Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack [W:222]

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
Talking points? It was a direct question asked of the person in charge of security of the embassy, and consulate...And she said the funding had NO bearing on the security there....If talking points are what you are worried about, then maybe you should stop using them.....

I post again so that you can read it again:

QUESTION: It has been suggested that budget cuts were responsible for a lack of security in Benghazi. And I'd like to ask Ms. Lamb, you made this decision personally. Was there any budget consideration and lack of budget which led you not to increase the number of people in the security force there?

DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE CHARLENE LAMB: No, sir.

Fine, and I'll post Hillary Clinton's 2011 letter warning congress not to cut funds for her departments security and the budget numbers....

http://www.usglc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/S-to-Rogers-2-14-11.pdf

In a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, Clinton said cuts of that magnitude would be "devastating" to U.S. national security, damage U.S. leadership in the world and render the United States unable to respond to disasters....."We’ve scrubbed the entire budget for savings," said Nides. "We’ve eliminated foreign assistance programs for several countries. We’ve reduced development assistance by over half in 20 others. We have cut funding in Europe and Eurasia by 15 percent. We’ve even managed to identify over $100 million in administrative savings through more efficient travel and procurement."......

For fiscal 2013, the GOP-controlled House proposed spending $1.934 billion for the State Department’s Worldwide Security Protection program — well below the $2.15 billion requested by the Obama administration. House Republicans cut the administration’s request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration’s request.) Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Republicans’ proposed cuts to her department would be “detrimental to America’s national security” — a charge Republicans rejected.

Ryan, Issa and other House Republicans voted for an amendment in 2009 to cut $1.2 billion from State operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions. Under Ryan’s budget, non-defense discretionary spending, which includes State Department funding, would be slashed nearly 20 percent in 2014, which would translate to more than $400 million in additional cuts to embassy security.

Dana Milbank: Forget about Big Bird - The Washington Post.

Clinton Warns of 'Devastating' Foreign Affairs Budget Cuts

j-mac · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
Fine, and I'll post Hillary Clinton's 2011 letter warning congress not to cut funds for her departments security and the budget numbers....

http://www.usglc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/S-to-Rogers-2-14-11.pdf

In a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, Clinton said cuts of that magnitude would be "devastating" to U.S. national security, damage U.S. leadership in the world and render the United States unable to respond to disasters....."We’ve scrubbed the entire budget for savings," said Nides. "We’ve eliminated foreign assistance programs for several countries. We’ve reduced development assistance by over half in 20 others. We have cut funding in Europe and Eurasia by 15 percent. We’ve even managed to identify over $100 million in administrative savings through more efficient travel and procurement."......

For fiscal 2013, the GOP-controlled House proposed spending $1.934 billion for the State Department’s Worldwide Security Protection program — well below the $2.15 billion requested by the Obama administration. House Republicans cut the administration’s request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration’s request.) Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Republicans’ proposed cuts to her department would be “detrimental to America’s national security” — a charge Republicans rejected.

Ryan, Issa and other House Republicans voted for an amendment in 2009 to cut $1.2 billion from State operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions. Under Ryan’s budget, non-defense discretionary spending, which includes State Department funding, would be slashed nearly 20 percent in 2014, which would translate to more than $400 million in additional cuts to embassy security.

Dana Milbank: Forget about Big Bird - The Washington Post.

Clinton Warns of 'Devastating' Foreign Affairs Budget Cuts

You are still ignoring the heart of the matter...The question was posed directly to the person that was in charge of security of the embassy and consulate. She was asked if these cuts made any difference in the response, and her answer was "No Sir"....Period....You can throw out any CYA pieces from WH pseudo journalist sycophants you wish, and all the Hillary CYA double speak you can find, but on the simple answer the reply was "No Sir".... How do you square that?

Grant · Sep 7, 2014

Dave Mittner said:
Yeah, if he'd stayed with his escort and didn't run off to die from a fire, he might have lived.

Heck, with the CIA's presence there I'm more than a little suspicious that maybe he went off on his own to make sure information was destroyed or something.

Why guess at the facts when the people involved are being interviewed?

