-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
McCain is having a presser on Benghazi.... right now.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
He's calling for an independent investigation and he's asking questions. He's not happy.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
"Look at me! Look at me! I'm still relevant!"
Oh and Lindsey Graham follows up, what a surprise...
I suppose at least someone is wanting to get answers. I just don't like these two blowdried windbags being the public face of the inquiry.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
I don't either. But anyone might be better that nothing, don't you think?
I mean, seriously, if they don't do it, who will?
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Well, there Kelly Ayotte....
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rick Donaldson
I don't either. But anyone might be better that nothing, don't you think?
I mean, seriously, if they don't do it, who will?
Allen West, the new Speaker of the House. :D
I don't think such an investigation is limited to the Senate after all.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
I don't know if there is a "rule" about which house of Congress can create a "select committee" but if I'm not mistaken it is generally a Senate function.
Each state in the Union is responsible for controlling the Federal government, thus it falls to the Senate - I think by default. I might be wrong, but in the past there have been Senatorial committees to investigate things like Watergate and the Iran-Contra issues.... those weren't House functions.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Petraeus to testify at Benghazi hearing
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus speaks to members of a Senate Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 31, 2012.
By NBC News staff
Former CIA Director David Petraeus will testify Thursday about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a veteran senator confirmed to NBC News Wednesday.
The Thursday hearing will be the first formal congressional inquiry into the September attack that killed U.S. Ambassador in Libya Chris Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Petraeus, a decorated four-star general who received widespread praise for the surge strategy in Iraq, resigned as CIA director on Friday, citing an extramarital affair.
As FBI investigated Petraeus, he and Allen intervened in nasty custody battle
Advertise | AdChoices
Numerous federal government officials have told NBC News that the married general had a relationship with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, 40, who authored “All In,” a book about Petraeus’ education.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the administration’s evolving explanation of what triggered the Benghazi attack. Officials early on said it was a spontaneous reaction during a protest about an anti-Islamic film. Later, it was termed a planned terrorist attack.
Questions have also been raised about whether the consulate had adequate security and whether the State Department responded appropriately to requests for more protection.
Military analyst Col. Jack Jacobs (Ret.) said the sex scandal will affect the way Petraeus is questioned by Congress, because members were kept in the dark about the FBI inquiry that led to his resignation.
Defense official fires back, denies Afghanistan commander exchanged 'inappropriate' emails
“It will be interesting to see what tenor it takes and what the senators and congressmen, assuming he gets before both houses, have to say before talking to him. As you know, these hearings have a tendency to be less a question and answer period than it is an opportunity for the members to vent their spleen or talk about what they want to, so that part will be very, very interesting,” Jacobs said.
“In terms of extracting real information about what actually took place and what role the CIA had in what took place in Benghazi, I believe that investigation will determine that they had no role, that by the time the CIA could do anything, it was all over.”
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Pentagon Alerted Within 50 Minutes of Benghazi Attack in Libya
David Lerman and Tony Capaccio, ©2012 Bloomberg News
Published 4:51 p.m., Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Tweet
Comments (0)
Larger | Smaller
Printable Version
Email This
Font
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was alerted about 50 minutes after the start of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and dispatched troops from Europe within hours, according to a timeline by the Defense Department.
The timeline released today responds to statements by some Republicans before the Nov. 6 election that President Barack Obama’s administration failed to respond to requests for military aid or for rescue efforts during the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
While President Barack Obama ordered “all available” Pentagon assets to respond to the attacks, no armed planes were near Benghazi at the time, Panetta said today in a letter to members of Congress.
An unarmed surveillance drone was directed to the Benghazi compound 17 minutes after the attack began and arrived over the site about 70 minutes later, according to the timeline.
The attack began at 3:42 p.m. Washington time. At a meeting that evening that began at 6 p.m., Panetta authorized the deployment of a Marine Corps anti-terrorism teams to Benghazi and Tripoli from Rota, Spain as well as a Europe-based special operations team. He also ordered a U.S.-based special operations force to prepare to deploy to a staging base in southern Europe.
At 6:30 p.m. Washington time, a six-member security team from the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, departed for Benghazi and arrived about an hour later -- almost four hours after the attack began.
