I'm sorry is Germany inside Libya? I had assumed that a military flight from Germany to Libya would count as a cross border operation, in fact it would count as at least three.
It would count as a cross border operation if the aircraft had been armed and engaged in battle. It is not just crossing a border it is conducting operations.
And the State Department's official declassified investigation states multiple times that enough time for an armed military response did not exist, you claim otherwise.
The State Department did nothing and are covering up. It seems to be working as some people unable to construct a timeline are eager to buy the lie. And yet the timeline exists. The battle lasted nearly eight hours and two Americans bled out while fighting more than seven hours after the attack began. That is plenty of time to respond. The State Department ought to stick to their tea parties and leave the fighting to real Americans.
I don't know what to tell you, what source or at least what reasoning do you have to say that the State Department is wrong? You haven't provided a source and you haven't explained your reasoning.
My my. It is not as if there are not excellent timelines already out there. If you wanted to know you would know.
AND since I've shown that it doesn't take a President to authorize cross border operations
Cross border operations are military operations, crossing the border of a nation we are not at war with to fight. Flying two hospital aircraft into Libya to pick up the bodies is not a cross border operation. It could be a part of one if combat forces had been moved across the border to fight. I understand that for someone who has not served this is a distinction easily missed. I should have been clearer a few messages back.
what exactly would you have him do again?
Ultimately, after developing the situation, direct the State Department to coordinate with the Libyan government to let them know we were coming with combat troops to secure the consulate and the Annex. Direct the SECDEF to determine what combat assets were ready or could be made ready. I would have had him go to the Situation Room to be prepared to give the orders to go once the SECDEF and the CJCS positioned the assets to cross the border. The Secretary of Defense has the authority to put everything in motion. I believe that only the president can direct that the military cross that border to conduct military operations.
Combat aircraft that were two hours away could have been launched and enroute withing a few minutes, perhaps as few as five to fifteen minutes. The second set of aircraft could have been launched withing 30 minutes to an hour. After that we could have launched the rest of the squadron in about two more hours.
I do not know what ground forces were available but at least one response team was nearby. Had they reached the Annex four hours after the start of the battle they would have been in position to decisively change the nature of that battle over the last three hours of the fight.
If you wanted him to personally make that call it would only take LONGER for those flights and other actions to be made, since instead of General you have to go all the way to the President. Is that what you would have wanted?
This is incorrect. Long ago when I was young and the Earth was still cooling we could get critical information to the president from anywhere in the world in about ten minutes. The White House Situation Room has adequate comms to all of our forces for the president to order and for the military to respond to his orders very quickly.
The President did not need to order that the forces launch, he need only authorize cross border combat operations before the forces actually crossed the border.
I'm not supporting anything but facts, if those destroy your arguments well than that's your fault for coming up with bad arguments and being ignorant. :/
That would be fine if you were arguing from facts. You are not.
I think the difference between us is that I served as an intelligence officer on an airborne command post. I was also an intelligence officer in a major command headquarters (think CENTCOM, AFRICOM, PACOM...) and know what is possible.