Benghazi: State Department's ARB Panel Is Under Formal Investigation

Fox News has confirmed that the State Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the Accountability Review Board, or ARB, the special internal panel that probed Benghazi for the State Department.

The IG’s office is said by well placed sources to be seeking to determine whether the board – led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen – failed to interview key witnesses who had asked to provide their accounts of the Benghazi attacks to the panel.

The IG’s office notified the department of the “special review” on March 28, according to Doug Welty, the Congressional and Public Affairs Officer of the IG’s office.

This disclosure marks a significant turn in the ongoing Benghazi case, as it calls into question the reliability of the blue-ribbon panel that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened to review the entire matter. Until the report was concluded, she and all other senior Obama administration officials regularly refused to answer questions about what happened in Benghazi.

Since the ARB report was issued in December – finding that “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels” well below Clinton were to blame for the “inadequate” security at Benghazi – Clinton and other top officials have routinely referred questioners to the conclusions of the ARB report. Now the methodology and final product of the ARB are themselves coming under the scrutiny of the department’s own top auditor.

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The Prof said:

BENGHAZI: State Department's ARB Panel Is Under Formal Investigation | Fox News Insider

so many secrets, witnesses threatened, survivors hidden...

so many questions---why no security after so many attacks and after ambassador stevens told state he feared he was on a hit list, why no military response for 7 hours between stevens' demise and the deaths of doherty and woods, why the insistence that aq was on the run, why no accountability, why no one brought to justice...

the state dept acknowledges the ig's investigation but insists it's conducting a review of the arb process itself, looking at the history of accountability reviews generally

so why was the nyt so casually able to interview the leader of the ansar al sharia militia and "suspected mastermind," ahmed abu khattala, on october 18 in "a crowded luxury hotel" in benghazi, sipping that by now famous strawberry frappe?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/w...-attack-scoffs-at-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

why did the fbi only YESTERDAY release those most wanted posters of the 3 terrorists it, presumably, has been hunting for 8 months...

ie, why not until AFTER victoria toensing and her husband-partner joe digeneva spoke out on behalf of their clients?

why does hillary suggest none of it matters?

how you gonna get the bad guys and prevent recurrence if none of it makes a difference?

why does the carney barker want america to forget---"benghazi was a long time ago"

and why did barack hussein obama go to bed?

how do you spell coverup?

hearings start next wednesday---stay tuned

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The Prof said:

BENGHAZI: State Department's ARB Panel Is Under Formal Investigation | Fox News Insider

so many secrets, witnesses threatened, survivors hidden...

so many questions---why no security after so many attacks and after ambassador stevens told state he feared he was on a hit list, why no military response for 7 hours between stevens' demise and the deaths of doherty and woods, why the insistence that aq was on the run, why no accountability, why no one brought to justice...

the state dept acknowledges the ig's investigation but insists it's conducting a review of the arb process itself, looking at the history of accountability reviews generally

so why was the nyt so casually able to interview the leader of the ansar al sharia militia and "suspected mastermind," ahmed abu khattala, on october 18 in "a crowded luxury hotel" in benghazi, sipping that by now famous strawberry frappe?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/w...-attack-scoffs-at-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

why did the fbi only YESTERDAY release those most wanted posters of the 3 terrorists it, presumably, has been hunting for 8 months...

ie, why not until AFTER victoria toensing and her husband-partner joe digeneva spoke out on behalf of their clients?

why does hillary suggest none of it matters?

how you gonna get the bad guys and prevent recurrence if none of it makes a difference?

why does the carney barker want america to forget---"benghazi was a long time ago"

and why did barack hussein obama go to bed?

how do you spell coverup?

hearings start next wednesday---stay tuned

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Isn't there a section called Conspiracy Theories

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upsideguy said:

Yes, and the Clinton's murdered Vince Foster. Obama is the Manchurian candidate.

This story has already exceeded its allotted 15 minutes. Isn't there a section called Conspiracy Theories where persons of such proclivities can exhaust themselves debating such nonsense?

That all said, I for one, appreciate the frustration on Con brethren must feel dealing with the most scandal free administration since Bush I or Carter. They are forced to create these things just to entertain themselves. You spend enough time in the most sincere pumpkin patch and you are bound to see the Great Pumpkin eventually (if you don't freeze to death first).

