BENGHAZI – BIGGEST COVER-UP SCANDAL IN U.S. HISTORY? – BENGHAZI CIA GUN-RUNNING

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-12-2013, 08:47 AM

Navy Seal Team VI Families To Reveal Government's Culpability In Death Of Their Sons In Fatal Helicopter Crash In Afghanistan Following Successful Raid On Bin Laden's Compound

DATE: MAY 9, 2013
PLACE: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (HOLEMAN LOUNGE)
529 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20045
TIME: 10 AM - 11 AM

Newswire – Wed, May 8, 2013

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three families of Navy SEAL Team VI special forces servicemen, along with one family of an Army National Guardsman, will appear at a press conference on May 9, 2013, to disclose never before revealed information about how and why their sons along with 26 others died in a fatal helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, just a few months after the successful raid on the compound of Osama Bin Laden that resulted in the master terrorist's death.

Accompanying the families of these dead Navy SEAL Team VI special operations servicemen will be retired military experts verifying their accounts of how and why the government is as much responsible for the deaths of their sons as is the Taliban.

The areas of inquiry at the press conference will include but not be limited to:

How President Obama and Vice President Biden, having disclosed on May 4, 2011, that Navy Seal Team VI carried out the successful raid on Bin Laden's compound resulting in the master terrorist's death, put a retaliatory target on the backs of the fallen heroes.
How and why high-level military officials sent these Navy SEAL Team VI heroes into battle without special operations aviation and proper air support.
How and why middle level military brass carries out too many ill-prepared missions to boost their standing with top-level military brass and the Commander-in-Chief in order that they can be promoted.
How the military restricts special operations servicemen and others from engaging in timely return fire when fired upon by the Taliban and other terrorist groups and interests, thus jeopardizing the servicemen's lives.
How and why the denial of requested pre-assault fire may have contributed to the shoot down of theNavy SEAL Team VI helicopter and the death of these special operations servicemen.
How Afghani forces accompanying the Navy SEAL Team VI servicemen on the helicopter were not properly vetted and how they possibly disclosed classified information to the Taliban about the mission, resulting in the shoot down of the helicopter.
How military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes who disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah. A video of the Muslim cleric's "prayer" will be shown with a certified translation.

"This press conference takes on special significance given that our government has over the last twelve years since September 11 committed brave American servicemen to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which, in large part as a result of politics, were poorly conceived of and implemented, resulting in the deaths of thousands and the maiming of tens of thousands of our brave heroes. To make matters even worse, America has effectively lost these wars," stated Larry Klayman, legal counsel for the families.

SOURCE Larry Klayman

http://news.yahoo.com/navy-seal-team...120000704.html

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-12-2013, 10:21 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2013

Rand Paul alleges CIA smuggled weapons through Benghazi

Amid intensifying rumors that he’s considering a run for president, United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has come down hard on the White House over last year’s tragedy at the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. Sen. Rand Pau (AFP Photo / Alex Wong)

Tags Arms, Hillary Clinton, Terrorism, USA,Syria, CIA

Amid intensifying rumors that he’s considering a run for president, United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has come down hard on the White House over last year’s tragedy at the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

On Wednesday a Congressional committee heard testimonies from witnesses of the September 11, 2012 attack, but eight months after the fact many questions still remain unanswered. Sen. Paul weighed in on the event as well this week, but in doing so challenged the administration of US President Barack Obama and particularly Hillary Clinton, the former Department of State secretary at the helm of the agency at the time of the attack and another rumored candidate in the 2016 election.

In an interview aired on CNN Thursday evening, Sen. Paul said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that last year’s attack unfolded as a result of a secret arms trade. The confusion in the immediate aftermath of the event — including unfounded admissions from America’s United Nations envoy Susan Rice that contradicted what is known today about the attack — could actually be a cover-up, the senator said.

“I never have quite understood the cover-up — if it was intentional or incompetence,” he told host Erin Burnett. “But something went on. I mean, they had talking points that they were trying to make it out to be a movie when everybody seemed to be on the ground telling them it had nothing to do a movie. I don’t know if this was for political reasons.”