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
You are still ignoring the heart of the matter...The question was posed directly to the person that was in charge of security of the embassy and consulate. She was asked if these cuts made any difference in the response, and her answer was "No Sir"....Period....You can throw out any CYA pieces from WH pseudo journalist sycophants you wish, and all the Hillary CYA double speak you can find, but on the simple answer the reply was "No Sir".... How do you square that?

You're still ignoring the elephant in the room......four people are dead because there wasn't enough embassy security.....and there wasn't enough security because congress cut funding for embassy security.

Grant · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
You're still ignoring the elephant in the room......four people are dead because there wasn't enough embassy security.....and there wasn't enough security because congress cut funding for embassy security.

Are you actually claiming that budget cuts were responsible for these attacks, the resulting deaths, and that funding was not available to protect these people? That is just too desperate.

Have you heard about the order to stand down? How does that relate to any possible budget cuts?

MMC · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
You're still ignoring the elephant in the room......four people are dead because there wasn't enough embassy security.....and there wasn't enough security because congress cut funding for embassy security.

:Oopsie

Joe Biden says Paul Ryan cut embassy security by $300 million

Ultimately, a final bill with slightly higher amounts than the House’s initial bill -- about $60 million more -- was passed by both chambers and signed by the president. But this approach has problems as well. For starters, Biden glosses over the fact that the president did ultimately sign the bill with the new lower funding amount, meaning he shares some responsibility for the lower level. (All presidential budget requests are opening offers that inevitably become subject to negotiation.)

The main problem with Biden’s claim, however, is that it’s not really what he was referring to in his claim from the debate. Biden said Ryan "cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for," but what passed the House wasn’t Ryan’s budget blueprint -- it was an actual spending bill that emerged from the House Appropriations Committee.....snip~

Joe Biden says Paul Ryan cut embassy security by $300 million | PolitiFact

cpwill · Sep 7, 2014

Karl said:
cpwill said:

you accused me of coming to believe in a conspiracy theory

Click to expand...

Wrong again. I accused your post or argument of supporting or sponsoring a conspiracy theory. Do you understand the distinction?

Hm. Let's see:

Karl said:
Be careful; if you guys keep coming up with / repeating these conspiracy theories you might start believing them yourself . . . . .

Gosh. It almost looks as if you are, in fact, saying pretty much exactly what I said you were saying, and as if your later post is an attempt to move the goalpost since it turned out that I was correct...

cpwill · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
j-mac said:

You are still ignoring the heart of the matter...The question was posed directly to the person that was in charge of security of the embassy and consulate. She was asked if these cuts made any difference in the response, and her answer was "No Sir"....Period....You can throw out any CYA pieces from WH pseudo journalist sycophants you wish, and all the Hillary CYA double speak you can find, but on the simple answer the reply was "No Sir".... How do you square that?

Click to expand...

You're still ignoring the elephant in the room......four people are dead because there wasn't enough embassy security.....and there wasn't enough security because congress cut funding for embassy security.

So... just to be clear... you think that you know more about the impact of the budget on the security of the consulate in Benghazi... than the person who was actually in charge of security at the consulate in Benghazi... ?

j-mac · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
You're still ignoring the elephant in the room......four people are dead because there wasn't enough embassy security.....and there wasn't enough security because congress cut funding for embassy security.

No Moot...That was the excuse floated to see if it made the inquiry go away, but it was quickly put down when as I have now posted at least three times, the person in charge of security at the embassy and consulate was asked if funding, or cuts had anything to do with why security was lax at that time, and her answer was "No sir"....Now I don't know any simpler way of explaining that to you, you are buying into pure spin.

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Grant said:
Are you actually claiming that budget cuts were responsible for these attacks, the resulting deaths, and that funding was not available to protect these people? That is just too desperate.

Are you claiming that a talking point made after the fact is responsible for the attacks? Talk about desperate.

Have you heard about the order to stand down? How does that relate to any possible budget cuts?

Have you even bothered to read the OP or the thread??? It sure doesn't look like it.

j-mac · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
Are you claiming that a talking point made after the fact is responsible for the attacks? Talk about desperate.

