Author Topic: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!  (Read 23540 times)

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Christians4LessGvt

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White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:11pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a "terrorist" attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

While officials did mention the possible involvement of "extremists," they did not lay blame on any specific militant groups or possible links to al Qaeda or its affiliates until intelligence officials publicly alleged that on September 28.

There were indications that extremists with possible al Qaeda connections were involved, but also evidence that the attacks could have erupted spontaneously, they said, adding that government experts wanted to be cautious about pointing fingers prematurely.

U.S. intelligence officials have emphasized since shortly after the attack that early intelligence reporting about the attack was mixed.

Spokesmen for the White House and State Department had no immediate response to requests for comments on the emails.

MISSIVES FROM LIBYA

The records obtained by Reuters consist of three emails dispatched by the State Department's Operations Center to multiple government offices, including addresses at the White House, Pentagon, intelligence community and FBI, on the afternoon of September 11.

The first email, timed at 4:05 p.m. Washington time - or 10:05 p.m. Benghazi time, 20-30 minutes after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission allegedly began - carried the subject line "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" and the notation "SBU", meaning "Sensitive But Unclassified."

The text said the State Department's regional security office had reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was "under attack. Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well."

The message continued: "Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four ... personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."

A second email, headed "Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" and timed 4:54 p.m. Washington time, said that the Embassy in Tripoli had reported that "the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi had stopped and the compound had been cleared." It said a "response team" was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel.

A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack."

The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."

While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president's secure command post.

Other addressees included intelligence and military units as well as one used by the FBI command center, the source said.

It was not known what other messages were received by agencies in Washington from Libya that day about who might have been behind the attacks.

Intelligence experts caution that initial reports from the scene of any attack or disaster are often inaccurate.

By the morning of September 12, the day after the Benghazi attack, Reuters reported that there were indications that members of both Ansar al-Sharia, a militia based in the Benghazi area, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of al Qaeda's faltering central command, may have been involved in organizing the attacks.

One U.S. intelligence official said that during the first classified briefing about Benghazi given to members of Congress, officials "carefully laid out the full range of sparsely available information, relying on the best analysis available at the time."

The official added, however, that the initial analysis of the attack that was presented to legislators was mixed.

"Briefers said extremists were involved in attacks that appeared spontaneous, there may have been a variety of motivating factors, and possible links to groups such as (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia) were being looked at closely," the official said.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jim Loney)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-benghazi-emails-idUSBRE89N02C20121024
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sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2012, 11:39:56 AM »
Shall we start taking bets?.........Outside of Foxnews, any other predominant MSM news outlet going to lead with this?, or have it as its lead story at the top of their page?  Rest assured, if this were a Republican President, not only would they all be leading with it, as soon as the news broke, they would have been interrupting their normal broadcast stations with a "special report"
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2012, 04:11:38 PM »
Well, let's start checking these NEWS agencies out.  1st up....ABC News.  Lead story referencing the recently released e-mails indicating that the WH KNEW that not even 2 hrs into the attack, there was direct evidence hat demonstrated this WAS a planned terrroist attack?  Nope.  At the time of this posting, their top stories were about the Jessica Ridgeway murder, A REPUBLICAN Senate candiates "contreversial" comments, Syria rejecting a truce, and Donald Trumps' misfire on his Obama Oct surprise (nevermid the non reference to Gloria Alred's misfire on her Romney Oct Surprise)

Oh, there was a story about the WH response to the non mentioned story about the above noted e-mails.  Ok, let's run over to the CBSnews website
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2012, 04:17:11 PM »
Ahh, some improvement at CBS.  They are "leading" with the story, but its largely Clinton and the WH claiming we can't be "cherry picking" details.  Nevermind that these "details" were being provided to the WH within the 1st 2 hours of the attack.  Nevermind that Press Secretary Carney, as well as Obama and his minions wer making it painfully clear for the 1st week, that there was NO real evidence of a planned terrorist attack, and that the U.S. condemns this vulgar video that had to have been the cause of the largely spontaneous attack

Damn AlQeada, don't they know Obama has an election to steal?
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2012, 04:24:16 PM »
Over at the NBC website, their lead story is that superPAC's are not all that bad, Government sueing BofA, Candidates in full campaign mode, with another reference of the Republican Candidate for Senate's "controversial comments".