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upsideguy said:

This story has already exceeded its allotted 15 minutes.

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PerfectStorm said:

That is nobodys fault but the Obama administration.

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upsideguy said:

Yes, and the Clinton's murdered Vince
Foster. Obama is the Manchurian candidate.

This story has already exceeded its allotted 15 minutes. Isn't there a section called Conspiracy Theories where persons of such proclivities can exhaust themselves debating such nonsense?

That all said, I for one, appreciate the frustration on Con brethren must feel dealing with the most scandal free administration since Bush I or Carter. They are forced to create these things just to entertain themselves. You spend enough time in the most sincere pumpkin patch and you are bound to see the Great Pumpkin eventually (if you don't freeze to death first).

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Fenton said:

LOL !! Yea you wish.

Wow, it's sad, to see people sell out completley, and pick their politicians or ideology over the truth.

Bengazzi is a OBVIOUS political cover-up as the Hillary Clinton appointed board to oversee the "objective " investigation, is now under.....investigation.

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I'll tell you what. Try in earnest, a sincere effort to replace Obama with George Bush here....you know, hypothetically. Imagine he was the president under this Benghazzi cover-up.
Would you and your ideological ilk currently be refering to this as a conspiracy ?

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head of joaquin said:

It's almost pitiful to watch the rightwing noise machine and its dupes in Congresss beat this dead meme. But then, with the economy rebounding, what else is a tea partier to do?

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justabubba said:

this is all they have. and they are trying to make the most of the nothing they possess
republican congressmen threaten to issue subpoenas while never issuing subpoenas or holding congressional hearings
now they point to the IG investigating the state department's investigation panel
failing to recognize that the IG MUST act on any referrals, no matter how dubious, as part of its mandate
an improving economy must really piss off the GOP
and the republicans will still be threatening to 'expose' benghazi this time next year

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justabubba said:

this is all they have. and they are trying to make the most of the nothing they possess
republican congressmen threaten to issue subpoenas while never issuing subpoenas or holding congressional hearings
now they point to the IG investigating the state department's investigation panel
failing to recognize that the IG MUST act on any referrals, no matter how dubious, as part of its mandate
an improving economy must really piss off the GOP
and the republicans will still be threatening to 'expose' benghazi this time next year

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justabubba said:

this is all they have. and they are trying to make the most of the nothing they possess
republican congressmen threaten to issue subpoenas while never issuing subpoenas or holding congressional hearings
now they point to the IG investigating the state department's investigation panel
failing to recognize that the IG MUST act on any referrals, no matter how dubious, as part of its mandate
:laughat:an improving economy must really piss off the GOP
and the republicans will still be threatening to 'expose' benghazi this time next year

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wait until we learn more before arriving at conclusions

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The Prof said:

absolutely

but there are a couple conclusions rational people can realistically reach already regarding this rhubarb

1. there are an awful lot of questions about the administration's behavior in the months before the attack, the hours during and between attacks, and the 8 months since

and 2. this administration is very strangely uninterested in answers

Hillary: "What Difference Does It Make?"

why?

here's a good start: Where Was Obama on Night of Benghazi Attack? WH Isn't Saying/cns

stay tuned

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head of joaquin said:

The American public is waiting on the edge of their seats to hear about this important national world-changing scandal. NOT!

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NOT!

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The Prof said:

well, it was, after all...

Carney: 'Benghazi Happened a Long Time Ago' | The Weekly Standard

we'll have to wait and see what the clients of ms toensing and her husband joe digeniva have to say under whistle blower protection in evil darrel issa's comfy committee

why did the original cia advisory contain so much informative language, meant for the public, about al qaeda, ansar al sharia and jihad, all ultimately removed by victoria newland, press spokesperson at state?

stay tuned

and why was the nyt so casually, so amicably able, to interview mr khattala, ansar al sharia militia man and "suspected mastermind," right out in the open in that crowded luxury hotel in banghazi in october?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/w...-attack-scoffs-at-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

the gray lady can get there but the g-men can't?

is mr khattala one of those grainy guys on the fbi's barney fife-like posters?

questions, questions, questions...

enjoy the hearings, homeys

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The Prof said:

absolutely

but there are a couple conclusions rational people can realistically reach already regarding this rhubarb