In the wake of the attack, then-UN ambassador Susan Rice said the storming of the consulate resulted after an anti-Islamic video produced in the US ended up on YouTube. The government has since admitted her statement was false, but conflicting reports among Washington’s elite has led in part to Paul’s questioning of the incident.

“I’ve actually always suspected that, although I have no evidence, that maybe we were facilitating arms leaving Libya going through Turkey into Syria,” he said.

“Were they trying to obscure that there was an arms operation going on at the CIA annex?” Paul asked. “I’m not sure exactly what was going on, but I think questions ought to be asked and answered, and I’m a little curious when employees of the State Department are told by government officials they shouldn’t testify and then they are sort of sequestered and kept away from testimony, so I think there may be more to this.”

This is not the first time either that Senator Paul raised questions about possible arms supplies under the CIA umbrella. During her testimony in the Senate, Rand Paul asked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whether the spy agency was sending weapons from Benghazi into other countries. Clinton replied that he would have to ask CIA officials about it.

On Friday morning, Paul scolded the former State Department secretary in a Washington Times op-ed and said Clinton “should never hold high office again.”

“My office is currently seeking out the witnesses and survivors of Benghazi to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. To date, the Obama administration has refused to let them testify. Too many questions remain unanswered. Now, there are too many new questions,” Paul wrote. “The evidence we had in January already suggested that Mrs. Clinton ignored repeated requests for more security in Benghazi. The new evidence we have today – and that continues to mount – suggests that at the very least, Mrs. Clinton should never hold high office again.”

Paul said during a Thursday radio interview that he’s “considering” a run for president in 2016. A Quinnipiac University poll published earlier the week found that Clinton would dominate the Democratic race, winning perhaps 65 percent of the party’s vote if she decides to run.

Posted by Breana Shaw at 2:49 PM

http://accuracyinpolitics.blogspot.c....html?spref=fb

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-12-2013, 11:10 PM

Attorney to Malzberg: Benghazi Whistleblower Reassigned, Demoted

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ben...o_code=1374E-1

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-12-2013, 11:26 PM

GOVERNMENT

‘LIES AND DECEIT’: SEE WHAT THE FAMILIES OF THE SEAL TEAM 6 MEMBERS SLAIN IN CHOPPER CRASH ALLEGED AT THEIR PRESS CONFERENCE

May. 9, 2013 4:59pm Liz Klimas

Military experts and the families of the soldiers killed in the August 6, 2011, helicopter crash in Afghanistan — the single largest loss of soldiers’ lives in the Afghanistan campaign — think it is fitting that they are sharing details regarding the unusual events and unanswered questions surrounding their son’s deaths now at a time when similar themes are being discussed at the Benghazi hearings.

Retired Major General Paul Vallely called the attack on the helicopter with the callsign Extortion 17, leading to the death of 25 American special operations personnel, including many from SEAL Team Six, five from the National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, and eight Afghanis, a “lost story.”

U.S. Navy sailors in the honor guard fold a flag before the presentation ceremony for U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Joseph Strange, a cryptology technician, in Logan Circle Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011, in Philadelphia. Strange was assigned to the Navy SEAL team whose Chinook helicopter was shot down Aug. 6 by a rocket-propelled grenade in what has become the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. Families have recently been calling for a congressional investigation into the attack. (Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

“I think it is timely that we are here at a time when Benghazi is going on,” Vallely said at a press conference where the family divulged details regarding their sons’ deaths. Like the events surrounding Benghazi, Vallely said he believes the crash of the helicopter, which was carrying many men who only 93 days before had aided in the killing of Osama Bin Laden, has “a constant plethora of lies and deceit.”

As the numbness over the news of their sons’ deaths began to lift, questions took its place. Charles Strange, the father of Navy SEAL Michael Strange, said he was embraced by President Barack Obama when he was receiving the body of his 25-year-old son back in the U.S. He asked the president if there would be an investigation, to which Obama said yes. In Strange’s assessment, and that of other parents present at the presser hosted by attorney Larry Klayman who is representing some of the families through Freedom Watch, such an investigation has not delved into the questions that need to be answered.