A second facility in Benghazi, known as a safe house, came under mortar and rocket fire at 11:15 p.m., the Pentagon said.
C-17 Sent
The U.S. Africa Command ordered a C-17 cargo plane in Germany to prepare to deploy to Libya to evacuate Americans about 50 minutes later.
The first wave of American personnel departed Benghazi for Tripoli at about 1:40 a.m. Washington time, with a second wave departing at about 4 a.m.
At 8:15 a.m., the C-17 departed Germany for Tripoli. It picked up American personnel and the remains of Stevens and three other Americans and left Tripoli for Germany at 1:17 p.m.
The first of the troops dispatched by Panetta the previous evening began arriving from just before 3 p.m. Washington time, long after the attack had ended. Most got no further than an intermediate staging area in southern Europe.
“Before they arrived in place, the attack in Benghazi had concluded,” Panetta said in his letter
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloom...#ixzz2CDXB9wf8
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
By
Margaret Brennan /
CBS News/ November 13, 2012, 5:00 PM
Congressional leaders view secure Benghazi documents
1 Comment
/
Shares /
Tweets /
Stumble /
Email
More +
WASHINGTONFor the first time since the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, congressional investigators will question high-level State Department, CIA and Pentagon officials this week regarding specific communication and intelligence about the security situation in Libya.
Telegrams, intelligence reports, and classified emails from top officials at the U.S. State Department are being made available to congressional investigators in secure rooms on Capitol Hill. Sources also tell CBS News that intelligence officials will show footage from an unmanned surveillance drone that was overhead during the assault. That disclosure is likely to come on Thursday during the classified hearing before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.
Play Video
Benghazi timeline released
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has oversight of the State Department, was briefed by Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy and Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell about the deadly assault on the U.S. Consulate. While both officials have previously spoken to lawmakers about the attack, this is the first time that lawmakers will be asking questions after viewing the internal communication between diplomats and security professional in Libya and in Washington. Mike Morrell, Acting Director of the CIA, was also on Capitol Hill and met in a secure room with Senate Intelligence Committee members senators Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss.
CIA denies it detained militants in Benghazi
Timeline: How Benghazi attack, probe unfolded
Military response to Benghazi attack questioned
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that the documents being shared are "really specific to the requests as they come in." The State Department did screen these documents for sensitive information before choosing which items to share. Members are allowed to view the documents and take notes but cannot make copies or remove them from the secure location. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have all made document requests.
"We have told all of these requesting committees and their staff that they can see these documents as many times as they'd like to see them, for as long as they'd like to see them," Nuland said.
Nuland refuted reports that the State Department has been withholding information or limiting the viewing time.
Play Video
Sec. Clinton promises open investigation on Benghazi attack
"We've really done our utmost under the Secretary's instructions to be fully compliant, transparent, and open with the Congress," she said.
The most substantive session this week is likely to happen before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Acting CIA Director Michael Morrell, FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce, Undersecretary of State for Management Pat Kennedy, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen will all testify. The involvement of the FBI in the briefing may allow for disclosure regarding the ongoing investigation into who carried out the attack on the U.S. mission which killed four Americans. The agency has kept information private citing that there is an ongoing probe into the criminal matter.
It is unclear whether State Department and intelligence officials will share additional information behind closed doors. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that he did not know the content of the briefing or the materials presented by the agency. The briefings are classified at the request of Capitol Hill. He also said that he did not know whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear on the Hill at the end of the month following a request from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The public will largely learn the details of the assault through media accounts and original reporting. The White House and State Department say that the Accountability Review Board, the Department's own Congressionally-mandated probe, will provide a comprehensive investigation of the attack but it is not clear whether all of the probe will be made public. A source close to that investigation tells CBS News that the report could come as soon as December but that more time may be requested if needed.
That probe is primarily focused on decision-making at the State Department, not the White House. A source close to the investigation tells CBS News that the ARB members have not reviewed footage from the two U.S. drones which were overhead during the assault, but they have reviewed some footage from the more than 10 security cameras taken from inside the Benghazi compound. CBS News has learned that the footage was first viewed by State Department security professionals at the beginning of October around the same time that the ARB probe began. The U.S. government did not gain possession of the video until weeks after the attack. The FBI investigation is ongoing.
Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy and Eric Boswell will present to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Kennedy will also testify in a closed hearing before the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee on Thursday and later that day before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He will brief the Chairmen and ranking members from the House at the end of the week.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
DOD Time Line. I'm looking for the other time lines:
http://cdn.gretawire.foxnewsinsider....-PM.png?9d7bd4
The State Department and the CIA have given their Benghazi timeline — now the Defense Department has provided this one
by Greta Van Susteren
Nov 9 2012 - 6:59 PM ET
Below is an article written by my FNC colleague Justin Fishel:
———–
Military timeline on Libya shows it took nearly a day for special ops team to arrive at Italy staging base
By Justin Fishel
Published November 09, 2012
The Pentagon on Friday acknowledged that it took almost 22 hours from the start of the Libya consulate attack for the closest American Special Operations response team to arrive at a staging base in southern Italy.
While officials insisted that the military did not have armed aircraft that could have responded in time to rescue Americans fighting off the terrorist attackers, the revelation raises questions about whether the team of at least 30 special operators could have been there, or off the coast of Libya, at an earlier hour.
It was “not feasible” to have an armed aircraft there in time, a senior defense official told reporters in a briefing where the Defense Department released its own timeline of events.
But critics of the military response have said the Pentagon could have at least tried to scramble F-16′s from Aviano Air Base in Northern Italy.
Further, the special ops team, known as a Commanders in Extremis Force, or CIF, appeared to take an unusually long time to travel to Italy.
The team left on a modified C-130 aircraft from Croatia and was directed to head straight to Sigonella air base in Italy — rather than to Benghazi.
The final attack on the CIA annex, which killed Americans Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, occurred at 5:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
The senior official said the CIF landed at Sigonella at 7:57 p.m. Libya time later that day — but he would not say when the aircraft left central Europe.
According to the Pentagon’s timeline of events, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave verbal approval for the CIF team to “prepare to deploy” somewhere between midnight and 2 a.m. Libya time. That means it took the CIF a minimum of 18 hours to go from Croatia to Sigonella. For some perspective, Sigonella is closer to Croatia than Benghazi and the distance between Croatia and Benghazi is roughly the same as Washington D.C. to Miami, Florida — about 900 miles.
It’s also important to note that AFRICOM only gave the order to deploy a C-17 in Germany to rescue surviving Americans at 6:05 a.m. on Sep. 12, Libya time, almost an hour after the final attack.
That aircraft departed Tripoli with the remains of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans killed, at 7:17 p.m. that same day. That was almost 24 hours after the attack began.
The Pentagon did manage to scramble two unarmed unmanned surveillance aircraft, the first of which arrived about 90 minutes after the attack started.
The military’s release of its timeline follows detailed accounts by both the State Department and the CIA.
Intelligence officials last week said the first call that the consulate was under attack came into the nearby annex at around 9:40 p.m. local time. (That lines up with when the military says the attack began). They said a team of additional security personnel did land at the Benghazi airport in the early morning hours. The team had to negotiate for transport into town, though, according to officials, and did not arrive at the annex until 5:15 a.m., around when the final attack occurred.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz2BllEVsbG
TIME LINE
Timeline of Department of Defense Actions on September 11â€12, 2012
All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, Washington, DC)
and Eastern European Time (EET, Benghazi)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
EDT // EET
~3:42 pm // 9:42 pm The incident starts at the facility in Benghazi.
3:59 pm // 9:59 pm An unarmed, unmanned, surveillance aircraft is directed to reposition overhead
the Benghazi facility.
4:32 pm // 10:32pm The National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, after receiving initial
reports of the incident from the State Department, notifies the Office of the
Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff. The information is quickly passed to
Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey.
5:00 pm // 11:00pm Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey attend a previously scheduled meeting
with the President at the White House. The leaders discuss potential responses
to the emerging situation.
5:10 pm // 11:10 pm The diverted surveillance aircraft arrives on station over the Benghazi facility.
~5:30 pm // 11:30 pm All surviving American personnel have departed the facility.
6:00â€8:00 pm //
12:00â€2:00 am Secretary Panetta convenes a series of meetings in the Pentagon with senior
officials including General Dempsey and General Ham. They discuss additional
response options for Benghazi and for the potential outbreak of further violence
throughout the region, particularly in Tunis, Tripoli, Cairo, and Sana’a.
