Was General Ham Relieved for Attempting Benghazi Rescue?

IMPEACH OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow 22353411 others are being relieved and detained beyond these 2 individuals???

Huh?

'inappropriate leadership judgment' to me can mean just about anything; very vague, but then again if someone disobeyed orders sounds like a good 'catch-all' charge. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Doing his MacArthur impression.

Top military brass in the region are being relieved - and detained. What does that tell you?

Any others we can find?

Fifth column attack? This guy was a big one for sure.

General Ham's awards and decorations include Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal.

[link to www.africom.mil]

Benghazi attack: Urgent call for military help ‘was denied by chain of command’. Fox News and others report that military help was available during the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, but denied. CIA and Pentagon officials strongly deny the claim.

Fox News Stories on the Benghazi stand down closely resemble analysis provided by RETIRED Marine Corps. Officer. Writing last week in the conservative National Review online, former Marine Corps officer and Reagan administration senior Pentagon official Francis “Bing” West outlined much the same scenario as Fox News, including a timeline of events in Benghazi.

CIA and Obama administration officials have been quick to rebut such critical news reports.

CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood denied to Fox the claims that requests for support were turned down.

"We can say with confidence that the Agency reacted quickly to aid our colleagues during that terrible evening in Benghazi," she said. "Moreover, no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate. In fact, it is important to remember how many lives were saved by courageous Americans who put their own safety at risk that night – and that some of those selfless Americans gave their lives in the effort to rescue their comrades."

At a press conference this week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the US military did not quickly intervene during the attack because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put American forces at risk, reports the Associated Press.

"The basic principle is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on; without having some real-time information about what's taking place," Mr. Panetta told Pentagon reporters. "And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation."

Panetta was referring to Gen. Carter Ham, the head of US Africa Command, and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[link to www.csmonitor.com]

By the sounds of it Panetta and Dempsey should be the one's falling on their sword not Ham.

The kidnapping story seems a bit hard to believe in an election year. I would think they would want to avoid anything that could become a scandal and I figure alot of people would have to be in the know to pull something like that off. This thing gets more and more weird. There are alot of things I really like about Mr.Obama but he or someone in the administration needs to come clean on all this and explain why a reactionay force wasn't sent in to help those guys on the ground. I still don't get that? Something is wrong with the story given to the public so far.

There have been multiple reports that the appointment of a new AFRICOM commander is related to the upcoming war in Mali....

AFRICOM was supposed to be a humanitarian command, but for some reason it's new commander is a fight in' man...

The nomination of General David Rodriguez, who designed the troop surge in Afghanistan, to head US counterterrorism efforts in Africa is a testament to how serious security challenges on the continent . . .

The greatest thorn in his side may be a country that few Americans have taken notice of: Mali, where Islamic militias allied with Al Qaeda have captured half of the country.

Failure looms for Mali [link to b.globe.com] via @BostonGlobe

It has been reported in multiple sources that AFRICOM will take primary military role during initial phase & then military operations will be handed over to African troops.

The war will begin in early 2013...The current US election will have no affect Romney is also on board...

The potential coup in Mauritania tonight may be related....

For links you can go to my Mali war thread - there are posts with links that cover all of these topics...

I'll re-read to the posts about the new AFRICOM commander & update his bio...

bye bye america. Welcome to AM3RNKA!

Yes I have trouble buying that whole kidnapping theory. Does not sound plausible.

Darby good info on Africom thanks!

AFRICOM's Upcoming Action in Mali...

In a meeting of ECOWAS, France and the African Union in Paris on Oct. 22, participants discussed the military plans (for Mali), which will be strategically implemented by United States army commanders. . . .

According to sources, the meeting aimed at allocating roles in military operations, which are expected to take place early next year. The meeting also addressed the mission that was entrusted to African forces that will take over from initial military operations, as well as ways to consolidate the Malian army’s capacity.

[link to www.al-monitor.com]

I am still haunted by that look on Dempsey's face when he and Panetta gave that news conference. Kind of like 'I'm scared to death and I just want to get out of here.'

No problem...It's kind of my area of concern...

North Africa that is.. (not specifically AFRICOM)

Its not about telling a side of a story. Its about doing the right thing.

Officers have a duty to disobey all unlawful orders. If they felt the orders to stand down were unlawful, then good for them.

To have the assets in theater, real-time video, and boots on the ground providing details.

I imagine some will learn how spec ops take care of thier family at some point.

Just in that Republicans (and some Democrats) are demanding declassification/release of drone footage. (There were one, possibly two in area type unknown).

TREASON INDEED. I can't beleive that ANYONE with a brain does not know when they're being played.

I have NEVER accepted Osama as my president... he's a Barnum and Bailey Snake Oil Salesman.

The last four years have been a void from me.

ROMNEY/RYAN 2012

Evidently they told him to stand down and he said, "F you, we are going to save them."

I damn sure hope so.

There is video out there of the Panetta Dempset news conference - watch Panetta's body language, where he looks, his hands, his eyes and a nervous tic he has repeatedly.

Look at the stills also. The body language is revealing. Arms folded, leaning away, hands covering mouth.

[link to images.politico.com]

[link to www.thenewstribe.com]

[link to www.defense.gov]

Found this:


Source states that GEN Ham is still Cdr AFRICOM, and presumably will remain so until the Senate has confirmed GEN Rodriquez, which will not happen until after the election. He hasn’t been relieved. GEN Ham has been at AFRICOM for less than two years, so this move is a little bit unusual. Ham may be leaving for completely unrelated reasons, or he could be getting sacked for reasons related to Benghazi.



This is of dubious reliability I don't know the source personally. Guess we just have to keep watching as this unfolds.

What did you think of Dempsey 1257580??? Curious to know.

The special forces teams in question need little information -- they would not drop in on top of the attackers -- they would surround them, gather intelligence and act as they moved forward. I would think that there would have been a lot of data on the compound itself -- and these teams may have had received training on these facilities long before the attack occured.

Secondly, as stated here many times -- there was a laser target on the position firing mortars -- that is all the data they needed to 'act' on.

This may have been what the White House was huddling on yesterday...

I would change the narrative not to 'if' there is a scandal... that is a foregone conclusion and although we all want to know the truth, at this point, I believe we have heard enough to know this is a scandal that puts Watergate to shame.

Biden is now FOUR heartbeats from the president... four dead Americans from the presdient... do we want to risk he will not be impeached? Do we want Biden?

Perhaps a deal in which a sudden sacking and the embarrasment/career impact that would accompany was a deal that was reached. In other words, you are in tacit command until Senate confirms new position, in return keep quiet and tow the line????

Here is a current link that says he HAS been relieved. Not sure what to think anymore...

[link to www.thegatewaypundit.com]

14415865 glad you brought up the huddle; I suspect the answers lie there!

From what I read it was a no press allowed, all top administration people, ala Cuban Missile Crisis type huddle.