Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Libia. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Libia. Mostrar todas las entradas
lunes, septiembre 01, 2014
miércoles, julio 16, 2014
'Benghazi terror suspect' Faraj al-Shibli found dead in Libya
Mail Online
 |
| Faraj al-Shibli |
A suspect
in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the life
of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, was found
dead Monday, according to reports from CNN.
The
network cites a 'Libyan source and locals in the town of Marj,' who say
Faraj al-Shibli was found dead in the eastern Libyan town.
The suspected terrorist al-Shibli was last seen as he was being detained by a local militia in Marj on Friday or Saturday.
Intelligence
officials discovered a link between al-Shibli and al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which officials believe took part in the
attack on the U.S. diplomatic complex in Benghazi.
CNN reports that al-Shibli also had contact with al Qaeda members in Pakistan.
In
March 2013, al-Shibli was detained by Libyan officials who suspected he
had played a part in the attack. During his detention, FBI officials
were allowed to interview him in front of Libyan officials.
The
Libyan warlord who allegedly led the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate
in Benghazi, Libya, has been captured by Delta Force commandos.
Ahmed
Abu Khattala was taken off the streets of Benghazi and whisked away to a
'secure location outside of Libya' for interrogation on Sunday, the Washington Post reports.
Fox News
reports that he is currently en route to the United States aboard a
U.S. Navy ship. Once on American soil, he is expected to face trial on
terrorism charges in federal court in Washington, D.C.
martes, abril 22, 2014
Agente de Gadhafi habla en Cuba sobre sus hazañas
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| Frank Terpil |
El coproductor Michael Chrisman dijo que Terpil, de 74 años, fue entrevistado en su casa de La Habana en diciembre y dio la impresión de llevar una vida un tanto aburrida “con poco que hacer, (y) pasa mucho tiempo con un trago en la mano en los bares de La Habana”.
Terpil tiene una novia cubana mucho más joven que él, y pide a amigos y visitantes que le traigan de vez en cuando algún libro en inglés, dijo Chrisman. El documental de Showtime se llama Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi ( Perro rabioso: dentro del mundo secreto de Muammar Gadafi).
La entrevista se centró en las relaciones de Terpil con el dictador libio, muerto en una revuelta en el 2011, y no en sus vínculos con sus anfitriones cubanos porque “sin duda él estaba corriendo peligro de disgustarlos al conceder la entrevista”, agregó el coproductor.
Terpil, operativo de la CIA que renunció a la agencia en 1970, es uno de más de 70 fugitivos estadounidenses de quienes se reporta que se han refugiado en Cuba. Muchos son considerados por La Habana como víctimas de la persecución política de EEUU, como es el caso de la militante afroamericana Joanne Chesimard.
El huyó de Estados Unidos en 1980 para escapar un encausamiento federal bajo cargos de conspiración para cometer asesinato y de entregar más de 20 toneladas de explosivos plásticos a Gadhafi y despues apareció en el Líbano, pero finalmente se refugió en Cuba.
La Dirección General de Inteligencia de Cuba reclutó a Terpil, le dio el nombre en clave de Curiel –conejillo de Indias– y lo usó en 1987 para tratar de reclutar a un agente de la CIA en Checoslovaquia, escribió el analista retirado de la agencia Brian Latell en su libro Castro’s Secrets: Cuban Intelligence, the CIA and the Kennedy Assassination ( Los secretos de Castro: la inteligencia cubana, la CIA y el asesinato de Kennedy).
El gobierno canadiense anunció en 1995 que a su embajada en La Habana se le había informado que las autoridades cubanas habían arrestado a Terpil, pero no dió detalles sobre las razones de la detención o de qué pasó con él después de eso.
Un extranjero que vive en La Habana dijo que en el 2000, durante una función de ballet, un amigo cubano le señaló a un hombre sentado cerca de ellos y lo identificó como Terpil. El hombre estaba acompañado por una mujer cubana más joven que él, dijo el extranjero.
