**BUMPED** Today, Sunday September 11, 2022, is the 600th day of Joe Biden in office. It is also the 10th anniversary of the attack at a U.S. embassy outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
The “Benghazi Brief” remains the most in-depth research report CTH has ever produced. The brief took two years of research to assemble and contains hundreds of very specific citations supporting it. Eight years after the brief was originally written in 2014, nothing within the outline has ever been identified as inaccurate. It has been updated below adding context depth from current events.
The Benghazi Brief
We know from the Bret Baier interview with Hillary Clinton that she was physically located at her 7th floor office in Washington DC on the night of the attack 9/11/12.
Unfortunately, we also know during the November 2012 Thanksgiving holiday a mysterious fire took place in that building. Well, actually directly above her exact office – cause undetermined.
A “fire” which preceded an unfortunate slip and fall for the Secretary, resulting in a concussion, which led to the discovery of a blood clot, that ultimately delayed her congressional testimony before a Senate Hearing into the events of the night in question.
We know the Libyan uprising began on February 10th of 2011, and we also know that sometime around the end of February 2011 President Obama signed a presidential directive authorizing the State Dept and CIA to begin a covert operation to arm the Libyan “rebels”.
We also know of a Second Presidential Finding Memo authorizing additional CIA covert action in 2012, this time in Syria. However, unlike the 2011 Libyan operation, we do not know the operational name of the second action in 2012 (Syria).
We know the Libyan “rebels” were positioned in two strategic places. Benghazi, and the port city of Darnah, both located in Northeastern Libya.
We know this 2011 Libyan covert operation came to be known as “Operation Zero Footprint“. We know Secretary Clinton and CIA head Panetta were the primary sponsors for the joint State Dept./CIA approach; and we know that specifically because of a U.N. Security Council resolution (unattended by Ambassador Susan Rice) the operation fell under the military command authority of NATO not (important to repeat), NOT, the U.S. Military.
We know by the time operation “Zero Footprint” began, AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham was removed from OPSEC oversight in the Libyan campaign, and NATO commander Admiral James G. Stavridis was in charge.
Stavridis was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) at the time of the Libyan uprising. He retired as SACEUR in 2013
In 2011, 57-year-old Stavridis was the perfect pick for NATO Libyan intervention considering he is the son of Turkish immigrants. Turkey played a key role in what might be the most politically dangerous aspect of the events to the White House once the goals changed to redirection of the weapons from Operation Zero Footprint.
We know Operation Zero Footprint was the covert transfer of weapons from the U.S to the Libyan “rebels”. We also know the operation avoided the concerns with congressional funding, and potential for public scrutiny, through financing by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
We also know that officials within the government of Qatar served as the intermediaries for the actual transfer of the weapons, thereby removing the footprint of the U.S. intervention.
We know the entire operation was coordinated and controlled by the State Department and CIA. We also know (from the Senate Foreign Relations Benghazi hearings) that “Zero Footprint” was unknown to the 2011 Pentagon, and/or DoD commanders who would have been tasked with any military response to the 9/11/12 attack – namely AFRICOM General Carter Ham.
However, it would be implausible to think that then Defense Secretary Bob Gates or Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral McMullen were completely unaware of the operation. Even today, despite the numerous hearings and reports, this aspect remains murky.
Both Defense Secretary Gates and Joint Chiefs Chair McMullen were in place when Operation Zero Footprint began. However, both retired from their jobs in Sept of 2011, and were replaced by Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey respectively.
Leon Panetta was CIA Director at the beginning of Operation Zero Footprint (March 2011) and was replaced by CIA Director David Petraeus in the fall of 2011 as Panetta replaced Bob Gates and became Secretary of Defense.
However, Panetta (now as Def Sec) and JC Martin Dempsey were the two who initially briefed President Obama on the night of Sept 11th 2012. This is an important fact to remember – because of his previous CIA role in constructing Zero Footprint, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta definitely had knowledge of the intents of the joint State Dept/CIA mission in Benghazi, Martin Dempsey may not have.
We know the White House appears to have followed “The Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980” in informing the congressional “Gang of Eight” of Zero Footprint.
The Gang of Eight in 2011 would have included: Speaker – John Boehner, Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi; House Permanent Select Committee on Intel Chairman – Mike Rogers, and his Democrat counterpart Charles Ruppersberger; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; along with Senate Intel Chair Diane Feinstein and her Republican counterpart, Saxby Chambliss.
From Hillary interviews we also know the White House liaison for Secretary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta during Operation Zero Footprint was National Security Advisor To the President, Tom Donilon.
With this information we can assemble a cast of people “IN THE KNOW” of Operation Zero Footprint on two specific date blocks. March 2011 through Pre 9/11/12 attack – and – Post 9/11/12 attack forward.
March 2011 through Pre 9/11/12 attack: Who knew of Operation “Zero Footprint”?:
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- President Obama and Vice President Biden (both Dems)
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Dem)
- CIA Director Leon Panetta (March 2011 – June 2011)
- *CIA Director General David Petraeus (?) (Sept 2011 – Nov 2012)
- NATO Commander, James G Stavridis
- White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon (Dem)
- White House National Security Spox Tommy Vietor (Donilon aide)
- White House National Security Advisor John Brennan (Dem)
- Speaker of the House John Boehner (Rep)
- Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi (Dem)
- House Permanent Select Committee on Intel Chairman – Mike Rogers (Rep)
- Minority House Intel Committee – Charles Ruppersberger (Dem)
- Senate Minority Leader – Mitch McConnell (Rep)
- Senate Majority Leader – Harry Reid (Dem)
- Senate Intel Chair – Diane Feinstein (Dem)
- Minority Senate Intel Committee – Saxby Chambliss (Rep)
- [State Dept] U.S. Libyan Ambassador – Chris Stevens
- [State Dept] U.S. Asst Secretary of State – Andrew Shapiro
- [State Dept] Senior Head of U.S. Weapons Office – Mark Adams
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Along with whomever inside each nation’s state government that was involved in either the finance (UAE), or the logistics (Qatar). [and later, 2012 Turkey]
Obviously the “know” crowd would include the ultimate end destination users, “The Libyan Rebel Commanders”:
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- Rebel Leader (Islamic Fighting Group) Abu Sufian Ibriham Ahmed Hamuda Bin Qumu – Darnah Brigade – Ansar Al Sharia
- Rebel Leader (Islamic Fighting Group) Abu Khattala – Commander of an Islamist militia group called the Abu Obaida bin Jarrah Brigade (17th Feb Brigade) Benghazi – Ansar Al Sharia
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*NOTE* Both of these individuals were labeled as officially recognized State Dept. terrorists in December of 2013. Khattala arrested.
In addition, the “political face” of the Libyan Transitional Government Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, should also be included in this list of people who knew of operation Zero Footprint while it was underway.
Justice Abdel Jalil served as the international face of, and spokesperson for, “the rebels” in 2011/12. He worked closely with Chris Stevens and highly visibly with Secretary Hillary Clinton – However, in my opinion – after extensive research- Jalil was a total patsy. He was paid well to present a comfortable face of the movement, but once Gaddaffi was killed Jalil was quickly dispatched.
This Brings us to who knew about “Operation Zero Footprint” post Benghazi 9/11/12 attack:
To wit you can easily add:
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- CIA Director General David Petraeus
- Adjunct, and Interim, CIA Director – Mike Morrell
- U.S. Attorney General – Eric Holder
- President Obama Advisor and now Chief of Staff – Denis McDonough
- President Obama Advisor and now Treasury Sec – Jack Lew
- President Obama Advisor and now National Security Advisor – Tony Blinkin
- Former UN Ambassador and now Senior Nat Sec Advisor – Susan Rice
- Chief White House Communications Director – Ben Rhodes
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Focusing on the post 9/11/12 team for a moment:
We know McDonough and Donilon were in the immediate loop on the night of 9/11/12 because they were photographed updating President Obama at 7:30pm in the Oval Office along with a curious Jack Lew who was Chief of Staff at the time.
In addition we know from former White House National Security spokesperson Tommy “dude” Vietor, that President Obama was not in the situation room where Vietor and his boss Tom Donilon were keeping up on events.
Here’s where it gets interesting:
Leon Panetta was the CIA Director when Operation Zero Footprint was authorized and began, but he left the CIA about 4 months later (June 30th, 2011) and was replaced by General David Petraeus (August/Sept 2011).
[*Note* it is important to remember when the 2nd authorized CIA program began in 2012 for Syria Petraeus would have been included]
Under this principle you can see that General Petraeus had ZERO liability for the origin of the Benghazi weapons deals – it was a joint State Dept/CIA program already being conducted when Petraeus arrived. If it blew up, it was not his political problem – THIS MADE PETRAEUS A RISK.
We know that during the summer of 2012 “a whistleblower” popped up and gave House Republican Leader Eric Cantor a tip about CIA Director General Petraeus being in an extramarital affair with a reporter named Paula Broadwell; along with rumors Petraeus may have shared classified information with Broadwell during pillow talk etc.
We also know that Eric Cantor told AG Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller about the claim and Mueller began an investigation of Petraeus in the Summer of 2012 before the Benghazi attack in September.
However, we also know that neither Holder nor Mueller (nor Cantor) informed anyone in congress this investigation of Petraeus was taking place. That investigation included Broadwell turning over her computer to the FBI in the same summer, and later a search of her home which did reveal confidential information supposedly leaked from Petraeus.
Sometime in October of 2012 Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had a conversation with Petraeus urging him to leave.
Immediately after the election of 2012 CIA Director David Petraeus resigned (Nov 9th) and interim CIA Director Mike Morrel took over. This is why Petraeus never testified to the Senate, and Morrel took his place.
We also know this timely switch was beneficial to both the Clinton and Obama camps, because Morrel was more politically connected to them than Petraeus.
Given the risks of exposure to both “Operation Zero Footprint”, and worse, the buy-back/redirection to Syria, it’s understandable the risk to Clinton that Petraeus carried. However, Petraeus was not of any risk himself; maybe Leon Panetta would be, but not Petraeus – who, it’s important to add, came from the Defense Department to the office of CIA.
Petraeus’s replacement, interim CIA Director Mike Morrel, and White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes, were the two men who constructed the infamous “Susan Rice” talking points.
