Republican critics will continue to wield broad investigative powers,
including the ability to subpoena evidence and testimony from administration
officials.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
which held a contentious hearing in early October on the Benghazi
attacks, will continue its investigation, a spokesman for the committee said.
The Republican vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, said his panel would proceed with its
review of the Benghazi attacks.
Investigators seek to understand "how terrorists were
able to successfully breach our diplomatic facilities, why the administration
obscured the role of al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in its presentations to the
American people, and why there appears to be a lack of urgency in finding and
holding accountable those responsible for the deaths of four Americans,"
Chambliss wrote in an email to Reuters. He also said the investigation was
never related to the campaign.
The office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat
who chairs the committee, could not be immediately reached for comment. Last
month, Feinstein announced that the panel would hold a closed oversight hearing
about Benghazi on November 15, with
additional hearings to follow.
A spokesman for the White House had no comment on the Congressional
inquiries and the State Department did not respond to an email requesting
comment.
One step Capitol Hill investigators might take is to conduct
on-site visits to Libya
to pursue their inquiries, said a Republican Congressional aide.
Republicans also want to investigate the questions of who
set a policy under which security measures at U.S.
diplomatic posts in Libya
were supposed to be inconspicuous and convey an appearance of normality, and
what the Obama administration knew about the reliability of Libyan militias on
which U.S.
diplomats in Benghazi relied for
security.
The aide said congressional investigators may also seek to
examine whether security measures at other diplomatic posts in the region, and
elsewhere around the world, match up to intelligence reporting on potential
threats.
During the final phase of the attack - in which mortar
rounds were fired at the CIA 's relatively
well-fortified Benghazi base, killing two security officers - the attackers
also managed within a space of a few minutes to adjust the aim of the mortar,
indicating what multiple government officials said was some measure of skill or
training on their part.
Before the election, some Republicans harshly attacked the
Obama administration for making public statements that played up the
possibility - subsequently discredited by intelligence reports - that the
assaults were a spontaneous protest against a U.S.
made anti-Islamic video, while playing down the involvement of militants.
(Editing by Paul Eckert and Carol Bishopric)
The list of suspects in the Libya
terror attack now extends to a handful of suspected militants aligned with an
Egyptian group known as the Jamal Network, Fox News has learned.
A U.S.
official said the Jamal Network is committed to violence to attain its
political ambitions, adding they are "hard-core, violent extremists in Egypt
who are trying to develop a relationship with Al Qaeda."
Fox News is told that there are between two- and three-dozen
suspects actively being investigated at any one time in connection with the Benghazi
attack. The suspect list is fluid, drawn from intelligence ranging from
intercepts to witness accounts, with new names being added and dropped on a
regular basis.
The majority of the suspects were described to Fox News as
"locals" who come from Libya
and are followers of the group Ansar al-Shariah, which wants to establish an
Islamic state with adherence to strict Shariah law.
The additional suspects are being investigated after one
Tunisian suspect, Ali Ani al-Harzi, was first arrested in Turkey
-- after being identified through telephone intercepts where he bragged to
friends about his involvement -- and transferred to Tunisian custody.
There is also at least one suspect with ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq .
The radical ties of the suspects further raises questions
about the degree of planning that may have been involved in an attack initially
described as "spontaneous."
The Jamal Network takes its name from Mohammed Jamal Abu
Ahmed, who was released from an Egyptian jail during the Arab Spring and is now
trying to establish himself as a leader in Jihadi circles. U.S.
officials believe he established training camps in Libya ,
and it was in these camps that some of the fighters linked to the attack were
trained.
Within the last 10 days, Egyptian police have broken up a
"terrorist cell" linked to the Jamal network. As many as 12 militants
were arrested.
In the October raid, Libyan Karim Ahmed Essam al-Azizy, who
was linked to the consulate attack, was killed.
Mohammed Jamal reportedly has secured financing from the Al
Qaeda franchise in Yemen ,
and he has sought permission to formally establish an Al Qaeda affiliate of his
own in Egypt .
An analyst who does open source intelligence collection for
the government told Fox News that Egypt
and the Sinai peninsula are the new training ground
for Al Qaeda. "Egypt
and the Sinai are the new ground zero for Al Qaeda activity. It's fertile
ground given the release of high-ranking Jihadists with connections to Zawahri
including his brother. Egyptian security forces are unable to penetrate the
Sinai."
By Paul Cruickshank
Editor's note: "Al Qaeda," a five-volume
collection of writings about the terrorist network, edited and
introduced by CNN Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank, was published last week.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri again referenced the Benghazi ,
Libya , attack
in an audio tape posted on jihadist websites last week, in remarks that, like
all his statements, were immediately carefully scrutinized by counter-terrorism
analysts searching for clues about the terrorist network's operations.
Al-Zawahiri had called for Americans to be targeted in Libya
the day before the diplomatic mission was attacked, leading to speculation that
al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan
had some sort of role or influence in the attack.
Al-Zawahiri made the passing reference to the September 11
attack on Benghazi in a message
addressed to al Qaeda's affiliate Al-Shabaab in Somalia ,
in which he also referenced violent protests outside U.S embassies in Egypt
and Yemen that
occurred just before and just after the Benghazi
attack. But notably, the al Qaeda chief did not claim responsibility for the
deadly attack in eastern Libya .
"They were defeated in Iraq
and they are withdrawing from Afghanistan ,
and their ambassador in Benghazi
was killed and the flags of their embassies were lowered in Cairo
and Sanaa (Yemen ),
and in their places were raised the flags of tawhid (monotheism) and
jihad," al-Zawahiri stated, according to a translation by the SITE
Intelligence Group
U.S. and Libyan officials believe the attack in Benghazi was
carried out by pro-al Qaeda jihadists, and are investigating the possible
involvement of members of a local constellation of Islamist militants known as
Ansar al Sharia, as well as regional extremist networks, including al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
The killing of four Americans, including the ambassador, in
such a high-profile attack was hailed as a victory by al Qaeda sympathizers on
online forums, after a series of setbacks in recent years for the terrorist
network and its allies, and their failure to hit back at American interests.
But al-Zawahiri has notably not taken credit for the
September 11 attack on Benghazi ,
despite the fact he called for an attack on Americans in Libya
in a tape released on the eve of the assault on the U.S.
compound.
His specific call in a 9/11 anniversary video for Libyan jihadists
to attack Americans to avenge the death in a drone strike in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border region of senior Libyan al Qaeda operative Abu
Yahya al-Libi in June was circulating at least 18 hours before the attack on
the compound, according to terror analyst Ben Venzke of the
terrorist-monitoring group IntelCenter, leaving open the possibility that it
played a role. The video was the first time al-Zawahiri acknowledged al-Libi's
death.
The attack on the U.S.
mission and CIA annex in Benghazi
appears to have been exactly the sort of terrorist attack al-Zawahiri was for
years pressing for internally within the al Qaeda organization. Intelligence
retrieved from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad , Pakistan ,
compound following his death in May 2011 indicated al-Zawahiri disagreed with
bin Laden's focus on attacking the U.S.
homeland, and pressed for the group and its affiliates to focus on the more
achievable goal of attacking U.S.
interests in the Muslim world, according to the Washington Post.
But Venzke told CNN in September that given the timing of
al-Zawahiri's September 10 statement, it was hard to believe the message from
al-Zawahiri instigated the attack in Libya .
"Based on more than a decade of threat analysis we have
carried out, it would be unusual to have such a rapid correlation between a
threat statement and an attack, but it is not outside the realm of
possibility," Venzke said.
