Drip Drip Drip

Fox News Exclusive: Security officials on the ground in Libya challenge CIA account.

Report: Ambassador Stevens Called For Help During Benghazi Attack, Got None

Chaffetz also told van Susteren that Gen. Carter Ham, former head of U.S. Africa command, "personally" told him that “he did not get a directive from the White House, from the president of the United States to engage in the fire fight to help protect those people.”

Plus:  Benghazi consulate warned 3 hours before attack of militia gathering arms.

And:  Fox News defends Benghazi “stand down” report against new CIA timeline released.

Perspective

Six Enormous Stakes In Presidential Election.

Fred Thompson "Totally Disgusted" By Obama Administration's Handling of Benghazi Terrorist Attack

Via The Other McCain: 

[T]he former Republican senator from Tennessee invoked his experience nearly 40 years ago as a Watergate investigator, saying that Congress must “get to the bottom of” the administration’s failures in the Sept. 11 incident that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead in Libya.

“This is probably the biggest cover-up in American history – and you’re talking to an expert in cover-ups,” Thompson said

It Just Keeps Getting Worse And Worse

More and more information continues to trickle out about the attack on our Benghazi Consulate and CIA annex: Via Hotair:

• Troubling Surveillance Observed Outside Consulate Before Attack
• Today, the White House press secretary let it slip during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that President Obama’s inaction on the Benghazi situation now extends to inaction on the supposed investigation taking place. The administration has still not made clear what exactly is being investigated, or the extent of the investigation. And President Obama doesn’t much care.
• Senior Department of Defense official:  “There was no request from the Department of State to intervene militarily on the night of the attack.”The president, however, would have the final say as to whether or not to send in the military.

Plus - Via Ace:

[D]uring the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG)

"The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon." ...

Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack...

Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group, a senior US counterterrorism official says the response to the crisis became more confused. The official says the FBI received a call during the attack representing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and requesting agents be deployed....

Another senior counter terrorism official says a hostage rescue team was alternately asked to get ready and then stand down throughout the night, as officials seemed unable to make up their minds.

 Sadly, the most shocking thing about this last story may be that it was actually reported on by the legacy media over at CBS News.  It would also seem to confirm the rumors Newt Gingrich referenced Tuesday night.

Classified Cable Warned Benghazi Consulate Couldn't Withstand 'Coordinated Attack'

Fox News Exclusive:

While the administration’s public statements have suggested that the attack came without warning, the Aug. 16 cable seems to undercut those claims. It was a direct warning to the State Department that the Benghazi consulate was vulnerable to attack, that it could not be defended and that the presence of anti-U.S. militias and Al Qaeda was well-known to the U.S. intelligence community.

Drip, drip, drip.

Interesting

Newt Gingrich:  I heard networks have emails sent directly from the White House instructing a counter-terrorism group to stand down in Benghazi.

The "Panetta Doctrine"

And why it doesn't add up.

Fox News Special Report Investigates - Benghazi

I was watching tv earlier today and stumbled upon a Fox News Special Report on Benghazi.  It's an hour long special that investigates what happened before, during, and after the attack.  I only caught the tail end of the special, but it looks like they are reairing it at 10:00 p.m. 

 

Meanwhile, other networks seem to have taken a different approach to the story:

Hat tip to Instapundit on the cartoon.

This Just Gets Worse And Worse

CIA ORDERED TO STAND DOWN DURING BENGHAZI ATTACK:

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Consulate and subsequent attack several hours later was denied by U.S. officials -- who also told the CIA operators twice to "stand down" rather than help the ambassador's team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11 . . . .

One guy was aiming a laser on a ground target, painting it for a plane to see. To drop a bomb, to attack with very heavy machineguns.  

But the laser itself is nothing, absolutely harmless. 

So he sat up there on the roof, risking his life to paint a target with laser light, and no one bothered to send anything to hit that target.  

Who Gave The Order To Let My Son Die?Asks Charles Woods, father of slain SEAL Tyrone Woods. 

Plus:  The CIA has seemingly just thrown the White House under the bus; denying that any order to stand down came from the CIA.

Obama, meanwhile, is ducking questions asking why no help was sent to Benghazi.

And Patterico rightly asks:  At what point does this become a story beyond Fox News?

With all of this new information, let's not lose sight of the fact that, just a few hours after these events unfolded, Obama responded by heading to Las Vegas for a celebrity fundraiser.

The Obama Doctrine

Via Breitbart.com: 

Victims of the Nov. 2009 Ft. Hood shooting are being denied benefits commensurate with combat injuries because the Obama administration refuses to label the attack an act of terrorism.

Instead, the shooting Maj. Nidal Hasan carried out after screaming "Allahu Akbar" is still being labeled "workplace violence." 

 

Former Top Defense Official: If Your Ambassador Has Been Killed or Captured You Don’t Ask “Mother May I” before You Cross the Border (Video)

Via Gateway Pundit: 

For the United States military to say that they were 480 miles away and they couldn’t do anything, and they couldn’t move one aircraft in 8 hours? I’d say it’s time to relieve a lot of people in the chain of command… If your ambassador has been either killed or captured, and is missing at the hands of terrorists, you do not ask any country for “Mother may I?” before you come across the border to save your own.

What seems so obvious apparently isn't to some people.  Sadly, in this instance, that failure may have cost four American lives.

 

White House and State Department Told Of Terrorist Claim Two Hours After Libya Attack

And yet, "Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film."

As Professor Reynolds notes over at Instapundit, "Mr. Nakoula was unavailable for comment — since, you know, he’s in jail until after the election."

Bayonets, Horses, And Ships, Oh My

J.E. Dyer offers an in-depth critique of President Obama's "horses and bayonets" comment from Monday's debate.  The entire piece is essential reading, but here is a key takeaway:

Romney has articulated a national-security policy that emphasizes building faster and having a larger Navy, one that can better meet the requirements of US policy and the combatant commanders for naval power. Obama has used sophomoric sarcasm to imply that Romney’s approach is ignorant and outdated. That pretty much sums up the choice the voters have between them.

Apology Tour

One of Mitt Romney's more powerful ads: 

And it should play well, given the growing public opposition to Obama's policy of appeasement.

Third And Final Presidential Debate

Once again, Vodkapundit will, once again, be drunkblogging tonight's debate.

October Surprise?

According to the Iranian regime, the Obama Administration sent them a secret message through the swiss embassy:

“Firstly, during the session to submit the message, the Swiss ambassador to Tehran quoted the US president as saying that ‘we (the US) recognize your nuclear rights’.”

As regards the second issue, the lawmaker said that the Swiss diplomat had also quoted Obama as saying that “I didn’t want to impose sanctions on your central bank but I had no options but to approve it since a Congress majority had approved the decision.”

Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.

Foreign Policy

Here is Drudge's headline in advance of tomorrow's foreign policy debate:

Pretty well sums it up, doesn't it?

Obama = Not Optimal

"My Son Is NOT Very Optimal . . . He Is Very Dead"

Mother of U.S. diplomat killed in Libya attack slams "insensitive" Obama's comment about security fiasco.