After Morrel testified to congress about the CIA involvement around Benghazi, and the issues of terrorism vs. Islamic movie (happy squirrel chase) etc. Morrel was replaced at the CIA by John Brennan.
We know that both Hillary Clinton and CBS immediately hired Mike Morrel. CBS News President David Rhodes -who hired Morrel- is the brother of the White House’s Ben Rhodes; who Morrel coordinated the Clinton friendly, albeit controversial, talking points with.
While it may seem suspect to jump to conclusions, the fact that Eric Holder did not inform either Intelligence Committee of the FBI Petraeus investigation -which is generally standard procedure- lends plausible suspicion to an outline that the events were used as leverage to remove Petraeus; and all of the subsequent risk he represented.
If you accept that Petraeus’s knowledge of, but non-involvement in, “Operation Zero Footprint” represented a potential risk to Hillary and Obama; you’d have to admit that Mike Morrel was by far the more White House friendly person talking about the CIA involvement around the joint State Dept/CIA Benghazi objectives.
Also, it would be disingenuous to ignore the fact Morrel’s loyalty therein was rewarded financially.
Lastly, one of the more slippery people to pin down on the Benghazi attack, and subsequent issues, has been Leon Panetta. If you think about Panetta’s role in the origin of Operation Zero Footprint, his comment avoidance makes perfect sense.
Trey Gowdy needs to subpoena Panetta for the Special Committee.
OK, sorry that was more than a moment – but was needed.
Now back to Libya 2011/2012 and the Rift Between State/CIA and DoD/Pentagon over the arming of the “Rebels”. THIS IS REALLY QUITE IMPORTANT because it explains how far out Hillary Clinton had put herself in this covert op “Zero Footprint”.
A few reminder articles will outline and refresh why the White House kept DoD and The Pentagon at arms length throughout their covert operation:
[…] defense leaders in Washington [March 2011] slammed the brakes on the extent of US help to the rebels. Top officials said that some country other than the US should perform any future training and equipping of the Libyan opposition groups. Under withering congressional probing and criticism of what was described as an ill-defined mission to aid a rebel force that officials know little about, Robert Gates, the US defense secretary, sketched out a largely limited role for the US military going forward.
Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told members of the House Armed Services panel that many other countries have the ability to train and support the rebels. “My view would be, if there is going to be that kind of assistance to the opposition, there are plenty of sources for it other than the United States,” said Gates. “Somebody else should do that.” Gates and Mullen told Congress that future US participation will be limited and will not involve an active role in airstrikes as time goes on. (link)
From a New York Times article about the same hearing -AND- the discussion of the CIA involvement. Again, remember this is 2011 – you have Secretary Gates, Joint Chiefs Mullen, and CIA Director Panetta:
2011 […] Gates and Mullen were testifying before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in the wake of revelations that small teams of CIA operatives are working in Libya. Gates declined to comment on the CIA activities in Libya. US officials have acknowledged that the CIA has sent small teams of operatives into Libya and helped rescue a crew member of a US fighter jet that crashed.
The CIA’s precise role in Libya is not clear. Intelligence experts said the CIA would have sent officials to make contact with the opposition and assess the strength and needs of the rebel forces in the event Barack Obama, the US president, decided to arm them. (link)
In hindsight we are now fully aware that unknown to both Mullen and Gates -at the time they were speaking- was President Obama having authorized Operation Zero Footprint several weeks earlier, and Panetta carrying it out.
The State Dept (Hillary) and CIA (Panetta) were now in the execution mode of the covert op.
We now know against the March/April 2011 backdrop of growing information about al-Qaeda’s presence within the rebel units – there was a genuine difference of opinion on whether even getting involved was a good idea.
The Defense Department (Gates, Mullen) was saying no, the State Department (Clinton, Rice), was saying yes.
Remember too, this covert operation was going to require NATO Admiral James Stavridis to allow the weapons into Libya. So lets look at what he was quoted saying around the same timeframe as Mullen and Gates, *knowing Stavridis was one of the actual key figures to make the weapons delivery possible*:
2011 – […] Now, as the White House and NATO continue to debate the possible ramifications of arming the Libyan opposition, the Haqqani network-linked Afghan commander says Libyan al Qaeda affiliates seem to be more “enthusiastic” about the war against Gaddafi every day.
And from what the Afghan Taliban commander has seen, there appears to be more than “flickers” of al Qaeda’s presence in Libya, the description given by NATO commander Admiral James Stavridis. (link)
There is Stavridis playing down the possibility of al-Qaeda ideology within the make-up of the Islamic Fighting Group – which is important because by the time this quote was attributed Stavridis was already part of the team coordinating the shipments.
Also, remember R2P? This March/April 2011 time frame is when “Responsibility To Protect” came up as a justification for our engagement. Samantha Power, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton all wanting to fully support “the rebels”.
Ultimately Obama/Jarrett (The White House) agreed with Hillary Inc (State Dept); hence “Zero Footprint” got the nod – well, let’s be really accurate: it “sort of” got the nod.
Think about it. President Obama authorized arming the Libyan rebels, but the covert nature of Zero Footprint actually reflects the political filter through which all Obama White House decisions are made. A White House team that always looks for an escape hatch in case any decision is ever publicly wrong.
If the rebels were al-Qaeda, the covert op lends plausible deniability.
Isn’t it strange how in 2014 hindsight you can clearly see exactly what we now know as the “Benghazi narrative”; the use of their exact escape hatch because they were al-Qaeda, and it did go horribly and publicly wrong.
Operation Zero Footprint Becomes Political and Legal Risk
It should be noted, and actually emphasized, that Operation Zero Footprint, at least in 2011, was not illegal. Indeed, all indicators are that President Obama followed his constitutional responsibility as he carried out his executive authority.
We know in late February 2011 President Obama signed a Presidential Finding Memo authorizing the State Department and CIA to engage in actions within Libya to identify a course of action.
We know in March 2011 when Hillary Clinton (State Dept) and Leon Panetta (CIA) constructed “Operation Zero Footprint” that President Obama approved the covert action and then informed the Gang of Eight of the weapons transfer operation.
Both of those known facts speak well to the Executive Office following a legally outlined process. This does not, however, dismiss the concern, which became the reality, that the action itself was terribly flawed and horridly imprudent.
During March, April and May 2011 there was enough intelligence information flowing to the White House informing them of exactly who would be the beneficiaries of U.S. Libyan involvement and specifically providing weapons. It did not take long to identify the Benghazi and Darnah “rebels” were actually affiliates of al-Qaeda.
While no-one reporting in 2011 was aware of Operation Zero Footprint, there were literally hundreds of media reports showcasing the ideology of the Libyan “rebel” uprising. Indeed there were numerous reports in mainstream media outlets of al-Qaeda fighters (numerous factions) flowing to Libya to oust their life-long nemesis, Gaddaffi.
From a policy standpoint it will have to be left up to historians to pore over the facts and ultimately decide what was *this* White House goal in the entire region.
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- Ben Ali removal -Tunisia- seemed OK to the administration, Obama and Clinton.
- Hosni Mubarak removal -Egypt- seemed even more ok to Obama and Clinton.
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Both of the above were viewed as potential sources for favorable policy outcomes. Indeed the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt -and election of President Morsi- did not seem to be a concern for the White House.
However, when you get to Gaddaffi’s removal -Libya- you see a serious split between ideologies within the U.S. political class as Obama/Clinton actually pushed the outcome. The U.S. defense department saying they were apprehensive about this outcome, and Obama/Clinton going “all in” for Gaddaffi ouster with French President Sarkozy.
The same interventionist Obama/Clinton motivation was evident with Syria’s Assad as yet another uprising surfaced in yet another Mid-East nation – again in March/April 2011.
We know on October 20th 2011 Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddaffi was finally captured, then killed by “the rebels”.
From the standpoint of “regime change” operation Zero Footprint was a success.
The Libyan Transitional National Council was now in control. Well, maybe in charge, or, well, sort of.
The TNC (pictured below 4 days later) may have been the face of Libya the Obama/Clinton team wanted to portray. But they were merely just that, a face.
We know Eastern Libya was then (2011), and is now (2016), a hotbed of radical Islam controlled by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Groups, the very people who benefited from the arms that were part of Zero Footprint.
We know by the Fall/Winter of 2011 the U.S. State Dept and CIA were joined and trying to re-secure the same weapons they provided in the Spring/Summer.
December 2011 – New York Times:
“Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J. Shapiro raised the American desire to arrange a purchase program in a meeting this month with Libya’s new defense minister, according to American officials familiar with the proposal.
The United States has committed $40 million to secure Libya’s arms stockpiles, much of it to prevent the spread of Manpads. No budget has been designed for a purchase program, and the price to be paid for each missile and its components has not been determined, the official said. (link)
We know from a speech delivered by Asst. Secretary of State Shapiro in Feb of 2012 the actual program to recapture the Zero Footprint weapons began in August of 2011 about two months before Gaddaffi was killed:
“Once the stalemate broke and the fighting rapidly shifted in the TNC’s [Libyan Transitional National Council] favor in August, we immediately deployed a State Department expert from the MANPADS Task Force to Benghazi.
Mark Adams, who you will hear from shortly on the panel, is the head of our MANPADS Task Force and spent considerable time on the ground in Libya.
[… ] The initial primary objective was to reach an agreement with the TNC to set up a MANPADS control and destruction program that would enable us to set up what we call our Phase I efforts.
Phase I entailed an effort to rapidly survey, secure, and disable loose MANPADS across the country. To accomplish this, we immediately deployed our Quick Reaction Force, which are teams made up of civilian technical specialists.”
We know those “civilian technical specialists”, being talked about in August 2011, were contractors, CIA contractors, hired by the State Department to recapture the weapons – some of which they provided as a specific consequence of Operation Zero Footprint.
If the story ended there it would be bad enough. A flawed policy, a secret mission arm the Libyan “rebels” without a great deal of thinking through the longer term consequences. A flawed policy with political consequences.
But when you think about the larger picture you understand why the details of the covert weapons operation Zero Footprint were so tightly guarded among select members of Congress (the Gang of Eight), the CIA (Panetta), the State Department (Clinton) and the White House (Donilon).
Each of them was trying to manage a covert operation that would expose a U.S. policy decision to arm al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist militias.