Other analysts suggest it is possible al-Zawahiri was given
some advance warning that an operation against American interests was in the
works in Libya, and say that his September 10 statement may have served as a
"go" signal for the attack. Intelligence recovered from Abbottabad
revealed that al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan
were more regularly in communication through couriers with the leaders of
affiliated groups in North Africa and the Middle
East than many terrorism analysts previously believed.
According to several news reports, one group suspected of
possible involvement in Benghazi
attack is a network run by Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad, an Egyptian militant
formerly part of al-Zawahiri's group released from prison in Cairo
in 2011. Citing Western officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Jamal
petitioned al-Zawahiri to set up an al Qaeda affiliate, suggesting the possibility
he may have been in communication with al Qaeda's leader.
But U.S.
officials have told CNN they believe it is unlikely that "core" al
Qaeda was behind the Benghazi
attack. Some officials believe the operation, though not spontaneous, was
quickly put together - after the perpetrators heard that violence had broken
out at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo
earlier that day - rather than the result of weeks of planning.
Aaron Zelin, a research fellow at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, told CNN that al-Zawahiri's most recent statement points
against the main al Qaeda group being involved.
"Nowhere does Zawahiri claim responsibility for the
attack in Benghazi or involvement
with the demonstrations in Egypt
or Yemen . This
suggests that while Zawahiri approves of it, actual links between these actions
and al-Qaeda Central in Pakistan
are probably thin," he told CNN.
But Noman Benotman, a senior analyst at the Quilliam
Foundation, has said an al-Zawahiri role in the attack should not yet be ruled
out. "My guess is that Zawahiri knew something was in the works before
releasing the tape," he told CNN in late September. "It would have
been very strange for him to wait so long otherwise before acknowledging the
death of Abu Yahya al-Libi."
Benotman indicated that if al-Zawahiri did have a role in
the Benghazi attack, he may delay
claiming responsibility for a variety of reasons, including not wanting to
provoke the kind of U.S.
response in Libya
that might jeopardize his wider strategic goals.
"Remember it took Zawahiri a whole year to claim
responsibility for the July 7, 2005 ,
London bombings," Benotman
told CNN.
Benotman, a former leading member of the Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group who last met al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan in 2000, believes
Zawahiri's priority in Libya is to create a safe-haven for the terrorist group
as part of a strategy of encircling Egypt, a country long viewed by the
Egyptian as the ultimate prize. In the past year pro-al Qaeda jihadists have
significantly expanded their presence to the east of Egypt 's
population centers in the Sinai and to their west in eastern Libya .
Al-Zawahiri in statements since the Arab Spring has urged
followers in Libya
to make preparations for a possible armed campaign against any pro-Western
government that might emerge in the country. "Prepare, and be ready and
recruit," al-Zawahiri stated in September 2011, after the fall of the
Moammar Gadhafi regime.
Benotman told CNN he believes the reason no militant group
in Libya has
yet come forward to claim responsibility for the consulate attack is they fear
they would be blamed for the resulting backlash against jihadists in the
country.
Al-Zawahiri first mentioned the Benghazi
attack in an audio tape released on October 12 in which he praised the
perpetrators.
"Greetings to the honorable free ones protecting Islam,
and (greetings) upon those who raided the American embassy in Benghazi, and the
ones who protested in front of the American embassy in Cairo and downed its
American flag and raised instead the flag of Islam and jihad. And I invite them
to continue their confrontation with the American Crusader-Zionist aggression
on Islam and Muslims, and I invite the rest of Muslims to follow their
lead," he stated, according to a translation by Flashpoint Partners, an American
outfit tracking jihadist websites.
Post by: By Paul
Cruickshank
Acting CIA chief has been
through this before
By Pam Benson, CNN
It was only last year, during the two-month gap from the
time Leon Panetta left the CIA until
Petraeus took over the helm, that Deputy Director Morell oversaw the agency.
The career intelligence officer joined the CIA
in 1980. Much of his early career focused on Asian issues, and he has had a
steady climb up the career ladder.
He served as then-CIA
Director George Tenet's executive assistant and presided over the daily
intelligence briefing for President George W. Bush. After a three-year overseas
assignment in the mid-2000s, he returned to headquarters, where he became the
associate deputy director responsible for the day-to-day operation of the
agency.
After spending two years as the director of intelligence,
overseeing the work of analysts, he was appointed to his current position as
Deputy Director in May 2010.
In his statement on the resignation of Petraeus, President
Barack Obama expressed trust in Morell continuing the work of the CIA .
"I have the utmost confidence in Acting Director
Michael Morell and the men and women of the CIA
who work every day to keep our nation safe," he said.
Six weeks following the assault on a U.S.
diplomatic outpost in Libya ,
many questions remain regarding the nature of the attacks, what the Obama
administration knew and when, and the way that knowledge was delivered to the
public. Adding to that confusion is the GOP’s desire to politicize the issue in
the run-up to the presidential election.
Mitt Romney was widely scorned for criticizing Obama in the
assault’s immediate aftermath for allegedly sympathizing with the attackers.
But days later, Romney, his allies and other pundits found an opening to again
criticize the administration. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice claimed that the
attack in Libya
was an outgrowth of the protests in Cairo
against an anti-Muslim film. But the administration’s story soon changed.
This shift in story — while always likely given the nature
of intelligence — launched a new round of condemnation against Obama.
Accusations and speculation of administration lies and cover-ups have been the
major focus of the narrative since then.
But the reality is much more nuanced than what the built-up
narrative suggests. The following is a timeline of not the attack itself, but
the response to it, by the Obama administration, Mitt Romney’s campaign and the
right-wing:
September 11: Dozens of armed militants launch an attack on
an American diplomatic outpost in the Libyan city Benghazi .
The lag tracks with earlier reporting indicating a delay in
the intelligence community revising earlier assessments of the causes of the
attack.
New Detailed Account of Benghazi Attack Notes CIA ’s
Quick Response
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/new-detailed-account-of-benghazi-attack-notes-cias-quick-response/
Intelligence officials have disclosed a new detailed
timeline of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi ,
acknowledging the CIA played a greater role
in responding to the attack than has previously been disclosed. A senior U.S.
intelligence official also insisted that the CIA
security team that initially responded to the attack was not given orders “to
stand down in providing support,” as had been suggested in media reports.
The timeline provided by a senior U.S.
intelligence official gives the first precise account of how CIA
security teams provided the first response to the Sept. 11 attack on the
diplomatic mission in Benghazi ,
which killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
The attack has become a political hot potato in the
presidential campaign, with conservatives accusing the administration of not
being transparent. The State Department has previously released a
detailed account of the night’s events, but did not acknowledge a CIA
role in the response. The timeline given by a senior Intelligence
official confirms that the facility previously described by the State
Department as an annex, was in fact, a facility housing CIA
security officers. It does not provide any additional details on the
current intelligence assessment that the attack was an opportunistic result of
earlier protests that day outside the U.S.
embassy in Cairo over an
anti-Muslim movie.
The official says there was “no second guessing” of those on
the ground in Libya
by senior officials either in Libya
or Washington .
“There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing
support,” said the official. The official’s comments appeared to be a
direct rebuttal of a Fox News report that CIA
teams on the ground had been told by superior officers to “stand down” from providing
security support to the consulate.
According to the official, upon learning of the attack at
the consulate, the security team at the annex responded “as quickly and
effectively as possible.” The official described how the security team
tried to rally additional support from local Libyan forces and heavier weapons,
but that when that could not be accomplished “within minutes” they moved out to
the compound. The official called the security team “genuine heroes” who risked
their lives to save those at the compound.
