‘If Obama ordered the military to “secure our personnel,” where is the order?’

October 29, 2012

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West discusses the Benghazi story, which continues to develop.

If General Dempsey had concluded that the U.S. military should do nothing, he would have reported his decision not to act back to his commander-in-chief before the latter went to bed to rest up for his campaign trip to Las Vegas the next day. After all, the ambassador was still missing. And brave Tyrone Woods was to die in a mortar attack five hours later. President Obama would naturally be more than a bit interested in why the military and the CIA did nothing after he explicitly ordered them “to make sure we are securing our personnel.”

Surely it is in the president’s best interests to release a copy of his order, which the military would have sent to hundreds in the chain of command. And if the president did not direct the NSC “to do whatever we need to do,” then who was in charge?

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Posted by Chillingworth
Filed in Politics and Public Policy
Tagged: , , , ,
13 Comments »

13 Responses to “‘If Obama ordered the military to “secure our personnel,” where is the order?’”

  1. Snoodickle Says:

    October 29, 2012 at 2:51 PM

    So the President did order that the diplomats be secured. Are you willing to retract your idiotic statement that “he watched passively” while people died?

    Reply
  2. Snoodickle Says:

    October 30, 2012 at 1:00 PM

    If you want to have a true discussion about leadership, why don’t we start here?

    http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/10/30/chris-christie-fierce-obama-critic-praises-president-response-hurricane-sandy/0JUUf3NDsg6GuUleJr20XJ/story.html

    O wait, that runs counter to your biased and distorting narrative!

    Reply
    • Chillingworth Says:

      October 30, 2012 at 1:33 PM

      Right, when our servicemen were in a fight for their lives, calling for help, President Obama let them die and then, incredibly, flew to Las Vegas for a fundraiser. (“And obviously our hearts are broken . . . .”) When a hurricane hits the east coast, he suspends his campaign for days. I agree with you, it says a lot about his leadership and priorities.

      Reply
      • Snoodickle Says:

        October 30, 2012 at 1:51 PM

        Again, what evidence do you have that President Obama “let them die”? The available evidence so far has shown that President Obama ordered that our personnel be “secured” and “evacuated.” I think you may be deranged.

      • Chillingworth Says:

        October 30, 2012 at 1:54 PM

        Wow, you still haven’t read the piece. This is my last comment on this entry.

      • Snoodickle Says:

        October 30, 2012 at 2:20 PM

        Did you read it? Even Bing West, amid his blind speculation on what really happened, doesn’t make the outrageous assertion that President Obama intentionally let people die. You’ve taken it too far. I say this in all sincerity: you should think about what Jesus would do in this situation. It’s certainly not what you are doing.

        “The SecDef and the president have issued contradictory explanations. Either Mr. Obama ordered the Secretary of Defense to “do whatever we need to do,” or he didn’t. And either the secretary obeyed that order, or he didn’t. And he didn’t.

        It is also not clear whether the SecDef countermanded the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who is the direct military adviser to the president. Did the president as commander-in-chief issue an unequivocal order that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs received but chose not to execute? Or did the chairman reply that he would do nothing?”

      • Snoodickle Says:

        November 2, 2012 at 8:39 AM

        And finally the truth comes out. If you have even a shred of integrity, you will unequivocally repudiate your statement that President Obama sat idly by while people died.

        http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/world/africa/cia-played-major-defensive-role-in-libya-attack.html?hp

      • Chillingworth Says:

        November 4, 2012 at 3:29 PM

        This new story from the New York Times is apparently contradicted by people who were there; see “Exclusive: Security officials on the ground in Libya challenge CIA account”:
        http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/03/exclusive-security-officials-on-ground-in-libya-challenge-cia-account/

        Meanwhile Bing West notices a pattern:

        The national-security staff in the Obama White House has a standard operating procedure. If a military action, such as killing bin Laden, succeeds, then immediately leak selected details to shape the narrative to the political advantage of Mr. Obama. If the action is botched, as in Benghazi, then say nothing and tell the quiescent press that there is no story worth pursuing. If questions persist, the second line of defense is an investigation that wlll drag on for months. For instance, bureaucrats in the Justice Department are still investigating the leaks last spring about the U.S. cooperation with Israel in the software sabotage — cyber warfare — of Iranian centrifuges.

        If pesky Fox News persists in asking questions, then the third line of defense is to give the nod to the CIA to leak a diversionary story to favored news outlets and reporters. Thus the leaks to the Washington Post and New York Times showing that CIA operatives did try to rescue their comrades. Then authorize the CIA to go public with the same timeline, further throwing the press off the trail. The New York Times, the recipient of record for White House leaks, published on November 3 a diversionary story on its front page, fixating upon the CIA director, General Petraeus. This implied that the main issue about Benghazi centered around CIA secrecy — a tautology irrelevant to the real cover-up.

        http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/332420/cynicism-confirmed-bing-west
        (Read the whole thing.)

      • Snoodickle Says:

        November 4, 2012 at 5:03 PM

        Why can’t you just admit when you’re wrong? It’s getting almost pathological.

  3. Ads: America Less Safe under Obama, Sherrod Brown Responsible for Obamacare and Unemployment « Enjoyment and Contemplation Says:

    November 1, 2012 at 2:51 PM

    […] “‘If Obama ordered the military to “secure our personnel,” where is the order?’” […]

    Reply
  4. Things You Hear on NPR: Democrat Whistleblower Some Kind of Partisan Republican Ploy | Enjoyment and Contemplation Says:

    May 13, 2013 at 11:51 AM

    […] “‘If Obama ordered the military to “secure our personnel,” where is the order?’” […]

    Reply

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