But that’s only “IF” the story ended there, in Libya, at the end of 2011 into the beginning of 2012. It didn’t, the decisions got worse – much worse.
The uprising in Syria was only a few months behind the uprising in Libya. Arguably if the timing were reversed you could ponder that Assad would have met Gaddaffi’s fate, and Gaddaffi would be as alive today as President Assad.
Whichever rebel group got the attention of the R2P crowd was sure to be the first to get assistance. The Obama R2P Doctrine is so tenuous, and so lacking in political principle, it’s subject to change based on the political whims of capitol hill at any given moment.
The Libyan “rebels” got all the weaponry love – the Syrian “rebels”, not-so-much. At least in 2011; by mid 2012 that sentiment appears to have changed.
Enter Hillary Clinton. As she reiterated vehemently to Greta Van Sustern during a recent interview, it was Hillary who wanted to help the Syrian rebels when no-one else wanted to assist them. Secretary Hillary Clinton wanted early and direct interventionist action in Syria to topple Assad just like Gaddaffi.
Obviously consequences from the first covert weapons mission in Libya made a stark case for not repeating it in Syria. Another huge factor against helping the FSA was Israel. Ultimately Israel could not afford to be put into such a risky position if Syrian rebel forces were given arms that ultimately might be used against them.
Additionally, you would think there’s no way congress, in an election year, would approve of funding Syrian rebels against the possibility of it hurting Israel; And the White House was not about to do a known and official covert operation which had a great potential to go sideways, and become far too politically dangerous. 2012 was an election year.
But they did.
Who wanted to aid Syria more? President Obama or Hillary Clinton? That is a question for later year historians. Regardless of how the idea came up, we know a decision was made to do it, and to do it covertly.
Arming the Benghazi Darnah rebels was, well, stupid. It was actually stupid, and politically stupid, but it was not illegal.
Arming jihadist fighters in Syria likewise ended up being stupid but by all appearances NOT illegal.
In August 2012, one month before the attack on the Benghazi Compound, the following Reuters article appeared. This is how we find out about the SECOND presidential finding memo which again authorized covert CIA involvement, this time in Syria:
WASHINGTON, Aug 1 [2012] (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence “finding,” broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad’s armed opponents – a shift that intensified following last month’s failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad’s opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
‘NERVE CENTER’
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad’s opponents.
This “nerve center” is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles (100 km) from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.
Turkey’s moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad’s departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.
European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad’s departure.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.
NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.
On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had “not obtained any such weapons at all.” U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.
Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.
Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad’s opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have to approve a supplement, known as a “memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.
Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.
Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it. (read more)
Note how the FSA says they didn’t get missiles, and yet missiles were shipped. This is important against the backdrop of the reality the extreme elements we now call ISIS were operating in Syria and openly laughing at our inability to identify them:
(JULY 2012) As they stood outside the commandeered government building in the town of Mohassen, it was hard to distinguish Abu Khuder’s men from any other brigade in the Syrian civil war, in their combat fatigues, T-shirts and beards.
But these were not average members of the Free Syrian Army. Abu Khuder and his men fight for al-Qaida. They call themselves the ghuraba’a, or “strangers”, after a famous jihadi poem celebrating Osama bin Laden’s time with his followers in the Afghan mountains, and they are one of a number of jihadi organisations establishing a foothold in the east of the country now that the conflict in Syria has stretched well into its second bloody year.
They try to hide their presence. “Some people are worried about carrying the [black] flags,” said Abu Khuder. “They fear America will come and fight us. So we fight in secret. Why give Bashar and the west a pretext?” But their existence is common knowledge in Mohassen. Even passers-by joke with the men about car bombs and IEDs.
According to Abu Khuder, his men are working closely with the military council that commands the Free Syrian Army brigades in the region. “We meet almost every day,” he said. “We have clear instructions from our [al-Qaida] leadership that if the FSA need our help we should give it. We help them with IEDs and car bombs. Our main talent is in the bombing operations.” Abu Khuder’s men had a lot of experience in bomb-making from Iraq and elsewhere, he added.
[…] Abu Khuder split with the FSA and pledged allegiance to al-Qaida’s organisation in Syria, the Jabhat al Nusra or Solidarity Front. He let his beard grow and adopted the religious rhetoric of a jihadi, becoming a commander of one their battalions.
“The Free Syrian Army has no rules and no military or religious order. Everything happens chaotically,” he said. “Al-Qaida has a law that no one, not even the emir, can break.
“The FSA lacks the ability to plan and lacks military experience. That is what [al-Qaida] can bring. They have an organisation that all countries have acknowledged.
“In the beginning there were very few. Now, mashallah, there are immigrants joining us and bringing their experience,” he told the gathered people. “Men from Yemen, Saudi, Iraq and Jordan. Yemenis are the best in their religion and discipline and the Iraqis are the worst in everything – even in religion.”
At this, one man in the room – an activist in his mid-30s who did not want to be named – said: “So what are you trying to do, Abu Khuder? Are you going to start cutting off hands and make us like Saudi? Is this why we are fighting a revolution?”
“[Al-Qaida’s] goal is establishing an Islamic state and not a Syrian state,” he replied. “Those who fear the organisation fear the implementation of Allah’s jurisdiction. If you don’t commit sins there is nothing to fear.” (link – more)
Against the backdrop of ISIL 2014 does this Sound familiar ?
It should also be noted this is the exact time (August 2012) when the U.N. and Kofi Annan gave up trying to influence a peaceful outcome in Syria – things had escalated beyond any hope for a diplomatic resolution.
We know the basic set up to arm the Syrian rebellion was generally not too complex.
Turkey would be used as the distribution hub, and the U.S. had Sunni friends in Saudi Arabia, and Qatar -who were more than willing to see Assad removed- and financially assist in arming the Syrians without too great a concern for what could happen to Israel.
For Obama/Clinton to get weapons to the Syrians, against the shadow of Operation Zero Footprint, without going extensively through congress, could be done covertly and easily. Either ship weapons just like Operation Zero Footprint, Saudi ==> Qatar ==> Turkey ==> Syria, OR, buy back the weapons already floating around from Operation Zero Footprint and redirect them to Syria through Turkey.
OR both.
The Saudis would be a willing financier if the State Dept needed additional money to facilitate the transfers.
We know Ambassador Chris Stevens set up a formal U.S. Embassy consulate in Tripoli around May 26th of 2012; and we know the State Dept and CIA set up their joint operations in Benghazi around the same time. We also now know this is around the EXACT time of the second Presidential CIA Directive.
Looking at the historical timeline, and knowing the contacts developed, gives a great perspective into what would have spurred the CIA/State Department to set up a more expansive presence and operation in the coastal region of Eastern Libya May/June 2012.
The official U.S. State Dept Libyan presence was vacated on Feb 25th of 2011 when the embassy personnel were evacuated. Stevens was re-establishing the diplomatic office and acting as Ambassador to Libya during the 2012 reconstruction phase.
What we did not know at the time was that Chris Stevens was also acting as the facilitator for U.S. arms shipments OUT OF LIBYA, through Turkish diplomatic couriers and into Syria. While coordinating a second covert action to arm the Syrian resistance.
A very strong argument can easily be made that Chris Stevens was a CIA operative inside the State Department. Many people within the State Department are CIA personnel using the State Dept as part of their visible cover.
In Eastern Libya June, July, August 2012 – Obviously the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Ansar Al Sharia, aka 17th Feb Brigade, and all of their commanders knew of the U.S. Benghazi weapons programs. Both the 2011 distribution, and the 2012 repurchase.
Considering the redeployment to Syria – for the most part the Benghazi and Darnah brigades would have been in alignment with their Jihadist brethren in Syria being the beneficiaries of any additional shipments.
But there was in 2011/2012 – as noted in the above articles – an ideological rift between the newly emboldened Muslim Brotherhood and the ‘more initially moderate’ Free Syrian Army (FSA). As the Libyan conflict rolled on through the summer of 2011 more al-Qaeda elements flocked from other engagements into the Syrian fight. Moderates were replaced by extremists.
By the time of the second presidential directive, as Hillary and Chris Stevens were working on support for Syria, Summer 2012, the radical Syrian opposition was embedded inside the FSA. Arguably in hindsight they were the majority element.
The Syrian opposition had three al-Qaida arms operating within it. Including one that also operated in Libya:
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- Jund al-Sham, which is made up of al-Qaida militants who are Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese;
- Jund al-Islam, which in recent years merged with Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group of Sunni Iraqis operating under the al-Qaida banner and operating in Yemen and Libya;
- Jund Ansar al-Allah, an al-Qaida group based in Gaza linked to Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria.
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It would be into this eclectic mix of Jihadist ideologues, which later became ISIL, that any diverted U.S. arms would flow. It’s no wonder that Senator John McCain was so confused when he was calling them “moderates” in 2012/2013. Almost no-one knew the severe elements in Syria would rise to the surface and become the modern ISIS now capturing all of the global attention.
https://twitter.com/ThinkAgain_DOS/statuses/502449737011068928
And…. If you just realized…. Yes, ISIS or ISIL the prior extremist force who occupied large portions of Iraq, came from Syria, fought in Syria and more than likely was armed by the U.S. inside Syria and Turkey.
They were more likely trained, in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles (100 km) from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence; by the same CIA operatives used by the State Dept to send Syria weapons from Benghazi and Darnah back in Libya.
If Operation Zero Footprint in Libya was stupid, arming the Syrian branches of al-Qaeda two years after the FSA was thoroughly corrupted by al-Qaeda, is infinite degrees beyond stupid.
But that’s hindsight for ya….. or as Secretary Clinton would say “Whether they were, … at this point, what difference does it make?”
By June of 2012 the New York Times was reporting that the CIA is operating a secret arms transfer program to Syria that sounded exactly like the re-diversion plan Clinton developed with Panetta/Petraeus.
According to the Times suddenly, there is: “…an influx of weapons and ammunition to the rebels.”
The Reuters article in August 2012 confirms the earlier report.
We know on September 5th 2012 – A Libyan flagged ship called Al Entisar (“The Victory”) docks in the Turkish port of Iskenderun. It is carrying 400 tons of cargo including many weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) destined for Syrian rebels 35 miles away from Iskenderun.