According to the new timeline the annex received a call at 9:40 p.m. local time that the consulate was
coming under attack. A team of six CIA
security operatives left the annex for the mission within 25 minutes of that
call.
Over the next 25 minutes the security team approached the
compound and attempted to secure heavy weapons. They encountered heavy
enemy fire when they entered the consulate compound to locate Stevens and
the other Americans who were there at the time of the attack.
At 11:11 p.m. , an
unarmed U.S.
military surveillance drone arrived over the compound. U.S.
officials have told ABC News that the drone had been redirected to Benghazi
from an ongoing mission elsewhere in Libya .
By 11:30pm , all
of the Americans, with the exception of the missing Stevens, had left the
compound in vehicles that immediately came under fire. The annex itself came
under sporadic small arms and RPG fire for the next 90 minutes before the
attackers eventually dispersed.
At around 1 a.m. an
additional CIA team of about six security
officers from the embassy in Tripoli
had arrived at Benghazi . U.S.
officials have acknowledged that the embassy in Tripoli
had chartered an aircraft to take the team to Benghazi . The
official disclosed the new detail that two U.S.
military officers were part of the team that flew in from Tripoli .
Upon learning that the situation at the annex had calmed
down, the team that came in from Tripoli
initially wanted to focus their attention on locating Stevens, who had been
taken to a local hospital.
When the team finally managed to secure transportation and
an armed escort into Benghazi , they
learned that Stevens “was almost certainly dead and that the security
situation at the hospital was uncertain.” At that point they headed to the
annex to help evacuate the Americans located there.
They arrived at the annex at 5:15 a.m. , just before mortar rounds begin to hit
the complex. The attack killed two security officers, Glen Doherty and Tyrone
Woods, who were located on the annex’s roof. Doherty had been part
of the security team that had flown in from Tripoli . The
new attack on the annex lasted only 11 minutes. Less than an hour later
everyone at the annex was evacuated with the help of ‘a heavily armed Libyan
military unit.“
CNN) -- The Pentagon released Friday an hour-by-hour
timeline of the September 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya,
highlighting when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and senior commanders were
informed of the attack and when decisions were made to move forces to assist.
The release comes as the Obama administration is facing increasing questions
over its response to the attack.
September 11 (Events are listed using the time in Benghazi
9:42 p.m. -- Armed men begin their assault on the U.S.
Consulate.
11 p.m. -- Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey meet with President Obama at the White House where
they discuss the unfolding situation and how to respond. The meeting had been
previously scheduled.
11:10 p.m. --
The surveillance drone arrives over the Benghazi
facility.
September 12
6:05 a.m. -- A
C-17 in Germany
prepares to deploy to evacuate consulate personnel.
September 11: Governor Mitt Romney’s campaign issues
a statement condemning the Obama administration’s response to the
global protests:
ROMNEY: “I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic
missions in Libya
and Egypt and
by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi .
It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to
condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those
who waged the attacks.”
September 12: Initial reports surface that Ambassador Chris
Stevens has
been killed, along with other American citizens. The story of how continues
to shift throughout day as details emerge.
September 12: In the immediate aftermath of news of
Ambassador Stevens’ death, Republicans criticized the
Romney campaign’s statement. But the campaign stuck to its attack. When asked
about the statement, Romney foreign policy advisor Richard Williamson, replied,
“It was accurate.”
September 12: The New York Times reports that
“[f]ighters involved in the assault…said in interviews during the battle that
they were moved to attack the mission by anger over a 14-minute, American-made
video that depicted the Prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder, as a villainous,
homosexual and child-molesting buffoon.” The Times continues to stand
by its story.
September 12: President
Obama and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton give remarks on the death of Ambassador Stevens and
others. Both pledge justice against the perpetrators of the attacks. In his
speech, Obama refers to the attack as an “act of terror”:
OBAMA: No acts of terror will ever shake the
resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the
values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the
very best of the United States of America .
We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this
terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
September 13: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says
during a press
briefing and a later press
gaggle that the protests around the world were due to reaction to the
video. In the gaggle, Carney made clear he didn’t want to speculate in light of
the ongoing investigation. His remarks were later taken to mean that the Benghazi
attack was based on video.
September 13: President Obama, at a campaign rally in Denver ,
CO , reiterates the previous day’s
statement, referring to the events in Benghazi
as an act of terror:
OBAMA: So what I want all of you to know is that we are
going to bring those who killed our fellow Americans to justice. I want people
around the world to hear me: To all those who would do us harm, no act of
terror will go unpunished. It will not dim the light of the values that we
proudly present to the rest of the world. No act of violence shakes the resolve
of the United States of America .
September 16: United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice goes on
all five major Sunday news shows to explain current administration thinking on
the Benghazi attack. During her
statements, Rice says that the attacks were in part a response to the
anti-Islam video that had spurred protests across the region. But, contrary to
the popular narrative, Rice did not give a definitive answer as to what exactly
took place in Benghazi , for
example, in her appearance on ABC’s This Week:
RICE: [O]ur current best
assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in
fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous — not a premeditated — response
to what had transpired in Cairo . In
Cairo , as you know, a few hours
earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this
very offensive video that was disseminated.
We believe that folks in Benghazi ,
a small number of people came to the embassy to — or to the consulate, rather,
to replicate the sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo .
And then as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some
individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that
as you know in — in the wake of the revolution in Libya are — are quite common
and accessible. And it then evolved from there.
We’ll wait to see exactly what the investigation finally
confirms, but that’s thebest information we have at present.
September 19: National Counterterrorism Center Director
Matthew Olsen calls the assault in Benghazi
an “opportunistic
attack” in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government
Affairs Committee. “I would say yes, they were killed in the course of a
terrorist attack on our embassy,” he said.
September 19: CNN reports that Ambassador Stevens remained
concerned about security in Libya
in the months before his death. CNN’s reporting is later
revealed to be based on finding Stevens’ personal journal in the Benghazi
site’s wreckage.
September 20: CBS reports that Libyan witnesses maintain
that there were no
protestsimmediately prior to the attack on the outpost in Benghazi .
The statement contradicts Rice’s statements on the Sunday morning shows that
the attack was sparked by the Cairo
protest against the anti-Muslim video.
September 20: Fox News begins pushing the idea that the
administration’s shift in narrative on the Benghazi
attack is a “cover-up,”
first on Sean
Hannity’s show, then elsewhere.
September 21: Clinton appoints
an independent panel, led by veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering, to
investigate potential failures in the State Department’s procedures in Benghazi .
September 21: Citizens in Benghazi protest against
the militias based in their city, culminating in the expulsion of the Ansar
al-Sharia militia — the group suspected of the attack that killed Ambassador
Stevens — from their headquarters.
September 24: President Obama speaks before the U.N.
General Assembly on the need to protect freedom of speech. Right-wing
commentators later criticize the President for focusing on the video rather
than terrorism.
September 26: The Daily Beast reports that some U.S.
intelligence officials had “strong
indications” that the Benghazi attack was perpetrated by al-Qaeda
affiliated groups just 24 hours after the assault — providing fuel to the
“cover up” narrative.
September 27: Right-wing blogs continue to point to FBI
being unable to access Benghazi site, despite CNN being able to, as a
sign of administration deception or incompetence.
September 28: The Office of the Director of National
Intelligence takes
responsibility for the intelligence community’s claim, repeated by
Rice, that the Benghazi attack was
launched in response to the protests against the anti-Muslim video in Cairo .
