Benghazi-Gate: Unbelievable, Key Terror Task Force, Counterterrorism Security Group (CSG), Not Convened During Benghazi Consulate Attack

BARACK OBAMA … EPIC FAILURE AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

Is this the email that Newt Gingrich mentioned the other night that news outlets were rumored to have and they are damning to Obama and his incompetence and dereliction of duty in handling Benghazi.

As reported at CBS News, counterterrorism sources and internal emails express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack. The emails are said to have come from unidentified sources in the State department, the U.S. military and the Justice Department. Hmm, think these folks are tired of being thrown under the bus by Obama and his stonewalling of what really happened?

CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).

“The CSG is the one group that’s supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies,” a high-ranking government official told CBS News. “They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon.”

Information shared with CBS News from top counterterrorism sources in the government and military reveal keen frustration over the U.S. response on Sept. 11, the night Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a coordinated attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.

The question is, how could the Counterterrorism Security Group not be  convened after such an attack at Benghazi that the WH et all saw in real time? As Weasil Zippers says, I guess the terror experts were not convened because Obama had decimated al-Qaeda. Sure he did.

As to why the Counterterrorism Security Group was not convened, National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor told CBS News “From the moment the President was briefed on the Benghazi attack, the response effort was handled by the most senior national security officials in governments. Members of the CSG were of course involved in these meetings and discussions to support their bosses.”

Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official says the response to the crisis became more confused. The official says the FBI received a call during the attack representing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and requesting agents be deployed. But he and his colleagues agreed the agents “would not make any difference without security and other enablers to get them in the country and synch their efforts with military and diplomatic efforts to maximize their success.”

Let’s remember Obama’s so called promise to get to the bottom of what happened, or did not as the case may be. Obama stated that people would be held responsible and that he has also claimed that “the minute [he] found out what was going on” he issued a directive to “make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to do.” As reported at NRO, the latest reports, though, suggest otherwise.

On Friday, Fox News reported that CIA operators in a position to provide air support were told to “stand down.” Now, Eli Lake reports that the State Department did not request backup on the night the attacks took place. Why?

More from the Lonely Conservative, the CIA is now saying that they sent in operatives to Libya to save the diplomats. Hmm, why now are they saying it with mere days before the election?

Yes, Benghazi-Gate makes Watergate pale in comparison.

Daily Commentary – Friday, November 2, 2012 – Newt Gingrich Claims to Know of Network Rumor

• That they MAY have emails from the administration commanding counter terrorism group to stand down on Benghazi rescue

Newt Gingrich Says There is a Rumor that Two Major Networks Are Holding Emails From White House Canceling Plans to Assist Benghazi Heroes on 9-11

This could be big if it is released before the Presidential election and if true. However, it would surprise no one.

Last night Newt Gingrich told Greta Van Susteren that there is a rumors he heard from a “credible” Senator that two major news networks have emails proving the Barack Obama White House canceled plans to assist US personnel on the ground in Benghazi on 9-11-12.

From The Daily Caller:On Tuesday night’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on the Fox News Channel, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that major news networks might have secret emails proving that the White House canceled plans to assist the besieged U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

Gingrich said that the bombshell emails could be revealed within the next two days.

“There is a rumor — I want to be clear, it’s a rumor — that at least two networks have emails from the National Security Adviser’s office telling a counterterrorism group to stand down,” Gingrich said. “But they were a group in real-time trying to mobilize marines and C-130s and the fighter aircraft, and they were told explicitly by the White House stand down and do nothing. This is not a terrorist action. If that is true, and I’ve been told this by a fairly reliable U.S. senator, if that is true and comes out, I think it raises enormous questions about the president’s role, and Tom Donilon, the National Security Adviser’s role, the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who has taken it on his own shoulders, that he said don’t go. And that is, I think, very dubious, given that the president said he had instructions they are supposed to do everything they could to secure American personnel.”