Have you even bothered to read the OP or the thread??? It sure doesn't look like it.

What are you reading?

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

MMC said:
:Oopsie

Joe Biden says Paul Ryan cut embassy security by $300 million

Ultimately, a final bill with slightly higher amounts than the House’s initial bill -- about $60 million more -- was passed by both chambers and signed by the president. But this approach has problems as well. For starters, Biden glosses over the fact that the president did ultimately sign the bill with the new lower funding amount, meaning he shares some responsibility for the lower level. (All presidential budget requests are opening offers that inevitably become subject to negotiation.)

The main problem with Biden’s claim, however, is that it’s not really what he was referring to in his claim from the debate. Biden said Ryan "cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for," but what passed the House wasn’t Ryan’s budget blueprint -- it was an actual spending bill that emerged from the House Appropriations Committee.....snip~

Joe Biden says Paul Ryan cut embassy security by $300 million | PolitiFact

Ryan is red herring and totally irrelevant. I"ve already posted Hillary's letter to the House Appropriations Committee....read it and weep. lol

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
What are you reading?

The ARB report, WP, NYT mostly. What are you reading?

MMC · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
Ryan is red herring and totally irrelevant. I"ve already posted Hillary's letter to the House Appropriations Committee....read it and weep. lol

What was done thru any Committee did not affect funds for Physical security of the Consulate. Nor did it have anything to do with the Consulate having inadequate security from its beginning after they had moved it from the Hotel. So here is a bit more insight.....and it just doesn't look good for the Lefts deflection over Security Funds.

Also as Politi-Fact states.....BO signed off on the reductions and bears part of that blame. So don't let that fact be forgotten while trying to blame the Right.

The security lapses in Benghazi that led to the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans trace back to security decisions made in Washington. That's the message of a letter Rep. Darrell Issa sent to Secretary Clinton Tuesday. The letter indicates that the US mission in Libya made repeated request for increased security prior to the September 11th attack but that these requests were denied. Issa's House Oversight committee is planning a hearing on Wednesday, October 10, to investigate the failure.

Issa's letter is an effort to gather relevant information on security arrangements in Libya prior to the attack. In particular, Issa is requesting information on security requests from the Libyan Embassy and relevant documents on how those requests were handled. According to the letter, "multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11th attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these resources by officials in Washington.".....snip~

Benghazi: Multiple Requests for Increased Security Denied by Washington

j-mac · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
The ARB report, WP, NYT mostly. What are you reading?

Then you must only be reading the parts you want to be true, and not the whole thing, since what I posted to you was directly from WP.

MMC · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
Then you must only be reading the parts you want to be true, and not the whole thing, since what I posted to you was directly from WP.

Heya J-Mac. :2wave: Here was some more. Lacking multiple layers of Protections.

CNN: Benghazi Consulate was given 'Security Waiver' .....

We now know that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was concerned about al-Qaeda, Islamic extremism and security at his consulate in Benghazi, all because of a diary he kept, that wound up in the hands of CNN. Now, CNN is reporting that the Consulate was issued a 'Security Waiver' because it was a temporary, newly established facility the State Department deemed necessary as stability in the country after Gadhafi's fall was too important.

By leaving the Consulate open for business with a waiver, it essentially meant that no barriers were required, no safe room was needed, and multiple layers of security weren't necessary.....snip~

The Ben Barrack Official Blog: Let's talk about something important!

Karl · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

MMC said:
[...] We now know that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was concerned about al-Qaeda, Islamic extremism and security at his consulate in Benghazi, all because of a diary he kept [...]

Since we've moved off the original topic I presume the point being made in the OP has been abandoned.

So, to address this new topic (inadequate security), I have read the point above and believe it to be factual, but can't understand why it is so at odds with the following point which also seems to be factual:

By Nancy A. Youssef -- McClatchy Foreign Staff -- May 14, 2013

CAIRO — In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.

Read more here: CAIRO: Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say | Middle East | McClatchy DC

Muhammed · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Moot said:
First, Chaffetz voted to cut funding for embassy security.....

First,....