September 28: Rep. Peter King (R-NY) calls for Rice’s
resignation over her comments on September 16th:
KING: I believe that this was such a failure of foreign
policy messag[ing] and leadership, such a misstatement of facts as was known at
the time … for her to go on all of those shows and in effect be our spokesman
for the world and be misinforming the American people and our allies and
countries around the world, to me, somebody has to pay the price for this.
September 30: Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), in an appearance
on Fox News, refers to the situation as “Benghazi-gate”
and maintains that it is a scandal worse than Watergate.
October 3: Chairman of the House Government Oversight
Committee Darrel Issa (R-CA) calls
the first witnesses in a forthcoming hearing on the administration’s
handling of security in Libya .
October 4: An FBI team reaches
the Benghazi site, collecting evidence for about twelve hours.
October 8: Romney delivers
a foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute. In his
remarks, Romney criticizes the Obama administration’s narrative on the events
in Benghazi :
ROMNEY: This latest assault cannot be blamed on a
reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the administration’s
attempts to convince us of that for so long.
No, as the Administration has finally conceded, these
attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their
dark ideology on others, especially women and girls; who are fighting to
control much of the Middle East today; and who seek to
wage perpetual war on the West.
October 9: State Department officials say in response to
inquiries on whether the attack was prompted by protests against the
video, “That is a question that you would have to ask others. That was not our
conclusion. I’m not saying that we had a conclusion, but we outlined what
happened.”
October 10: In a phone interview, Romney says to Washington
Post blogger Jennifer Rubin, “I think there was misleading on the part of
the administration” with regards to Benghazi .
October 10: During a hearing that House Democrats warned
would be highly
partisan prior to its beginning, testimony was given by several
current and former State Department officials that security in Benghazi
was lacking. Career official Deputy Assistant Secretary Charlene Lamb took the
majority of the blame for the decisions made regarding diplomatic security.
October 10: The officials also testified that they denied
requests for greater security in Libya ,
but those requests “were
largely focused on extending the tours of security guards at the
American Embassy in Tripoli — not
at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi ,
400 miles away.” Former Regional Security Officer for Libya Eric Nordstrom also
says, ““Having an extra foot of wall, or an extra half dozen guards or agents
would not have enabled us to respond to that kind of assault.”
October 12: Prior to the vice presidential debate, Obama
campaign Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter remarks that Libya
has “only
become a political issue” thanks to Romney and Paul Ryan. The Romney
campaign and other pundits then
attacked Cutter, suggesting she claimed Romney and Ryan made the Libya
attacks “an issue,” when in fact she said they made the attacks a “political
issue.”
October 13: Ambassador Stevens’ father says that it would be
“abhorrent”
for his son’s death to become a political issue. His statement comes following
a request by the mother of a former Marine killed in Benghazi
that Romney no longer tell a story involving her son on the campaign trail.
October 14: Romney campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani
explicitly says that Romney should be “exploiting”
Libya for
political gain.
“I’M THE PRESIDENT AND
I’M ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE”
October 15: Secretary of State Clinton says in an interview
with CNN that she takes
responsibility for the security situation in Benghazi .
October 16: News reports begin to indicate that while the
Benghazi attacks may not have grown out of a protest against an anti-Muslim
film Rice said in her Sept. 16 remarks, the assault may have been both
an act of terrorism and carried
out in response to the video.
October 16: In the second presidential debate, Romney says
that President Obama never called the Benghazi
attack an “act of terror” on Sept. 12. He is corrected by
moderator Candy Crowley. Afterwards, Republicans and right-wing pundits say
that Obama was
not referring to Benghazi specifically on Sept. 12. They also claimed Crowley
had walked back her assertion that the President’s statement was correct. But Crowley
says she did
no such thing.
October 16: During the debate, President Obama responded to
a question on Secretary Clinton’s CNN interview by taking responsibility
himself for the security in Benghazi :
OBAMA: Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But
she works for me.I’m the president and I’m always responsible, and that’s why
nobody’s more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.
The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose
Garden and I told the American people in the world that we are going to find
out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that
we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime.
October 17: Romney’s main attack on President Obama is that
he waited two weeks to say the Benghazi
assault was a terror attack. While this claim is indeed false, it appears that
Romney himself does not live up this standard. The GOP presidential nominee
referred to the incident as terrorism eight
days after Obama did.
October 18: Mary Commanday, the mother of slain U.S.
Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, tells
CBS News that she doesn’t believe blaming the government for her son’s
death is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s productive to lay blame on people.”
October 18: Rep. Peter King undercuts
two right-wing talking points on Benghazi ,
both acknowledging that Obama referred to Benghazi
as an “act of terror” in his Sept. 12 speech and that he “didn’t expect” Obama
to have the full story the day after the attack.
October 18: In a new account, the Wall Street Journal
reports that newly
gained data cast doubt over the talking points the intelligence
community had provided to U.N.
Ambassador Susan Rice while she was making her Sept. 16
appearances on several Sunday morning news shows:
Despite their growing uncertainty, intelligence officials didn’t
feel they had enough conclusive, new information to revise their
assessment. Ms. Rice wasn’t warned of their new doubts before she went on
the air the next morning and spoke of the attacks being spurred by
demonstrations, intelligence officials acknowledged.
More information casting doubt on the protest element came
in on Sunday morning, around the time that Ms. Rice was completing her TV
appearances, the officials said. She began taping the shows early Sunday
morning. By the time intelligence analysts began to realize “there’s enough
here to build a body of evidence that there probably were not protests, those
things were already recorded and she [Ms. Rice] was already out there,” a
senior intelligence official said.
The Obama administration would be hammered for weeks on
Rice’s statements.
October 18: Ahmed Abu Khattab — a leader in the Ansar
al-Sharia militia suspected by the Libyan and U.S. governments of taking part
in the attack — meets with Reuters and New
York Times reporters in Benghazi. During their interview, he indicates
that, while he did not take part in the attack, it was in response to the
‘Innocence of Muslims’ video.
October 19: Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera and Peter Doocy both
report that the ‘Innocence of Muslims’ video may have had something to
do with the Benghazi assault. Their statements are the first on Fox News to
veer from the narrative attacking the administration’s early statements.
October 20: The LA
Times and Washington
Post both publish articles critical of a simplified narrative
surrounding Benghazi . In the
former, intelligence officials are quoted as saying that the Sept. 11 assault
was spontaneous, was not ordered by al Qaeda, and was in response to the video.
In the latter, columnist David Ignatius confirms that the CIA
provided the talking points for the administration and Congress on their
initial beliefs regarding causes of the Benghazi attack, including that it
stemmed from a protest.
October 21: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in a
CNN interview praised Romney’s response to the attack in Benghazi ,
saying that it closely mirrored Ronald Reagan’s to the Iranian hostage crisis.
He is wrong
on both counts.
October 22: The Wall Street Journal reports that President
Obama was told in his daily intelligence briefing for over
a week that the attack in Benghazi
grew out of a protest.
Since the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi ,
which left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead,
questions have persisted over what happened that night, whether there was
adequate security at the compound and the manner in which the Obama
administration initially characterized the attack.
Below is an account, compiled by CBS News, from sources who
spoke to us in Washington and Benghazi
about the attack in that eastern Libyan city and the investigation that
followed.
Security Incidents Prior to the Benghazi
Attack
December 2011: Terror plot thwarted, but Benghazi
emergency plan warns of many Islamic terrorists still operating in area.
March 2012: U.S.
Embassy in Tripoli lead security
officer, RSO Eric Nordstrom, requests additional security but later testified
he received no response.