During these meetings, Secretary Panetta directs (provides verbal authorization)
the following actions:
1) A Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) platoon, stationed in Rota, Spain,
to prepare to deploy to Benghazi, and a second FAST platoon, also stationed
in Rota, Spain, to prepare to deploy to the Embassy in Tripoli.
2) A EUCOM special operations force, which is training in Central Europe, to
prepare to deploy to an intermediate staging base in southern Europe.
3) A special operations force based in the United States to prepare to deploy
to an intermediate staging base in southern Europe.
During this period, actions are verbally conveyed from the Pentagon to the
affected Combatant Commands in order to expedite movement of forces upon
receipt of formal authorization.
~6:30 pm // 12:30 am A sixâ€man security team from U.S. Embassy Tripoli, including two DoD
personnel, departs for Benghazi.
~7:30 pm // 1:30 am The American security team from Tripoli lands in Benghazi.
~8:30pm // 2:30 am The National Military Command Center conducts a Benghazi Conference Call
with representatives from AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM, TRANSCOM, SOCOM,
and the four services.
8:39pm // 2:39 am As ordered by Secretary Panetta, the National Military Command Center
transmits formal authorization for the two FAST platoons, and associated
equipment, to prepare to deploy and for the EUCOM special operations force,
and associated equipment, to move to an intermediate staging base in southern
Europe.
8:53pm // 2:53 am As ordered by Secretary Panetta, the National Military Command Center
transmits formal authorization to deploy a special operations force, and
associated equipment, from the United States to an intermediate staging base
in southern Europe.
~11:00 pm // 5:00 am A second, unmanned, unarmed surveillance aircraft is directed to relieve the
initial asset still over Benghazi.
~11:15 pm // 5:15 am The second facility in Benghazi comes under mortar and rocket propelled
grenade fire.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
12:05 am // 6:05am AFRICOM orders a Câ€17 aircraft in Germany to prepare to deploy to Libya to
evacuate Americans.
~1:40 am // 7:40 am The first wave of American personnel depart Benghazi for Tripoli via airplane.
~4:00 am // 10:00 am The second wave of Americans, including the fallen, depart Benghazi for Tripoli
via airplane.
8:15 am // 2:15 pm The Câ€17 departs Germany en route Tripoli to evacuate Americans.
1:17 pm // 7:17 pm The Câ€17 departs Tripoli en route Ramstein, Germany with the American
personnel and the remains of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods,
and Glen Doherty.
1:57 pm // 7:57 pm The EUCOM special operations force, and associated equipment, arrives at an
intermediate staging base in southern Europe.
2:56 pm // 8:56 pm The FAST platoon, and associated equipment, arrives in Tripoli.
3:28 pm // 9:28 pm The special operations force deployed from the United States, and associated
equipment, arrives at an intermediate staging base in southern Europe.
4:19 pm // 10:19 pm The Câ€17 arrives in Ramstein, Germany.
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Can we rename the thread to "Benghazi"? Or add the name into the title? Vector?
Anyone have a problem with that?
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Official: Intel Leaders Edited Benghazi Info
Nov 21, 2012
UPI
Tweet Add a Comment
The intelligence community made substantive revisions to talking points about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a government official said.
Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the director of National Intelligence, said Monday the unclassified talking points used by government officials who spoke about the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the diplomatic mission were not substantively changed by any agency outside of the intelligence community, CNN reported.
The attack resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other diplomatic employees.
Republicans' already-withering criticism of the talking points intensified Friday after a closed-door House Intelligence Committee hearing with former CIA Director David Petraeus.
Some Republican congressional members suggested change came from the White House, the Justice Department or another agency.
The initial version included information linking individuals involved in the attack to al-Qaida, a senior U.S. official familiar with the draft told CNN. When the document was sent to the intelligence community for review, a decision was made to change "al-Qaida" to "extremists" for intelligence and legal reasons, the official said.
"First, the information about individuals linked to al-Qaida was derived from classified sources," the official said. "Second, when links were so tenuous -- as they still are -- it makes sense to be cautious before pointing fingers so you don't set off a chain of circular and self-reinforcing assumptions. Third, it is important to be careful not to prejudice a criminal investigation in its early stages."
