What are the odds this mysterious weekend described is the long Thanksgiving weekend of 2012?  If Raymond Maxwell is describing “Sunday” of that specific Thanksgiving weekend then a whole lot of other dots connect….

(Via Sharyl Attkisson) As the House Select Committee on Benghazi prepares for its first  hearing this week, a former State Department diplomat is coming forward with a startling allegation: Hillary Clinton confidants were part of an operation to “separate” damaging documents before they were turned over to the Accountability Review Board investigating security lapses surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
According to former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, the after-hours session took place over a weekend in a basement operations-type center at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is the first time Maxwell has publicly come forward with the story.

At the time, Maxwell was a leader in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which was charged with collecting emails and documents relevant to the Benghazi probe.
“I was not invited to that after-hours endeavor, but I heard about it and decided to check it out on a Sunday afternoon,” Maxwell says.
He didn’t know it then, but Maxwell would ultimately become one of four State Department officials singled out for discipline—he says scapegoated—then later cleared for devastating security lapses leading up to the attacks. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were murdered during the Benghazi attacks. (more…)

The House Select Committee on Benghazi is set to hold its first public hearing this week on September 17th.

The Select Committee on #Benghazi will hold its first public hearing next week. pic.twitter.com/KwpANrqvPb

— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) September 10, 2014

However, a note of caution should be added not to expect too much “substance” as an outcome.
As most readers are now aware the Benghazi FUBAR is essentially two-thirds a result of bad policy, and one-third a result of terrible decisions as a result of that bad policy. To date nothing has surfaced to undermine the essential research we have shared within the Benghazi Brief.
Actually, to the contrary “The Brief” has withstood relentless scrutiny. Unfortunately that also means Trey Gowdy will be hard pressed to deliver sunlight to the construct because most, if not all, of the flaws are within the intelligence aspects. (more…)

When you read this, sip slowly, dust off the way-back machine, and think about the 13 Hours in Benghazi show you might have just watched air on Fox.   Yeah, I know, I can sense the puzzlement – but stay with it….

The question posed to the Tree House was: Why are they selecting a retired General John Allen, instead of a current officer?  
Deep breath:   This White House uses personal leverage to their advantage like no other before it.    Example #1: Where’s Bowe Bergdahl?  Example #2: What ever happened to Ahmed Abu Khattala the ‘recently’ captured head of the Benghazi attack ?
See…  you had to think about it.  This White House swamps us so much we  forget to follow-up…..
There is a risk to the political optics of fighting ISIS.  Consequently, this administration needs a competent general Denis McDonough can control, rely on, and possibly bypass the Pentagon.  So who can they leverage?  Yeah, that General John Allen.

Fire Up The Way-Back Machine To Summer 2012 !!

Jill and Dr. Scott Kelley lived in the Tampa / St. Pete area. They were/are active in the military community with support for military families.
The Kelley’s do numerous fundraisers etc. and when Petraeus was assigned to station in Tampa the Kelley’s hosted a meet-n-greet with Holly and David Petraeus.
Mr and Mrs. Petraeus became friends with Mr. and Mrs. Kelley.
So mid-summer 2012 Jill Kelley, a Petraeus family friend, began receiving odd and harrassing e-mails about her relationship with CIA director General David Petraeus:

“More like, ‘Who do you think you are? … You parade around the base … You need to take it down a notch,’” according to the source, who was until recently at the highest levels of the intelligence community and prefers not to be identified by name.

Jill Kelley then reaches out to a family friend, who is by profession, in the FBI.  Kelly asks if these unsourced e-mails reach the level of cyber-stalking. (more…)

Now that we all know the full scope of the background story behind the State Department and CIA in Benghazi (See: The Benghazi Brief) it might be additionally interesting to watch this exclusive ‘on the ground’ report of 9/11/12 hosted by Bret Baier as he interviews the security team who suffered the consequences of operation Zero Footprint.

