Truth has only to exchange hands a few times to become fiction !

blood on their handsIn my opinion the activity within the White House on 9/11/12, the night of the Benghazi attack, is not riddled with hard to understand events.

If you separate the wheat from the chaff you begin to understand what the response, or lack thereof, was all about.

The wheat is “what they knew”, the chaff is what people “think they knew”.

Two fundamentally different aspects which can be brought into alignment with a simple review of known facts and known communications.

The Benghazi State Department compound came under direct attack at 9:40pm Libyan time, or 3:40pm (Eastern DC time). All times for this presentation will be in Washington DC time.

The first notification of the attack into the White House came through the State Department at 4:05pm via email cable. It said: “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack”.

first benghazi email notification

After visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center ,President Obama left Bethesda Maryland at 4:40pm to return to the White House.   The President Arrived at the White House  South Lawn at 4:50pm.

He was scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey in the Oval Office upon arrival.  Meeting time 5:00pm.

Around the exact same time POTUS arrived back at the White House the second email/cable arrived (4:54pm) into the communication flow. This one is perhaps the most overlooked, and yet perhaps the most important to understanding what actions “did not” take place.

second benghazi email notification

The Second email titled “Update 1 U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi (SBU)” contains Tripoli Embassy saying the “firing has stopped“, “the compound cleared“, and a “response team on site“. Again, it comes in at 4:54pm

So, Marine One lands on lawn, POTUS walks into White House…. and upon arrival at the White House, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, updates President Obama.

What would he be updating?

Looking at the information “so far”… The consulate came under attack, and the firing has stopped, compound cleared and response team on site.

When POTUS meets with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey, (meeting previously scheduled) what would they share?

Most likely the same information – remember this was a State Dept. led communication pipeline. Remember too that General Carter Ham (Africom Command) has said he was not contacted to do anything. So the Pentagon, Panetta and Dempsey, are privy to essentially the same information coming from the State Dept. Regional Security.

And at this point it’s 5:00pm and State Dept “Update 1” states the “fighting over“.

Nothing changes in the communication stream until 6:07pm when Update 2 comes out: “Ansar al-Sharia claim responsibility for attack“.

third benghazi email notifcation - original

Note – it’s 6:07pm and nothing in update #2 is disputing Update #1 status “the firing has stopped”.

So President Obama and Joe Biden, after meeting with Donilon -then Panetta and Dempsey- are preparing for the 6:30pm phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, knowing what ?

• The Benghazi compound came under attack.
• The attack stopped. Compound cleared. Response team on site attempting to locate personnel.
• Ansar al-Sharia have claimed responsibility.

There’s nothing in the flow of information to tell them any different.   There’s especially nothing in the communication flow to tell them the fight is still ongoing.

At 6:30pm, as Biden and Obama take the call with Benjamin Netanyahu do,  what do Secretary Panetta and CoJC Dempsey do?

KNOWN = The Pentagon issues an order to a special operations team in Europe to move to Sigonella, Sicily – less than one hour’s flight away from Benghazi.

PRESUMED = They may have moved into the Situation Room along with National Security Council Spox Tommy Vietoro, who was presumably with his boss Tom Donilon(link)

The next set of known actions take place while Obama and Biden are on the phone with Netanyahu. Remember, as they picked up that phone this is what Obama/Biden know:

• The Benghazi compound came under attack.
• The attack stopped. Compound cleared. Response team on site attempting to locate personnel.
• Ansar al-Sharia have claimed responsibility.

While Obama/Biden are on the phone (6:30pm – 7:28pm):

KNOWN = at 7:00pm – The first of two unmanned U.S. Predator drones, which already had been flying over eastern Libya, is diverted to Benghazi.

And….. Brig. General Lovell begins watching the feed from the drone(s).

PRESUMED = This feed is presumably piped into the situation room.

Just before 7:28pm the Netanyahu call ends. Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor, begins to update POTUS and VPOTUS on Benghazi status – which is considerably different from what they originally thought when beginning the call.

White House 9-11-12 Donilon - McDonough

It’s exactly 7:28:16pm and Denis McDonough would be sharing:

•  The fight is not over.
•  Ambassador Stevens is missing / presumed dead.

At 7:30pm in DC it’s now 1:30am in Benghazi, and almost 4 hours since the fight started.

(7:30 p.m. D.C.): A U.S. security team from Embassy Tripoli lands at Benghazi airport and learn that the ambassador is missing.   They try unsuccessfully to arrange for transportation into town, with the goal of locating Stevens.  They are stuck at the airport.

The questioning of POTUS should be what did he do, or not do, “AFTER” this update from McDonough ?   Or, where did he go ?   We know, from Tommy Vietor, Obama  did not go into the Situation Room.

However, it’s easy to see how and why they did not delay the Netanyahu phone call when you realize that up and until this moment POTUS and VPOTUS were under the impression the “fight was over“.

It’s also more easily reconcilable why they did nothing else. After all, so much time had elapsed since the initial terrorist attack began.

Did anyone actually know the fighting was ongoing ? If so, who ?

From the time Obama first arrived back at the White House (4:50pm), up until this 7:28pm update from McDonough, he was under the impression the fight was over.

 

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