Oh, there's a small link to the fact that the WH was told of a terrorist attack 2 hours into it.  If you see the link, you can click on it for a little more detail.  Oh, Hurricane Sandy may be taking a turn up the East Coast

Shall we check out CNN?
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2012, 04:31:08 PM »
ahhh, at CNN, BofA is being Sued, Lance Armstrong's critics feel vindicated, yet another reference to GOP candidate's controversial comments, Romney's son apologising to Obama, Trump's "big annoucement" again, and lookee, nothing referencing Alred's "big announcement"

Oh, down at the bottom, several links from the top (the one about the GOP candidates comments regarding rape), there's a link about "new e-mails emerge from Libya attack".  By all means, if you see it, you can link on it for a tad more detail
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2012, 04:44:32 PM »
A quick glance of the NY times has the Fed suring BofA again, Romney's "many moods", a study on the "attacks on Obama", nevermind the repeated references to Romney wanting to murder, throw Granny on the street, liquidate the auto industry, take us back to the days of slavery...no, this is a story on "pushing the envelope" in attacks on Obama

If you look REALLY hard, you might find a link on the WH having been told 2 hrs into the attack that murdered the 1st ambassador in over 30years, that it was an organized terrorist attack.  I haven't found it yet
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

hnumpah

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2012, 04:59:04 PM »
Why should they lead with it? How many times since 9/11, or even before, have incidents happened that terrorist groups have taken credit for that their claims have turned out to be false? How any times, in the midst of an ongoing investigation, do you see police agencies come right out and say 'oh, we know so and so did it, even though all the facts aren't in yet'.

Can you spell p-a-r-a-n-o-i-a?
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hnumpah

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2012, 05:02:22 PM »
Clinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible.
 
"Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," Clinton said during an appearance with the Brazilian foreign minister at the State Department.

http://news.yahoo.com/emails-white-house-told-militant-claim-two-hours-150935569.html

Duh. Think about it.
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sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2012, 05:10:41 PM »
Yea, THINK ABOUT IT.....The Ambassador himself requesting additional security, the intel demonstrating a worsening situation with terrorist groups, including those connected with AlQeada, real time communication from Benhazi making it painfully clear that there was a large scale attack, yet NO PROTESTS prior to the attack.  Now proof that the WH and others KNEW 2 hours into the attack that it was a planned terrorist attack

But apparently that's "cherry picking", so let's say it was a video that probably 98% of the Arab world never saw.  And here I thought H would be jumping up and down criticising Obama for precisely what he was condemning Bush for, citing "intel at the time" for the decision that was made.  Difference here is that the intel doesn't jive with the actions the WH took....as in no action, just an apparent "fog of war" cover-up.  So, if I'm to apply H's parameters for lying us into ..... whatever, obviously Obama lied, Ambassador Stevens died
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

hnumpah

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2012, 05:13:04 PM »
Something else you left out, from the same Reuters story (a source among those not being Fox News which reported the story yesterday):

...Reuters reported on Tuesday that an official email showed officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit.
 
The email, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mentioned that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks...

...Clinton, responding to a reporter's question about the emails, noted that a State Department investigation was under way.
 
"The independent accountability review board is already hard at work looking at everything, not cherry picking (note: like another administration I could name)one story here or one document there, but looking at everything - which I highly recommend as the appropriate approach for something as complex as an attack like this," she said...

...White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about the emails, noted that Ansar al-Sharia had later denied responsibility for the attack.
 
"This was an open-source, unclassified email about a posting on a Facebook site. I would also note I think that within a few hours, that organization itself claimed that it had not been responsible. Neither should be taken as fact -- that's why there's an investigation under way," he told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One to Iowa...

You guys have really got to learn to do better research.
"I love WikiLeaks." - Donald Trump, October 2016

sirs

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2012, 05:17:42 PM »
Actually the research is quite overwhelming, with the e-mail just the "cherry picking" on top.  Ongoing requests for added security denied, real time referencing of a massive attack under way, on 911, of all dates.  EVIDENCE that this was spearehaeded by a terrorist oranization, connected to AlQeada, (WHICH HAS BEEN CONFIRMED).

But all that's "cherry picking details"       ::)
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

hnumpah

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #12 on: October 24, 2012, 05:47:02 PM »
Waa

Waa

Waa

I believe we were discussing the emails and reports after the attack, yes?

Look at the title and abandon your tactic of trying to sidetrack the discussion, or I will gladly end the discussion.

Capische?
"I love WikiLeaks." - Donald Trump, October 2016

Plane

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2012, 07:34:48 PM »
Seems as if one of two things was happening the days after the attack.

The Whitehouse was very confused .

The Whitehouse was trying to cover up mistakes.


Anyone have a third possibility to suggest?

Christians4LessGvt

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Re: White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack!
« Reply #14 on: October 24, 2012, 07:43:47 PM »
ya see SIRS this is how it is
we can't trust a Facebook post
but we can on Sept 11 pretend an attack was about some stupid video
Facebook is not a good source, but an imaginary protest in Libya is
even when Libyan officials state quite clearly it was no protest
Hell it was Sept 11....anybody with a brain knows what it was
but if ya have a political agenda to cover your hiney you claim otherwise
and send your UN Ambassador on Sunday morning TV to lie her ass off!
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987