So the **** whaqt?

MMC · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Karl said:
Since we've moved off the original topic I presume the point being made in the OP has been abandoned.

So, to address this new topic (inadequate security), I have read the point above and believe it to be factual, but can't understand why it is so at odds with the following point which also seems to be factual:

Yeah, that's what happens when one has to take on answering anothers comments about an issue they didn't have Right.

Oh, because of what Nordstrom Testified to....and due to that little fact of the Security waiver and never having any adequate protections in the first place. It was the answer all along.....not just a clue.

U.S. Security Official in Libya Tells Congressional Investigators About ‘Inappropriately Low’ Security at Benghazi Post.....

ABC News has learned that Eric Nordstrom, the former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, has told congressional investigators that security at the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was “inappropriately low” – and believed that State Department officials stood in the way of his attempts to change that. Nordstrom twice wrote to the State Department – in March and July 2012 — to beef up the presence of American security officers in Benghazi, but neither time was there a response. At no point from December 2011 through July 2012, when he left Libya, were more than three Diplomatic Security Service agents permanently and simultaneously stationed at the Benghazi post.

Nordstrom wanted at least five personnel to be stationed at Benghazi, but the State Department would not allow it. There were American security officers, however, at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, including three Mobile Security Detachments, which were part of the DSS, and a 16-member Security Support Team detailed from Special Operations Command AFRICOM, commanded by Wood. But the State Department would not give him permission to deploy them to be stationed at Benghazi. Deputy Assistant Secretary for international programs Charlene Lamb, in Nordstrom’s view, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi “artificially low,” according to a memo for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.....snip~

U.S. Security Official in Libya Tells Congressional Investigators About ‘Inappropriately Low’ Security at Benghazi Post - ABC News

Muhammed · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Why does Obama serve as radical extremist Muslim?

jonny5 · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Karl said:
Since we've moved off the original topic I presume the point being made in the OP has been abandoned.

So, to address this new topic (inadequate security), I have read the point above and believe it to be factual, but can't understand why it is so at odds with the following point which also seems to be factual:

You mean liberals are now going to accept that there WAS stand down orders? That not everything that could have been done, was done, to save the people at the Embassy? I wish the white house would also admit their mistakes. Then we could move forward. They should not have been involved in Libya, they should have protected our people better, they should have responded better, and they certainly should not have misled the public as to their multiple failures.

Muhammed · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

Who was Obama fighting in Lybia?

Muslims? Or someone else?

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
Then you must only be reading the parts you want to be true, and not the whole thing, since what I posted to you was directly from WP.

Apparently, you want to believe that Lamb's testimony is true so here's the rest of her testimony.....

""We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi on the night of 9/11," Lamb testified.

Do you still believe her?

U.S. security officer, Eric Nordstrom, twice requested additional security for the mission in Benghazi from his superiors at the State Department. His requests were denied. According to Nordstrom, State Department official, Charlene Lamb, wanted to keep the security presence in Benghazi "artificially low".

U.S. officer got no reply to requests for more security in Benghazi | Reuters

Lakeside · Sep 7, 2014

jet57 said:
There aren't any left-wing talking points. The POINT is that Benghazi is a non story. Ronald Reagn lost 225 American service men in Lebanon and then gathered up his toys and split! So, four guys in Benghazi is nuuuuuthing compared to that.

Can you tell which "video" Reagan blamed on any attacks? It is so scary that the Obama sycophants still don't get it. I am surprised that they don't blame "two rogue terrorist" in Benghazi.

Moot · Sep 7, 2014

Re: Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack US security team

j-mac said:
No Moot...That was the excuse floated to see if it made the inquiry go away, but it was quickly put down when as I have now posted at least three times, the person in charge of security at the embassy and consulate was asked if funding, or cuts had anything to do with why security was lax at that time, and her answer was "No sir"....Now I don't know any simpler way of explaining that to you, you are buying into pure spin.

I hope you're not still relying on Charlene Lambs testimony. Of course she'd say funding was adequate....she's the one that denied the security requests.

Top CIA officer in Benghazi delayed response to terrorist attack [W:222]

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