CIA: No One Told to 'Stand Down' During Benghazi Attack

Officers went in 25 minutes after the attack started

CIA security officers were never told to stand down during the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on 9/11. In fact, they sent in armed help within 25 minutes of the attack starting.

That's the word from a senior intelligence official, who refused to be named because of ongoing investigations. He talked to reporters on Thursday, and directly contradicted the Fox News allegations that US forces were told to "stand down" during the attack..

CIA officers prepared and sought local assistance for 25 minutes before racing a mile to the consulate, according to the new and more detailed timeline of the US response provided today. When CIA forces arrived at the embassy, they met State Department security agents and local milita members before searching the compound for Ambassador Christopher Stevens and personel while under fire.

Failing to find Stevens, the officers evacuated personnel to the nearby CIA annex. Meanwhile an unarmed military Predator drone provided arial reconnaissance. The annex was sporadically attacked by small arms fire before a mortar attack killed two CIA officers, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, who never "lasered" the mortars, as reported by Fox News.

These new details help to clarify the immediate response to the attack. But there's still no explanation for why the State Department didn't increase security at the mission in the months prior to the attack, after repeated reports of a deteriorating stability in Benghazi - as the New York Times notes.

Via the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times

Has the administration been criticized unfairly over Benghazi?

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

Story keeps changing. I want true answers. Nevermind, we'll get them after next week.

[Cheenoguy]

The truth is they never told them to stand down. The truth is that Fox "news" lied. Nothing out of the ordinary with that.

[IraqWarVeteran]

@Cheenoguy And so does the "senior intelligence official," a paid actor by the Obama campaign. What a fraud is this commie.

[DominicSarno]

@Cheenoguy FOX News Lied??? Where? The only lie came from Obama when he tried to cover up his failed Middle East policy and those resulting deaths with some garbage about a video.

Liberals always transfer their lies onto their opponents. Slavery, Racism and Opposirion to civil rights was always democrat policy until they realized how bad it was then they transferred their racism onto republicans.

It's what liberals do, so don't try to Blame Fox News for reporting on things the liberal media hides from the public. Just because you don't like the news that doesn't make it a lie.

Obama has failed In the Middle East and our Libyan ambassador is dead, don't blame Fox News.

[MBernard]

@Cheenoguy Fox News got caught making stuff up again instead of reporting news? Not surprised.

[DominicSarno]

@MBernard is that what you tell yourself when Fox News reports on things you don't like to hear about your glorious leader?

[InjusticeSucks]

And when the Truth comes no one wants to hear it after all O did this personally Right???

[TheLoneRanger]

President Romney will have a full inquiry and heads will roll.

No Obama pardons before the fact.

[Laradian]

@TheLoneRanger
He tries that and GeorgeW Bush and Dick Cheney will be tried for war crimes.

[Denizen_Kate]

@Laradian -- War crimes and treason. We'll never know how many lives were lost when they outed Valerie Plame.

[DominicSarno]

It's likely we will never know exactly what events transpired through out the tragedy in Benghazi, at least not if we expect the media to provide those answers. The Obama administrations entire understanding and framework for the Middle East is a failure and Benghazi is proof of that.

[DARSB]

This is starting to look a lot like Rep Issa's Fast & Furious investigatathon - lots of smoke and heat, very little fire.

[bsking]

that's really funny you would make that comparison.

[Thunderchicken]

LOL

[Dan_Tien]

The Romney campaign does not care how much information comes out that contradicts them, or whether Hillary Clinton's admission that it is her department's responsibility for deciding how to allocate resources to protect locations like the one in Benghazi. They simply latched onto this incident for its propaganda value and will not let it go because it will instead make them look bad to do so.

[bsking]

according to another high ranking CIA official who refused to give his name, Barack Obama was born in indonisia and is a full card carrying member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

for those of you whose only military experiences is with video games,

... as Joe Biden put it that's the full load

[idlbeokay_bob]

You should take your stand up routine on the road. ;-\

[bsking]

@idlbeokay_bob what makes you think I don't?.

I'm sure you're smart enough to understand the post.

[idlbeokay_bob]

@bsking I got a good laugh from your story, besides if it were true we would have heard about it a through the media and not from posters on here.
See ya.

[IraqWarVeteran]

TheOnion news is the greatest in America
http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-help-u...

[Denizen_Kate]

@IraqWarVeteran Now THAT was funny!:-)

[ctc]

It was treasonous for those that tried to spin the attack for political gain and thereby handing the terrorists a moral victory by letting them influence our election. There is no shame in the Republican Party.

[earl]

LOL! Live video to the White House, the State Dept. and the Pentagon. Those men were left top die for the political gain of the president.

[idlbeokay_bob]

You are absolutely right. These radicals will use anything they can to put the president down at the expense of additional loss of lives. Our country is broken!!!