Terpil huyó de Estados Unidos luego de que fiscales federales lo acusaran a él y a su socio de negocios Ed Wilson de conspiración para cometer asesinato y de vender explosivos plásticos a Libia. Una corte del estado de Nueva York lo había sentenciado anteriormente a 53 años de prisión luego de enjuiciarlo en ausencia por cargos de conspiración para contrabandear 10,000 armas semiautomáticas.
Chrisman dijo que durante la entrevista de La Habana para el documental —producido por Fresh One Productions para el canal Showtime— Terpil admitió que había ayudado a Gadhafi a manejar una campaña para encontrar y asesinar a los enemigos del dictador libio en el extranjero.
“Yo lo llamaría Asesinatos Incorporados, sí, asesinato por contrato. Gadhafi creía que todo el que fuera disidente debía ser eliminado”, dijo Terpil. En un caso, agregó, el dictador quería que le trajeran la cabeza de uno de sus enemigos en una hielera.
Dijo Chrisman que Terpil también relató haber contratado a dos exiliados cubanos de Miami, y haberles dicho que debían asesinar a Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, el terrorista conocido como Carlos el Chacal. Los cubanos rehusaron al percatarse de que el blanco verdadero era un enemigo de Gadhafi, agregó.
“Terpil no expresó ningún remordimiento o duda al contar la historia de manera muy factual, con un toque de humor morboso, acerca del tiempo que pasó ayudando a dirigir y conseguir suministros para la campaña internacional de terror de Gadhafi”, dijo en un comunicado de prensa para el documental.
Nacido en Nueva York, Terpil ha dicho que fue obligado a renunciar a la CIA luego de que la agencia se enterara de que cuando él estaba asignado en la India, había llevado a cabo un negocio de dinero a través de Afganistán para su beneficio financiero personal.
El ha reconocido haber trabajado para dictadores como Idi Amin de Uganda, Saddam Hussein de Irak, y Anastasio Somoza de Nicaragua, así como para los gobiernos de Arabia Saudita, Irán y Egipto.
Y ha alegado en ciertas ocasiones, a veces dando evidencia, que tenía aprobación de la CIA para algunas de sus supuestas operaciones no oficiales. Terpil era un amigo cercano de Ted Shackley, un director adjunto de operaciones encubiertas de la CIA que falleció en el 2012.
Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/04/21/1730732/agente-de-gadhafi-habla-en-cuba.html#storylink=cpy
sábado, marzo 08, 2014
viernes, enero 31, 2014
BBC Discovers Gaddafi's Hit Squads Based in Cuba
In the documentary film, "Mad Dog – Gaddafi's Secret World," the BBC has:"[U]ncovered evidence that Gaddafi used a private hit squad based in Cuba to eliminate opponents, and kept the bodies of victims in freezers."
Of course, the close ties and friendship between the Castro brothers and Gaddafi are well-known.
This must-see documentary sheds lights on the torture, kidnapping and rape of young girls and boys by the Libyan dictator; his depraved sex dungeons and clinics; and political hit squads (based in Cuba).
It also features how Gaddafi shot down a Libyan jet in 1992, killing all 157 people on board, to "show" how international sanctions were hurting Libyans by depriving their planes of spare parts.
Interestingly enough, a Daily Mail article on the film also includes the "re-emergence" of an American fugitive harbored in Cuba, who confirmed the existence of these hit-squads:
"In a secret interview from Cuba, former CIA agent Frank Terpil said: ‘I would say [it was] Murder Incorporated . . . murder for hire. Gaddafi thought that anybody who was a dissident, they [should be] eliminated, he had contracts out on a bunch of people in London.’"
Terpil is a former CIA agent turned soldier of fortune, who is wanted by the U.S. for selling arms and nuclear technology to the Uganda's Idi Amin and Libya's Gaddafi.
Obviously, he's still in Cuba.
viernes, enero 17, 2014
martes, diciembre 31, 2013
What the NY Times Got Right and Wrong on Benghazi
The NY Times published a lengthy story by David Kirkpatrick Saturday which attempts to explain what took place last September 11th in Benghazi. Much of the story confirms things reported elsewhere, but the author comes to a different conclusion about two topics which have ongoing political implications: Who carried out the attack and why.