The accusations and questions

Their first point of contention is a comment made by Vice President Joe Biden that they believe “put a target” on their sons’ backs. After the death of bin Laden, instead of remaining general and using terms like “special forces team” to describe the soldiers who took him out, Biden identified the team as part of the Navy SEALS.

Biden mentions the SEALs in this video at an event just a couple days after the announcement of bin Laden’s death:

The parents of Aaron Vaughn, Billy and Karen, who spoke at the presser Thursday began voicing of their discontent regarding the SEALs being identified last year:

Former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb, who runs SOFREP.com (the Special Operations Forces Report, told TheBlaze in an email, though, that he thinks it would have been “virtually impossible” not to disclose the team responsible for killing bin Laden in today’s “age of social media.”

“If you remember there was a Pakatani tweeting about helicopters as the raid was happening,” he wrote.

But the families detailed other information surrounding the tragedy that they find objectionable. They question the type of helicopter being flown; why so many elite members of the military were in one helicopter at a given time; why command switched out members of the Afghani forces at the last minute; and why other procedures they considered protocol did not seem to have been followed.

“A Chinook from 1989? Unacceptable,” Strange said of the Boeing CH-47 Chinook the men were flying in that day. “93 days after killing bin Laden you put 22 [members of] SEAL Team 6 into a Chinook?”

Mist from the Swann Memorial Fountain wafts past as Rear Admiral William E. Leigher, stands after presenting a flag to Charles Strange Jr., the father of the deceased, during a flag presentation ceremony for U.S.Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Joseph Strange, a cryptology technician, in Logan Circle Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011, in Philadelphia. Strange was assigned to the Navy SEAL team whose Chinook helicopter was shot down Aug. 6 by a rocket-propelled grenade in what has become the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. (Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

“That helicopter is meant to transport troops and people …[it's] not made to conduct special operations,” retired admiral James Lyon said.

Billy Vaughn said he believes if his son were flying in more modern aircraft suited for special operations the outcome might have been different. But even if the outcome wasn’t changed, it would at least “be a whole lot easier to live with,” he said.

Lyon called the details — and remaining questions — surrounding the event “pure dereliction of duty.”

“This is the same dereliction of duty you see reflected in Benghazi today,” he continued. “Not to come to the aid of our diplomats and our personnel when we’re under attack is un-American.”

Billy Vaughn also noted that a commander made a call to switch Afghani forces on the mission, which the families believe might have led to a leak of classified information to the Taliban about their plans. Vaughn said he doesn’t know what commander authorized this and said that fact wasn’t included in the military’s report, something he finds questionable.

Billy Vaugh, the father of SEAL Team 6 member Aaron Vaugh, speaks during a press conference on May 9, 2013 at the National Press club by families of Seal Team 6 members on the death of members during a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

What’s more, Karen Vaughn said the helicopter didn’t have an escort on its night mission to the Tangi Valley in an area that had already seen hours of hostility. This, she said, violates standard protocol.

But U.S. Central Command’s report issued October 13, 2011, called the decisions that led up to the Chinook being shot down “tactically sound.”

Webb with SOFREP offered his thoughts on these points to TheBlaze as well. He said that although it was unusual to have so many elite team members in one helicopter at a time, with limited assets and last minute missions he explained that it’s not unheard of. He also said the Chinook being flown isn’t quite out of the ordinary either.

“Chinooks are used all the time, it may have not been a TF160 helicopter but like I said before, assets are sometimes hard to come by,” Webb wrote.

The families and military experts on the panel lambast “rules of engagement” (ROE) that have they say in this case and in many others have prevented troops from protecting themselves adequately.

“Everybody knows our ROEs better than we do and they use them against us,” Lyon said.

On this Webb agreed.

“This is absolutely true, I’ve heard it from U.S. and Coalition forces. They say the current ROE is ridiculous …” Webb wrote.

What has been causing even more of a stir is an Islamic prayer that was said, in addition to another prayer, over the bodies in a ceremony in Afghanistan before they were brought home.

TheBlaze reported in a separate article that the families believe the Arabic prayer was disrespectful and damning the soldiers to hell, while other experts say the prayer can’t easily be labeled a deliberate slap in the face.

