Benghazi thread..[up-to-date-info here]

[apples]

Judicial Watch obtains State Dept. images of Benghazi terror attack

Judicial Watch has obtained seven photos from the State Department depicting the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.

The images are the first released by the State Department and were obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit. 

According to Judicial Watch, the images seem to depict a burned and ransacked building, two burned vehicles and Arabic graffiti with militant Islamist slogans.

One of the messages translates to "Be strong with Allah."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/20/judicial-watch-obtains-first-state-dept-images-benghazi-terror-attack/#ixzz2WrXLhney

[apples]

Trail of Benghazi security lapses leads to State Department senior leadership, records show

The decision to keep U.S. personnel in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the highest levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame over the Sept. 11 attack, according to a review of recent congressional testimony and internal State Department memos by Fox News.

Nine months before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, State Department Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy signed off on an internal memo that green-lighted the Benghazi operation.

The December 2011 memo from Jeffrey Feltman -- then-Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) -- pledged "to rapidly implement a series of corrective security measures." However, no substantial improvements were made, according to congressional testimony to the House oversight committee from Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/22/trail-benghazi-security-lapses-leads-higher-at-state-department-records-show/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2WxSr8nbE

[apples]

Benghazi Creeps Closer To Hillary Clinton

Scandal: The decision to place U.S. personnel in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the highest levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame over the Sept. 11 attack.

An indication that the Orwellian-named Accountability Review Board (ARB) investigating the terrorist attack on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, was an effort not to assign responsibility for the disaster but to enable those responsible to escape blame is the fact that ARB never bothered to interview the likes of Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy.

ARB co-chair Thomas Pickering told CBS' Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation" in May that he and his colleagues had ample opportunity to question Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself but concluded that conducting an interview with her was not necessary. "We knew where the responsibility rested," he said.

In defending the ARB's findings on Benghazi, Pickering, who co-authored its report with former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen, had no use for whistle-blowers like Gregory Hicks, the No. 2 official in Libya at the time of the strike that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Hicks had told the House Government Oversight Committee he believed the ARB report "let people off the hook."

"They've tried to point a finger at people more senior than where we found the decisions were made," Pickering said, citing specifically Clinton and Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy.

His mind was made up, and he didn't want to be confused with the facts such as the testimony of Mark Thompson, deputy coordinator for operations in the State Department's counterterrorism bureau. Thompson told the House committee that Secretary Clinton attempted to cut the bureau off from communications about the attack.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/062413-661238-patrick-kennedy-approved-lax-benghazi-security.htm#ixzz2XFxx0Wvl
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook

[apples]

Ambassador Stevens reportedly warned of Libya 'security threats' in final diary entry

In a chilling note shortly before he was killed, U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens complained about "never ending security threats" in Libya, according to excerpts of what was purported to be Stevens' diary.

The excerpts were published Wednesday by SOFREP.COM, which is run by a group of former U.S. Special Ops personnel.

The entries, while not independently verified, track with prior reports about Stevens' diary.

They show Stevens airing concern about security conditions in Benghazi but also remaining hopeful about the conditions in the post-Qaddafi country.

His Sept. 11 entries encapsulated these competing messages.

"It is so nice to be back in Benghazi," he wrote, according to the pages posted online.

But his final entry also warned of "never ending security threats."

SOFREP.COM said a prior entry warned about the power of militias and the "weak state security institutions," creating "dicey conditions." As has been previously reported, Stevens also wrote: "Islamist 'hit list' in Benghazi. Me targeted," according to the website.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/26/stevens-reportedly-warned-libya-security-threats-in-final-diary-entry/?test=latestnews#ixzz2XRGTUbOc

[apples]

Republicans want to talk to Col. George Bristol about Benghazi

Marine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he's high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don't know where he is and the Pentagon isn't telling.

Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense "cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress."


"They say he's retired and they can't reach out to him," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CBS News. "That's hogwash."

Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in Stars and Stripes, Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that "an evil" has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. "It is on us to stomp it out."

Members of Congress in both the House and Senate, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have asked the Pentagon for assistance in locating Bristol so that they can question him about events the night of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But those efforts have come up empty.

"The Department of Defense has been entirely forthcoming on all matters related to our response to the attacks in Benghazi from the outset," said Pentagon spokesman Firman. He added that "any congressional committee can call the witnesses it needs" through subpoena, if necessary.

On June 26, the House Armed Services Committee questioned other military members in the AFRICOM chain of command in a closed hearing. The witnesses included Bristol's former superiors: commander of Special Operations Command Africa Rear Adm. Brian Losey and former AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham.

As to why the Defense Department made Ham available but not Bristol, when Ham is also retired from his post, the Pentagon said Ham was not yet officially retired.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57592442/republicans-want-to-talk-to-col-george-bristol-about-benghazi/

[jafo2010]

Begs the question as to whether these men were forced out by the corrupt Obama Administration?  I would be screaming my bloody head off, but they probably threatened him with the removal of his pension, if they did not put him six feet down that is.

There are no bounds held by those that are corrupt!

[apples]

Begs the question as to whether these men were forced out by the corrupt Obama Administration?  I would be screaming my bloody head off, but they probably threatened him with the removal of his pension, if they did not put him six feet down that is.

There are no bounds held by those that are corrupt!

Of course they were forced out. 

