dagblog - Comments for "[Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut"

Reading the tea leaves of the

artappraiser — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:22:57 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

Reading the tea leaves of the Libya congressional hearings
by Paul Mutter, Arabist.net, October 15, 2012

The Amazing Story of What Happened in Libya
By Garance Franke-Ruta, The Atlantic, October 16, 2012

Before you watch the foreign-policy portion of the presidential debate Tuesday, you must read the State Department's riveting tale of heroism in Benghazi.

U.S. Said to Be Preparing

artappraiser — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:54:57 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

U.S. Said to Be Preparing Potential Targets Tied to Libya Attack
By Eric Schmitt, New York Times, October 2, 2012

WASHINGTON — The American military’s top-secret Joint Special Operations Command is preparing detailed information that could be used to kill or capture some of the militants suspected in the attack last month in Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, senior military and counterterrorism officials said on Tuesday.

Preparing the “target packages” is the first step in a process that the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency are taking in preparation for, and in advance of, any orders from President Obama and his top civilian and military advisers to carry out action against those determined complicit in the attack on the United States Mission in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

[...]

It remained unclear precisely how many of the “target packages” are being prepared — perhaps a dozen or more — but military and counterterrorism officials said that the Libyan authorities had identified several suspected assailants based on witness accounts, video and other photographs from the scene.

“They are putting together information on where these individuals live, who their family members and their associates are, and their entire pattern of life,” said one American official who has been briefed on the target planning now under way. [...]

Taken with the above, this

artappraiser — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:10:32 +0000

In reply to In statement, spy chief?s

Taken with the above, this piece from a couple of days ago

Clinton Suggests Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack
By STEVEN LEE MYERS (David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Benghazi, Libya, and Michael S. Schmidt and Eric Schmitt from Washington.)
New York Times, September 26/27, 2012

with a bit of a roundup of who said what when, has pretty much convinced me that the Obama administration approaches Libya not trusting any side there. There were a lot of different simplistic political advantages to screaming "al Qaeda" right away, but they didn't until they had a bit more time to sort more things out.

In statement, spy chief?s

artappraiser — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 02:26:44 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

In statement, spy chief’s office defends evolving accounts of Benghazi attack, cites shifting intelligence

By Greg Miller, Washington Post, September 28, 7:14 PM

The office of the nation’s spy chief issued a statement Friday defending the Obama administration’s accounts of the siege on a U.S. mission in Libya, saying it became clear only in the aftermath that it was “a deliberate and organized terrorist attack.”

The statement appeared aimed at quieting criticism, mostly from Republicans, of the administration’s shifting characterizations of a Sept. 11 assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. Officials initially described the attack as spontaneous but in recent days have said it was an act of terrorism with links to al-Qaeda.

The release from the office of Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. came as lawmakers sought more details about the siege in Benghazi. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to the State Department on Thursday posing questions about intelligence in the period leading up to the attack and the adequacy of the security at U.S. compounds.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Clapper, said U.S. agencies have altered their assessments based on intelligence that has emerged through an ongoing investigation [....]

Security Fears Hobble Inquiry

artappraiser — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:19:10 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

Security Fears Hobble Inquiry of Libya Attack
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, New York Times, September 27, 2012

BENGHAZI, Libya — Sixteen days after the death of four Americans in an attack on a United States diplomatic mission here, fears about the near-total lack of security have kept F.B.I. agents from visiting the scene of the killings and forced them to try to piece together the complicated crime from Tripoli, more than 400 miles away.

Investigators are so worried about the tenuous security, people involved in the investigation say, that they have been unwilling to risk taking some potential Libyan witnesses into the American Embassy in Tripoli. Instead, the investigators have resorted to the awkward solution of questioning some witnesses in cars outside the embassy, which is operating under emergency staffing and was evacuated of even more diplomats on Thursday because of a heightened security alert.

“It’s a cavalcade of obstacles right now,” said a senior American law enforcement official who is receiving regular updates on the Benghazi investigation and who described the crime scene, which has been trampled on, looted and burned, as so badly “degraded” that even once F.B.I. agents do eventually gain access “it’ll be very difficult to see what evidence can be attributed to the bad guys.” [....]

Clinton Sees Link to Qaeda

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:22:49 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

Clinton Sees Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, New York Times, September 26/27, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated for the first time on Wednesday that there was an explicit link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans, including the ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens.

She also said American intelligence and law enforcement agencies were working not only with Libya but also with other nations in the region to investigate the attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11. That indicated that the attack’s planning and execution might not have been the local, spontaneous eruption of violence that the administration had initially described.

Mrs. Clinton made her remarks at a special United Nations meeting on the political and security crisis in the swath of North Africa known as the Maghreb and the Sahel, a crisis that is particularly affecting northern Mali [....]

Deadly Attack in Libya Was

artappraiser — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 04:36:47 +0000

In reply to [Benghazi investigation thread] US drones fly over Benghazi; firing on them by militants causes airport to shut

Deadly Attack in Libya Was Major Blow to C.I.A. Efforts
By Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times, September 23/24, 2012

WASHINGTON — The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.

Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups in and around the city.

“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,” said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. “We got our eyes poked out.” [....]

"November" just means it's in

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 21:11:55 +0000

In reply to I agree we have lots of

"November" just means it's in no one's interest to dig into details, whether on Libyan situation or turn in Afghanistan war. I don't blame them - the Republicans certainly wouldn't be interested in truth, just their own weird detached spin. I do think Hillary has better intel than that, but I certainly don't mind her pissing off the GOP.

Re: Al Sharia, I think he has an idea the US is going to come down like a ton of bricks, and he doesn't want to hold the bag. It's a big desert, not much place to hide. I think an Iraqi or Afghani-style insurrection will be much harder to pull off in Libya once the Yanks are involved.

I agree we have lots of

artappraiser — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:47:06 +0000

In reply to Peculiar - I thought even

I agree we have lots of pecularity on this story, that's why I keep posting all the conflicting accounts I see, and yeah, I also agree that it might be prudent to wait for the book version after November. I'm not entirely convinced, if what you meant by after November, is that it's all about holding back because of election damage. I suspect that they are not sure what happened and hence the floood of intel-related activities. Meantime, Hillary just gives Congress the standard State Dept blather like a daily press briefing, and that pisses the GOP off. But they are doing that because they still don't know for sure what happened and therefore can't use better quality spin? I think if they knew for sure she would have given better, more passionate spin, but has to be careful because she doesn't know enough what the real deal is yet?

The Lede's post on the Ansar Al Sharia guy doing a PR campaign was an extra special "peculiar." If they had just done one denial statement or one interview it would be one thing, the standard for this kind of group, whether involved with attack or not, but this guy is going all out to persuade. He really really doesn't want to be associated with this attack, and is fighting an info war against someone trying to pin it on them. Or perhaps trying to disassociate the group from some renegade associates?

Peculiar - I thought even

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:08:53 +0000

In reply to Clinton fails to convince

Peculiar - I thought even Libya's government said for some time this was a premeditated militia attack, that they hit Stevens at a safe house away from the consulate which had to have been coordinated with inside info, that they came in after the gathering started at the consulate. (I was glad to see the Deputy Interior Minister resigned along with several others, after he put all the blame on the Americans for not handling security or just going home)

Ah well, I'll wait for the book after November.