Turner said the intelligence community "made substantive, analytical changes before the talking points were sent to government agency partners for their feedback. There were no substantive changes made to the talking points after they left the intelligence community."
The House intelligence panel indicated it wasn't satisfied with Turner's explanation.
"The statement released [Monday] by the DNI's spokesman regarding how the intelligence community's talking points were changed gives a new explanation that differs significantly from information provided in testimony to the committee last week," said committee spokeswoman Susan Phalen, adding that the panel looked forward to discussion the matter "as soon as possible to understand how the DNI reached this conclusion and why leaders of the intelligence community testified late last week that they were unaware of who changed the talking points."
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
-
Re: Is Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
and add to or change the title? Ok
-
Re: Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya crisis: Benghazi
Renamed it... mostly because this is where all the Benghazi stuff is located and I forget things.... a lot lately.
-
Re: Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya crisis: Benghazi
Who didn't see this coming? :rolleyes:
Egypt's president issues constitutional amendments, granting himself far-reaching powers - @AP
8 mins ago by editor
Egypt's President Morsi orders retrial of officials involved in killing protesters - @LBCINews_en
16 mins ago by editor
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on security alert ahead of rallies planned by opposition - DPA
28 mins ago by editor
Egyptian court acquits police officers accused of killing 5 protesters, injuring 7 others last year - @Egyindependent
1 hour ago from
www.egyptindependent.com by editor
-------
Police acquitted of killing revolution protesters
Thu, 22/11/2012 - 13:01
Cairo Criminal Court acquitted Thursday police officers Ahmed Mostafa al-Shazly and Khaled Abu Raid of killing five protesters and injuring seven others last year.
The officers were found not guilty of shooting revolution protesters outside the Darb al-Ahmar police station on 28 January 2011.
The defense lawyer argued the charges were false and based on malicious motives. Their attorney claimed criminals in the district made up the allegations out of hostility toward Shazly after his 11 years on the police force. He suggested that the protesters may have been killed by unknown gunmen who infiltrated the demonstrations.
The mother of Ahmed Khalifa, one of the protesters shot dead, burst in to tears when the verdict was announced.
"I was sure they would acquit the defendants. We will see what President [Mohamed] Morsy will do with them," she said.
According to the defense, Shazly was stationed at the Cairo Security Department on the day of the killings and Abu Raid was securing Al-Azhar Mosque during Friday prayers that day. Brigadier General Ahmed Helmy, Captain Mohamed Fawzy and Captain Ahmed Kilany all provided testimony corroborating Shazly’s alibi.
The lawyer also said the killed and injured protesters had been violent and tried to burn down the police station.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news...ion-protesters
-
Re: Are Tunisia and Egypt Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands
By JAMES RISEN, MARK MAZZETTI and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: December 5, 2012 198 Comments
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.
Bryan Denton for The New York Times
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...s-popup-v2.jpg
Libyans in Benghazi last year in front of a Libyan flag, right, and a Qatari flag painted on the wall.
Related
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...mbStandard.jpg
No evidence has emerged linking the weapons provided by the Qataris during the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to the attack that killed four Americans at the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in September.
But in the months before, the Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government.
The experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria, where weapons are flowing in from Qatar and other countries.
The Obama administration did not initially raise objections when Qatar began shipping arms to opposition groups in Syria, even if it did not offer encouragement, according to current and former administration officials. But they said the United States has growing concerns that, just as in Libya, the Qataris are equipping some of the wrong militants.
The United States, which had only small numbers of C.I.A. officers in Libya during the tumult of the rebellion, provided little oversight of the arms shipments. Within weeks of endorsing Qatar’s plan to send weapons there in spring 2011, the White House began receiving reports that they were going to Islamic militant groups. They were “more antidemocratic, more hard-line, closer to an extreme version of Islam” than the main rebel alliance in Libya, said a former Defense Department official.
The Qatari assistance to fighters viewed as hostile by the United States demonstrates the Obama administration’s continuing struggles in dealing with the Arab Spring uprisings, as it tries to support popular protest movements while avoiding American military entanglements. Relying on surrogates allows the United States to keep its fingerprints off operations, but also means they may play out in ways that conflict with American interests.