[hertz_doughnut]

The Presidents comments at the UN mirrored the comments of Muslim extremists. It was the video's fault. It is America's fault. Poor Obama can't even golf anymore as he thinks Tiger Woods as he tee's off. Damn that Tyrone Wood's I told him to stand down. They weren't going to kill the ambassador just kidnap him so I could trade the Blind Cleric for him and then get a meeting with Iran. Damn I could have looked like a prince of peace but one good man stood in my way. Damn this game. I will never play again. Bruce quit reading my mind!

[PNWest]

It doesn't matter what the truth is - those on the right will demonize Obama. Get ready for four more years of whining, disinformation and tooth gnashing from the right.

[DominicSarno]

All you have to do is replace the word Obama with the word Bush and then you'd be correct.

[earl]

Yes, they will be rightfully criticizing the Democratic Senate for opposing the policies of President Romney.

[DominicSarno]

If Obama was a Republican and Romney a democrat these are some headlines you might see.

1) Mr. Fixit vs. Mr. Broke-It: The Successful CEO vs. the President Who Never Had a Real Job

2) Black Leaders on Obama: We're Still Waiting for the First Real Black President

3) Can Mitt Romney Do for Mormons What JFK Did for Catholics?

4) Experts Say Obama's Bizarre, Disconnected Behavior May Have Been Caused By His Strange Upbringing

5) The Presidency is Just the Next Logical Step in Mitt Romney's Lifetime of Service

6) Why is Barack Obama So Angry?

7) Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: The Best Looking Combination Ever to Run for President?

8) More Deaths in Afghanistan; New Grim Milestone Reached

9) Is Mitt Romney the Only Man Who Can Fix the Damage Done to America’s Economy Over the Last Four Years?

10) Solyndra Nation: How the Taxpayers are Being Pilfered to Pay Off Obama's Political Cronies

11) Mitt Romney: Is He the Smartest Man Ever to Run for President?

12) Barack Obama: Setting Black Americans Back Fifty Years?

13) Soldiers in the Field Say They Want Romney as Their Commander-in-Chief

14) Obama: Just Not Smart Enough to be President?

15) Should Obama Even Run for Reelection?

16) Obama Golfs While Soldiers Die

17) Gold Star Mom: Obama is Responsible for my Son’s Death

18) Obama's Libyan war: Would We Be There if There Were No Oil?

19) Dog Lovers Across Country Horrified by Stories About Obama Eating Dog

20) Activists Demand That Obama Be Brought Before War Crimes Tribunal

21) Oil Industry Still Hasn’t Recovered From Obama’s Mishandling of the BP Oil Spill

22) Barack Obama: Bad for Women?

23) Is Barack Obama's Cold, Distant Personality Hurting His Re-Election Chances?

24) Middle East Situation Prompts Comparison to Iran in 1979.

25) Economy Poised to Collapse Back Into Recession in 2013

26) Only An Investigation By A Special Prosecutor Can Restore Confidence in the Justice Department

27) Barack Obama's Stunning Record of Failure: A Special 12 Part Series

28) Obama and Nixon: How Executive Orders Have Been Used To Cover Up Scandals

29) Romney Poised to Make History by Becoming First Mormon President

30) Man-on-the-Street Interviews: People Who’ve Been Jobless for a Year Weigh in on the President

31) The Pothead President: Does Having Obama in the White House Set a Good Example for America's Youth?

32) Mitt Romney: Too Good to be True?

33) Barack Obama's Deficit Spending: Does It Mean the End of the American Dream?

34) Is Criticism of Mitt Romney Based on Hatred of Mormons?

35) Republican Hopes for Obama Victory Dwindle as Grim Economic News Mounts

36) Is Romney the Last, Best Hope of America's Middle Class?

37) Historians Rank Barack Obama as Worst President in American History

38) Ann Romney: America's Mom?

39) Will Michelle Obama's Nagging About Vegetables Turn Off Voters?

40) Mitt Romney: Mother Teresa With a Bigger House?

[TheLoneRanger]

Benghzi-gate is Watergate times 50.

They are trying to confuse us with so many lies they hope the truth will never be known.

Obama lied. People died.

[bsking]

that's exactly right.

[Denizen_Kate]

Fox lied, you believed them, the rest of the world is laughing at us, just like they did when Bush was re-elected.

[TheLoneRanger]

@Denizen_Kate - Should Obama get reelected the Muslim Brotherhood will be laughing at us and Iran will have nuclear arms aimed at Israel.

It appears both party's have there share of loser presidents.

[Thegrif]

So the Senior Intell Officer says. Oh boy, I am sure liberals are tinkling their undies thinking that is proof of something. Senior Intell Officers main job is to cover up all kinds of things and to never ever let the President look bad. I trust men that were there, men that were told to stand down.

[formerrepub]

If you always tell the truth, then you won't have to remember what you said when asked about it.

