Benghazi on the Record: Asked and Answered
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Questions (8)
- Why was security in Benghazi inadequate despite repeated requests?
- Did the Pentagon fail to deploy military assets that could have saved lives on the night of the attacks?
- Did the Pentagon fail to deploy F-16s that would have saved lives?
- Did the Pentagon order four military personnel in Tripoli to “stand down?”
- Did Ambassador Rice intentionally misrepresent the facts on Sunday talk shows after the attacks?
- Where was the President and what did he do on the night of the attacks?
- Did Secretary of State Clinton order Secretary of Defense Panetta to "stand down?"
- Was the CIA security team improperly prevented from departing for the Benghazi diplomatic compound?
"And I think what we're going to find is there were military assets; there was military personnel. They were told to stand down."
Source: Fox News"Did General Ham on that night every order -- every -- ever suggest that a military asset -- did he order a military asset in motion and someone told him to stand down?"
Source: Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee"And then when the event occurred, there was no military rescue that was ordered. There's questions about that."
Source: CNN"[T]here were calls for help that were unheeded by any support from outside, including military personnel that were effectively told to stand down when they tried to be part of a relief mission."
Source: The Hugh Hewitt Show"The president of the United States said they did everything they could possibly do to save the people in Benghazi. I still highly doubt that statement. ... You cannot name a single military asset that was ordered to go into Benghazi during those hours."
Source: The Hill"I think you’re actually going to hear some testimony that says we did have some military options. We could have gotten some people there, and they were told to stand down."
Source: Fox News"We didn't run to the sound of the guns. They were issuing press releases. We had Americans dying. We had dead people. We had wounded people. And our military didn't try to engage in that fight."
Source: Congressional Website"Mr. Chairman, I think one of the unanswered questions here is, if it’s a possibility, if there’s any chance that we could get military overflight, if we could get a military flight there, then we would ask permission in advance. My concern is there was never an intention, there was never an attempt to actually get these military aircraft over there. ... It is stunning that our government, the power of the United States of America, couldn’t get a tanker in the air."
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"And then, you know, we were also told that the military did everything they could. Yet, we heard testimony -- firsthand testimony -- that we had four Special Forces ready to go in Tripoli to go to Benghazi and they were told to stand down."
Source: PBS"So the military is told to stand down, not engage in the fight. These are the kind of people willing to engage. What did — where did that message come down, where did the stand-down order come from?"
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"On February 7th, you testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. And you were asked a question by Senator Graham. And he asked you whether General Ham had issued a stand-down order to the military personnel in Tripoli or elsewhere who were preparing to go to assist those in Benghazi. Then we heard before the House Oversight Committee that Mr. Hicks, who was the former deputy chief of mission, said that Colonel Gibson, who was on the ground in Tripoli, did receive a stand-down order. And so, General Dempsey, I've not had an opportunity to follow-up with you based on the February 7th testimony. Mr. Hicks testified that he believed the stand-down order came from AFRICOM or Special Operations Command in Africa. General Dempsey, can you help me understand who issued the stand-down order and what happened there, why the special forces that wanted to go with, I understand it -- under Colonel Gibson in Tripoli -- were told not to go and who gave them that order from there? They wanted to go and help in Benghazi on that night. "
Source: Hearing of the Senate Budget Committee"Do you know why no assets were deployed during the siege? And I've heard the explanation – which defies logic, frankly – that we couldn't have gotten there in time."
Source: Press Conference"Early on in this fight these people made a critical bad decision in that they did not activate these people simply because they were afraid it would be labeled as terrorism. It was pure politics."
Source: USA Today"Even though you thought air support was needed, there was no air support sent? … So no AC-130 gun ships, no fighter planes, right?"
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"We didn't deploy any forces."
Source: Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee"Even one year after the attacks, important questions remain … What assets, if any, were en route when the siege ended?"
Source: Congressional Website"Well, Greta, your viewers would still have the same unanswered questions that we have … why we didn't have any assets moving during the siege itself?"
Source: Fox News"The U.S. intervention in Libya was constrained by White House's strict prohibition of boots on the ground. Do you think that limited boots on the ground and that policy might have been one of the driving forces in the fact that we didn't send a response there to Benghazi?"
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"Secretary Panetta, a few minutes ago you indicated that we didn't have boots on the ground. We didn't deploy forces because the attack came to an end. But as Senator Graham pointed out, this is an attack that lasted nearly eight hours from start to finish. So at some point there had to have been a decision made not to deploy them. At what point in that time frame was it made? Or was it not made until after the attack had ended nearly eight hours after it began? ... So the immediate attack was perhaps not visibly underway, but you weren't certain that there wouldn't be more fighting? ... So was that decision revisited hours later when in the early hours in the morning, Benghazi time, another pretty considerable attack came about? ... Did they get to Tripoli? ... And why didn't they move forward to Benghazi?"
