The Benghazi Incident

[BigV]

I'm not a republican. I'm not on a witch hunt. I'm very interested in what you have to say on the issue.

[regular.joe]

BigV, here goes. My $.02 based on some experience. I'm going to try to keep this brief and simple.

Back in '10 I spent time in Pakistan. I got back two days before they schwacked Bin Laden. I assure you that I had nothing to do with that, I have another job.

While I was living with 3-4 other guys in a house in a suburb of Peshawar, had we had to duke it out with the Taliban (or pick from a list of like Islamist trouble makers that all have loose affiliations with one another) from our roof top, can you guess who the cavalry would have been? That's right, we were the cavalry. We, and the men in Benghazi, volunteered, were selected and trained to do a tough job, with a VERY small footprint in a very dangerous place. We knew the odds going in if crap gets hairy, and we knew that the cavalry was us. 6 Months before I got to Pesh, two members of the CA community were killed in a suicide bombing north east of Pesh. Not many people know about this, there was no news or fanfare. We are professionals and understand the political implications, and don't expect this crap anyways. I worked on the same school that was destroyed at the bombing that killed these guys. I can't stress enough that we know the risks going in. If it were easy and low risk, shit, everyone would be doing it. It really pisses me off that the bravery of these men is being used as a spring board for political infighting. Rather than give them credit where credit is due, that they volunteered to walk into a tough, very risky place....and doing it anyways. Oh, and the Marines were doing what they are supposed to do: protect the Embassy. No Marine contingent was going to beat feet to my team house, if we were fighting it out.

The reports that DoD have submitted are true. We just don't have the kind of assets to drop a contingent of operators, or an infantry platoon (let alone the political fall out for violating sovereign states borders with more military personnel), especially in a highly fluid, dynamic, dangerous fight, too much is unknown. The right call was to sit it out rather than send in two or three choppers and get 1/2 of our "rescue" force killed on the insertion. These guys are way more valuable then to kill em off willy nilly.

The guys on the ground knew all of this going into that job. They went anyway. We should hold them up as examples of men willing to do some of the toughest, most dangerous work out there. Celebrate their bravery.

[Lamplighter]

Joe, I appreciate all you have said in this post. I really do.

But at the same time, I don't see a connection with that and what is happening
in Washington, in the Congress, under the flag of "Benghazi"

How do you make the connection ?

[regular.joe]

So, shits going south...right now....and a very small contingent of men is under fire in a small country rife with danger. Hypothetically. The President immediately goes to the Joint Chiefs, the Head of the CIA and the Commander of SOCOM, SOCCENT, and CENTCOM. The President says "Guys, what can we do?". (This is exactly what he's supposed to do) They all say, give me five minutes. Five minutes later they say...not much. But, the real answer is they basically knew the answer to that last week.

What's going on in Congress right now is some guys trying to pin some kind of blame on the President and the head of DoS. I mean, we don't want to widen that blame to the CIA, Military and other guys..cause they are right wing darlings . Just calling like I see it. The fact is there is no blame to assign. Shit happens in the world and when you fight, you're gonna get hit. The champions know this and can take it.

[Lamplighter]

Thank you, and thank you for your service.
... and not just because I agree with your thoughts in your 2nd posting.

...The fact is there is no blame to assign. Shit happens in the world...

[regular.joe]

Hell, like I said, it's just my opinion. Maybe I don't know shit.

I know what I know, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Glad I'm not in politics. That looks like some tough shit right there.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Thank you Joe, you validated my gut feeling but I would have accepted your 2 cents had it been the opposite. You've been there, done that, and seen from the inside how the system works, for a very long time.

I'm so glad you're still here to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny, at the museum.

[Griff]

Thank you for the insight Joe.

[BigV]

Joe, thanks for sharing your insight.

I am not a soldier. I don't have any of the first hand insight like you've had. I *am* a citizen, and I do take an active interest in what's going on in my city and my state and my country. I need input like yours to help me do my best. I strive to avoid restricting my exposure to what's going on and opinions about what's going on to points of view that harmonize with mine, though in this case, yours does.

I have to try to evaluate the motivations and expertise of the speakers and gauge what they say accordingly. You strike me as someone who has a strong command of the background and is not motivated by some greater, less obvious agenda. You present your opinion clearly and without hyperbole or rancor. This is why I consider your input highly valuable. Thank you, sir.

[xoxoxoBruce]

BigV, you ain't no patriot, cuz iffen you was, you'd get all you need to know from Sarah Palin.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Who?
Iceland, that's who.
Why??
Well they've bad-mouthed Wall Street pretty good, but no, haven't attacked us... yet.
What???
They're building a new temple to the Norse Gods.

Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.
Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.

See, rejecting Christianity to turn back the clock 1000 years, so obviously they will be terrorists.
Tell fox! Tell Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity! Tell Palin!


Oh, and don't accept any wedding invitations in Iceland.

[Lamplighter]

It's Baaaaccck


For those of you that enjoy "Morning Joe", here is a pretty good 10 minute discussion...



On a somewhat different note, I find it amusing that Bob Woodward
is questioning the sources and twisting of the discussion,
when he is one of most famous of "historians" who use
vague "trust me" references for his own sources.

[sexobon]

Should be almost as safe as being an Ambassador:

Canadian military adviser killed in friendly fire in Iraq

A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three others wounded in a friendly fire incident in northern Iraq, ... Canadian troops training local forces had just returned to an observation post at the front line Friday night when they were mistakenly fired upon by Kurdish fighters, ...

... Canada has 69 special forces soldiers with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in what the government calls an advising and assisting role. They were sent to help train Kurdish fighters last September in a mission that was billed as noncombat with the elite troops working far behind the front lines. Harper told Parliament in late September that the soldiers would not accompany the Kurdish fighters, but a Canadian general said in January that they do 80 percent of the training and advising behind the front lines and about 20 percent right at the front lines.

The general also revealed then that Canadian soldiers have been helping the Kurdish fighters by directing coalition airstrikes against Islamic State fighters, a role generally considered risky because it means they are close to the battle against the militants.

The Canadians' efforts complement those of the United States, which has conducted the vast majority of the airstrikes against the Islamic State group. But in their new role, the Canadians are performing a task in targeting airstrikes that so far the U.S. has been unwilling to do. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly said the U.S. would consider directing attacks from the ground but that it has not done so. ...

Not yet. Maybe.

[regular.joe]

That sucks. I'm sure we can pin that on Obama, The head of the DoS and others that have nothing to do with the event.

Forgive me for being a little bitter about the whole thing.

RIP, Canadian SF who are doing what we have been unwilling to do.

[classicman]

not comparable at all to predecessors
Hers was EXCLUSIVE USE.
illegal or unethical?
What a partisan hack this guy is. I couldn't take any more past the 4:25 minute mark.
Woodward is as bad, if not worse than Rove.