The ship’s captain told the Times of London that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Free Syrian Army broke into a fight over the arms.
In response to the Times of London report, and in a generally dismissed part of her congressional testimony, Senator Rand Paul asked outgoing Secretary Hillary Clinton a very specific question – (See @2:20 of this video and pay attention to the “duping delight”):
Which would bring us to a series of now reconcilable questions surrounding the joint State Dept. and CIA Benghazi Mission.
The entire weapons operation 2011 was labeled “Operation Zero Footprint”. The intent is outlined in the operational title – to leave no visible record of U.S. involvement in arming the Libyan “rebels”. No visible footprint.
We know from congressional inquiry Ambassador Chris Stevens had asked for more security in the months prior to Sept. 11th 2012. Requests sent to the State Dept that were denied.
We also know that NO MARINE DETACHMENT was ever put in place to defend the Benghazi Mission.
We also know the Benghazi Mission was initially, and mistakenly by media, called “a consulate”, or a “consulate outpost”. But there was no State Dept record of any consulate office in Benghazi.
All of these seeming contradictions can be reconciled with the simple understanding that this “Mission” in 2011 was unofficial. Remember the goal – No visible footprint.
We also know the Second Operation, in 2012, to arm the Syrians’ was also covert – No visible footprint.
Why were security requests denied? Remember the goal – No visible footprint.
We know from General Carter Ham (AFRICOM Commander now retired) the Department of Defense was not even aware the State Dept was operating a mission in Benghazi during 2012. Remember the goal – No visible footprint.
How could Hillary Clinton, Charlene Lamb, or Patrick Kennedy approve or request a marine security detachment knowing the entire mission around both Benghazi operations was covert?
Such a request would have traveled outside the small group of State/CIA insiders. The request would have gone to DoD. Short answer, they couldn’t.
Hence the disconnect between what seemed to be obvious and/or simple questions and the inability to accurately discuss in the public venues of congressional inquiry.
To the public Chris Stevens was a U.S. ambassador, a diplomat. To the folks inside the State Dept and CIA, Chris Stevens was a U.S. Ambassador, AND a CIA operative coordinating covert arms sales.
In 2011 those arms shipments were to aid the Libyan rebels, in 2012 those same arms were redirected to aid the Syrian rebels.
Even after death the public face of Chris Stevens, the official role, was the only role able to be discussed. The covert, or unofficial role, was not. Again, we see the disconnect between inquiry that could be answered, and inquiry that could not be answered. Many irreconcilables surface because of this intelligence role – even through today.
The second role of Stevens, the covert and CIA aspect, still causes problems for people trying to understand the “why not” questions. The broader public asking why have we not seen, or heard from the survivors of the attacks?
The short answer is: we have not heard from the survivors – but the intelligence community has.
Twice some of the survivors have given testimony to congress. The problem for the public is that those hearings are closed door, classified, intelligence hearings – led by then Chairman Mike Rogers and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Again, go back to the beginning of Operation Zero Footprint and you see the congressional Intelligence Gang of Eight were fully aware of the intents.
The Gang of Eight in 2011 / 2012 was: House Speaker – John Boehner, Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi; House Permanent Select Committee on Intel Chairman – Mike Rogers, and his Democrat counterpart Charles Ruppersberger; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; along with Senate Intel Chair Diane Feinstein and her Republican counterpart, Saxby Chambliss.
Why was Speaker Boehner reluctant to establish a Select Committee on Benghazi ?
Simple, again he is one of the Gang of Eight – and he was briefed on both operations. How is he going to call for a select committee to investigate when he knows the substance of the committee investigation is classified under national security. Such a committee would not, because it could not, deliver what the public was requesting, sunlight.
The only reason Trey Gowdy was finally assigned the task of a Select Committee, was simply because the public lies of the White House and administration were contradicting themselves. More trumpet, more noise, was needed to cloud the stark reality that both political parties held oversight over the entire Benghazi debacle.
The White House “talking points“, which was/is a ridiculous squirrel hunt, were created to reconcile the problem faced when unable to discuss a covert operation.
It is far easier to look at the reality of the problem faced by the White House and CIA than any nefarious intention.
Unfortunately for the administration, or for any administration, they are not that good at controlling facts when questions that cannot be answered publicly are asked publicly.
Team Obama was so committed to keeping the covert operation “Zero Footprint” a secret (because of the political embarrassment from factually arming al Qaeda) that the cover story they manufactured (on the fly) was fraught with contradictions.
How could President Obama dispatch help to the Benghazi team, when DoD was not even aware of it’s existence? Sending help would have compromised OpSec, Operational Security.
The dispatch of F.E.S.T. would lead to increased knowledge of a covert operation.
Hopefully you are beginning to see the root of the contradictions. Once you understand the truth of what was going on within the back story – there’s almost nothing left which would dangle as an unanswered question. It all reconciles.
Back to the FALL of 2012 – On September 5th/6th 2012 the Turkish vessel “Al Entisar” docked in the Turkish port of Iskenderun. 400 tons of serious cargo including weapons destined for Syrian “rebels”.
In the U.S. that September 5th night former President Bill Clinton was introducing Candidate Barack Obama at the DNC convention in Charlotte North Carolina. In Afghanistan that night something happened that had already become a serious concern for the operatives within “Operation Zero Footprint”.
At the exact time Clinton was speaking in North Carolina, halfway around the world in Afghanistan Army Chief Warrant Officers Thalia S. Ramirez, 28, of San Antonio and Jose L. Montenegro Jr., 31, of San Juan, in the Rio Grande Valley, were killed while flying an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, a Defense Department news release stated.
On September 5th 2012 – A U.S. organized ship loaded with weapons including missiles was offloading at a Turkish port. Bill Clinton was introducing Barack Obama, and the first black female combat pilot was shot down and killed by a shoulder fired missile in Afghanistan.
The relationship between the three events reflects the absolute political fear that revolved around Operation Zero Footprint.
The CIA and Intelligence community had stated earlier the biggest concern anyone held about arming the Libyan Rebels was the possibility those weapons might leave the Libyan conflict and travel to other locations where they would be used against our own soldiers. More and more evidence of this happening was growing.
In 2011 a total of four air assets were destroyed by enemy fire in Afghanistan. Two of those helicopters happened at the same time in August 2011 when we lost the Navy Seal unit that killed Osama Bin Laden. 22 Americans killed.
We had been in close quarter full combat operations in Afghanistan for 10 years, and we never had a problem with close air support. We had never faced the concern of our enemy having MANPADS.
From 2002 through 2010 Combat Operations saw zero occurrences of SAMS, Stingers, or MANPADS in general.
Within months after delivering weapons to the Benghazi and Darnah rebels (May, June and July 2011) we began facing MANPADS in Afghanistan.
Four instances in late in 2011 including the 22 lives lost in what came to be known as Operation “Extortion 17”.
In 2012 it got worse, much worse: June 1st AFGHANISTAN:
A combined patrol discovered a weapons cache containing three shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles, three anti-tank mines, 423 RPGs, 118,600 7.62 mm rounds, 30 rifles and other ordnance in the Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province. The cache’s contents were destroyed. (link)
We had a serious problem and it was picking up speed exponentially. June 6th 2012 we lost another crew. July 25th 2012 yet another. August 16th 2012 again more losses. September 5th 2012 more deaths. It just kept getting worse.
By September 5th 2012 in the preceding nine months we had lost 11 helicopters to shoulder fired missiles in Afghanistan. The following headline hit the media:
America Suffers Worst Airpower Loss Since Vietnam
One of the incidents revealed details of what was being faced. The July 25th 2012 downing of a CH-47 which was found to have been hit with a “new generation” stinger missile. The risks were no longer mere worries, they were real:
[O]n July 25, 2012, Taliban fighters in Kunar province successfully targeted a US Army CH-47 helicopter with a new generation Stinger missile.
They thought they had a surefire kill. But instead of bursting into flames, the Chinook just disappeared into the darkness as the American pilot recovered control of the aircraft and brought it to the ground in a hard landing.
The assault team jumped out the open doors and ran clear in case it exploded. Less than 30 seconds later, the Taliban gunner and his comrade erupted into flames as an American gunship overhead locked onto their position and opened fire.
The next day, an explosive ordnance disposal team arrived to pick through the wreckage and found unexploded pieces of a missile casing that could only belong to a Stinger missile.
Lodged in the right nacelle, they found one fragment that contained an entire serial number.
The investigation took time. Arms were twisted, noses put out of joint. But when the results came back, they were stunning: The Stinger tracked back to a lot that had been signed out by the CIA recently, not during the anti-Soviet jihad.
Reports of the Stinger reached the highest echelons of the US command in Afghanistan and became a source of intense speculation, but no action.
Everyone knew the war was winding down. Revealing that the Taliban had US-made Stingers risked demoralizing coalition troops. Because there were no coalition casualties, government officials made no public announcement of the attack.
My sources in the US Special Operations community believe the Stinger fired against the Chinook was part of the same lot the CIA turned over to the Qataris in early 2011, weapons Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department intended for anti-Khadafy forces in Libya.
They believe the Qataris delivered between 50 and 60 of those same Stingers to the Taliban in early 2012, and an additional 200 SA-24 Igla-S surface-to-air missiles. (link)
In Afghanistan the DoD field response was immediate; all Close Air Support was cancelled.
The White House had a problem – “Operation Zero Footprint” missiles were now being used against us, but DoD didn’t know the origin because the Defense Department did not know about Zero Footprint, the State Department and CIA did.
The killing of Army Chief Warrant Officers Thalia S. Ramirez, 28, and Jose L. Montenegro Jr., 31, might not have been the final straw – but their September 5th 2012 deaths coincided with an absolute change in direction.
While the ISIS-minded Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Free Syrian Army were arguing over who gets what from aboard the Turkish vessel, back in Benghazi, Libya it was obvious the ideology of the Syrian factions were too extreme and the CIA could no longer control who would use such weapons.
God forbid DoD ground commanders in Afghanistan find out the MANPADS they were facing originated by our covert efforts in Libya.
Strangely one must give credit to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As unbelievable as it might sound he was the lone Islamic voice in March 2011 saying “don’t arm the Benghazi rebels“:
March 2011 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has said he does not support the idea of arming Libyan rebels fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi from power.