Kirkpatrick argues the attack was carried out by local militias not affiliated with Al Qaeda and that the film Innocence of Muslims played a significant role in fostering the attack.
The former claim has already been questioned on the basis of other reports--including one by the NY Times to which Kirkpatrick contributed--indicating that groups with connections to Al Qaeda were on site during the attack that night. Until the Times retracts or corrects its earlier reporting it seems to be at odds with itself on who was involved.
As for the claim that the film Innocence of Muslims was a motivating factor, Kirkpatrick writes "The attack does not appear to have been meticulously planned, but neither was it spontaneous or without warning signs." This conclusions was greeted as a new revelation by many but it perfectly echoes a conclusion reached here at Breitbart News 7 months ago:
There is some evidence...that people in Benghazi were aware of the video that night. And yet this is not proof that there was a spontaneous protest. There may have been a semi-spontaneous assault by militants, which is not quite the same thing.
To spell that out a bit more, some people who showed up that night were angry about the video. That anger may have been the edge the militants needed to keep friendly militias at bay. This first hand account published the day after the attack suggests there were "many people tried to persuade the Islamists to stop" but they held back out of fear of reprisals.
More importantly, the attack which took place on September 11th at the hands of extremists probably would have happened eventually even without the pretext of the film. Kirkpatrick goes through the list of some of the significant attacks which took place prior to the video every being seen in Africa. That list includes a prior attack on the US consulate, an RPG fired at the UK Ambassador's convoy, another fired at the Red Cross compound and an attack on the UN ambassador. (That pattern of attacks was also noted here at Breitbart a few days after the attack.) All of these previous attacks happened in Benghazi before anyone had heard about the video.
As for the politics which seem to frame the entire report, I argued in May that whether or not the attack was spontaneous, planned or something in-between, the Obama administration had a major failure on its hands.
Was this attack, then, a spontaneous reaction to a video or a planned attack? Either way, it was a major security failure. In fact, it's hard to say which horn of the dilemma would make the administration look worse. A planned attack means a failure of intelligence and security. A spontaneous attack suggests security was so lax, little planning was needed to overrun the compound.
To get even more specific, Hillary Clinton does not look a whole lot better for being caught unaware by a semi-spontaneous attack that took place after months of deteriorating security in Benghazi. The ball still got dropped and it happened on her watch. Nothing in the NY Times report changes that.
miércoles, octubre 30, 2013
lunes, junio 03, 2013
Libya's loot: South African banks may hold $1B in gold, diamonds stolen by Qaddafi
More than a billion dollars in cash, gold and diamonds believed looted by late Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi during his 40-year reign may have been found socked away in South Africa -- just a fraction of the wealth the dead dictator is suspected of stealing.
Libyan investigators, who believe Qaddafi may have taken as much as $100 billion of his North African nation’s wealth, have zeroed in on $1 billion or more being held by four banks and two security companies in South Africa, according to The Sunday Times of South Africa
.
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Libyan authorities, who are working with the Arab League and Interpol, believe stolen assets are squirreled away all over the world. The stolen loot is the sum of years of treating one of the world’s richest countries as his own piggy bank, according to Prof. Shaul Gabbay, a Middle East expert and senior scholar at the University of Denver.
“There was,of course, no transparency and he and his family's dealings with the nation’s wealth was as if it was their own,” said Gabbay. “This includes total control of the management of state and personal bank accounts.
- Professor Shaul Gabbay, a Middle East expert and senior scholar at the University of Denver
“People who worked in auditing or government ministries would be afraid for their and their family's lives if they would raise any concern,” he added.
Some assets have been easy to seize, such as the $16 million mansion Qaddafi’s son Saadi owned in an exclusive London neighborhood. But tracing money in secret bank accounts and hidden investments is a much more complex process, especially given that the money being sought was likely taken by a host of Qaddafi loyalists.