“To do this right, you have to have on-the-ground intelligence and you have to have experience,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department adviser who is now dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, part of Johns Hopkins University. “If you rely on a country that doesn’t have those things, you are really flying blind. When you have an intermediary, you are going to lose control.”
He said that Qatar would not have gone through with the arms shipments if the United States had resisted them, but other current and former administration officials said Washington had little leverage at times over Qatari officials. “They march to their own drummer,” said a former senior State Department official. The White House and State Department declined to comment.
During the frantic early months of the Libyan rebellion, various players motivated by politics or profit — including an American arms dealer who proposed weapons transfers in an e-mail exchange with a United States emissary later killed in Benghazi — sought to aid those trying to oust Colonel Qaddafi.
But after the White House decided to encourage Qatar — and on a smaller scale, the United Arab Emirates — to ship arms to the Libyans, President Obama complained in April 2011 to the emir of Qatar that his country was not coordinating its actions in Libya with the United States, the American officials said. “The president made the point to the emir that we needed transparency about what Qatar was doing in Libya,” said a former senior administration official who had been briefed on the matter.
About that same time, Mahmoud Jibril, then the prime minister of the Libyan transitional government, expressed frustration to administration officials that the United States was allowing Qatar to arm extremist groups opposed to the new leadership, according to several American officials. They, like nearly a dozen current and former White House, diplomatic, intelligence, military and foreign officials, would speak only on the condition of anonymity for this article.
The administration has never determined where all of the weapons, paid for by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, went inside Libya, officials said. Qatar is believed to have shipped by air and sea small arms, including machine guns, automatic rifles, and ammunition, for which it has demanded reimbursement from Libya’s new government. Some of the arms since have been moved from Libya to militants with ties to Al Qaeda in Mali, where radical jihadi factions have imposed Shariah law in the northern part of the country, the former Defense Department official said. Others have gone to Syria, according to several American and foreign officials and arms traders.
Although NATO provided air support that proved critical for the Libyan rebels, the Obama administration wanted to avoid getting immersed in a ground war, which officials feared could lead the United States into another quagmire in the Middle East.
As a result, the White House largely relied on Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, two small Persian Gulf states and frequent allies of the United States. Qatar, a tiny nation whose natural gas reserves have made it enormously wealthy, for years has tried to expand its influence in the Arab world. Since 2011, with dictatorships in the Middle East and North Africa coming under siege, Qatar has given arms and money to various opposition and militant groups, chiefly Sunni Islamists, in hopes of cementing alliances with the new governments. Officials from Qatar and the emirates would not comment.
After discussions among members of the National Security Council, the Obama administration backed the arms shipments from both countries, according to two former administration officials briefed on the talks.
American officials say that the United Arab Emirates first approached the Obama administration during the early months of the Libyan uprising, asking for permission to ship American-built weapons that the United States had supplied for the emirates’ use. The administration rejected that request, but instead urged the emirates to ship weapons to Libya that could not be traced to the United States.
“The U.A.E. was asking for clearance to send U.S. weapons,” said one former official. “We told them it’s O.K. to ship other weapons.”
For its part, Qatar supplied weapons made outside the United States, including French- and Russian-designed arms, according to people familiar with the shipments.
But the American support for the arms shipments from Qatar and the emirates could not be completely hidden. NATO air and sea forces around Libya had to be alerted not to interdict the cargo planes and freighters transporting the arms into Libya from Qatar and the emirates, American officials said.
Concerns in Washington soon rose about the groups Qatar was supporting, officials said. A debate over what to do about the weapons shipments dominated at least one meeting of the so-called Deputies Committee, the interagency panel consisting of the second-highest ranking officials in major agencies involved in national security. “There was a lot of concern that the Qatar weapons were going to Islamist groups,” one official recalled.
The Qataris provided weapons, money and training to various rebel groups in Libya. One militia that received aid was controlled by Adel Hakim Belhaj, then leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, who was held by the C.I.A. in 2004 and is now considered a moderate politician in Libya. It is unclear which other militants received the aid.
“Nobody knew exactly who they were,” said the former defense official. The Qataris, the official added, are “supposedly good allies, but the Islamists they support are not in our interest.”