The Blame Game: Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter Says Benghazi Is Only an Issue ‘Because of Romney and Ryan’

First it was a tape and now the Obama Administration is blaming Romney and Ryan for Benghazi?

Just when you thought that the Obama Administration could not get any worse … Barack Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter says that the only reason why the Benghazi, Libya consulate attack is an issue is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

UNBELIEVABLE.

The Obama White House is incapable of taking responsibility for anything, including the lack of security and refused requests for a Marine detail in Benghazi. The result, a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9-11 that say US Ambassador Stevens and three other murdered. Four people are dead and the Obama White House and State Department look like incompetent fools and Cutter wonders why this is a story? If we actually had a non-bias media, this story would be a far bigger scandal than Watergate ever was. The deceit from the Obama WH is beyond comment. First they play the blame game on the economy and now the aftermath of the deaths of four Americans? As aptly stated by the Lonely Conservative, “it is reckless and irresponsible is leaving our diplomats in an unsafe area without security and then lying about it.”

STEPHANIE CUTTER: In terms of the politicization of this — you know, we are here at a debate, and I hope we get to talk about the debate — but the entire reason this has become the political topic it is, is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. It’s a big part of their stump speech. And it’s reckless and irresponsible what they’re doing.

BROOKE BALDWIN: But, Stephanie, this is national security. As we witnessed this revolution last year, we covered it–

CUTTER: It is absolutely national security–

BALDWIN: –it is absolutely pertinent. People in the American public absolutely have a right to get answers.

UPDATE I: The Romney campaign responded to Cutter’s remark in a statement Thursday afternoon:

“President Obama’s campaign today said that Libya is only an issue because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They’re wrong. The reason it is an issue is because, for the first time since 1979, an American ambassador was assassinated and President Obama’s foreign policy strategy of ‘leading from behind’ is failing. This administration has continually misled the American public about what happened in Benghazi and, rather than be truthful about the sequence of events, has instead skirted responsibility and dodged questions. The American people deserve straight answers about this tragic event and a president who can provide leadership, not excuses.”

In the end, this is what a failed Administration does, blame and deflect from the past four years. The America People deserve answers and the Obama WH just wants to stall and play a four corners offense and hope they win reelection.

Washington Post Confirms Security was Lax before Benghazi Attack, State Dept Did Nothing to Address Issues

As reported at the WAPO, security was woefully nonexistent prior to the attacks at Benghazi. How could that possibly be in a region rife with terrorism and on the anniversary of 9-11? The Post confirms, that the State Department never took those security concerns seriously even with the many indicators that would have shown there more security was required. The result, Ambassador Stevens dead and three others. The Obama Administration has a lot of explaining.

On the eve of his death, U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was ebullient as he returned for the first time in his new role to Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city that embraced him as a savior during last year’s civil war. He moved around the coastal town in an armored vehicle and held a marathon of meetings, his handful of bodyguards trailing discreetly behind.

But as Stevens met with Benghazi civic leaders, U.S. officials appear to have underestimated the threat facing both the ambassador and other Americans. They had not reinforced the U.S. diplomatic outpost there to meet strict safety standards for government buildings overseas. Nor had they posted a U.S. Marine detachment, as at other diplomatic sites in high-threat regions.

A U.S. military team assigned to establish security at the new embassy in Tripoli, in a previously undisclosed detail, was never instructed to fortify the temporary hub in the east. Instead, a small local guard force was hired by a British private security firm as part of a contract worth less than half of what it costs to deploy a single U.S. service member in a war zone for a year.

The two U.S. compounds where Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a sustained, brutal attack the night of Sept. 11, proved to be strikingly vulnerable targets in an era of barricaded embassies and multibillion-dollar security contracts for U.S. diplomatic facilities in conflict zones, according to interviews with U.S. and Libyan officials and eyewitnesses in recent days.

Hot Air has much, much more on this tragedy that appears could have been adverted, if the situation had been taken more serious.