July 2012: RSO Nordstrom again requests additional
security (perhaps via cable signed by Amb. Stevens dated July 9, see below).
Early August: State Dept. removes the last of three
6-man State Dept. security teams and a 16-man military SST team from Libya .
Timeline of 9/11 Consulate Attack As It Unfolds
Hours before the assault, nearly 750 miles away in Cairo ,
events were taking shape that would inform the early narrative surrounding the
events in Benghazi :
There are three other structures in the compound: Building
B, a residence with bedrooms and a cantina and dining room; a Tactical
Operations Center (TOC) located across from building B, containing offices, one
bedroom and security cameras; and barracks located by the front gate, staffed
by Libyan security guards. At this time, there are five diplomatic security
agents (DS) on site - three based in Benghazi
and two traveling with Stevens. According to a U.S. State Department account
given Oct. 9 there was "nothing unusual outside of the gates."
State Dept. Diplomatic Security follows events in real time
on a listen-only, audio-only feed, according to testimony of Charlene Lamb, the
dep director for international programs, before the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee Oct 10.
The president and those officials discuss possible responses
to the situation. At the compound, the 17th of February Brigade says they can't
hold the perimeter and withdraws. DS agents make final search for Stevens and
leave with the CIA team in an armored
vehicle heading for the annex, taking fire along the way.
Of note, when CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer visited the
compound in one of several trips to Libya ,
she found little evidence of an extensive firefight at the compound's walls and
main gate, likely indicating the fiercest fighting occurred away from the
compound.
Of note, when CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer visited the
compound in one of several trips to Libya ,
she found little evidence of an extensive firefight at the compound's walls and
main gate, likely indicating the fiercest fighting occurred away from the
compound.
Over the next two hours, Sec. Panetta holds a series of
meetings and issues several orders: Two Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST )
platoons stationed in Rota, Spain prepare to deploy - one to Benghazi and the
other to the Embassy in Tripoli; A special operations team in Europe is ordered
to move to Sigonella, Sicily - less than one hour's flight away from Benghazi;
An additional special operations team based in the U.S. is ordered to deploy to
Sigonella.
At around the same time, the additional security team finds
transportation from the airport under the escort of the Libyan Shield, a local
militia, but goes to the annex after learning Stevens dead. Just after their
arrival, the annex takes mortar fire, sustaining three direct hits. The
precision of the attacks indicates a level of sophistication and coordination. Former
U.S. Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are killed in the mortar assault,
which lasts just 11 minutes before dissipating; a DS agent and annex security
member are severely wounded. After the mortar attack, about 30 Americans
evacuate the annex and head to the airport, with the assistance of the Libyan
security.
Ambassador Stevens is confirmed dead later that morning, as
Americans see his body at the airport [BK – how did he get there from hosptil -
]
Around 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET ): U.S.
special forces team arrives in Sigonella , Sicily ,
becoming the first military unit in the region.
Around 9 p.m. (3 p.m. ET ): A FAST
platoon arrives in Tripoli .
Post-Attack Response and Investigation
Sept. 12: Secretary Clinton announces the death of
Stevens and Smith via press release.
President Obama addresses the public: "Make no mistake,
we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who
attacked our people. Since our founding, the United
States has been a nation that respects all
faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But
there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. ...
No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that
character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."
The president spends time with State Department personnel in
an impromptu visit that is closed to the press.
In an interview with President Obama the same day, "60
Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft presses the president on early accounts
that the attack stemmed from a spontaneous protest, saying it didn't
"sound like your normal demonstration."
"We're still investigating exactly what happened,"
Mr. Obama said. "I don't want to jump the gun on this. But you're right
that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in Egypt .
And my suspicion is….that there are folks involved in this who were looking to
target Americans from the start."
Meanwhile, Clinton
visits the Near Eastern Affairs bureau, and the information technology bureau
where Sean Smith was assigned, CBS News' Margaret Brennan reports. Clinton
later references the assault as an "attack by a small and savage
group."
Meanwhile, senior State Dept. officials share initial
details of the attack in Benghazi
with members of the press via phone briefing. A senior official says in
response to an inquiry about alleged protests outside of consulate that night:
"We frankly don't have a full picture of what may have been going on
outside of the compound walls before the firing began. ... With regard to
whether there is any connection between this Internet activity and this
extremist attack in Benghazi ,
frankly, we just don't know. We're not going to know until we have a chance to
investigate."
CBS News' David Martin reports that some U.S.
officials already were looking at the attack as a terrorist act, perpetrated by
people either associated with or who sympathize with al Qaeda, that took
advantage of the protest.
The FBI officially opens an investigation into the deaths of
Stevens and the three other Americans killed, as reported by CBS News' Andres
Triay and Bob Orr.
Sept. 13: A government official speaking on the
condition of anonymity said the FBI is planning to send investigators to Germany
to interview U.S. Consulate personnel who were evacuated there, as reported by
CBS' Pat Milton.
CBS News' David Martin reports that a radical Islamic group
called Ansar al Sharia is the lead suspect in the attack, according to U.S.
officials. The name means "Supporters of Islamic law."
Sec. Clinton remains in regular contact with other top
officials such as Secretary Panetta and Gen. Dempsey, CBS News' Margaret
Brennan reports.
Marine anti-terrorist teams similar to the one sent to Tripoli
land in Yemen
to protect the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, reports CBS News' David Martin. There
are two more of these teams on standby but so far no plans to send them to
particular embassies.
CBS News' Charlie D'Agata gets access to an injured Libyan guard
based inside the consulate who offers a firsthand account of the attack and
makes the first mention of Blue Mountain ,
a British security firm contracted by the State Department that employed
Libyans to conduct procedural security measures inside the compound, including
x-rays of equipment.
Sept. 14: The bodies of Stevens, Smith, Woods and
Doherty are returned to the U.S.
They are welcomed in a televised ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. Secretary
Clinton publicly denounces the "Innocence of Muslims" video.
CBS News' Brennan reports that Clinton
visits the Situation Room and Oval Office "half a dozen times this
week" and spends "countless hours" there.
CBS News' Cami McCormick reports on protests outside the
U.S. Embassy in Khartoum , Sudan .
The number of protestors outside the Khartoum Embassy is estimated at 2,000.
Police use tear gas against the stone-throwing protestors. The demonstrators
were trying to get in the compound but police held them back.
CBS News' Charlie D'Agata interviews members of the 17th of
February Brigade's VIP protection team
involved in the evacuation and obtains exclusive photos of an injured American
being evacuated to the airport from the annex under the brigade's escort. They
put the total number of Americans evacuated from Benghazi
at 32.
Sept. 15: CBS News' D'Agata is the first reporter to
locate the secret CIA annex in Benghazi .
He reports that the roof of the house is covered in mortars. CBS News
broadcasts images of the helmets and bloodied flak jackets discovered there.
Sept. 16: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan
Rice tells Bob Schieffer on CBS' "Face the Nation" that there is no
information that suggests the attack was preplanned.
"We'll want to see the results of that investigation to
draw any definitive conclusions. But based on the best information we have to
date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began
spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours
earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest
outside of our embassy ... sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that
spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that
it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that -- in that effort
with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available
in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much
more violent. ... We do not have information at present that leads us to
conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned."
Earlier in that same program, Libyan President Magariaf
tells Schieffer that the assault was preplanned and some of the attackers were
foreigners.
"The way these perpetrators acted and moved ... this
leaves us with no doubt that this has preplanned, determined - predetermined
... It was planned -- definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who
-- who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this
criminal act since their -- since their arrival."
Magariaf also claimed "about 50" people had been
arrested in connection with the attack.