Source: Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee"And the administration says, well, we had seven hours, we couldn’t have made it in time. And, to me, that’s irrelevant. What matters is you didn’t know when the second attack was coming. Why did you not pull out all the stops to get some assets in place to save these four men or any future attack that could be happening?"
Source: NBC News"And what’s irritating to me to no end is that, for eight months, the administration refuses to tell the truth of ... why the rescuers weren't allowed to go in to help. ... I talked to a retired general. ... We had soldiers in Somalia fighting on the ground for 16 hours to try to recover two dead bodies, and yet we send no one to go in and help, and there are so many unanswered questions that the American people are demanding the truth, and so am I."
Source: Politico"The events of the night of September 11, 2012, what happened, why there was no response."
Source: Fox News"They let those people die at Benghazi. They could have gotten planes there sooner. They could have gotten people there sooner. "
Source: Fox News"[M]ilitary personnel were ready willing and able, and within proximity, but the Pentagon told them they had no authority and to stand down."
Source: CNN News"Even more troubling is the fact that they asked for permission to deploy four U.S. Special Operations troops to Benghazi the next morning, and they were told to stand down."
Source: The Hugh Hewitt Show"In essence, there are now witnesses saying that they were ready to go in and help at least prevent the second wave of attacks, but they were told to stand down. So either they didn’t have the people available, which is a dereliction of duty, or, and an irresponsible thing to do, or they did have the people, but they decided not to send them."
Source: The Hugh Hewitt Show"[T]hat's as sickening and depressing and disgusting as anything I have seen. That is not the American way. We had people that were getting killed, we had people who are willing to risk their lives to go save them and somebody told them to stand down."
Source: Fox News" I'm telling you, there is more than one account of people being told that they cannot engage in the fight."
Source: Fox News"Somebody in that food chain said ‘stand down.' ... It’s one of the myriad questions that continues to perpetuate the problem. If we can’t figure out that, then how will we make sure it never happens again?"
Source: The Hill"Mr. Hicks, I'm a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and I'm very fascinated with the stand-down order to Colonel Gibson. As we pursue that, we want to know who gave Colonel Gibson the order and why. And so we want -- I would like to review that stand-down order with you and what your experienced that night since you were with him as he was receiving that stand-down order."
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"I think my biggest concern -- that I've heard recently -- are the revelations that the Special Forces may have been told to stand down at the time of the attack and even beforehand, which could have prevented the death of the ambassador and the other individuals."
Source: MSNBC"Even though you believed help was needed, there was a SOF unit, Special Operations unit ordered to stand down, correct?"
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"There clearly were stand down orders given to people not only in Benghazi but also in Tripoli and the State Department's counter-terrorism team, the FEST team, which is probably the worst of all."
Source: Fox News"Why there was not one order given to turn on one Department of Defense asset? I have my suspicions, which is Secretary Clinton told Leon to stand down, and we all heard about the stand down order for two military personnel. That order is undeniable."
Source: Republican Party of New Hampshire, Concord GOP Committee and Merrimack County GOP Committee"Nearly two years later, no one has been held accountable for denying repeated requests for additional security at the facility or for the U.S. military's inability to promptly respond and attempt to rescue our personnel."
Source: Congressional Website" We learned from an exclusive news story that the CIA chain of command denied military back-up to the CIA annex during the attack and that CIA operators were instructed to stand down instead of helping the personnel at our facility."
Source: Congressional Website"And over a seven and a half hour period, with all the assets we have in the region, we couldn’t have an F-16 at low altitude fly over those people who were attacking our consulate?"
Source: ABC News"If you look at Italy, one thousand – I think – forty-six miles away is Aviano Air Base from Benghazi. All you had to do was send F-16s from Aviano to Benghazi and they can do something called a show of force, it's basically a low fly over, and it's done all the time in Iraq and Afghanistan to stop attacks from happening. We could have done that and for some reason we didn't."
Source: Fox News"Aviano Air Base is 1,044 miles from Benghazi. Aviano Air Base is an F-16 base. Airplanes could have been put in the air after being fueled, even if they didn’t have missiles on them, and there can be nonviolent things that F-16s can do to disperse crowds that I know of well. "
Source: Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee"There is no reason that we couldn't launch from at least three locations I visited and been told that we have in place people monitoring the situation, particular and specifically in Africa and North Africa."
Source: Hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government"I guess it’s not clear to me why would—you said in your testimony that we were on heightened alert on September 11—why it would take over 20 hours. We know that flight time for an F–16 is not, certainly not 20 hours, even if we were to refuel from Aviano. Given the deteriorating security situation that you’ve described, it really is—I don’t understand why we didn’t have armed assets somewhere in the area that could have responded in time at least for the second attack on the annex. That’s not clear to me, and I think that is insufficient as we look at what happened here."
