Author Topic: The AWOL Commander-in-Chief  (Read 419 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
« on: May 03, 2014, 02:37:44 pm »
MAY 3, 2014 4:00 AM
The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
What was Obama doing while terrorists attacked Americans in Benghazi?
By Andrew C. McCarthy

You couldn’t help but feel for Robert Lovell. The retired brigadier general is haunted by the failure of AFRICOM, the U.S. military’s Africa Command, to respond when Americans were under siege in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. His congressional testimony this week was somber — no faux “What difference, at this point, does it make?” indignation, no “Dude, this was two years ago” juvenilia for him.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the State Department’s Sean Smith were killed in the early stage of the jihadist attack. By then, the actions that would surely have saved their lives — e.g., an adult recognition that Benghazi was no place for an American diplomatic facility, or at least the responsible provision of adequate security — had already been callously forsaken. It seems unlikely AFRICOM could have gotten there in time for them on that fateful night, though that does not come close to excusing the failure to try.

Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are a different story. They fought valiantly for many hours after our military learned, very early on, that the battle was raging. Unlike AFRICOM, the SEALs did not stand pat. They ran to the sound of the guns. After saving over 30 of their countrymen, they paid with their lives. The armed forces, General Lovell recalled, knew that terrorists were attacking them. Yet no one came to their aid.

Much more at link below:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/377137/awol-commander-chief-andrew-c-mccarthy
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
Re: The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2014, 02:49:11 pm »
http://www.aim.org/benghazi/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CCB-Interim-Report-4-22-2014.pdf

Summary of Findings:
 
The war in Libya was unnecessary, served no articulable U.S. national security
objective, and led to preventable chaos region-wide. In the period since the 2011
revolution in Libya, the country has remained fragmented, poorly governed, and overrun
with violent militias, the majority of which are jihadist Al Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) affiliates. Yet, at the time of his overthrow, Muammar Qaddafi was an ally of
the United States in the Global War on Terror.
 
On 17 March 2011 the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1973 for a “No
Fly Zone,” ostensibly to protect Libyan civilians caught up in the hostilities between
Libyan government forces and the rebel forces, which were dominated by the Libyan
Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qa’eda. The following day in London, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton announced U.S. government support for the Brotherhood-led Libyan
Transitional National Council in its revolt against Qaddafi.
 4    
The Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi (CCB) has discovered, however, that the ensuing
civil war may well have been avoided, had the U.S. chosen to permit it. Within days of
that declaration of U.S. government support for the Libyan rebels, Qaddafi sought to
enter into negotiations with the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) under a flag of truce
for the purpose of discussing his possible abdication and exile. On 21 March 2011, Rear
Admiral (ret.) Chuck Kubic began email and telephone contact between Tripoli and
AFRICOM Stuttgart regarding the possibility of talks under a white flag of truce. Over
the following days, Qaddafi expressed interest in a truce, and possible abdication and
exile out of Libya. He even pulled his forces back from several Libyan cities as a sign of
good faith.
 
RADM Kubic telephoned LTC Brian Linvill, the U.S. AFRICOM point of contact for all
military matters regarding the Libyan situation, to advise him of Qaddafi’s desire to enter
into military-to-military discussions. General Carter Ham was advised immediately on 21
March 2011 of these communications and conveyed them up his chain of command to the
Pentagon. After two days of back-and-forth with the Libyans, however, General Ham had
received no positive affirmation of consent from Washington, D.C. to pursue Qaddafi’s
offer. The war continued and ultimately cost tens of thousands of lives. The U.S. failure
to even consider Qaddafi’s request for talks, and its determination to enter and pursue this
war in support of al-Qa’eda-linked rebels, presents the appearance of a policy intent upon
empowering Islamic forces with no measurable benefit to U.S. national security.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline Right_in_Virginia

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 79,323
Re: The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2014, 04:13:31 pm »
From the article:

Quote
The most powerful and capable armed forces in the history of the world idled, looking not to their commander-in-chief but to a State Department that busied itself writing press releases about phantom Islamophobia. The president of the United States, the only constitutional official responsible for responding, was nowhere to be found.

The article is clearly written and worth the read...but be warned:  Reading this will send your blood pressure through the roof. 

Where was the CIC?  Who gave the stand down order?  Why was a stand down order given?  The Select Committee has a lot of work ahead of them.  I wish them Godspeed.

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
Re: The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2014, 04:15:07 pm »
From the article:

The article is clearly written and worth the read...but be warned:  Reading this will send your blood pressure through the roof. 

Where was the CIC?  Who gave the stand down order?  Why was a stand down order given?  The Select Committee has a lot of work ahead of them.  I wish them Godspeed.

 :amen:  :beer:
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline EC

  • Shanghaied Editor
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,804
  • Gender: Male
  • Cats rule. Dogs drool.
Re: The AWOL Commander-in-Chief
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2014, 08:54:11 pm »
Where were the balls of the Africom CO hiding?

Few years back I pulled duty in an embassy in Pakistan. Some shit went down, so took my post. The Ambassador looked at me and said "The bleep you still here for? Get going!"

Embarrassing when a career bureaucrat is tougher and braver than a professional soldier when it comes to putting his career on the line to do the right thing.
The universe doesn't hate you. Unless your name is Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Avatar courtesy of Oceander

I've got a website now: Smoke and Ink