"These assets are really difficult to find and also difficult to claim back," Libya's deputy ambassador to London, Ahmed Gebreel, told the BBC last year.
last year.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur has vowed to pursue the trail of looted funds, much of which are believed to be held in banks in Switzerland, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
But to date, the $1 billion-plus believed held in South Africa could be the biggest haul. The Sunday Times reported that Libyan investigators have already met top government officials to discuss locating and repatriating the loot.
A follow-up letter sent by ANC head of security Tito Maleka on April 23 confirms that the visit "with our president in Nkandla" is an indication that "the South African government is prepared to cooperate" in "identifying all assets belonging to the Libyan people".
Investigators tracing the funds are believed to be acting on information from Libya's former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who was arrested last year for crimes against humanity. Letters from Libyan officials quoted by the newspaper seek for cooperation in securing "all funds and assets that have been illegally possessed, obtained, looted, deposited or hidden in South Africa and neighboring countries” by the dictator, “his wives, his sons, his daughters and other relatives, close associates, private and government [or] business persons in Africa."
The letters say that the Libyan investigators have "uncovered large funds and assets in South Africa and neighboring states." One bank account, which investigators claim was traced through check stubs found in Libya, is registered in the name of Qaddafi’s uncle, Abdulhafid Ahmed el-Qaddafi, a former Libyan Army general.
They are convinced that part of the loot in South Africa is held by Qaddafi's former chief of staff, Bashir Saleh, known as "Qaddafi's banker." Saleh, who also goes by Bashir al Shrkawi, is on Interpol's wanted list.
In the weeks before a mob yanked Qaddafi out of a drainpipe and killed him in October 2011, the longtime despot was on the run and rumored to have fled the desert nation. Reports of Niger-bound convoys of his wives and family members, laden with gold and cash, were common as the civil war that toppled him raged.
In addition to gold and cash, another of the oil-rich nation’s greatest treasures disappeared in the chaos of the 2011 revolution. Interpol alerted police around the globe of the theft of the so-called “Benghazi Treasure,” which was stolen from a bank vault in May 2011. The looted treasure, which includes Greek and Roman gold, had been stored in two padlocked chests inside a safe. It had never been displayed and had been virtually forgotten, except by specialist archaeologists, according to The Art Newspaper.
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Some of the treasure has reportedly surfaced in Egypt and on the black market in Libya. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Director-General Irina Bukova has called the loss of the Benghazi treasure “one of the largest thefts of archaeological material in history.”
miércoles, mayo 15, 2013
viernes, mayo 10, 2013
The Story of Gaddafi's Only Portrait on American Soil
ForaTv
Photographer Platon recounts Muammar Gaddafi's open defiance of the
Obama Administration when he posed for his portrait in front of the
General Assembly at the United Nations.
jueves, mayo 09, 2013
Is This The Reasion Why The White House Will Not Release The Benghazi Emails?
War News Updates
Sept. 11: Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya
Sept. 12: State Dept. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs tells Libya's President that Ansar al-Sharia was responsible
Sept. 13: CIA writes candid talking points for members of Congress
Sept. 15: White House deputies edit the talking points, removing all references to Islamic terrorism
Sept. 16: UN Ambassador Susan Rice, in five television interviews, blames the attack on a spontaneous mob angered by an anti-Islam YouTube video
A top State Department appointee told Libya's ambassador to the United States one day after the military-style assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that the terror group Ansar al-Shariah was responsible.
But four days later, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said on television that it was the product of a spontaneous protest.
During a fiery and emotional congressional hearing on the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy read aloud from an email dated Sept. 12, 2012 to senior State Department officers, from Elizabeth Jones, the acting Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Read more >>
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| Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones told Libya's president one day after the Benghazi attack that Islamic terrorists had killed the U.S. Ambassador and reduced the compound to a burnt-out shell |
Secret Email Reveals Top Official Told Libya's U.S. Abmassador That Terrorists Were Behind Benghazi Attack - Four Days BEFORE U.S. Ambassador To UN Said It Was A Spontaneous Attack -- Daily Mail
Sept. 11: Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya
Sept. 12: State Dept. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs tells Libya's President that Ansar al-Sharia was responsible
Sept. 13: CIA writes candid talking points for members of Congress
Sept. 15: White House deputies edit the talking points, removing all references to Islamic terrorism
Sept. 16: UN Ambassador Susan Rice, in five television interviews, blames the attack on a spontaneous mob angered by an anti-Islam YouTube video
A top State Department appointee told Libya's ambassador to the United States one day after the military-style assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that the terror group Ansar al-Shariah was responsible.
