Many have said, including me, that Barack Obama "let Ambassador Stevens die." That, based on currently available information, is not true. Based on what we now know, Barack Obama ordered his death. Ambassador Stevens was not murdered, he was summarily executed.
This sounds over the top. As I type it, I cannot believe that I am seriously saying that a sitting US President used terrorists to execute an Ambassador. But he did, and I am.
To prove that I'm not just crazy, though, I'll let you follow this a little more slowly.
First we have the information that Ambassador Stevens repeatedly asked for more security for Benghazi. I documented that here myself.
Next, only Hillary Clinton or the President could have waived denied that extra security and waived the basic security requirements. Given that Mr. Obama wanted us to believe that Libya was a foreign policy success for him, we have ample reason to believe that he either ordered the waiver, or was at least informed of it and gave it his okay.
Further, we now know that the CIA was ordered to "Stand Down" and not assist when the temporary compound was under attack. Two former SEALs disobeyed those orders, saved many lives, and lost their own. During that time, they painted the very mortar which killed them with a targeting laser and requested air support which was also denied. Update: That air support was ALREADY IN THE AIR and flying overhead. An AC-130 gunship was in the air and denied permission to fire.
Something to note here. Our servicemen don't target paint something when a strike will take hours. When something is that far away, the missiles are launched first, and then the Soldiers, Marines, or SEALs use the laser in the last minutes. So the SEALs had to believe that support was minutes, not hours, away.
Finally, there are reports that Barack Obama has (or at least had) a standing order for our forces not to engage, and that only he could override that order. If that's true it is especially damning, but it is not necessary for my logic. I don't need that, because I know that Mr. Obama knew about the attack. I know that it was being shown, live, in the Situation Room in the White House. If a request for support had come in, and someone else had denied it, Mr. Obama was right there to override that denial. By not doing so, he was approving the decision not to save our personnel.
"Let them die" is passive. It would mean he hadn't made a choice. For Barack Obama to have "let" Ambassador Stevens die, there would have had to have been no decisions made, and the problem would then be mere incompetence. That is not the case here. Direct orders were given for the CIA to "stand down" and then requested air support was specifically denied. Those are active choices.
By making the active choice to deny support to the Benghazi compound, Barack Obama all but directly ordered the execution of Ambassador Stevens.
Barack Obama is a traitor. He should be immediately impeached, then tried on charges of treason.
When you phrase it like this, it is even more damning than I had initially read it to be.
ReplyDeleteThe rage passes description. What, exactly, will it take for Barack Obama to be charged as the criminal he is?
And the rest of his administration for that matter.
Words matter. The passive voice is the enemy of the news. Someone made an active decision to deny support. The passive "let" hides that. Thus the active "ordered."
DeleteI think Obama made a calculation - he did not want to risk a botched rescue this close to an election - too much a reminder of Carter, helos down in the desert and all that. He cut wrote them off. He could always make a case for doing nothing, we didn't have time etc. But making an acutal decision that goes wrong? Different story. Not a gutsy call.
ReplyDeleteJust how far down does the rot go if the A.C. (Aircraft Commander) on station, after receiving the stand down order, didn't say, "Transmission garbled, please repeat.." while telling the crew to vaporize hostiles until the channel could be cleared??
ReplyDelete