Source: Hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services"[T]here are a number of questions still unanswered, like, why couldn't we get a – at least an F-16 to fly over at low altitude while this attack was going on? Believe me, that scares people."
Source: Fox News"But it is 1,049 miles away from Benghazi direct flight. Those are F–16s, by the way. They can kind of haul. Dallas to Washington, which you mentioned, I think is 1,330 miles away. So actually Aviano is closer. And there is something that we can do called a show of force in which a plane comes in, flies very low, and scatters an enemy. And I have always wondered why in 8 hours we couldn’t have made that happen."
Source: Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee"And it is embarrassing that you can’t get a plane over there and do a low flyover and drop a sonic boom. It is embarrassing."
Source: Hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations"During the attack, eight and a half hours, we didn’t launch so much as one F-16."
Source: NBC News"[Y]ou still have to say why weren’t there aircraft and capability headed toward them at flank speed? And the next time this happens, can we count on this President and the secretary to actually care about people in harm’s way as they’re being attacked by al Qaeda elements?"
Source: The Hugh Hewitt Show"We do not know what the President did or who he was in contact with during the seven hours of the attack, and we do not know why the President did not reach out to Libyan President Magariaf during that period of time."
Source: Congressional Website"Several unanswered questions remain, such as 'What was the President doing while the consulate was under attack? Why did he not take action or issue any specific orders?'"
Source: Congressional Website"[T]he President has to give an accounting at some point on whether or not he ever called our allies in the region and said, 'We're under attack, can you help?'"
Source: Fox News"What happened that night? What did the President of the United States do? Why is it that the media has absolutely no curiosity when it comes to where the President of the United States was that evening when the battle ensued?"
Source: Congressional Record"Over a year and a half has passed since the terrorist attacks, and the American people still do not have an accounting of your activities during the attack. Mr. President, can you now confirm that Mr. Vietor's account of your absence in the White House Situation Room is accurate?"
Source: Congressional Website"Where was the president? We know what he did minute by minute in the bin laden raid. When did he go to bed? We know now he never called anyone in Libya to get help for our people on the ground. To me he was virtually AWOL as commander-in-chief."
Source: Fox News"Outside of one call to the Israeli Prime Minister, we do not know what the President did or who else he was in contact with during the seven hours of the Benghazi attack."
Source: Congressional Website"Did President Obama sleep the night of September 11, 2012? Did Secretary Clinton? When was President Obama told about the murder of our ambassador?"
Source: Congressional Website"The President is in charge, he’s the Commander-in-Chief, he’s not the meteorologist-in-chief, he’s the Commander-in-Chief, and he said ‘the minute I learned of this attack,’ which presumes to me that it was while it was on going cause it lasted for six hours, ‘the minute I learned of it, I issued a directive to secure our personnel.’ What assets did he put in the air? What troops did he send into Benghazi to secure our personnel? What did he do?"
Source: Fox News"[The American people] deserve to know . . . where the President and Secretary Clinton were at that time."
Source: Congressional Website"Exactly where was the president and what was he doing during the Benghazi attack? Where was he? If Obama won't tell us, why don't we just send a subpoena to the telephone company? Thanks to the NSA, they know exactly where he was at on his iPhone that day!"
Source: Congressional Website"Outside of one call to the Israeli Prime Minister, we do not know what the President did or who else he was in contact with during the seven hours of the Benghazi attack."
Source: Congressional Website"Outside of one call to the Israeli Prime Minister, we do not know what the President did or who else he was in contact with during the seven hours of the Benghazi attack."
Source: Congressional Website"A U.S. consulate is under attack. A U.S. Ambassador is missing. A State Department Diplomatic Security Agent is dead. Are the American people to believe the president is briefed only once that entire night, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time? Where was the president the rest of the night?"
Source: Congressional Website"Over a year and a half has passed since the terrorist attacks, and the American people still do not have an accounting of your activities during the attack. Mr. President, can you now confirm that Mr. Vietor's account of your absence in the White House Situation Room is accurate?"
Source: Joint Letter to President Obama"Over a year and a half has passed since the terrorist attacks, and the American people still do not have an accounting of your activities during the attack. Mr. President, can you now confirm that Mr. Vietor's account of your absence in the White House Situation Room is accurate?"
Source: Joint Letter to President Obama"While the president was missing in action, there was confusion among the relevant cabinet officers as to who was in charge of coordinating the response from Washington."
Source: National Review Online"We do not know what the President did or who he was in contact with during the seven hours of the attack, and we do not know why the President did not reach out to Libyan President Magariaf during that period of time."
Source: Congressional Website"War was raging in Benghazi for hours, and all we know is that our president went AWOL. While cries from American diplomats and soldiers went unanswered, no one knows yet today where the president was."
Source: CPAC Speech"According to Politico, “Boehner will even press to know the president’s location on the night of the attacks ... ‘I do think it matters,’ he said.”"
Source: Politico