Speaking at a joint news conference with David Cameron, the British prime minister, in London, Erdogan said: “Doing that would create a different situation in Libya and we do not find it appropriate to do that.”
Erdogan also said that that sending weapons to Libya could feed terrorism, saying such weapons shipments “could also create an environment which could be conducive to terrorism”. (read more)
Erdogan and U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates were of the same mindset.
“My view would be, if there is going to be that kind of assistance to the opposition, there are plenty of sources for it other than the United States,” said Gates. “Somebody else should do that.” (link)
However, for Syria in 2012 Erdogan had a divergent opinion. He was all for arming the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. This article, again from August 2012 – one month prior to the attack against Chris Stevens, outlines the goal of both Erdogan and President Obama:
(August 2012) President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone Monday “to coordinate efforts to accelerate a political transition in Syria,” the White House said.
This “would include the departure of (Syrian leader) Bashar Assad and be responsive to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people,” the statement said.
Obama and Erdogan shared their concerns over the Syrian regime’s crackdown on opposition “and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions throughout Syria as a result of the regime’s atrocities.”
Both [Obama and Erodgan] promised to coordinate efforts to help the growing numbers of Syrians displaced by the violence within Syria or forced to flee over the border to take refuse in Turkey or other nations in the region.
The statement said US and Turkish teams “would remain in close contact on ways that Turkey and the United States can work together to promote a democratic transition in Syria.” (link)
Alas, given the backstory of DoD not wanting to arm the rebels, and given the unintended consequences of 2011/2012 from Operation Zero Footprint, and given an upcoming election in November 2012, you can see why in post September 11 of 2012 the Obama administration would want to discontinue this operation and throw a bag over the events of the past 17 months.
Perhaps following the fiasco at the Port of Iskenderun a week earlier, Turkish Diplomat Consul General Ali Sait Akin arrives at the Benghazi Mission on Sept 11th 2012 to talk about the ongoing efforts to support Syria.
Perhaps, the conversation was about the increasing risk of arming a rising group of radicals against the backdrop of MANPADS being used against U.S. forces in other fields of combat.
Regardless of motivation Ali Sait Akin and Stevens were most certainly discussing the current situation with Turkey suffering the consequences and pushing a greater sense of urgency.
Indeed Turkey’s border region was filled with historic numbers of Syrian refugees fleeing the fighting which was completely out of control. The Scale of the crisis was staggering and out of control. Over 500,000 Syrians were now seeking shelter in Turkey.
Meanwhile the ideology of the radical elements controlling the arms shipments was openly becoming a danger to the entire region, and especially U.S. interests beyond Syria.
This would have put Stevens (U.S.) and Akin (Turkey) as opposing ends of the issue.
What we now know as ISIS – originated inside this group of Zero Footprint recipients, and Erdogan, a Muslim Brotherhood supporter, wanted to see Assad removed at any cost.
The rabid ideologues (now known as ISIS-2014) were quickly evolving into a risk for the region. The U.S. policy team would have viewed the risk far differently than Turkey.
As the New York Times reported in an Oct. 14 2012 article, “Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster.”
We can only imagine the conversation within the Benghazi compound as both Ali Sait Akin and Chris Stevens parted ways for the final time on September 11th 2012.
Outside the compound walls, the 17th Feb Brigade – Ansar Al Sharia – were also assembled to deliver their final goodbyes.
The Turkish delegation was able to navigate the roadblocks without issue. And within 30 minutes of Consul Akin leaving the venue, Ansar Al Sharia executed their attack.
The Benghazi and Darnah Brigades already knew the compound inside and out, as well as the CIA ANNEX compound, a kilometer away, which contained four warehouse type buildings used by the CIA during the collection, distribution and delivery of Zero Footprint’s objectives over the past 17 months.
In June of 2009 the primary Benghazi Mission compound looked like this:
In March of 2011, when Operation Zero Footprint began, the Tactical Operations Command building (TOC) was added and it looked like this:
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In December of 2005 the area which became the CIA Annex compound held two buildings:
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In 2009 two more buildings were added bringing the total to FOUR:
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By the time the CIA took over 2011, and when the compound came under mortar fire 2012, it looked like this:
Author’s notes:
The primary reason for outlining this brief is to deliver a greater understanding of why things happened the way they did in the post 9/11/12 attack media frenzy.
If you understand what took place from March 2011 through the night of the attack itself all of the contradictions reconcile, and most of the questions become answered.
Factually, I would challenge anyone who reads this brief to actually have a question left unanswered.
The events of the attack itself are gut wrenching and troubling. Our brave operations folks had to fight their way out of a situation where they literally were on their own due to the political risks inherent in carrying out their objectives.
However, they knew they were beyond the wire, they knew they were covert – they knew there was no manner, method or possibility of protection…. And this is the point everyone seems to miss:
THEY HAD TO KNOW THE DoD WAS IN THE DARK ABOUT THEIR ACTIVITY. There was NOTHING the Pentagon could have done to help them. Those people inside the Eastern Libya City of Benghazi, operating on behalf of the administration, were, for all intents and purposes, GHOSTS. They did not “technically” exist.
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the mission they were tasked to carry out, there is no doubt they worked honorably to serve their nation. Ultimately the leadership within the State Department, The CIA, and the White House are responsible for the outcomes of policy.
Our hope is that this outline will stimulate journalists to question those who were at the heart of these two operations. Ultimately the Trey Gowdy select committee will find there is no venue to discuss intelligence operations with public sunlight. While both Zero Footprint in 2011, and the Unnamed CIA operation in 2012 were flawed policy – they were not necessarily illegal.
There is a matter of an unidentified State Dept $6 billion contractor fund missing from Hillary’s term as Secretary of State; that might bear investigation. However, beyond those smaller questions there is little if anything to gain.
FUBAR.
~ Sundance
Common Questions: The AFTERMATH – “The Cairo Protest VS The Benghazi Attack”
Here is where people get confused – because the U.S. State department wanted people to get confused.
On 9/11/12 the State Department was originally trying to deflect attention away from the Cairo Embassy Protest.
CNN correspondent Nick Robertson interviewed Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Al Zawahiri on the morning of the planned Cairo protest 9/11/12. Zawahiri and team told Robertson they were rallying and protesting for the release of the Blind Sheik.
The protest turned violent, and the U.S. Embassy was overrun by extremists who eventually hoisted the black flag of al-Qaeda within the compound.
The State Dept was trying desperately to cover their ass and frame the narrative so the optics of the al-Qaeda onslaught to the Embassy could be controlled.
To hide the intentions of the protesting mob (release of the Blind Sheik) the U.S. State Department fell back on a story about the Mohammed video – which they found out about two days earlier.
Against the backdrop of an upcoming election, and with Republicans beating up Democrats over the short-sighted foreign policy, the State Dept did not want the Muhammed Al Zawahiri narrative. The compound being overrun was a political embarrassment, so they used the silly video to explain the protest:
(Remember this is all early in the day – prior to the Benghazi attack)
However, Mitt Romney jumped on this State Dept. Press Release to make the case that the U.S. appeared weak and apologetic. It created an immediate stir.
Unknown at the time – was an UNRELATED attack taking place at the Benghazi compound. The attack at Benghazi Libya had nothing to do with the protests at the Cairo embassy.
However, once the Benghazi attack took place, the State Dept needed a cover story which would sell to the U.S. electorate to explain the Benghazi issues. What Hillary and team did was sell/use the Cairo story as an explanation for Benghazi.
This is how the YouTube video came into play.
The YouTube video had nothing to do with the Cairo Embassy Protest.
The YouTube video had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack.
Nothing about the YouTube story was correct. It was all manufactured excuse-making, strategically put into the media cycle to protect the administration from the reality of flawed policy.
The YouTube video had nothing to do with the Embassy protest in Cairo, nor the Benghazi attack in Libya. By now I think everyone would concur, albeit the media never went back to the Cairo motive to discuss because it became a secondary issue.
Did the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Cairo, or specifically Muhammed Al Zawahiri, coordinate in some way with Ansar al Sharia in Libya, specifically on 9/11/12?
That’s a good question – unfortunately however, it’s a question without a factual answer. I don’t know; and an argument can be made that given all of the players and the influx of their communication it’s quite possible there was some coordination of effort.
What is factually certain is any communication they did have had nothing to do with a ridiculous YouTube video.
The Cairo protest was 100% certain to be about the release of the Blind Sheik.
Was the Benghazi attack related in some effort to gain a hostage (Chris Stevens) as leverage toward that Al Zawahiri effort? Possible. I’ve seen that argument made but have not been able to definitively connect the two. It is a hard question to answer because the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammed Al Zawahiri (the brother of al-Qaeda’s #1 Ayman Al Zawahiri who Biden recently claimed was killed), and the leadership of Ansar Al Sharia were not necessarily telling the foot soldiers the plans or larger objectives.
The more troubling question is, was the Benghazi attack related to deep state black op intelligence motives (people behind Obama and Clinton), who just wanted the entire illegal Libyan weapons crisis and the arming of ISIS to disappear.
When you consider that the United States government manufactured the story of the anti-Islam YouTube video as the motive for the attack, and when you consider that federal agents arrested Nakoula Basseley Nakoula as a result of that video he created, there is a solid argument to be made that Deep State CIA/DoS operatives were just trying to throw a bag over everything related to Benghazi, Libya.
In that scenario, it would be argued –and I would not refute– that Libyan forces were contracted and guided by elements of the U.S. government to destroy everything including the Benghazi Compound and any evidence held in the CIA annex. In essence, the covert Benghazi operation became a risk to the U.S. government, so everyone and everything was erased.
That internal motive would explain: (1) why the DoD was never called to help; (2) why the CIA contractors on the ground couldn’t get help; (3) why it took the FBI a purposeful 19 days to arrive and investigate; (4) why the congressional investigation was a farse; and (5) why President Obama and Hillary Clinton seemed disconnected albeit protected.
Knowing everything we have discovered about the Deep State since 2012, if you were to force me to give a guess about the background motives behind the attack itself, the only answer that explains everything is that our own government coordinated the attack to eliminate the political threat operation ‘Zero Footprint’ contained.