- Magariaf separately states Ahmed Boukhatala is one of the
lead suspects. CBS News interviews Boukhatala over mango juice off camera and he
admitted he was there that night but denies any involvement in the attack. At
that point, he had still not been questioned and was moving freely in Benghazi ,
challenging Magariaf to "come to my house and arrest me" if he was a
suspect.
Since the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi ,
which left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead,
questions have persisted over what happened that night, whether there was
adequate security at the compound and the manner in which the Obama
administration initially characterized the attack.
Post-Attack Response and Investigation
Sept. 12: Secretary Clinton announces the death of
Stevens and Smith via press release.
President Obama addresses the public: "Make no mistake,
we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who
attacked our people.
"Since our founding, the United
States has been a nation that respects all
faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But
there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. ...
No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that
character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."
The president spends time with State Department personnel in
an impromptu visit that is closed to the press.
In an interview with President Obama the same day, "60
Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft presses the president on early accounts
that the attack stemmed from a spontaneous protest, saying it didn't
"sound like your normal demonstration."
"We're still investigating exactly what happened,"
Mr. Obama said. "I don't want to jump the gun on this. But you're right
that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in Egypt .
And my suspicion is, is that there are folks involved in this, who were looking
to target Americans from the start."
Meanwhile, Clinton
visits the Near Eastern Affairs bureau, and the information technology bureau
where Sean Smith was assigned, CBS News' Margaret Brennan reports.
Meanwhile, senior State Dept. officials share initial
details of the attack in Benghazi
with members of the press via phone briefing. A senior official says in
response to an inquiry about alleged protests outside of consulate that night:
"We frankly don't have a full picture of what may have been going on
outside of the compound walls before the firing began. ... With regard to
whether there is any connection between this Internet activity and this
extremist attack in Benghazi ,
frankly, we just don't know. We're not going to know until we have a chance to
investigate."
CBS News' David Martin reports that some U.S.
officials already were looking at the attack as a terrorist act, perpetrated by
people either associated with or who sympathize with al Qaeda, that took
advantage of the protest.
The FBI officially opens an investigation into the deaths of
Stevens and the three other Americans killed, as reported by CBS News' Andres
Triay and Bob Orr.
Sept. 13: A government official speaking on the
condition of anonymity said the FBI is planning to send investigators to Germany
to interview U.S. Consulate personnel who were evacuated there, as reported by
CBS' Pat Milton.
CBS News' David Martin reports that a radical Islamic group
called Ansar al Sharia is the lead suspect in the attack, according to U.S.
officials. The name means "Supporters of Islamic law."
Sec. Clinton remains in regular contact with other top
officials such as Secretary Panetta and Gen. Dempsey, CBS News' Margaret
Brennan reports.
Marine anti-terrorist teams similar to the one sent to Tripoli
land in Yemen
to protect the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, reports CBS News' David Martin. There
are two more of these teams on standby but so far no plans to send them to
particular embassies.
CBS News' Charlie D'Agata gets access to an injured Libyan
guard based inside the consulate, who offers a firsthand account of the attack
and makes the first mention of Blue Mountain ,
a British security firm contracted by the State Department that employed
Libyans to conduct procedural security measures inside the compound, including
x-rays of equipment.
Sept. 14: The bodies of Stevens, Smith, Woods and
Doherty are returned to the U.S.
They are welcomed in a televised ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. Secretary
Clinton publicly denounces the "Innocence of Muslims" video.
CBS News' Brennan reports that Clinton
visits the Situation Room and Oval Office "half a dozen times this
week" and spends "countless hours" there.
CBS News' Cami McCormick reports on protests outside the
U.S. Embassy in Khartoum , Sudan .
The number of protestors outside the Khartoum Embassy is estimated at 2,000.
Police use tear gas against the stone-throwing protestors. The demonstrators
were trying to get in the compound but police held them back.
CBS News' Charlie D'Agata interviews members of the 17th of
February Brigade's VIP protection team
involved in the evacuation and obtains exclusive photos of an injured American
being evacuated to the airport from the annex under the brigade's escort. They
put the total number of Americans evacuated from Benghazi
at 32.
Sept. 15: CBS News' D'Agata is the first reporter to
locate the secret CIA annex in Benghazi .
He reports that the roof of the house is covered in mortars. CBS News
broadcasts images of the helmets and bloodied flak jackets discovered there.
Sept. 16: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan
Rice tells Bob Schieffer on CBS' "Face the Nation" that there is no
information that suggests the attack was preplanned.
"We'll want to see the results of that investigation to
draw any definitive conclusions. But based on the best information we have to
date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began
spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours
earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest
outside of our embassy ... sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that
spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that
it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that -- in that effort
with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available
in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much
more violent. ... We do not have information at present that leads us to
conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned."
Earlier in that same program, Libyan President Magariaf
tells Schieffer that the assault was preplanned and some of the attackers were
foreigners.
"The way these perpetrators acted and moved ... this
leaves us with no doubt that this has preplanned, determined - predetermined
... It was planned -- definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who
-- who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this
criminal act since their -- since their arrival."
Magariaf also claimed "about 50" people had been arrested
in connection with the attack.
Magariaf separately states Ahmed Boukhatala is one of the
lead suspects. CBS News interviews Boukhatala over mango juice off camera and
admitted he was there that night but denies any involvement in the attack. At
that point, he had still not been questioned and was moving freely in Benghazi ,
challenging Magariaf to "come to my house and arrest me" if he was a
suspect.
LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – The David Petraeus mistress scandal timeline is prompting outrage in advance of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday about the Benghazi Attack. The David Petraeus timeline is prompting session Monday. Petraeus was scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the
The David Petraeus mistress affair allegedly with Paula
Broadwell started in 2011 shortly after he took his last post with the CIA .
The affair, however, lasted only four months, officials told news Sunday. But
last summer, Jill Kelley went to the FBI to report what she deemed alleged
harassing emails from Paula Broadwell.
[BK – the emxils were xnnonymous xnd the FBI determined they
were from PB.]
Jill Kelley Pictures Set 1
Jill Kelley Photo 1
Jill Kelley Photo 2
Jill Kelley Photo 3
Jill Kelley Photo 4
Jill Kelley Photo 1
Jill Kelley Photo 2
Jill Kelley Photo 3
Jill Kelley Photo 4
While news reports Sunday have identified the content of the
emails (“my man”, “back off”, etc), officials have yet to indicate the month
that Kelley get the emails. Did Kelley only get the emails in summer 2012 if
Paula Broadwell’s alleged affair with David Petraeus started in 2011 and only
lasted four months? And if so, why was Broadwell referring to Petraeus as her
“man”, and sending the emails allegedly through his private sector
email address, if the alleged affair had ended by summer 2012?
Paula Broadwell Pictures Set 1
Scott, Paula Broadwell Photo 1
Scott, Paula Broadwell Photo 2
Scott, Paula Broadwell Photo 3
Scott, Paula Broadwell Photo 4
Assuming that Kelley reported the emails shortly after
receiving them last summer, critics are questioning why did the Petraeus affair
only get James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, on Tuesday.
Officials tell news that path of questions started
from Kelley and went to the FBI and then the Justice Department last summer.
But are we to believe that the Justice Department sat on the matter and didn’t
inform Clapper until last Tuesday?