[jafo2010]

Can the Republicans move any slower on all of this?  Why Hilary will be elected president by the time this congressional group finishes its investigation.

[apples]

Can the Republicans move any slower on all of this?  Why Hilary will be elected president by the time this congressional group finishes its investigation.

Just frustrating to say the least  isn't it?   

[apples]

Benghazi talking points not shared with Clinton, Nuland says

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton played no direct role in shaping the Obama administration’s infamous “talking points” on the Benghazi attacks, the State Department’s former head of communications told lawmakers Thursday.

“At no point,” said former department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, “did I talk about the talking points with Secretary Clinton.”

SPECIAL COVERAGE: Benghazi Attack Under Microscope

The assertion, made during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on President Obama’s nomination of Mrs. Nuland to become assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, appeared to baffle committee Republicans seeking to pin blame on Mrs. Clinton for the administration’s response to the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

While Mrs. Nuland otherwise seemed likely to cruise to confirmation to the key diplomatic post, inquiries into the role she played in shaping the administration’s unwillingness to characterize the attacks as a premeditated act of terrorism were woven throughout Thursday’s hearing.

Several Republican senators, including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and potential 2016 presidential hopeful Marco Rubio of Florida, raised questions about a series of emails Mrs. Nuland wrote three days after the attacks in which she claimed her “building leadership” had “issues” with talking points about Benghazi that the administration was drafting.

An initial version of the talking points had made references to al Qaeda and to “at least five other attacks” on foreign interests that had occurred in Benghazi prior to attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But, following Mrs. Nuland’s input, those references were removed from a final version the White House gave to former U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice for dissemination on several news talk shows.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/11/clinton-aide-victoria-nuland-promotion-faces-senat/#ixzz2Yql2JaJT
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[apples]

Congressman: Benghazi Survivors Forced to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements

Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, said today on the House floor that survivors of the Benghazi terror attack have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements:

"On Tuesday I raised the question of why none of the Benghazi survivors, whether State Department, CIA, or private security contract employees have testified publicly before Congress," said Wolf.

"According to trusted sources that have contacted my office, many if not all of the survivors of the Benghazi attacks along with others at the Department of Defense, the CIA have been asked or directed to sign additional non-disclosure agreements about their involvement in the Benghazi attacks. Some of these new NDAs, as they call them, I have been told were signed as recently as this summer."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/congressman-benghazi-survivors-forced-sign-non-disclosure-agreements_739975.html

[apples]

Congress will hear from Africa special forces commander on Benghazi attack

House Republicans will hear behind closed doors from a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was responsible for special forces in Africa on the night of last year’s deadly terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, despite what some GOP members are saying was an effort by the Pentagon to hide him.

Defense Department officials have previously told congressional investigators and the news media that Col. George Bristol cannot be compelled to testify because he is retired, but Marine Corps Times this week reported that he remains on active duty until the end of the month.

“There is every reason to expect that a briefing [with Col. Bristol] will take place in the near future,” Claude Chafin, the spokesman for the Republican majority on the House Armed Services Committee, told The Washington Times Friday. “We are working out the details with the Department of Defense.”

He said the briefing would likely be in a classified setting. “Questioning our witnesses in a closed briefing allows members to receive information without worrying about the disclosure of classified material.”

“Col. Bristol will be available to meet with House and Senate members and their staffs very soon,” Air Force Maj. Robert A. Firman, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed to The Times.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/19/congress-will-hear-africa-special-forces-commander/#ixzz2ZavaqT4G
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[apples]

Stockman, Special Operations Speaks to Unroll Record-Setting Petition/Scroll Down Capitol Building Steps Demanding Benghazi House Select Committee

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman filed a discharge petition last week to force a vote of the U.S. House on establishing a Select Committee to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012 killings of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya by a mob of terrorists.

Stockman will formally announce the discharge petition at a noon Tuesday press conference on the House Ceremonial Stairway.  There, the largest petition ever presented to Congress, containing the signatures of 1,000 Special Operations veterans demanding a House Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi Terrorist Massacre, will be unrolled on the steps.

The dramatic unrolling of the 60-foot long petition/scroll down the House Ceremonial Stairway will be the opening volley in a nationwide campaign urging House members to sign the Discharge Petition forcing House consideration of HR 36 – the bill to establish a Select Committee to fully investigate the Benghazi Massacre.

WHEN:     The event will begin promptly at 12:00 noon on July 23, 2013.

WHERE:     The House Ceremonial Stairway on the House side of the U.S. Capitol Building.

WHO:    Scheduled speakers at this point in time include the following:

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Former Rep./Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret.)
SOS Co-Founder Colonel Dick Brauer Jr. USAF, (Ret)
SOS Co-Founder Larry Bailey, CAPT (SEAL), USN (Ret.)

HOW:    The Discharge Petition ScrollOut Event will be set-up so as to allow maximum opportunity for news media photo-ops, video, and audio coverage. The 60-foot record-setting scroll/petition will be set up directly in front of the podium before being unrolled all the way down the stairs and across the sidewalk doing the event.

http://stockman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/stockman-special-operations-speaks-to-unroll-record-setting

[jafo2010]

Not even a ten second mention on the evening news.

[apples]

Not even a ten second mention on the evening news.

George Zimmerman should change his name to Ben Ghazi, that way msm would ever speak about him.   :