There is a spooky similarity inside a current reference. The YouTube producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was arrested in order to frame a narrative and create the illusion of a motive; in essence to hide the background. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was similarly arrested in order to protect the false claims of Russia hacking the DNC, which underpinned another Deep State operation, the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
It is amazing how little anyone ever hears about Libya now….
I remember watching the news coverage of the Benghazi attack. I was struck by a photo of a large group of Libyans carrying Chris Stevens, dying of smoke inhalation, thru the streets to the hospital. He had friends, and they wanted to save him. A human moment that stood in contrast to the violence.
And I thought hey, that’s my name.
Later I found out he was my second cousin. Never knew they guy existed before that photo. But I will be forever grateful to the common people of Libya who tried to save him.
Remember chrisy was a gay muslim lover having sex with the same muslims that raped him with a knife , chrisy was no hero , killing Christians in Syria.
That is very strange, Yappy. I recall an interview with his FEMALE fiancee after the attack.
There was another man at the outpost with Stevens that night. Sean Smith was there with Stevens in the week before the attack. Stevens and Sean Smith held their posts in the face of a very dangerous situation. They were heroes.
Smith’s mother was on tv for a few years, in anguish, calling out Hillary to tell the truth about what had happened to her son.
I despise Hillary and Obama, the mission was stupid and the deaths of all those who died that night were preventable.
I’ve seen that photo. To me and a lot of people, he looked like he was already dead and that they were just parading him through the streets.
I think it’s interesting that his wikipedia entry says the medical staff found no injuries on his body and declared that his death was due to hypoxia from smoke inhalation. But if you look at that famous picture he has injuries on his forehead, cheek, and mouth, the mouth looking like someone hit him.
Knowing now that he was probably CIA directing weapons from Libya to Syria and aided the development of ISIS, I have no sympathy for him.
There’s a photo of Chris Stevens being held down on a table that night with electrical wires attached to…
What a conglomeration of absolutely evil, souless, terrible excuses for human beings. I could wind up in big touble for what I’m thinking should happen to these rats. If I could watch it would be worth it.
Always knew just what this was early on. Trust the gut. What I did not realize was the extent of involvement and lack of. The BS that this country has created around the world over my lifetime is astonishing. Morally, I ask myself why but the creators have no morals and the answer to my question is the same one it usually is. Money. I some way shape or form regardless of what BS moral high ground of a label this slime slaps on the face, the evil root is always money. Money gives the power they crave. They all have the almighty view of themselves. They know better than the peasants. What a sick society we have created for ourselves.
It does seem that our CIA causes trouble wherever they go and that they are now causing touble here at home, in our own government, and stirring unrest in our country.
No. Money is NOT the root of all evil, nor is the love of money the root of all evil. Read Atlas Shrugged. The love of power and control is the root of all evil. Unfortunately, money is used, many times, to get power and control. Evil people use it for evil. Good people, for good. We need many more good people to start using money for good.
“We”, meaning We The People (The Deplorables, if you will) have not created a sick society. The evil people with lots of power and control have created a sick society. Well over 90% of the people in the USA, and the world, are good and decent people. Evil people in gubmint, corporations, and education have contributed to and created a sickness in our society.
Or, rather, they keep trying to. Our society is far from sick. There are too many good and decent people in this country for our society to be called sick. We do, however, have some problems, some sickness. And, we do seem to be approaching a point where a change is needed. Will good people have to do some bad things to clean up the mess (cleanup in aisles DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, LA, San Fran, antifa, blm, crt, lgbtq crap, vote fraud, media, etc.)? Drain the swamp? Maybe. If that’s what it takes. Count me in.
I do question making the assumption that it was ‘unintended consequences’ that Hillary and McStain didn’t KNOW they were arming Al Quaeda operatives, as Sundance says “given what we now know”.
Look at who initiated the whole “arab spring uprisings”; CIA with Big tech help.
And, what was the result?
Destabilising the ME (a major OIL Producing region), AND causing the flood of ‘illegal’ immigration refugees, up into the soft underbelly of Western Europe, who’s Governments (but not people) welcomed them.
Hmm, just like how Fast/Furious supplied arms the cartels, which ramped up violence, and motivated mass migratiom
And did they also, as a result of “unintended consequences” conduct the maiden uprising in Ukraine, and support Azoz battallions, and set the stage for disrupting ANOTHER Oil producing region, with Russia/Ukraine.
Once is happenstance,…
Twice?,…coincidence.
Third time is enemy action.
Now, maybe its not Hillary and John, maybe its, as Sundance says “the intelligence agencies”..
IF the arab springs had been successful, they fan islamic extremism, and its ultimate target in the ME is Saudi Arabia, has always been Osama bin ladins goal to take out the Royals,…and on the shia side, Iran is supporting houthis fighting SA.
Take out Saudis, no oil.
Take out Putin, no oil.
To me, an easy assumption to make, is that Trey Goudy was the bondo and paint guy; the same reason his committee couldn’t REALLY expose Benghazi (Republicans were just as responsible as Dems) also applied to Fast and Furious, and obviously to IRS/TEA PARTY.
This exposes the true nature of the Uniparty, and had to be concealed.
The fourth branch of government is in control. Bush’s, Clintons, Obama, Biden were/are avatars. The anomaly was PDJT.
What an amazing 💡 light he did shine on all of the above evil disasters— just by being a good citizen/leader who wanted a strong, productive society.
President Trump was the exception that proved The Rule.
Nice summation. Shortly after the official Arab Spring, Iran was having it’s own Persian “spring” a chance to topple the Ayatollah’s, Barry didn’t lift a finger to help the people. But shortly after sat down with the Iranian Theocracy and treat with them over their Nuclear “threat” sending them billions.
I guess this is what was meant about the “Chicago Way”.
Criminals the lot of them.
If we consider control over oil, it makes a lot more sense why Hillary was so deeply involved in regime change in Libya – to the extent that she had her own personal spy “old family friend” Sidney Blumenthal feeding her intelligence on Libya in 2011.
If not control over oil, what was the benefit for U.S. support of the Arab Spring.
LOL, what if Hillary Clinton is not some venal globalist mastermind? What if she is just the “fall guy” for the “intelligence community?”
OH for heaven’s sake. What a ridiculous question. She is an evil mastermind if there ever was one. What kind of a naive person asks a question like that. She has a heart of stone and ice. The intelligence community LOVED her because She was just like them!!
No one has bothered to question Petreus regarding his trips to Ankara in unmarked CIA planes. No one has bothered to investigate the role of Turkish consul at Benghazi during the attack on the American outpost. Still so many questions unanswered.
How about: CONTROL all oil at any cost. The cabal had control of the huge Russian fossil fuel reserves for a while and they were very happy, they lost control and the demonizing of Putin started…
Within all of the intrigue of foreign malevolence and interference in the affairs of other nations you present here is the arguably greater threat to our nation at home that the cover-up excuse of a YouTube video inciting the attack resulted in.
A malign attack on free speech, our First Amendment rights, in the government-directed blame and subsequent censorship on social media was officially launched one decade ago in response to the false claim.
When Pres. Obama gave a speech to the world at the UN weeks later it was the first time an American president blamed our constitution, our cherished free speech rights for an assault on our nation.
We live with the natural progression of that consequential moment in history. The pandemic censorship of contra-narratives, jabs, masks, woke censorship, election integrity censorship, the evolving information control by government-directed Big Tech and Big Media can all be traced back to Benghazi and the cover story. That blamed free speech. And punished it.
For all the bad that happened that day, the dirty, dangerous weapons deals, the cover-up was worse. As usual.
Obama blames the video in his UN speech September 25, 2012 (1:40 video clip)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/white-house-contacted-youtube-anti-706839
and therein lies the problem – too many believe this nonsense.
Too many are easily manipulated, i.e. the Plandemic.
I believe the evidence has shown that OBAMA was and remains a clear and present danger to the very existence of our republic.
Ask yourself WHO approved of him and certified him as the DEMONRAT candidate? Why, it was Nazi Piglousy, the Queen of Mean herself, the b!tch.
IIRC, she and Diane Feinstein had to create a document saying he could be preezy without being a citizen.
Pelosi “accidently” left the clause about obama being”eligible for office according to the Constitution of the United States” off the form they sent to Hawaii. All of the other 49 states had that clause included but not Hawaii. CYA /Pelosi. The fix was in.
Who is Obama anyway?
https://newswithviews.com/unanswered-mystery-of-the-century-barack-hussein-obama/
Hillary framed the videographer and threw him in prison.
Billy Dale.
Seth Rich.Julian Assange.
Edward Snowden.
Donald Trump.
Lets also hold the GOPe and leadership accountable for allowing these criminals back into Gov. positions without any resistance or challenge during confirmation.
Great research and perspective btw.
This life or the next – they pay! For all of it. I hope those trinkets where worth it. An eternity for trinkets …
That’s the curse from the garden – numb! Spend your life chasing to feel something, numb and Satan knows it. Now its easy, you need feel something – trinkets, sex, power, whatever you need to feel something. Temporary. It’ll pass and the need to feel something again will come. Anything to feel something …
An act of kindness? A smile? A sunset? A child laughing? …
Numb they are. Wait till they no longer in the shell. Feel again they will. Fully and without mercy …
“Our hope is that this outline will stimulate journalists to question those who were at the heart of these two operations. “
If that’s the case, then all hope is lost – nothing less than hard drugs will stimulate today’s crop of journalists. FUBAR indeed.
What journalists? Do such people exist? Aren’t they an extinct species? I think I once read about them in the Brothers’ Grimm book of fairy tales.
The journos are so wrapped up in lies that the truth offends and disgusts them. They are addicted to treason. There is no way out once they buy into the role and accept the perks. Sometimes they retire but they always find a way to come back. It’s a sickness in their souls.
The presidential election that followed the Benghazi plop was very quiet all the stand down heroes were as silent as cowards , frightened men .
A few years later after Trump won the white house , he made it safe for our stand down heroes to be men again, to come out write books and go on the circuits selling them .
Our government is run by corrupt serial liars.
Evil and devil jihadist, occultist, criminals ran Benghazi, killing Christians in Syria, we were the enemy ,
The compound in Benghazi was not helping humanity,. We had no business there,
Washington believes America belongs to them. Not us.
Excellent analysis. Trust no one who stays aligned with the Uniparty swamp.
