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svelte.
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October 21, 2012 at 11:25 AM #752958October 24, 2012 at 11:54 AM #753114
Zeitgeist
Participant“If Obama releases his college and passport records by the end of October, the New York real estate mogul and reality show host says he will contribute $5 million to a charity of the president’s choice.
Trump made the offer Wednesday in a video posted to his Twitter account.”Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/24/3065162/trump-offers-5-million-if-obama.html#storylink=cpy
October 24, 2012 at 12:02 PM #753115enron_by_the_sea
Participant[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
SK: There was considerable intel and in the MONTHS leading up to the Benghazi attack and this intel came from US, Western (largely British) and Libyan sources.[/quote]
I hope that this “intel” about imminent attack in Bengazhi did not come from the same sources as those who provided intel about Iraq WMD! I ask because the same people who belived in Iraq WMD are the people who are hyping up this “intel”.
October 24, 2012 at 12:15 PM #753116SK in CV
Participant[quote=enron_by_the_sea][quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
SK: There was considerable intel and in the MONTHS leading up to the Benghazi attack and this intel came from US, Western (largely British) and Libyan sources.[/quote]
I hope that this “intel” about imminent attack in Bengazhi did not come from the same sources as those who provided intel about Iraq WMD! I ask because the same people who belived in Iraq WMD are the people who are hyping up this “intel”.[/quote]
Of course there’s a logical absurdity to the claim of this intel. Chris Stevens was an ambassador. And a career diplomat. The latter is the more important piece of information. He wasn’t the Larry Lawrence type of ambassador, who got his first job at the state department when he was 62 years old. Chris Stevens had worked for the US foreign service for more than 20 years. Whether or not he really was a spook, we’ll probably never know. But he was privy to the intel. Every bit of it concerning what was going on in Libya. And if the intel said there was going to be an attack on that day, he wouldn’t have been there. It really is that simple.
October 24, 2012 at 2:22 PM #753132Jazzman
ParticipantDoes an intellectual make the best president? If he expressed his deeper intellectual thoughts, would the general public understand him. I think he is a good communicator, which is probably more important that intellectual ability for many.
His most honest statement regarding management is that there are so many moving parts to running a country, that for much of the time you fix retrospectively. While not a solution to disasters, it helps ensure the same problem doesn’t reoccur. That is a kind of plain speaking, that underscores a deeper understanding undaunted by expressing a universal truth.
October 24, 2012 at 6:45 PM #753146scaredyclassic
Participantim gonna go out on a limb here and say that for the vast majority of jobs, inc president, being really really smart does not help and probably hurts.
there are some jobs it could help.
November 4, 2012 at 12:15 AM #753727Allan from Fallbrook
Participant[quote=SK in CV]Chris Stevens had worked for the US foreign service for more than 20 years. Whether or not he really was a spook, we’ll probably never know. But he was privy to the intel. Every bit of it concerning what was going on in Libya. And if the intel said there was going to be an attack on that day, he wouldn’t have been there. It really is that simple.[/quote]
SK: Except that we do now know that he was providing cover for a CIA operation that was moving heavy weapons from Libya to the rebels in Syria: http://www.businessinsider.com/benghazi-stevens-cia-attack-libya-2012-11
So, the Obama Administration was left in the unenviable position of having to play the “plausible deniability” card, which is at the heart of this entire mess.
As to Stevens “not being there” if there were credible intel reports concerning threats to his safety, well, that doesn’t really pass the sniff test, given that he did request help, repeatedly, and it was denied. At that point, it ain’t like he could’ve loaded up the whole group in the family truckster and just headed off into the sunset. Inside the wire at that point is infinitely better than outside the wire.
Bottom line: There was an on-going CIA operation to move heavy weapons to Syria and Stevens was providing diplomatic cover for same. Operation was put at risk and Stevens was sacrificed to prevent potentially larger blowback if evidence of this operation came to light. Now, all involved groups and agencies, including DepState, CIA and the WH are dancing as fast as they can in the hopes that this thing mercifully sinks beneath the waves and the public at large forgets.
November 4, 2012 at 6:20 AM #753732Participant[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=SK in CV]Chris Stevens had worked for the US foreign service for more than 20 years. Whether or not he really was a spook, we’ll probably never know. But he was privy to the intel. Every bit of it concerning what was going on in Libya. And if the intel said there was going to be an attack on that day, he wouldn’t have been there. It really is that simple.[/quote]
SK: Except that we do now know that he was providing cover for a CIA operation that was moving heavy weapons from Libya to the rebels in Syria: http://www.businessinsider.com/benghazi-stevens-cia-attack-libya-2012-11
So, the Obama Administration was left in the unenviable position of having to play the “plausible deniability” card, which is at the heart of this entire mess.
As to Stevens “not being there” if there were credible intel reports concerning threats to his safety, well, that doesn’t really pass the sniff test, given that he did request help, repeatedly, and it was denied. At that point, it ain’t like he could’ve loaded up the whole group in the family truckster and just headed off into the sunset. Inside the wire at that point is infinitely better than outside the wire.
Bottom line: There was an on-going CIA operation to move heavy weapons to Syria and Stevens was providing diplomatic cover for same. Operation was put at risk and Stevens was sacrificed to prevent potentially larger blowback if evidence of this operation came to light. Now, all involved groups and agencies, including DepState, CIA and the WH are dancing as fast as they can in the hopes that this thing mercifully sinks beneath the waves and the public at large forgets.[/quote]
There’s a disconnect here Alan. I agree with all of it, it’s pretty consistent with what I said. But I can’t figure out how you came to your conclusion that Stevens was sacraficed. In order to get there, you have to beieve that either a: the intelligence community knew the attack was going to happen on that day and did nothing to keep stevens away, or b: a rescue attempt after the attack began would have exposed the Benghazi facility for what it was. Neither of those scenarios would have served any purpose.
A more likely scenario is a combination of two problems. A failure on the part of intel. And the inability of the CIA to deal with the security of their own agents acting under diplomatic cover. It’s sounding more and more like the Benghazi facility had no diplomatic mission and was purely an intel outlet. State provides for security at their facilities. The CIA doesn’t provide that kind of security even for themselves. So I’m guessing the problem was that nobody was in charge of security. Most of the direct quotes alluding to the requests for additional security in the region don’t mention Benghazi specifically. I think this explains why.
November 4, 2012 at 2:06 PM #753746ParticipantDead men don’t talk. It just remains to be seen how much he gave up while being tortured.
November 4, 2012 at 5:52 PM #753748svelteParticipantNovember 4, 2012 at 7:53 PM #753749Participant[quote=Zeitgeist]Dead men don’t talk. It just remains to be seen how much he gave up while being tortured.
http://rcjustice.tripod.com/pres.html%5B/quote%5D
“One former Special Op now employed by a private company in Benghazi said that even the safe room wasn’t properly set up. He said ‘the safe room is one of the first measures you take’ and that he is ‘not sure how you can set a safe room without fire suppression and ventilation in case of fire.’ He also said, ‘Ambassador Stevens would likely be alive today if this simple and normal procedure was put into place.'”
November 5, 2012 at 6:53 AM #753752 -
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