“Our sons were subjected to a final act of betrayal by their government,” Karen Vaughn told TheBlaze of the prayer being read.

While at the same time, Islam expert Stephen Caughlin gave a bit more background on the prayer, which is common at Muslim funerals:

“Even a standard prayer is actually a little bit offensive because … it comes from a book of the Koran or a chapter of the Koran that’s basically about defeating the infidels. And [in exploring the issue] I basically showed that there were two verses quoted in the funeral rite.

If you back it up one verse, it gives you the greater context of the fact that the people who are not Muslim are condemned to hell, by those prayers and so I basically showed that. So my point isn’t that the imam was deliberately inflammatory — my point was that it’s inflammatory even when they’re not trying to, because it goes to the issue of the fundamental and irreconcilable difference between Islamic orientation and a non-Muslim orientation.”

The prayer isn’t the only thing upsetting families. Karen Vaughn said she and other families were stunned upon receiving the bodies in Dover, Delaware, when the 38 caskets were “paraded” with equal honor.

What’s more, the bodies of all those lost were cremated and the individuals were identified based on DNA and dental records.

“Is it possible that one or more of our sons, that my son, came home under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s flag all for the very guise of appeasement? The very thought fills my heart with more anger and pain than I could possibly express,” she said.

The families are now seeking a congressional investigation and will be pursing some sort of legal action on their own as well.

“Something is wrong,” Strange said. “We need a congressional inquiry. Somebody has to be accountable for the biggest loss in this war.

Watch this local report with some footage from the press conference:

Related:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...ss-conference/

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-12-2013, 11:33 PM

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-13-2013, 12:00 AM

‘Benghazi in four words’: Twitter keeps pressure on White House

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by Amy

by Janeen Capizola
On this Mother’s Day, take a moment to think of the mothers of the American diplomats who were killed eight months ago in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11.
U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith and Glen Doherty all left behind loved ones who have not seen a single arrest made or a single person fired or held accountable for what looks more and more everyday like a massive, deceptive cover-up by the Obama administration.
Twitchy reported that #BenghaziInFourWords was a trending Twitter topic Saturday evening, and it continues to trend Sunday morning.
The majority of Twitter responses show Americans will continue to demand answers and demand accountability for the events that happened before, during and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
A sampling from “Benghazi in four words” via Twitter:

http://www.bizpacreview.com

http://gopthedailydose.com/2013/05/1...n-white-house/

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-13-2013, 12:07 AM

Here's some explanation as to WHY the lame stream media isn't reporting on Benghazi...it's a family affair!! Please share and help expose it!!

SOURCE: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Net...5/12/id/504036

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-13-2013, 11:10 AM

They were closer than that, remember the US has special forces team FAST Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Teams. Per our sources, they were 3 of them near by only one hour away drive distance from the location.

If two Navy Seals were able to deterred 200 plus alkeida terrorists , imagine what 3 FAST teams can do.

Of course no one is going to bring about the top secret information that they were in FACT 3 FAST Teams one hour away, because they were working for the administration doing other more important political matters.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybel...didnt-respond/

**AirborneSapper7** · 05-13-2013, 05:15 PM

OP/ED

10/24/2012 @ 1:45PM |47,054 views

White House Watched Benghazi Attacked And Didn't Respond

A burnt building is seen inside the US Embassy compound on September 12, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya, following an overnight attack on the building. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Just one hour after the seven-hour-long terrorist attacks upon the U.S. consulate in Benghazi began, our commander-in-chief, vice president, secretary of defense and their national security team gathered together in the Oval Office listening to phone calls from American defenders desperately under siege and watching real-time video of developments from a drone circling over the site. Yet they sent no military aid that might have intervened in time to save lives.

Why?

