Sharyl Attkisson has provided some new information on the closed door Benghazi Select Committee hearings and investigative inquiry.
Including the following from Trey Gowdy:
[…] “The committee is continuing its probe into all aspects of Benghazi and is currently focused on ensuring access to all first-hand accounts from those on the ground that night. This process will be ongoing and in some respects must remain classified.”–Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
We took a lot of fire -following the Benghazi Brief– when we explained why this would be the case. The risks of sunlight are essentially equal to both Republicans -who approved the program(s) basic goals via intelligence oversight- and Democrats alike.
Apparently we were correct.
Predictable in the extreme. Those who have followed events can see through the timing of this announcement and identify the agenda/motive. The recommendation of charges against Petraeus is cover fire for a Hillary Clinton presidential bid.
As outlined in the Benghazi Brief, the only player in the joint CIA/State Department Libyan operation “Zero Footprint” -that resulted in the Benghazi attack- who was an extreme risk to Team Hillary Clinton, was David Petraeus.
Operation Zero Footprint began with Leon Panetta, prior to Petraeus tenure as leader of the CIA. When Benghazi erupted Petraeus became a risk – enter Mike Morrell.
Paula Broadwell let it slip (video below) that the Benghazi CIA Annex was a black ops rendition site in Eastern Libya tasked with two general purposes. Vetting the “rebels” and al-Qaeda operatives, and jointly repurchasing the Clinton weapons, primarily the MANPADS.
WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.
The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public. (more…)
Those of you familiar with the Benghazi Brief will note the alignment and expectation of the Rogers/Ruppersberger report. Their report is exactly as we anticipated it would be.
With a House Select Committee (Trey Gowdy) already in place, you might rightly ask yourself why did Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger even produce a report? As you read their House Intelligence Panel Report on Benghazi it is important to note a few key aspects:
• Both Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger are members of the Congressional Gang of Eight. They are the ONLY authors.
• This is not a House Intelligence “Committee” report on Benghazi. This is only two committee members writing a report based on prior information.
• Both Rogers and Ruppersberger would have been briefed on the CIA operations in Benghazi during 2011/2012 as the covert operation began.
• President Obama signed a finding memo in 2011 permitting Operation Zero Footprint to begin. The congressional “gang of eight” held oversight responsibilities.
• Rogers, Ruppersberger along with Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Saxby Chambliss and Diane Feinstein would have been notified of the presidential authorization. In 2011 they were the congressional Gang of Eight. Their lack of oversight reflected a willful blindness to the operation.
• In addition to the covert Zero Footprint Operation, the Benghazi CIA annex served as a rendition site. [We find this out in 2013 from Paula Broadwell, who was the pillow-talk recipient of information from 2012 CIA Director General David Petraeus. Broadwell and Petraeus had an extramarital affair.]
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The Rogers/Ruppersberger Report is specifically designed, by wording, to provide political cover to both parties – Republicans and Democrats within the Gang of Eight particularly included, and protected.
It is professional obfuscation in structure, content and wording. Here’s an example: (more…)
Imagine if Islamists were raging a power struggle throughout Canada while a Russian armed civil war was taking place in Mexico ~ imagine the position of our country in the face of such a problem. That’s the analogy to a situation faced by Egypt as a consequence of our 2011 action, ISIS in Syria (with their eyes on Jordan), and neighboring Libya simultaneously in a civil war.
It’s easy to cast aspersions to the heavy-handed decision making of Fatah el-Sisi as he deals with the Sinai highway between Hamas (East) and the Muslim Brotherhood factions, which include ISIS, (West) along his borders with Gaza and Libya respectively.
President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Susan Rice and Samantha Power deconstructed the governing authority of Libya under the auspices of a “Responsibility to Protect“. All of those “good intentions” went to a land of perpetual FUBAR once Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed and it all, well, needed to be brushed under the proverbial rug. (more…)
Libya – Factional warfare in Libya is pushing the oil producer “very close to the point of no return”, the UN special envoy to the country said on Tuesday with efforts to bring about a ceasefire and political dialogue showing no result.
The death toll from two weeks of street fighting between pro-government forces and Islamist armed groups in the eastern city of Benghazi has risen to 170, medics said. Seven people were killed alone on Tuesday, 15 on Monday.
The North African country has had two governments and parliaments since a militia group from the western city of Misrata seized the capital Tripoli in August, setting up its own cabinet and assembly. (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…)
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.
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…)
LIBYA – Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa.
Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.
“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” said one official. “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”
The official said the aircraft are a serious counterterrorism concern because reports of terrorist control over the Libyan airliners come three weeks before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 attacks and the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. (more…)