(Via Fox) This weekend, Fox News Reporting will bring you a special on the untold story of the Benghazi terror attack.
It has been nearly two years since the fatal attack. Now, hear for the first time from the men who fought that battle.
“Fox News Reporting: 13 Hours at Benghazi” is based off a new book, to be released next week, called “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi” by Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team.
The special premieres Friday, Sept. 5 at 10p ET. It re-airs Saturday, Sept. 6 at 1a, 5p and 9p ET, and again on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 12a, 8p and 11p ET.  (link)

Unfortunately such is the state of current affairs. A prominent Egyptian official is telling his constituency, and the world, the reason Egypt and U.S. relations are so poor is because President Obama and John Kerry demand the Severe Islamists be included in policy decisions.
Egypt categorically rejects the considerations of radical Islamic extremism, and will not bow to pressure from the United States to be more accommodating toward the radicals within the Muslim Brotherhood.
Fatah el-Sisi is going to be speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 25th. I’m thinking that David Cameron and President Obama should be forced to sit in the front row and listen to a real leader who understands the extremist problem.

(EGYPT) Nabil Fahmy, the former Egyptian foreign minister and a previous ambassador to the US, said that relations between Cairo and Washington remain strained because of the US’s insistence of allowing Islamists to participate in the political process.
In an Egyptian television interview on Sunday evening, Fahmy said that “the Americans have not appropriately learned the lesson of dealing with terrorism” and that they “contacted us constantly in order to integrate streams of political Islam into the political process,” the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm reported.
He added, however, that Egypt “pursued the will of the people” and did not give in to outside pressure. (more…)

With the anniversary of September 11th 2012 Soon Upon Us – By Request, Here’s The Full Benghazi Brief

Grab a cup of coffee because it’s a long read with over 350 citations and reference source links for conformational material. We think you’ll get hooked and find 95% of your Benghazi questions answered. And if you can find a factual flaw I’ll buy the coffee.. SD

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. 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“, and fell under the military command authority of NATO not (important to repeat), NOT, the U.S. Military. (more…)

This represents Obama’s foreign policy in a nutshell. In 2012 we armed ISIS in Syria with the goal to destroy President Assad. In 2014 we are giving President Assad the intelligence information to destroy ISIS, and the weapons we gave them to kill him.

(Hat Tip WeaselZippers) You just can’t make this stuff up.  

In Libya – Egypt and the UAE are attacking President Obama and Hillary’s “rebels”.  You remember, those folks we had a responsibility to protect.   The ones we ARMED.

In Syria – We are now assisting Russia and Assad, to attack President Obama, Hillary and John McCain’s “rebels”.  Yes, yet again – the ones we ARMED !  

The Benghazi Brief

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. has begun reconnaissance flights over Syria and is sharing intelligence about jihadist deployments with Damascus through Iraqi and Russian channels, sources told AFP on Tuesday.

“The cooperation has already begun and the United States is giving Damascus information via Baghdad and Moscow,” one source close to the issue said on condition of anonymity.

The comments came a day after Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Syria was willing to work with the international community against the jihadist Islamic State group, and U.S. officials said they were poised to carry out surveillance flights over Syria. (more…)

Fatah el Sisi going it alone.  Didn’t even bother to tell the U.S.  ROFLMAO – Go Si-si, Go Si-si.   Defending Israel, attacking Hamas, and now launching strikes against the Brotherhood in Libya !    

Git R’ Done !!

[…]  The issue has caused a rare schism among the Arab monarchies of the gulf because Qatar has taken the opposite tact. In contrast to its neighbors, it has welcomed Islamist expatriates to its capital, Doha, and supported their factions around the region, including in Libya.

And who does President Obama side with ?  Why, Qatar of course !

CAIRO — Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.

The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo. (more…)

“Willful Blindness”: is a term used in criminal law to refer to the acts of a person who ¹intentionally fails to be informed about matters that would make the person criminally liable. It describes an attempt to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally ²putting oneself in a position to be unaware of facts which create liability.   (Must Watch Video)

¹FLASHBACK [replete with ironic timing] – On the same day Ambassador Chris Stevens was assassinated in Benghazi, Libya, a report surfaced that President Obama routinely skips intelligence briefings. Tommy “Dude” Vietor confirmed: (more…)

(Via Sharyl Attkisson)  The Republican-led House Select Committee investigating Benghazi has selected its lead legal official: a retired three-star general who, most recently, served as the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General under President Obama. That’s according to sources with information regarding the appointment.
Lt. Gen. Dana Chipman, 55, attended West Point and received his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1986, according to public reports. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Strategic Studies. He will serve as Chief Counsel of the Select Committee.
Chipman retired from the military last year after 33 years of service. His retirement ceremony was hosted by Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, whose actions have come under scrutiny as part of the Congressional investigation into the limited military response to the Benghazi terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2012.  (continue reading)