Madeleine Morgenstern
The Blaze
10/27/2012
A former Department of Defense official said Friday that if President Barack Obama really gave an order to secure U.S. personnel when the consulate in Libya came under assault, there will a paper trail to prove it.
Francis “Bing” West, who served as an assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan, told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren that the president’s explanation about his actions when the U.S. mission in Benghazi was attacked should be easily verifiable.
“President Obama today said that he gave an order to everyone while the attack was going on to do everything they could to secure the personnel,” West said. “Now that’s really big because that means that those who were turning down [former Navy SEAL] Ty Woods when he was asking for the help were going against the orders of the president of the United States.”…
The article continues, with video, at The Blaze.
Related: Obama Deflects Questions About Requests For Added Security In Benghazi During Attacks
Reporter: Were the Americans under attack at the consulate in Benghazi Libya denied requests for help during that attack? And is it fair to tell Americans that what happened is under investigation and we’ll all find out after the election?
President Obama: Well, the election has nothing to do with four brave Americans getting killed and us wanting to find out exactly what happened. These are folks who served under me who I had sent to some very dangerous places. Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do. But we want to make sure we get it right, particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people, we’re going to bring those folks to justice. So, we’re going to gather all the facts, find out exactly what happened, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again but we’re also going to make sure that we bring to justice those who carried out these attacks.
Reporter: Were they denied requests for help during the attack?…
…As a side note, at least one reporter on Friday did ask Obama some tough questions about the Benghazi attack. KUSA reporter Kyle Clark pressed the president to say whether requests for help during the attack were denied. However, he didn’t get a straight answer as Obama dodged.
Clark also asked whether it was fair to make the American people wait until after the election for answers on Benghazi and inquired about Abound Solar, a Colorado company with ties to one of the president’s billionaire fundraisers. The company has since gone out of business and is now under criminal investigation.
In the same interview, Leaked DOE emails expose White House cronyism
Internal emails leaked from the Department of Energy to CompleteColorado.com conflict with the President’s claim to Kyle Clark of KUSA on October 26th decisions on failed green energy loans were insulated from politics and the influence of the White House.
Update: Obama Spokesman: Obama Didn’t Deny Permission To Send Rescue Force To Benghazi
… Every combatant commander has a dedicated special operations team dedicated to dealing with situations just like this.
A Special Forces commander’s in-extremis force, or CIF, company. A CIF is highly trained in direct action and available to conduct no-notice high-risk missions for the geographic combatant commander its parent SF group supports.“No-notice”, that’s what they do. The call for help goes out and they go. These forces are designed for situations where intelligence is “sketchy” and you don’t have the luxury of weeks or months of planning as in the bin Laden raid.
So, who said, “no don’t send the force that is specifically designed to handle this type of mission”.
Even if someone at DoD or in Germany (where Africa Command is headquartered) why didn’t Obama say, “Go! That’s an order”? That’s what a gutsy call looks and sounds like…
Listen to the audio at the link. It’s a devastating interview for the administration.
Also, via Instapundit: WHEN DOES PETRAEUS SPEAK OUT? “If Petraeus wants to run for president some day (presumably as a Republican), working for Obama is a surmountable problem. Being part of a cover-up of this kind of scandal in the October before an election? Not so much.”
More from Instapundit:
HMM: Navy replaces admiral leading Mideast strike group. “The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment. . . . It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.”
I wonder if there’s any connection with this story relating to the Benghazi response? Or maybe I should say “non-response.”
Related: Bing West: If Obama Really Gave the Order to Secure Libya Personnel, ‘There’s a Paper Trail.’
UPDATE: At Ace’s, they report that there’s nothing to these stories.
Update 2: Real Reason for Benghazi: Weapons
From Pat Dollard, MUST, MUST SEE, WITH TRANSCRIPT: Military Officer With Inside Info Puts Blame On Obama For Denying Benghazi Rescue, ‘Stand Down’ Orders This is from a call into the Rush Limbaugh show today. Doug in San Antonio.…Barack Obama: Guilty of Negligent Homicide.
Update 3: White House Tries To Throw The Military Under Bus Over Benghazi…
…since the the CIA says it wasn’t any of their guys, and since the White House is trying to eliminate any blame on themselves, does this mean the order not to help those Americans under siege in Benghazi came from the military? The White House, it would seem, is trying to shift blame in that direction…
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