No evidence has surfaced that any weapons went to Ansar al-Shariah, an extremist group blamed for the Benghazi attack.
The case of Marc Turi, the American arms merchant who had sought to provide weapons to Libya, demonstrates other challenges the United States faced in dealing with Libya. A dealer who lives in both Arizona and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Turi sells small arms to buyers in the Middle East and Africa, relying primarily on suppliers of Russian-designed weapons in Eastern Europe.
In March 2011, just as the Libyan civil war was intensifying, Mr. Turi realized that Libya could be a lucrative new market, and applied to the State Department for a license to provide weapons to the rebels there, according to e-mails and other documents he has provided. (American citizens are required to obtain United States approval for any international arms sales.)
He also e-mailed J. Christopher Stevens, then the special representative to the Libyan rebel alliance. The diplomat said he would “share” Mr. Turi’s proposal with colleagues in Washington, according to e-mails provided by Mr. Turi. Mr. Stevens, who became the United States ambassador to Libya, was one of the four Americans killed in the Benghazi attack on Sept. 11.
Mr. Turi’s application for a license was rejected in late March 2011. Undeterred, he applied again, this time stating only that he planned to ship arms worth more than $200 million to Qatar. In May 2011, his application was approved. Mr. Turi, in an interview, said that his intent was to get weapons to Qatar and that what “the U.S. government and Qatar allowed from there was between them.”
Two months later, though, his home near Phoenix was raided by agents from the Department of Homeland Security. Administration officials say he remains under investigation in connection with his arms dealings. The Justice Department would not comment.
Mr. Turi said he believed that United States officials had shut down his proposed arms pipeline because he was getting in the way of the Obama administration’s dealings with Qatar. The Qataris, he complained, imposed no controls on who got the weapons. “They just handed them out like candy,” he said.
-
Re: Are Tunisia and Egypt Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
7 Hours of Hell! Michelle Malkin Calls for Impeachment of Obama and Clinton
30 November 2012
Malkin: Time to IMPEACH Obama and Hillary Clinton for Treason, Dereliction of Duty,
and Non-Stop Benghazigate LIES
'Well, there are many constitutional provisions for recourse on this and I think that they have to be contemplated. I also think there needs to be grass-roots, nationwide PRESSURE.
...this administration -and this candidate- and this president was forced to see signs from people reminding them that they will not forget the seven hours of hell that the murdered Americans went through before they perished in Benghazi!
And it’s the same thing with the Camp Bastion attack, which I’ve raised questions about on behalf of murdered Marines in that case and the lack of security, questions about rules of engagement that have been compromised by this politically-correct, jihadi-coddling administration...' – Michelle Malkin
Naturally, Team Obama says that only mean Republicans
care about any of this yucky Benghazi stuff, and official WH spokesman and all-round toady Jay Carney had the unmitigated gall to unilaterally proclaim he and Susan Rice's blatant dishonesty a 'non-event'.
-
Re: Are Tunisia and Egypt Facing Real Unrest or a Manufactured Crisis?
Clinton Benghazi hearing set for Dec. 20
By Meghashyam Mali - 12/13/12 07:16 AM ET
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has been set for Dec. 20.
Clinton will appear at the opening hearing to discuss the deadly September attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Clinton’s testimony will come after the anticipated release of an independent report reviewing the State Department’s handling of security for its diplomats in Benghazi.
Republican lawmakers have questioned if the Obama administration ignored earlier threats to the U.S. mission in Libya and denied requests from State officials on the ground for heightened security.
Clinton will also likely address the administration response to the attack.
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice initially blamed the violence on a spontaneous protest sparked by an anti-Islam video. The White House later acknowledged that the attack was a planned terrorist assault.
GOP lawmakers question if the administration downplayed the terrorist angle for political gain ahead of the election.
President Obama, though, has defended Rice and said her statements were based on intelligence reports and were not intended to mislead.
Rice has been seen as a possible replacement for Clinton, but many GOP senators have suggested they would block her nomination over her handling of Benghazi.
Rice headed to Capitol Hill last month for a series of meetings with GOP lawmakers that failed to stem the criticism, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying he was “more disturbed” after speaking with the ambassador.