The Intel and Administrative gaggle with a myriad of unelected buffoons devise more ways to create murder and mayhem both internally and in foreign arenas.
We finally elect (rather than select) someone who just wants to make this country stronger and better for the citizens. All hell has been breaking loose ever since.
The comparison of life under the Trump presidency as opposed to pre-Trump and the destruction that is occurring post-Trump is amazing. It isn’t just the evil, the interference, and frequent illegality.
Many of these people are incredibly stupid. It makes the circumstances we find ourselves in increasingly dangerous.
Excellent Sundance. Thank you for the clarity. Thank you and your team for your bravery.
When you mention the mortar fire on the CIA Annex, you have to wonder why the mortars stopped firing after relatively few rounds. The defense was built around firing positions on top of the buildings inside the outer walls enclosing the compound. Drive the defenders from the rooftops, and you force the remaining defenders into a Last Stand on the ground, probably barricaded inside the main building being run by the “Bob” mentioned in the Charlie Kirk video at Rumble, who kept the SEALS tied down while the “consulate” was seized and sacked by terrorists. I wonder what Bob was thinking when the terrorists started attacking the CIA Annex—with him in it?
If someone in DC wanted everyone in the CIA Annex killed, prolonging mortar bombardment was the key. For some reason, it ended before the entire facility could be erased along with the people inside. All I can think of was enough evidence could be destroyed after the survivors were evacuated, that those watching on satellite imagery were satisfied the attack could be called off
Of interest to me are the first 2 photos of the Cairo kerfuffle that show – in English characters – “A-C-A-b”. These are tags used & often seen by Antifans here in the US, particularly during the “mostly peaceful” riots of 2020. They will say it means “all cops are bastards” – but they have also indicated that those inside are to be burnt “as crispy as bacon.” The lower-case ‘b’ at the end makes me think this was not someone with English as primary language.
Don’t know significance – just stuck out to me to see that particular tag in English on the outside wall of the embassy.
What about we normal human beings catch some of these umbrella and skateboard pansies and burn them up “crispy as bacon” and hang them from the tallest bridges in the city to rot. Might send a clear and undeniable message, eh?
Enough of this domestic terrorism. And that is all such rhetoric and activities as Pantyfart and Burn Loot Murder are. Domestic terrorism.
And we wonder why some nations refer to the USA as “the great satan”.
That used to anger me, now I get it. But with what we now know, this is the activity and the face that other countries see, this must be corrected, it’s already fixed.
Shameful.
Almost forgot–ISIL found it easy to overrun base camps/weapons depots in Iraq, and in the course of this campaign, came into possession of M1 Abrams tanks (40) which briefly got them on the Wikipedia list of countries that use Abrams tanks.
How did a bunch of Jihadis learn how to drive, and to fight with, Abrams tanks when it takes considerable time to train US tank crews to use the sophisticated targeting system, etc. that makes the tank’s smooth bore main gun deadly accurate over extreme distances which includes a gyroscope that keeps the gun stable for firing on the move? I used to ask this question a lot on the Internet, but never got an answer from any insiders who would know.
Because the jihadis are our government’s “irregulars.” You know, the irregulars our government paid to train to kill our regulars? Paid to train and to use our weapons to murder our friends, sons, daughters, lovers? Yeah, that f-ing government.
That’s what I figured since Tank 101 usually takes better than a year, now at Fort Bragg rather than Fort Knox.
Why no Patriot has sent Cankles to her maker yet is beyond me
Well, she should at least be in jail, by her own standards, as she is going around stating “nobody is above the rule of law”.
it should be illegal
I remember a story about Hillary Clinton possessing a file produced by the State Department which listed Qaddafi’s wealth and where it was located. I wonder if Hillary was able to loot any of it. Within three days after losing the 2016 election, the Clinton Fund was moved to Qatar.
Also while the hunt for Qaddafi was on, Sidney Blumenthal was hounding Hillary and her aides to get a copy of it. These people are pillagers which explain global warming.
Great story; I remember it like yesterday. Always expected we’d discover the Benghazi “consulate” was attacked with American weapons, and now it makes sense “zero footprint”. Erased.
But my question is how was Benghazi arms supply to al qaeda groups and Syria arms supply to al qaeda groups not illegal, when you consider we were at war with al qaeda in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks by al qaeda in USA? Wasn’t this providing arms to the enemy in time of war?
And it now makes sense why USA military didn’t go into Benghazi to get the four out… because the CIA / USA initiated the attack to erase “operation zero footprint”… that’s why the stand down order.
Also makes sense now why Gen Petraeus was setup and framed… and removed.
All the pieces fit.
Wish Sundance would have pulled together similar facts on the stealing of the 2020 election.
Obama, Hillary, and the mussleman brotherhood is all that needs to be stated. Evil is as evil does.
Those two stupid POC women and their equally stupid POC boss destroyed this country with the help of the Stale and Pale Drunk from Chicago Killery KKKlinton, the Drug Importer In Chief’s Mother of Darkness. These filth utterly destroyed this country.
The good old days when the US government was merely corrupt.
“More trumpet, more noise, was needed to cloud the stark reality that both political parties held oversight over the entire Benghazi debacle.”
The evil cabal, “The Gang of Eight”.
The nucleus of the Uniparty.
“In that scenario, it would be argued –and I would not refute– that Libyan forces were contracted and guided by elements of the U.S. government to destroy everything including the Benghazi Compound and any evidence held in the CIA annex. In essence, the covert Benghazi operation became a risk to the U.S. government, so everyone and everything was erased.” – Sundance
If true and I believe it to be true, then all those in the know and involved in contacting and guiding the Libyan forces to destroy the Benghazi Compound have committed murder of American citizens, no different than hiring a hitman, but also treason! Providing aide and comfort to an enemy is treason! Their allegiance wasn’t to the United States it was to obama and Hillary!!! Will there ever be justice? Apparently not in this lifetime to our eternal shame!!! Godspeed Sundance!
The Reuters “Operation Zero Footprint” link is dead. This one isn’t and comes up in as the first listing in a Duck Duck Go search:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2014/08/09/the-benghazi-brief-the-entire-story-of-operation-zero-footprint-in-libya-and-why-further-committee-hearings-are-futile/
What we learned was that our own government will kill it’s own people to cover their own corrupt arses.
We learned that our government interferes in matters all over the world, using our money without our permission.
We learned that people like Susan Rice will go on national television and read her script with no internal moral compass or intelligence or critical analysis. The Obama worship is strong with that one.
Our government needs to be disbanded.
We need a “do over”.
The CIA and FBI need to be gutted.
Thank you Sundance. I remember that time well. I’ll never forget it.
The CIA and FBI need to be ended. FIFY
Who is the Shadow POTUS/Puppet Master?
Slightly off topic, but inspired musing because of this topic, and because this was the 1st time she hit the world stage.
As one speculates on Obama’s and FJB’s puppetmaster(s)/shadow president(s), my original candidate was Valeri Jarret. I am now thinking Susan Rice is the Shadow POTUS. I have no proof that she is the sole leader of the cabal other than she is the only constant that seems to make corrections for the 2 administrations.
Prove me wrong 🙂
Pretty good chance she is liaison between Obamboozler and Biden. She is very willing to lie for O and the “cause”.
Thank you, Sundance, for another expose on our “betters” in the US government. These people are so dirty and evil that they make my skin crawl. The basic synopsis is this: They do evil activities around the world to accumulate wealth and power. Then they kill, maim, and destroy others to cover their tracks. For a few weeks, the media and Trey Gowdy (back then) go through the motions of “getting to the bottom of this”. Then it all goes away and they move to the next region/nation to plunder and destroy in the name of LOVE OF MONEY.
No wonder so many people around the world hate the USA. President Donald J Trump changed that. In many nations he sparked a populist, fair trade, do what’s right for your citizens, and let people be free Movement. They cannot have him setting an example to, not just the USA, but the world.
A great read about the truth of Russia/Ukraine war. https://www.thepostil.com/our-latest-interview-with-jacques-baud/
Which all of the above now lead to the question of where any arms headed for Ukraine are really going.
Where are all the arms left (gifted) in Afghanistan going?
A lot of the same players from 2011 have reentered the game in 2022.
Who are our DOD subcontractors making arms for, while on US soil?
Clinton & Company need to go to hell.
and the butcher of benghazi still walks free…
waddles
Sundance, Thank you for the extensive research. I started to read and became angry again. I remember how that witch sat in front of congress with a smirk on her face and said, “At this point what difference does it make?” And the leftists howled with laughter. 4 People are dead and they are Howling with laughter. I hope every person in the decision tree rots in Hell.
I agree that the actions of the Obama-Clinton-CIA Team was negligent, down right evil and showed extremely poor judgement in their decision making. Yet, I will go one step further…It was premeditated and the Obama Team ALL knew exactly whom they were supplying weapons as well as their intended use.
All one has to do is look at funding provided by Obama to the Muslim Brotherhood for their use in the region as well as the draw down of US Forces, against the advice of Obama’s own Generals, in Iraq prior to the rise of ISIL. Then there was the removal of responsibility for the Operation in Libya from a competent AFRICOM Commander, where it belonged, to the incompetent US SACEUR Commander … a frigin’ Turkish Born Navy Admiral.
Combine this with the INTEL compartmentalization Sundance always mentions and the planned pieces for the PLANNED Arab Spring were in place.
Recall that while they were monsters: Assad, Qaddafi and Saddam did keep a major lid and handle on operations the Muslim Brotherhood allies operating in their countries. That is the reason the Muslim Brotherhood and GCC Regimes, in place before President Trump was elected in 2016, wanted to see them gone and were willing to finance them.
Notice that after President Trump was elected there were major changes in the power structures of GCC, Qatar was suppressed and the GCC contributed major assets to removing ISIL elements. Then the Abraham Accords came into being.
The nuance of the GCC Power structure change is one many always seem to overlook. The GCC Power structure post 2016 was not the same as the 9/11 through 2016 power structure. Also, overlooked was the suppression of Qatar as a regional Bank and HQ for the Muslim Brotherhood as well as kick-back source for US Politicians. Without these changes there are NO Abraham Accords and ISIL is still in operation across Iraq and Syria.