Paula Broadwell Pictures Set 2
Paula Broadwell Photo 1
Paula Broadwell Photo 2
Paula Broadwell Photo 3
Paula Broadwell Photo 4
Paula Broadwell Photo 1
Paula Broadwell Photo 2
Paula Broadwell Photo 3
Paula Broadwell Photo 4
Clapper allegedly telephoned Petraeus 5 pm on Tuesday, the
night of the Presidential Election, and asked for his resignation. The
next day is when the White House claims to have first learned about
the scandal, when Petraeus tendered his resignation. The Senate
intelligence committee has since told news that they only learned about the
matter only on Friday, just hours before the Petraeus story hit national news.
Paula Broadwell Pictures Set 3
Paula Broadwell Photo 5
Paula Broadwell Photo 6
Paula Broadwell Photo 7
Paula Broadwell Photo 8
Paula Broadwell Photo 5
Paula Broadwell Photo 6
Paula Broadwell Photo 7
Paula Broadwell Photo 8
And what did House Republican Eric Cantor know? Unconfirmed
reports claim that a FBI whistle blower, still unidentified, may have told
Cantor two weeks earlier.
Rep. Peter King, Republican chairman of the House
Homeland Security Committee, says this timeline is absurdly suspect. “It
seems this has been going on for several months,” King said of
the investigation, “and yet, now it appears that they’re saying that the
FBI didn’t realize until Election Day that Gen Petraeus was involved. It just
doesn’t add up.”
“It seems this has been going on for several months,” King
also told news “and, yet, now it appears that they’re saying that the FBI
didn’t realize until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved. It just
doesn’t add up.”
If the timing doesn’t seem suspect, certainly the content of
the scandal does. Jill Kelley is said to have been a close friend of
both David Petraeus and his wife Holly Petraeus.
When Jill Kelley got the Paula Broadwell emails, did she
only call FBI or did she also call up Holly Petraeus as well? If she didn’t,
why did a matter that began with Kelley’s summer 2012 call to the FBI prompt a
resignation by Petraeus not until November 2012?
As previously noted, as soon as the scandal broke,
Petraeus’ wife remained blogging online but silent about the matter.
Potentially, Broadwell and her husband were not anticipating
the scandal to break last week. The two had scheduled her birthday
party only to cancel it abruptly on Friday.
Petraeus can still be called by Senate. “We may well ask
him,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, told Fox News Sunday. Perhaps the first question for
Petraeus will be why did he suddenly tender his resignation, about an affair
allegedly from 2011, and reported in summer 2012, not until November.
Military timeline from night of Benghazi
attack begs more questions
Published November
11, 2012 FoxNews
After more than nine weeks of trying to reconcile their
story line with that of the State Department and the CIA ,
the Pentagon finally released its timeline of the Libya
terror attack during a Friday afternoon, off-camera briefing with an official
who could only be quoted anonymously.
The news was overtaken almost immediately by the announcement that Gen. David Petraeus had resigned, due to an extramarital affair. He was slated to testify in closed-door hearings on Capitol Hill this coming week before the Senate and House intelligence committees. Petraeus no longer plans to testify.
The news was overtaken almost immediately by the announcement that Gen. David Petraeus had resigned, due to an extramarital affair. He was slated to testify in closed-door hearings on Capitol Hill this coming week before the Senate and House intelligence committees. Petraeus no longer plans to testify.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, told "Fox News Sunday" that she
"absolutely" thinks Petraeus' resignation has no connection to the Libya
matter but he could be called to testify before Congress at a later date.
"We may well ask," the California
senator told Fox.
However, while the Petraeus resignation has since dominated
attention in Washington , an
examination of the military’s version of events reveals a number of
discrepancies and gaps worth closer scrutiny.
THE FIRST DISCREPANCY
The Defense Department timeline on the night of Sept. 11 begins at9:42 p.m. local time and states, “The incident
starts at the facility in Benghazi .”
THE FIRST DISCREPANCY
The Defense Department timeline on the night of Sept. 11 begins at
Right from the start, the Pentagon and the CIA
timelines do not match. (The CIA timeline,
which was released on Nov. 1, states that at 9:40
p.m. , “A senior State Department security officer at the U.S.
Consulate in Benghazi called the CIA
annex and requested assistance.”)
A source at theCIA annex that night told
Fox News that when they first asked to go and help, they were told to wait.
Within 17 minutes of the start of the attack, AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham, who happens to be visitingWashington
and was in the Pentagon that day, redirects an unarmed, unmanned drone to Benghazi .
PANETTAAND DEMPSEY ARE
ALERTED 50 MINUTES AFTER ATTACK
At 10:32 p.m. (4:32 p.m. in Washington), 50 minutes after the incident began, the National Military Command Center, which is the operations center at the Pentagon where Ham is overseeing the operation, notifies Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.
A source at the
Within 17 minutes of the start of the attack, AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham, who happens to be visiting
PANETTA
At 10:32 p.m. (4:32 p.m. in Washington), 50 minutes after the incident began, the National Military Command Center, which is the operations center at the Pentagon where Ham is overseeing the operation, notifies Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.
That means for nearly an hour, no one told the defense
secretary and Joint Chiefs chairman that a U.S.
ambassador is in peril and his personal security officer has pressed his
“personal distress button” which sends an SMS signal back to the command
authority in the U.S.
and a U.S.
embassy has been overrun by attackers.
A CIA team left for the
consulate at 10:04 p.m. -- 28 minutes
before the Pentagon says Panetta and Dempsey were told the attack had occurred.
Sources at theCIA annex in Benghazi
told Fox News in an interview on Oct. 25 that they asked permission to leave
for the consulate immediately and twice were told to wait. The CIA
says the base chief was trying to arrange Libyan help.
PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED MEETING WITH PRESIDENT: 78 MINUTES AFTER ATTACK
At 5 p.m. in Washington, D.C. (11 p.m. in Libya), nearly an hour and a half after the attack began, according to the Pentagon’s timeline, “Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey attend a previously scheduled meeting with the President at the White House.”
Sources at the
PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED MEETING WITH PRESIDENT: 78 MINUTES AFTER ATTACK
At 5 p.m. in Washington, D.C. (11 p.m. in Libya), nearly an hour and a half after the attack began, according to the Pentagon’s timeline, “Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey attend a previously scheduled meeting with the President at the White House.”
The attack has already been under way for 78 minutes, but no
rescue forces from outside Libya
have yet been mobilized.
By5:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in Libya ),
all surviving American personnel are rescued by the CIA
annex team and leave the consulate for the CIA
annex. From 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Pentagon, Panetta, Dempsey and
Ham meet to discuss additional response options.
MORE CALLS FOR HELP
Upon returning to the annex, theCIA team
and those that were rescued immediately begin taking fire and at midnight , according to sources on the ground
that night, begin making radio calls for help and air support. Almost
immediately, they begin taking fire from small arms and rocket-propelled
grenades.
According to a seniorU.S.
defense official, “This was not one long continuous fight, but two separate
incidents at two separate facilities with some separation of time.”
However, British sources who were near the consulate and annex that night tell a different story, saying there was almost continuous fire on the annex after the team fled from the consulate.
Sometime over the next two hours, according to the official Pentagon timeline, Panetta gives the “go code” for two MarineFAST
(Fleet Anti-terrorism Security) teams to prepare to leave Rota ,
Spain . A Special
Operations force which is training in Central Europe is
told to “prepare to deploy to an intermediate staging base in southern Europe
(Sigonella , Sicily ),
and a Special Operations team in the U.S.
is told to prepare to deploy to Sigonella as well.
By
MORE CALLS FOR HELP
Upon returning to the annex, the
According to a senior
However, British sources who were near the consulate and annex that night tell a different story, saying there was almost continuous fire on the annex after the team fled from the consulate.
