Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Annals of Malfeasance in Office

Terrorists Took Credit for Benghazi Attack Within Two Hours, And The White House Knew It | Liberty News Network
From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.
The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.
The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.
Email 1:
The first email, timed at 4:05 p.m. Washington time - or 10:05 p.m. Benghazi time, 20-30 minutes after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission allegedly began - carried the subject line "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" and the notation "SBU", meaning "Sensitive But Unclassified." The text said the State Department's regional security office had reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was "under attack. Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well." The message continued: "Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four ... personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."
"17th of February Militia"... Yeah, I'd trust some outfit with a name like that with my security... Email 2:
"Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" and timed 4:54 p.m. Washington time, said that the Embassy in Tripoli had reported that "the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi had stopped and the compound had been cleared." It said a "response team" was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel.
Email 3:
A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack." The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."
Now, it is true that groups with nothing to do with terrorist acts are always claiming responsibility, but...

...I dunno, maybe The Narrative dictated that Ansar al-Sharia be construed to be a Film Critics Society?

1 comment:

NotClauswitz said...

Note also they called it, "the U.S. diplomatic mission" and "compound" - it wasn't a "Consulate" at all, that's in Tripoli with the rest of the official Government stuff. It was just a shabby old building we leased with two large warehouses on the compound that held a bunch of arms that the Ambassador was tasked with collecting - the stuff that was retrieved and rounded-up from the "War on Khadaffy." They were shipping them to Syria.