Assets that Panetta did NOT "choose" to deploy included 2 squadrons of F-16s at Aviano Air Base, 4 remotely piloted aircraft (drones) stationed in southern Europe, special operations aircraft stationed in Souda Bay, Crete, and the Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST). (1/5)
On 9/11/12, the air squadrons in Aviano were not on any heightened alert status, despite the supposed call for a “heightened alert” from Obama. Instead, they were in training posture and in the middle of a 2-week inspection, meaning nothing was pre-loaded on any aircraft. (2/5)
Armed drones were heavily used in Obama and Hillary's war in Libya. Drone pilots testified that after the fall of Qadhafi, they received orders to disarm drones, making it time consuming to re-arm them to respond to the #Benghazi attack. (3/5)
Members of the GRS Team in #Benghazi were skilled in providing targeting instructions from the ground for a Hellfire missile attack from a drone. But it was to no avail since Panetta didn't "choose" this as an option in responding to the attack. (4/5)
The only details in the @HouseBenghazi report regarding aircraft in Souda Bay (only 1.5 hr flight to #Benghazi) was that they could have been utilized to respond, and that the DoD "has not denied the presence of these assets." It is unclear why Panetta did not "choose" it. (5/5)
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The FEST is “the U.S. government’s only interagency, on-call, short-notice team poised to respond to terrorist incidents worldwide." FEST capabilities include crisis management, hostage negotiating, and counter-terrorism support within 4 hours. (1/4)
FEST was deployed after multiple previous terrorist attacks including the 2000 USS Cole bombing in Yemen and the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. (2/4)
Mark I. Thompson, the person in charge of the FEST, contacted @StateDept Undersecretary of Mgmt. Patrick Kennedy about deploying the FEST within hours on the night of the attacks. Kennedy sent an email response declining the offer to help. (3/4)
An American named Marc Turi was a registered arms broker and owner of Turi Defense Group, Inc. who divided his time between Arizona and the United Arab Emirates. (1/9)
Turi applied to the @StateDept for a license in March 2011 to ship former Soviet Bloc weapons to Libyan rebels. Turi emailed Stevens regarding his proposal. Stevens wrote back saying that he would share Turi's information with the appropriate people back at the @StateDept. (2/9)
Turi's proposal to ship Soviet Bloc weapons to Libyan rebels was denied because all commercial military sales are notified to Congress, and @HillaryClinton's @StateDept didn't want a data trail traced to them when they were conducting their own covert arms operation. (3/9)
With the first Sunday network TV news talk shows since the #Benghazi attacks approaching, the White House had to pick someone to appear and answer questions. Their 1st choice was @HillaryClinton. @brhodes sent her a request, but he claimed he never heard back from her. 🤣(1/7)
This was obviously an embarrassing moment for @HillaryClinton, who had planned to use her war in Libya and the assassination of Qadhafi as a success story for her future campaign for president. (2/7)
Flashback to the statement by her Deputy Chief of Staff @jakejsullivan long before the #Benghazi attacks: "Hillary's role is leadership/ownership/stewardship of Libya policy from start to finish." (3/7)
When pressed by the @HouseBenghazi committee on why his overhaul of the talking points did not include the fact that there was NO 9/11/12 protest at the #Benghazi compound, backed by numerous documented witness accounts, @MichaelJMorell used an "It's not my job" excuse. (1/6)
Morell's argument was that he would have overstepped his bounds as a CIA manager to change the assessment of analysts in the talking points: "Look, managers at CIA don’t do analysis. When they are perceived to be doing the analysis, the analysts go nuts, right?" (2/6)
Morell's argument was intentionally misleading and false. He was NOT creating an analytic assessment. He was editing talking points that would be used for public consumption. The CIA analysts were not involved in the talking points process; only managers (i.e. Morell) were. (3/6)
Another document that @MichaelJMorell reviewed before he overhauled the #Benghazi talking points was an email from the CIA Tripoli Chief of Station stating his assessment "that the attacks were not/not spontaneous and not/not an escalation of protests." (1/4)
The email referred to the press reports quoting the @StateDept#Benghazi compound guards who witnessed that the attack began without warning and in the absence of any protests outside the compound beforehand. (2/4)
The email also cited a CIA officer on the scene who noted that there was no sign of a protest at the compound, and Libyan President Magaryaf who stated "the attacks were planned in advance by experienced individuals, most likely al-Qa'ida and not former regime elements." (3/4)
Considering all the information that @MichaelJMorell had at the time that he overhauled the #Benghazi talking points on 9/15/12, it's abundantly clear he chose to ignore the facts and follow his marching orders from the Obama White House to describe the attacks their way. (1/5)
A 9/15/12 New York Times article quoted a guard who was at the @StateDept#Benghazi compound when it came under attack. The guard confirmed that the attack began without advance warning or any peaceful protest. (2/5)
"Attack, attack," the guard said over his walkie-talkie as the chants from the attackers came closer. Suddenly, according to the guard, there came a barrage of gunfire, explosions, and rocket-propelled grenades. (3/5)