The State Department never asked for military back up the night of the #Benghazi assault bit.ly/Y91Ldb
—
Eli Lake (@EliLake) November 01, 2012Seven weeks after the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, members of the media (other than Fox News) are beginning to take an interest in the timeline of events on Sept. 11, 2012. Today, Eli Lake, senior national security reporter for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, is reporting that no one from the State Department requested military backup the night of the assault that killed four Americans.
Who did (or didn’t) respond to requests for help from Americans on the ground in Libya is a hot potato that has been passed around quite a bit over the last couple of weeks.
@kirstenpowers10 @elilake @thedailybeast so many changing stories. What is the truth?—
Carol McIlwain (@carolfoxlover) November 01, 2012
@EliLake story gets more convulted why cant they deliver a timeline a month later?—
James Jay Carafano (@JJCarafano) November 01, 2012
Lake cites “two senior U.S. officials familiar with the details of military planning” in his report.
According to Lake’s timeline, Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith were killed before any outside military help could have saved them. Ex-SEALS Glenn Dougherty and Tyrone Woods, though, might have had a chance.
Normally it would be the job of the U.S. ambassador on location to request a military response. But Stevens likely died in the first two hours of the attack. The responsibility for requesting military backup would then have fallen to the deputy chief of mission at Benghazi or officials at the State Department in Washington.
“The State Department is responsible for assessing security at its diplomatic installations and for requesting support from other government agencies if they need it,” a senior U.S. Defense official said. “There was no request from the Department of State to intervene militarily on the night of the attack.”
The president, however, would have the final say as to whether or not to send in the military. By 11 p.m. Benghazi time, 90 minutes after the assault began on the U.S. mission, Obama met with the National Security Council to discuss the attack. NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor said the president “ordered Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey to begin moving assets into the region to prepare for a range of contingencies” at that meeting.
@kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast Stevens himself called shortly after the attack began.—
SquatchPride69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) November 01, 2012
@EliLake you mean besides Stevens?—
SquatchPride69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) November 01, 2012
@EliLake Misleading! Attacked twice before and they had been asking for back-up for weeks, including that night!—
Charlotte Keiski (@CharlotteKeiski) November 01, 2012
@AceofSpadesHQ @EliLake Better: "Despite Stevens requesting help, State Dept. told military "Don't bother, we got this."—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) November 01, 2012
@AceofSpadesHQ @EliLake I think what Mr. Lake is getting at is that DESPITE Stevens' calling for help, St. Dept. never asked military.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) November 01, 2012
@AceofSpadesHQ @EliLake Now we need to know if when Woods called for help to the CIA, did they even attempt to contact military?—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) November 01, 2012
@EliLake @jaketapper Your article implies requesting support for the CIA Annex was also the State Dept.'s responsibility — is that true?—
2012 Independent (@2012Independent) November 01, 2012
On Oct. 26, Fox News reported that its sources “on the ground” in Benghazi claimed the CIA chain-of-command repeatedly denied requests for military support — a claim CIA spokesperson Jennifer Youngblood disputed, insisting that “no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need.”
@EliLake @jaketapper
how about the CIA? Did they "ask"? You know, the guys scrambling around for their lives.—
Dewey Eye (@DeweyEye) November 01, 2012
@kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast @allahpundit State didn’t, but did the CIA?—
Doug Stewart (@zamoose) November 01, 2012
@katherinemiller @elilake wouldn't a politically-attuned State Dept not officially ask for back-up unless they knew Obama wants it?—
G-Nice (@ArikSharon) November 01, 2012
@EliLake That bus is looking to run over Hillary again?? Or is she jumping in front of it again? #HillaryAve—
Jersey Joe (@JerseyJ0E) November 01, 2012
@kirstenpowers10 @elilake @thedailybeast. Let's cover this once again: Hillary Clinton has the blood of 4 brave Americans on her hands!—
Jeff Brown (@mgracer514) November 01, 2012
Hear that Bill? It's ALL Hillary's fault. RT @BuzzFeedBen State never requested Pentagon help in Benghazi, @elilake thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/…—
Jon G. (@ExJon) November 01, 2012
Plenty still believe the buck stops with the president, although he’s been hard to pin down for questioning, unless your name happens to be David Letterman or Jon Stewart. Also on Oct. 26, Denver TV reporter Kyle Clarke managed to ask the president, “Were [the Americans in Benghazi] denied requests for help during the attack?” Obama replied, “Well, we are finding out exactly what happened.”
No, we’re not finding out exactly what happened, at least not from named sources and not from the president.
And yet it's still ultimately the President's decision to go / no go. @kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast—
Erik Gumbel (@Holocryptic) November 01, 2012
@kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast No matter what, it is POTUS who has the go no go power it was his choice to leave them behind—
Amado J. Delgado (@AmadoD64) November 01, 2012
@EliLake Leaked e-mail shows Sit Room knew & protocol dicates Obama would have been tapped on the shoulder. Where was when this went down?—
DCD (@DCDude1776) November 01, 2012
@kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast The cmdr-in-chief, Obama himself, denied request for rescue mission! Americans died because of it..—
J&J Kenny (@JJKennyrv) November 01, 2012
@kirstenpowers10 @EliLake @thedailybeast Don't buy it for a moment…the truth is slowly leaking out and its not pretty.—
Star Winktree (@treewinklerstar) November 01, 2012
@philipaklein @EliLake I don't care if there is an election, this is wrong and serious and Obama must answer today.—
Karen Braun (@SpunkyBraun) November 01, 2012
@EliLake This whole Benghazi coverup saddens my heart! At this point it is more important than the election . Who and what have we become?—
thomas arthur (@MrdannyArthur) November 01, 2012
@EliLake Getting info re #Benghazi from the WH is like #pullingteeth. Why? Has the WH forgotten that they work for the people? #tcot—
Jack Murrell (@iu70us) November 01, 2012