Sometime over the next two hours, according to the official Pentagon timeline, Panetta gives the “go code” for two Marine
It isn’t until 2:53 a.m.
(about five hours after the incident began) that those orders are formalized by
Panetta and the teams are told they can leave.
TEAM LANDS AT SIGONELLA 20 HOURS LATER
The Pentagon says that the European-based team of rescuers
landed at Sigonella air base at 7:57 p.m.
on Sept. 12, more than 20 hours after the attack began and 40 minutes after the
last survivor was flown out of Tripoli
on a U.S. C-17 transport plane.
Fox News has learned more details about the European rescue team. More than 30 Special Operations Forces, part of a Commander’s In Extremis Force, or CIF, which is normally on a short tether, are deployed in the event of a terror attack. They are a counterterror SWAT team.
Fox News has learned more details about the European rescue team. More than 30 Special Operations Forces, part of a Commander’s In Extremis Force, or CIF, which is normally on a short tether, are deployed in the event of a terror attack. They are a counterterror SWAT team.
The group ordered toward Libya
was from the Charlie 110 Company, based in Stuttgart ,
Germany , but had been
training in Croatia
on an exercise known as “Jackal Stone.” The training involved counterterrorism
exercises.
NO PERMISSION TOLAND
Military sources familiar with the orders given to the CIF team tell Fox News the CIF plane headed toLibya
-- not to first stage at Sigonella as the Pentagon timeline suggests. The
Pentagon denies this, saying simply that they were ordered to an intermediate
staging base.
NO PERMISSION TO
Military sources familiar with the orders given to the CIF team tell Fox News the CIF plane headed to
What cannot be confirmed is what time that team could have
been outside Libyan air space. The Pentagon won’t say when they took off from Croatia .
Multiple defense sources say that the plane did not have
permission to enter Libya .
That permission would have to be secured from the Libyans by the State
Department.
“FEET DRY OVER LIBYA”
Survivors of the attack at the annex say that they heard over the radio net that night thatU.S.
military assets were, “feet dry over Libya ,"
which would refer to assets crossing from sea to land and hovering. The
Pentagon denies this.
The original story board that shows the CIF movement that night is difficult to find, according to those who saw the original timeline. The official brief, according to those familiar with it, simply says that the plane landed at Sigonella at7:57 p.m. on Sept. 12
-- 20 hours after the start of the attack, even though they were just a few
hours away in Croatia .
This raises the question: what time did they get their orders and how long did it take the CIF to scramble?
The team was most likely flying on a modified MC-130 P Talon 2. A modified C-130 flying fromCroatia
about 900 miles from the Libyan coast could have been there under three hours
from take-off. Croatia
to Libya is the
same distance approximately as Washington , D.C. ,
to Miami .
“FEET DRY OVER LIBYA”
Survivors of the attack at the annex say that they heard over the radio net that night that
The original story board that shows the CIF movement that night is difficult to find, according to those who saw the original timeline. The official brief, according to those familiar with it, simply says that the plane landed at Sigonella at
This raises the question: what time did they get their orders and how long did it take the CIF to scramble?
The team was most likely flying on a modified MC-130 P Talon 2. A modified C-130 flying from
Furthermore, the modified C-130 plane used by Special
Operations teams can be refueled in flight, allowing them to extend their range
and hover time, if an air refueling plane is available. It can fly for nine
hours without being refueled.
“It’s not like you dial up theU.S.
military and service members go down a fire pole, hop on a fire engine and go.
That’s not how our forces work, especially from a cold start,” according to the
senior U.S.
defense official who briefed the Pentagon timeline. “We are an excellent
military, finest in the world, always prepared, but we are neither omniscient
nor omnipresent.”
The CIF, which included dozens of Special Operators, was never utilized to help rescue 30 Americans who had fought off attackers on the ground inBenghazi
until 5:26 a.m. on Sept. 12. Pentagon
officials say it did not arrive in time to help.
“It’s not like you dial up the
The CIF, which included dozens of Special Operators, was never utilized to help rescue 30 Americans who had fought off attackers on the ground in
In the days following the attack in Benghazi ,
the CIF team was sent by Ham to Tunisia
to remain on standby in case they were needed for other contingencies, such as
a retaliatory strike, according to senior U.S.
military commanders with knowledge of the operation.
“We were posturing forces to be ready for possible
responses,” according to a senior U.S.
defense official. “We were looking at the possibility of a potential hostage
rescue.”
To date no retaliatory strikes have taken place, and
questions remain about what could have been done to help those who were in
peril on the ground.
According to the Pentagon timeline, the first conference call to AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM, TRANSCOM, SOCOM and the four military branches occurred nearly five hours after the attack began.
THECIA RESCUE TEAM
FROM TRIPOLI
Meanwhile inLibya ,
two hours and 48 minutes after the attack on the consulate began, a six-man
rescue team organized by the CIA in Tripoli
that included two Tier One Army Special Operators already in Tripoli
on another assignment leave the capital to help.
According to the Pentagon timeline, the first conference call to AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM, TRANSCOM, SOCOM and the four military branches occurred nearly five hours after the attack began.
THE
Meanwhile in
However, they do not have a plane and end up chartering one
too small to rescue the entire group in Benghazi and are required to make a
round trip. They do not depart Benghazi
with the last survivors and Ambassador Chris Stevens’ body until 10 a.m. the next day.
TheCIA says that the Tripoli
rescue team landed in Benghazi at 1:15 a.m. on Sept 12. The Pentagon says it
landed at 1:30 a.m. Another official
discrepancy.
More than four hours later, just before5:26
a.m. , former SEAL Glen Doherty, who arrived from Tripoli
with the rescue team, and former SEAL Tyrone Woods are killed on the CIA
annex roof by a mortar.
THE AMBASSADOR IS STILL MISSING
Security personnel at Blue Mountain Group receive a photograph of the ambassador’s body in a morgue at7:15 a.m.
At that point, Stevens’ body had still not been recovered from the hospital
where Ansar Al Sharia, the presumed attackers, had surrounded it.
The
More than four hours later, just before
THE AMBASSADOR IS STILL MISSING
Security personnel at Blue Mountain Group receive a photograph of the ambassador’s body in a morgue at
By 8:30 a.m. , all
KIA are accounted for, including the ambassador. The Pentagon’s critics say the
president and defense secretary could have ordered more assets into Libya
to help sooner.
Even by Wednesday morning, several challenges remained.
Thirty Americans did not have a plane big enough to get them out of Benghazi ;
the U.S.
consulate and CIA annex needed to be secured
because sensitive documents remained at the consulate and annex; and an FBI
team would eventually be held up in Tripoli
and not be given access to the Benghazi
sites for 24 days.
The two MarineFAST teams were not ordered
to Libya until
five hours after the attack was underway. The first FAST
team didn’t arrive in Tripoli to
secure the embassy until 8:56 p.m.
on Sept. 12, nearly two hours after the rescued Americans had left Libya
on a C-17 sent from Ramstein Air Base in Germany .
The second FAST team of Marines slated to go
to Benghazi was never sent to Libya .
Libyan looters and journalists spent the next 24 days rifling through papers
and potential evidence at the compounds.
According to the seniorU.S.
defense official who briefed reporters on the timeline, “There has been a great
deal of speculation about the use of or desirability of military responses.
Some have indicated manned and unmanned aircraft options would have changed the
course of events. Unfortunately, no aircraft options were available to be used
or effective.”
The two Marine
According to the senior
According to a source who debriefed those who were at the CIA
annex that night, “When they asked for air support, they were told they could
have an unarmed drone.”