[DominicSarno]

Confidence men know that their victim -- "the mark" as he has been called -- is eventually going to realize that he has been cheated. But it makes a big difference whether he realizes it immediately, and goes to the police, or realizes it after the confidence man is long gone.
So part of the confidence racket is creating a period of uncertainty, during which the victim is not yet sure of what is happening. This delaying process has been called "cooling out the mark."
The same principle applies in politics. When the accusations that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton first surfaced, he flatly denied them all. Then, as the months passed, the truth came out -- but slowly, bit by bit. One of Clinton's own White House aides later called it "telling the truth slowly."
By the time the whole truth came out, it was called "old news," and the clever phrase now was that we should "move on."
It was a successful "cooling out" of the public, keeping them in uncertainty so long that, by the time the whole truth came out, there was no longer the same outrage as if the truth had suddenly come out all at once. Without the support of an outraged public, the impeachment of President Clinton fizzled out in the Senate.
We are currently seeing another "cooling out" process, growing out of the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on September 11th this year.

[Thunderchicken]

Has the administration been criticized unfairly over Benghazi?

Oh HELL no. The conflicting stories, obfuscation and stalling tell me there should be an independent investigation. There's just too much B S being thrown against the barn door.

[earl]

The entire Obama administration allowed 4 men to die and then lied about it to the American people so that Obama could say that he has the "Islamist terrorists on the run. They tried to blame it on a video and then promised the father of one of the slain men that he would be arrested. Disgraceful.

[jessejaymes]

The only "truth" the right wing will accept is ANYTHING to make Obama look bad. The real truth is that things happen sometimes. Mistakes are made. Unlike Bush II standing before the nation and lying through his teeth about Iraq and then calling anyone who didn't support war with Iraq a traitor. 4,500 deaths behind those lies but those don't bother the right wing. Only the 4 deaths under a Democrat President. i vote Libertarian these days because the GOP has become a rabid bunch of idiots. The dumbing down of America marches on.

[DABurroughs]

It is clear that the RNC has decided that this issue is the one that will win them the election and it keeps falling off the map. This situation is clearly one of those "fog of war" things and yet these demands for answers gives the impression that our government has complete knowledge of everything that happens everywhere in the world and complete control of the whole world too. It is somewhat of a childlike tantrum that something went wrong somewhere so blame daddy. Meanwhile, we overlook thousands killed in Iraq over the idea of WMDs there that were never there or that we keep killing off dozens in Afghanistan for no damn good reason. To throw a fit over Libra and ignore these other problems is insane.

[earl]

The right wing doesn't have to do anything to make Obama look bad, he has done a masterful job all by himself. Those men were left to die by the Commander-in-Chief and now he won't talk about it until after the election. Wonder why?

[DominicSarno]

@DABurroughs right it's this. Not the devastation Obama caused the economy after the democrat caused recession, no it's this.

Obama's policies in the Middle East are an abject failure just like his economic policy here in America. You can use any excuse you want but the truth is there are numerous reasons to oppose and criticize Obama. Benghazi is just another in a long list.

[DABurroughs]

@DominicSarno You say that his policy in the middle east should fix everything like we elected him king of the world. Bush's policy in the middle east put two towers down and our military snarled in two forever wars. 4 people left to die? How about thousands of our own troops left to die in Iraq and Afghanistan? Your outrage is pretty hollow in light of the bigger problems that continue from long before Obama showed up and we still are dealing with them today. And and as far as Obama looking bad, well it looks like he doesn't look bad enough since the election is a dead tie at this point. I agree with the talk radio host that said that if the republicans can't beat Obama with his record, they ought to fold the tent. Whoever had the big idea to run etch-a-sketch romney to depose the communist should be shot. Hell even Newt would have done a better job than Mitt.

[DominicSarno]

@DABurroughs your first sentence has an invalid premise. I don't expect Obama to fix everything.

I will post a statement I made in a previous post.

[tomincali]

put on your waders.

[Zoe2012]

No, they lie!

[bsking]

few more days and Obama is going to find out who believed his lies and who didn't believe them . and in the words of a better president " pretty soon he'll hear from all of us"

[earl]

Great post, thank you, Sir.

[bsking]

let's be clear, this is not a new story this is a collection between 3 other stories from 3 liberal papers. in other words nothing to see here

[PuroChorizo361]

Come on any moron would've requested more security help way in advance of 9/11. They didn't so they paid the price Now get over it already!

[DominicSarno]

Any moron would have told the military to do their job and take out bin laden. In fact it would have been politically damaging for Obama had he not given the order but we are made to believe that Obama is Middle East master mind just because he let the military do his job. The reality that Benghazi shows is that Obama's Middle East policy is a failure, and he knew it so he sent his cronies all over to spout some crap about a video. Americans died and you say get over it?

[PuroChorizo361]

@DominicSarno Yeah get over it! They're not the only soldiers/politicians that have died overseas. I've mentioned it before.

[DominicSarno]

@PuroChorizo361 people die, I'm not debating that. I'm debating Obama's failed Middle East policy that is punctuated by those 4 deaths.

Your quick to dismiss their death and sacrifice because it says something deeper about Obama's failure and you know it, that's why you dismiss it so out of hand.

It's not the deaths. It's his failed Middle East policy.

[PuroChorizo361]

@DominicSarno Its obvious you're not military. What did you want a war to listen break out? Maybe you should watch the movie "Troy"!

[PuroChorizo361]

@PuroChorizo361 ** correction -listen