1. there are an awful lot of questions about the administration's behavior in the months before the attack, the hours during and between attacks, and the 8 months since

and 2. this administration is very strangely uninterested in answers

Hillary: "What Difference Does It Make?"

why?

here's a good start: Where Was Obama on Night of Benghazi Attack? WH Isn't Saying/cns

stay tuned

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According to timelines of the Benhazi attacks released by the government, they began at 3:42 p.m. Washington, D.C. time when dozens of armed terrorists swarmed through a gate at the State Department’s compound in Benghazi. A U.S. security officer at that compound almost immediately notified the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, which in turn notified Washington, D.C. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, were informed of the attack at 4:32 p.m. while they were at the White House waiting for a pre-scheduled 5:00 p.m. meeting with the president. According to government timelines, an unarmed Defense Department drone arrived over the State Department compound in Benghazi at about 5:10 p.m., while Panetta and Dempsey were meeting with Obama.

In his testimony in the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Panetta said he informed the president at their 5:00 p.m. meeting of what was going on in Benghazi. Gen. Dempsey testified that the meeting lasted a half hour. Panetta and Dempsey also testified that after the meeting ended they did not talk to President Obama or the White House again that night.

Almost six hours elapsed between the end of the Panetta-Dempsey-Obama meeting and the deaths of Woods and Doherty at the CIA’s Annex in Benghazi. At about 5:30 p.m., when the Panetta-Dempsey-Obama meeting ended, the five State Department security officers, who had been at the Benghazi mission compound when it came under attack, fled the compound in an armored car to go the CIA Annex. They came under fire, were covered by CIA security officers as they evacuated the compound, and evaded an ambush between the compound and the Annex. The timelines indicate that terrorists continued to fire on the Annex until about 7:00 p.m. Washington, D.C. time, or about an hour and a half after the Panetta-Dempsey-Obama meeting ended. From 7:00 p.m. until about 11:15 p.m., there was a break in the fighting. But at 11:15 p.m., after a rescue team of security personnel had arrived at the Annex after taking a chartered private flight from Tripoli to Benghazi, the terrorists attacked again. This battle lasted about 11 minutes. It was during this time—about six hours since Obama’s sole conversation with Panetta and Dempsey--that Woods and Doherty were killed by a terrorist mortar and a State Department security officer was severely wounded.

On Friday morning, CNSNews.com called the White House press office to inquire about where President Obama was, what he was doing, and who he was communicating with, after 5:30 p.m. on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. At 10:29 a.m. on Friday, CNSNews.com followed up by emailing questions to the White House press office. On Friday afternoon, CNSNews.com additionally followed up by calling the White House National Security Council press office and also emailing that office the questions. CNSNews.com also followed up on Friday afternoon by again calling the White House Press Office and emailing the questions again to that office. On Monday morning, CNSNews.com followed up yet again by phoning the White House press office and the National Security Council press office and emailing them the questions again. The White House press office Monday morning confirmed receiving the questions but did not have a timetable for when it could provide answers.

At a hearing last week in the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.) asked Defense Secretary Panetta: “Did you have any further communications with him [Obama] that night?” “No,” said Panetta.

“Did you have any other further communications? Did he ever call you that night to say how are things going, what’s going on, where’s the consulate?” asked Ayotte. “No,” said Panetta. “But we were aware as we were getting information about what was taking place there, particularly when we got information that the ambassador, his life had been lost, we were aware that that information went to the White House.” “Did you communicate with anyone else at the White House that night?” asked Ayotte. “No,” said Panetta.

“No one else called you to say: How are things going?” asked Ayotte. “No,” said Panetta.

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If the AQAP members were dispatched to Benghazi, it would be further evidence of a new level of co-operation among jihadist groups throughout the Middle East and North Africa, counterterrorism analysts say.

According to one source, counterterrorism officials learned the identity of the men and established they had spent two nights in Benghazi after the attack. Western intelligence agencies began trying to track the men in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, but were always behind in their manhunt.

They were later traced to northern Mali, where they are believed to have connected with a fighting group commanded by Moktar Belmoktar, a prominent jihadist leader, according to a senior law enforcement source.

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In December, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the investigation said authorities were examining whether the alleged leader of a post-revolution terrorist network in Egypt had played a role in the September 11 attack. Mohammed Jamal Abu Ahmed was released from jail after the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and is believed to be the driving force behind a new militant group, according to two U.S. officials.

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