Obama on Benghazi: Believe Me or Your Lying Eyes (Or At Least Wait Until After the Election)

Paul Roderick Gregory
Contributor

The attack began on September 11, at about 10:00 p.m. Libyan time (4:00 p.m. in Washington). Ambassador Chris Stevens and his small staff inside our consulate immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. Thirty minutes later, after the main consulate building was on fire and Ambassador Stevens was missing, Tripoli (400 miles away) dispatched an aircraft carrying 22 men. Much more formidable response resources including Special Operations Forces, transport aircraft and attack fighters were available 480 miles away at the U.S. military base in Sigonella, Sicily, but were never dispatched. An F18 fighter jet blazing in with afterburner thundering to unnerve attackers and take out mortar locations could have reached Benghazi in an hour. Commandos could have arrived there within three hours. This was four hours into the seven- hour assault after President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Panetta initially met at 5:00 p.m.

In the meantime, the terrorists forced the Americans to abandon the consulate with the ambassador still missing. They fell back to an annex building about a mile away. Looters ransacking the empty consulate discovered Ambassador Stevens lying unconscious from smoke inhalation on the floor and rushed him to a hospital where doctors were unsuccessful in saving his life. Not knowing who he was, they took a cell phone from his pocket and called numbers. By about 2:00 a.m. Libyan time, the American embassy received word he was dead.

At about that same time (four hours into the attack), the 22 men arriving at the Benghazi airport from Tripoli drove into the annex to assist the Americans trapped there. Around 4:00 a.m. enemy mortar rounds killed two defenders on the annex roof. The attack ended at dawn when Libyan militia finally arrived to aid our Americans.

CBS News has reported that a series of email alerts received late Tuesday evening provides additional information that was known by Obama administration officials shortly after the attack commenced. The messages were also independently obtained by ABC News. Although names of individual recipients were redacted, the source who requested anonymity said it appears they were sent to the State Department Operations Center to distribution lists and email accounts of top security officials at the State Department, Pentagon, the FBI, the White House Situation Room and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The first alert with a subject line “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack” which arrived from Tripoli just 25 minutes after the attack began describes an assault on the compound by 20 armed people firing shots, with explosions heard as well. It reported that Ambassador Stevens and four COM (Chief of Mission) personnel were sequestered in the compound safe haven with the 17th of February militia providing security support. Another email arriving about one-half hour later reported that shooting had stopped and that the response team was attempting to locate COM personnel.

A third email received two hours after the attack commenced updated officials that Ansar al-Sharia, a terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the Benghazi attack on Facebook and Twitter, and had also threatened to attack the Tripoli embassy. The Facebook claim was subsequently denied by the group at a news conference in the following days, but not entirely convincingly, saying: “We are saluting our people for this zeal in protecting their region, to grant victory to the prophet. The response has to be firm.”

The Obama administration has an immediate obligation to inform the public why security responses were so tragically lacking both before and during the course of this terrible and fatal assault. Why was Ambassador Stevens, after he recognized and communicated the existence of a special 9/11 security threat, repeatedly denied protection he requested? It is clear that on August 2nd the consulate asked for an additional 11 security personnel to be added to the rotation of 24. Though the 11 were to replace temporary security staff, Stevens had made it clear that violence and terrorism were a threat amid a volatile political landscape. He wrote: “Due to the level of threat in regards to crime, political violence and terrorism, post feels this is an appropriate number of LES [locally employed staff] security personnel needed to further embassy diplomatic outreach missions. Violent security incidents continue to take place due to the lack of a coherent national Libyan security force and the strength of local militias and large numbers of armed groups.” He further emphasized that “Host national security support is lacking and cannot be depended on to provide a safe and secure environment.”

Andrew Wood, former head of a U.S. military team in Libya, has reported: “…the security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there”. He added that the head of U.S. security in the region had pushed for more people “…but was never able to attain the numbers he felt comfortable with.” Eric Nordstrom, the former security chief for U.S. diplomats in Libya, has observed that he had been fighting a losing battle over numbers in which “ …we couldn’t even keep what we had.” He finally concluded after his contact with state department bosses that “…we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident”.

And why, in the heat of battle with real-time communications regarding what was going on, didn’t our top leaders send responsive help that was so urgently needed? Past presidents have taken rapid actions to protect our people. For example, in 1984, President Reagan ordered U.S. pilots to force an airliner carrying terrorists to land at Sigonella within a 90 minute window while they were still airborne. The Obama national security team had several hours to move forces from that same air base to Benghazi. We deserve an explanation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybel...didnt-respond/