easyt65
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LINK: Full Measure: Benghazi rescue interrupted?
Full Measure: Benghazi rescue 'interrupted'
"Now an email hidden from public view for three years reveals another rescue attempt was apparently interrupted. The military offered to deploy Special Forces to Benghazi during the assault, long before the attackers killed CIA contractors and former Navy Seals Glen Doherty and Ty Woods.
Three and a half hours into the eight-hour long siege, the military's Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash emails top State Department officials: "we have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak. They include a SOF [Special Operations Forces] element that was in Croatia."
Retired Army Green Beret Col. Andrew Wood commanded a Special Forces anti-terrorism team protecting Ambassador Chris Stevens and other diplomats in Libya. In 2012, Wood told Congress his team was removed from Libya by the Obama administration a month before the attacks, despite warnings of terrorist violence to come.
For the first time, Wood is speaking out with a startling claim: that those Special Forces offered in the military email were on their way to Benghazi, but were turned back.
Wood: Those individuals I know loaded aircraft and got on their way to Benghazi to respond to that incident. They were not allowed to cross the border, as per protocol, until they get approval from the Commander-in-Chief. That authority has got to come from him. Otherwise, they're not allowed to go further into the country. I have a high degree of confidence that that happened, based on information that I've heard from individuals that were there. Those forces were put into motion. They simply were not allowed to go further.
The White House has refused to detail the involvement of President Obama, the Commander-in-Chief, while Americans were under attack on foreign soil. Following a short briefing at the beginning of the assault, he virtually disappears from the public narrative.
The White House declined to comment for this report but has long denied any assets were available or ready, and said everything possible was done.
Yet the email indicates Special Forces were ready and high-ranking Obama administration officials, or "Principals" were to weigh in. "Assuming Principals agree to deploy these elements, we will ask State to secure the approval from host nation," the military emails the State Department. "Please advise how you wish to convey that approval to us."
Inexplicably, nobody did seek Libya's approval for the U.S. forces to fly in to help."
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"Gary Berntsen is a former CIA senior operations officer and Chief of Station. He commanded counter-terrorism missions and led the response team after Islamic extremists bombed U.S. Embassies in East Africa in 1998.
Sharyl: The significance of this memo, would you say?
Gary Berntsen: It's incredibly significant, and you would understand why the administration wouldn't want people to see that those elements within the government that were tasked with the protection of lives and property, actually started the process and were stopped.
Like Wood, Berntsen says quick reaction military teams are tasked to handle emergencies exactly like Benghazi and automatically spin up, unless and until they're stopped.
Berntsen: You proceed because if there's an emergency and Americans are at risk, Americans have died or are under the threat of death or a threat of kidnapping or any kind of violence. We're moving.
A military source familiar with some of the night's events also confirms military options were provided.
Military source: There were both conventional and Special Forces in theater and assigned to AFRICOM [Africa Command] offered up by General [Carter] Ham on a video teleconference. Based on what I know, the forces they were talking about could have gotten there pretty quickly.
Berntsen: Only political instructions from above would have stopped them."
Full Measure: Benghazi rescue 'interrupted'
"Now an email hidden from public view for three years reveals another rescue attempt was apparently interrupted. The military offered to deploy Special Forces to Benghazi during the assault, long before the attackers killed CIA contractors and former Navy Seals Glen Doherty and Ty Woods.
Three and a half hours into the eight-hour long siege, the military's Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash emails top State Department officials: "we have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak. They include a SOF [Special Operations Forces] element that was in Croatia."
Retired Army Green Beret Col. Andrew Wood commanded a Special Forces anti-terrorism team protecting Ambassador Chris Stevens and other diplomats in Libya. In 2012, Wood told Congress his team was removed from Libya by the Obama administration a month before the attacks, despite warnings of terrorist violence to come.
For the first time, Wood is speaking out with a startling claim: that those Special Forces offered in the military email were on their way to Benghazi, but were turned back.
Wood: Those individuals I know loaded aircraft and got on their way to Benghazi to respond to that incident. They were not allowed to cross the border, as per protocol, until they get approval from the Commander-in-Chief. That authority has got to come from him. Otherwise, they're not allowed to go further into the country. I have a high degree of confidence that that happened, based on information that I've heard from individuals that were there. Those forces were put into motion. They simply were not allowed to go further.
The White House has refused to detail the involvement of President Obama, the Commander-in-Chief, while Americans were under attack on foreign soil. Following a short briefing at the beginning of the assault, he virtually disappears from the public narrative.
The White House declined to comment for this report but has long denied any assets were available or ready, and said everything possible was done.
Yet the email indicates Special Forces were ready and high-ranking Obama administration officials, or "Principals" were to weigh in. "Assuming Principals agree to deploy these elements, we will ask State to secure the approval from host nation," the military emails the State Department. "Please advise how you wish to convey that approval to us."
Inexplicably, nobody did seek Libya's approval for the U.S. forces to fly in to help."
------------------
"Gary Berntsen is a former CIA senior operations officer and Chief of Station. He commanded counter-terrorism missions and led the response team after Islamic extremists bombed U.S. Embassies in East Africa in 1998.
Sharyl: The significance of this memo, would you say?
Gary Berntsen: It's incredibly significant, and you would understand why the administration wouldn't want people to see that those elements within the government that were tasked with the protection of lives and property, actually started the process and were stopped.
Like Wood, Berntsen says quick reaction military teams are tasked to handle emergencies exactly like Benghazi and automatically spin up, unless and until they're stopped.
Berntsen: You proceed because if there's an emergency and Americans are at risk, Americans have died or are under the threat of death or a threat of kidnapping or any kind of violence. We're moving.
A military source familiar with some of the night's events also confirms military options were provided.
Military source: There were both conventional and Special Forces in theater and assigned to AFRICOM [Africa Command] offered up by General [Carter] Ham on a video teleconference. Based on what I know, the forces they were talking about could have gotten there pretty quickly.
Berntsen: Only political instructions from above would have stopped them."