How soon it is forgotten that one of the very first actions taken before allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to assume control over the $4 Trillion+ base of operations in Afghanistan by the JoeBama Regime was the REOPENING of Qatar by the US State Department as a terrorist regional bank, HQ for the Muslim Brotherhood and hub for kick-backs to US Government officials….and the US Government is wondering why the GCC is not nice about oil supplies.
“Through the years, we all will be together
if the Caliphate allows…”
Brilliant.
But holy crow. TL;DR or what?
Contrary to what Sundance believes, there was plenty about all this that is illegal.
How is it legal to arrest the filmmaker on false pretenses? How is legal to overthrow other governments covertly? How can secretly arming rebel groups be legal?
Well……it’s not legal, period. It’s called RICO:
Under RICO, a person who has committed “at least two acts of racketeering activity” drawn from a list of 35 crimes (27 federal crimes and eight state crimes) within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering if such acts are related in one of four specified ways to an “enterprise.”[1] Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count.[2] In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.”
My memory of history is a little hazy but didn’t the democrats try to impeach President Regan and put all those associated with Iran-Contra in jail?? Plus, they were not even using US Money but were selling broken weapons to Iran and using that money to fund anti-Noriega communists. Go figure.
Not that the contras were nice guys but compared to the Muslim Brotherhood they are pikers.
Plus, while the CIA was running drugs via the contras consider the bio-weapons being run via Africa by the Obama administration.
Then during Comrade Obama’s watch…Communist Noriega is re-installed, with China Inc. and Russia having a major beachhead located there.
The racketeering abounds.
FTA: “If Operation Zero Footprint in Libya was stupid, arming the Syrian branches of al-Qaeda two years after the FSA was thoroughly corrupted by al-Qaeda, is infinite degrees beyond stupid.”
And: “Factually, I would challenge anyone who reads this brief to actually have a question left unanswered.”
Uh … [slowly raising hand] I have two:
1 – Whose brilliant ideas were these (operation zero footprint and the ratline through Turkey to Syria)? At the very least, who pushed them? Stupid ideas are adopted by groups because ONE person forcefully pushed them. Who thought these up/pushed them?
2 – Does Chris Stevens have a star on the Memorial Wall? If not, why not? I mean, fair is fair.
“Thank you for your surfs, General Flynn!”
Rest in the Vine: “The 10th Anniversary of the Benghazi Attack Arrives This Sunday,
The Events Look Different Against Latest Deep State Revelations” by Sundance
Thank you once again for this valuable analysis, Sundance. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Even if they moved Petraeus out of the way, he could still be a whistleblower 10 years later. But he’s not doing it.
Because they would arrest him again.
Stunningly comprehensive work Sundance! In paragraph six there is a link titled “presidential directive” which now directs to a page not found / Reuters. Same in paragraph nine “operation zero footprint.” Reuters may have sent this info down the memory hole.
links still available…easy to find…you just need to dig deeper
Thanks. Guess the links in the post are broken.
thx SD, world class journalism here.
Omitted here in what’s otherwise an outstanding synopsis which I hadn’t read until now. THIS must be included. Especially in reference to the aftermath. Rice, at al, ad infinitum: https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12136
Qaddafi wanted a gold currency for the African nations, and this is the real reason he had to be killed.
I remember well that Putin UN speech finger waving at the US about Libya and stating the rather obvious, you idiots are running around toppling government, but you don’t know what you are unleashing and you don’t have a plan for what comes after, so guess what? Assad stays.
IMO, this can’t be fixed until we finally get an honest news media. Far too many Americans actually believe their filthy lies even when they are blatantly obvious lies. How do you fight that? The Conservative Treehouse is great but they’re not reaching nearly as many people as ABC, CBN, and NBC on a daily basis and neither do any of the other conservative media sites or channels. It’s disgusting and soul crushing.
We also know this timely switch was beneficial to both the Clinton and Obama camps, because Morrel was more politically connected to them than Petraeus.
It is very interesting that the Clinton camp, through the proxies of MoveOn.Org and CodePink was vilifying Petraeus through the lens of calling him Betrayus just a few years earlier.
I am left with the appreciation that General Petraeus likely saw his time as the CIA director under President Obama’s administration as a shot to continue to serve our Country in addition to regain his reputation and restore his vilified name from just a fews years earlier.
IMHO, I think he was put in this position to become a fall guy distraction to be played when needed by the same brain trust that is behind HRC that put together the Valory Plume ‘Yellow Cake’ outting.
Meaning punching his card so to speak was a long game play of, It is very handy to have that certain person in place that can be used to provide plausible interference within MSM circles to stear narratives away from inquiry.
I truly believe this ‘Zero Footprint’ operation had two very conflicting and cross cutting operational goals. Each playing nice with each but had two very fundemental and incompatible conclusion on outcomes.
First from a State Department POV, “HRC tenure at State is without any doubt marked by the fact she brought in people to State who’s ‘wiz kids’ World View was based on.
“The problems in the Middle East stem from The World Ideological Powers have put in place our ‘good guys’ vs the other powers good guys/bad guys.
The people of the Middle East not so much.
Hence the Arab Spring.
Of which Libya was just the last leg logical conclusion of carrying out that ‘wiz kid’ World View.
When it comes to the CIA’s agenda it becomes much more murky. If I had to attempt an analysis to characterize my understanding.
My positional analysis would best be described by, “Is there an operational advantage to the fallout of ‘Zero Footprint’ best summed up through the prism of “What advantage is gained in posturing within a foresawed outcome that basical says, telling Mike Tyson, “To go pick cotton.”
(P.S.Sorry Mike, I am not trying to shade your beliefs/values. But in this case it is a very illustrated visual)
Basically, just image walking up to Mr. Tyson and telling him to go pick cotton.”
A very plausible result would be total mayham. And within that environment, opportunities would arise to extract a price on Al-Qeada.
To be clear neither of these parties, that is State/CIA saw the possibility that by arming Syrian Rebels that had Al-Qeada connections would wake up one day and say, “We just been armed to teeth, why not instead of fighting Assad, why not cross over into Iraq and capture the vast arms stores of Iraqi Army and force multiple ourselves.
Result the birth of ISIS.
But is what exactly happened.
Stay turned, there more to come.
It is also very likely
Let’s just back up a bit. While all this ‘Zero Footprint’ was falling out in 2012.
The adults in the Middle East had come to the conclusion the Arab Spring was advancing the Muslim Brotherhood. So much so the people of Egypt and by extension the Royal Family of Saudi Arbia have had enough. They understood this hoodiwinking end game being played by the State Department.
Result a counter revolution that ran a new flag up on the Muslim Brotherhood Islamic Foundementalism leanings.
So, that is where geopolitical realities lay on or about 2012 events.
ISIS is on the march. The Muslim brotherhood in Egypt is out of power. And the civil war in Syria is a WTF mess pitting Global World powers to take action and enter the fray.
What I am about to present leads to a foundational understanding of the current geopolitical divide of Russian and Western World Views.
It is both ugly, and there are no innocent actors in this sphere of understanding.
Yes, at times to make a point, “I am going to layout a devil’s advocate position.” So don’t misread me when it comes to Ukraine. But I definitely assert a conclusional ground work is being formulated to make a very substantial observation in the Interests of Shared Common Humanity of how, “All this ties together when you step back and see the weeds from a higher perspective altitude.”
Also, I am sure, “I can not deliver a complete narrative picture of my nearly three decades of social media observational analysis in a single setting and not white wash much needed background needed to be spelled out my conclusions.
This is the real deal to the best of my ability.
I am going to hold nothing back as a member citizen of this Planet.
I am going to expose the corpse of the powers to be on this planet, “We all call Earth.”
It is that ugly.
So in reality, “I am very much aware that the 24/7 news cycle of reaching out to people has a social media shelve life. Not my audience. Sundance and the IC are very much my audience. Much more positioned to track this thread over the long term as I speak out.
In my opinion there is a very illustrated reason Sundance keeps harping on Benghazi.
It is because Sundance is on to something that revolves around the Benghazi fallout.
Something that explains, “Where we are to this day geopoliticaly.”
As a side note Sundance, I am not even sure I am not in type of shadow band mode of
blackout where the I can exercise my 1st Amendment exclaimations to speak directly to you but the social media powers to be are so pervasive, “What I have to say, never ever reaches any audience. That is, “I see my blog commentary posted, but no else does. As if I had my two cents worth commentary only to never to be able to reach out.”
Yet, this is my chosen mode of communication to reach out directly you.
A simple blog post on your part that incorpates the graphical image of PDJT looking down on a pit of the HOLE the political players have dug for themselves.
This image is of public domain. Repost it in whatever blog report makes sense.
That way, I know I have struck a cord that has reached out directly to you and you are listening.
I most definitely want to fill in the gaps of your extensive Benghazi research.
Whst I have to say, “Very may well explain the loose threads of unknowns of your investigate inquiry efforts and tie them a neat bow that explains loose end backgrounds.
More to come…
I am not going to disrespect that background that transition away from ARAB Spring and postulates the coup attempt in 2016 Turkey as means to reinstall/reinvigorates the Muslim Brotherhood.
Where am I going.
Well, naturally HowTheF’k it all tries into Mr. Flynn and then ties to PDJT and the launch of the ‘muh Russia’s collisions and ‘witch hunt’
Basically, the very reason this domestic political free for all unfolded.
There is a very key insight at work here and is lacking in our domestic narratives that ties this altogether as a natural progression of geopolitical developments that explains so much of the unknowns..
A very bold proclamation!!
But, I believe I have it and more importantly can seize control of the disparities in narratives.
That ate at best red flags, that spell out the connections that lead to a very small subset of observational geopolitical conclusions that make sense of the recent past and the current now.
Sundance, I am in my moment. So please acknowledge. I am about to spill the beans that ties together what has been said and left unsaid.
And it starts with General Flynn’s role into the transitioning from President Obama to President Trump and why that setup a no hold bar throw down of IC.
In essence do you want to hear an unvarnished opion that explains much of our recent domestically past.
That fills in the gaps f knowledge that completes the path of why we have been domestically subjected to, “One rule of those above rule of Law and those with who do not have the same expectation of the application of expediency to the rule of Law.
I find it insulting that anyone could consider what the US/NATO/Israel, among others, did to Libya and Syria as simply stupid, but not illegal.
Any code of law that allows this is no law at all.