But four days later, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said on television that it was the product of a spontaneous protest.
During a fiery and emotional congressional hearing on the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy read aloud from an email dated Sept. 12, 2012 to senior State Department officers, from Elizabeth Jones, the acting Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Read more >>
Boehner calls for release of Benghazi emails as pressure grows on administration
On the heels of a dramatic hearing where three whistle-blowers testified, Fox News has learned that former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday, on the Hill for a meeting with House Republicans, also told lawmakers: "I think Hillary (Clinton) should be subpoenaed if necessary."
The comments and developments signal that Republicans will continue to press for answers on the deadly Sept. 11 attack. Despite arguments from Democrats that the hearing was not nearly as shocking as Republicans made it out to be, GOP lawmakers said it raised troubling questions that need to be investigated.
"The truth shouldn't be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall," Boehner said Thursday. "Four Americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal."
Boehner specifically urged the Obama administration to make public a set of internal emails that some lawmakers had been able to review but not keep.
One of the emails apparently showed a top State Department official saying a group affiliated with Islamic terrorists was responsible for the strike. Separate emails, though, allegedly depict the White House and State Department pressing lower-level officials to remove references to terrorism in talking points about the attacks.
Based on those talking points, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice would go on five Sunday talk shows shortly after the attacks to claim they were triggered by protests over an anti-Islam film. Top officials would later claim the flawed assessment was based on the best intelligence at the time, but the testimony from whistle-blowers Wednesday indicated that those on the ground knew the attack was terrorism.
"The YouTube video was a non-event in Libya," Greg Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya, testified Wednesday.
After the hearing, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said he will continue to seek whistle-blowers to "come forward."
"Candidly, as quickly as possible, we simply want to have the whistleblowers that are still out there, in fact witnesses that are still out there to come forward, tell us their story. We will get it out and we will close up this investigation," he told Fox News.
Issa, R-Calif., is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which held the hearing.
The wide-ranging and dramatic testimony Wednesday raised several fresh questions about the attack. Witnesses questioned why security had not been tightened in Benghazi in the months leading up to the assault and why U.S. military assets did not respond sooner that night, with one alleging a military team was not given permission to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi the next morning.
Further, they raised serious concerns about the administration's initial decision to describe the attack as a protest gone awry despite evidence on the ground to the contrary.
In startling testimony, Hicks also claimed the State Department retaliated against him after he raised questions about that decision. He claimed that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones delivered a "blistering critique" of his management style after he criticized Rice's initial claim that the attack was tied to anger over an anti-Islam film. He also claimed that he was counseled to avoid personally discussing the attack with Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz and was "effectively demoted" to a desk officer in the end.
Issa, in a written statement after Wednesday's hearing, called the alleged retaliation and intimidation "perhaps most troubling."
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the committee, vowed to protect the whistle-blowers while criticizing his Republican colleagues for allegedly trying to politicize the tragedy. He claimed afterward that the testimony only served to undercut Republican allegations.
"What should have been a bipartisan investigation involving our national security was another sorry example of Republicans promising explosive new facts but delivering only a press spectacle," he said in a statement.
The committee may move to hear testimony next from at least one leader of the State Department's internal review of the Benghazi attack. Though the leaders, former Joints Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, apparently declined to testify, Pickering told MSNBC on Wednesday that he is willing to speak.
Issa spokesman Frederick Hill on Thursday noted the "change of heart" -- but also said neither Pickering nor the administration has contacted the committee about possible testimony.
Several claims from Wednesday's hearing could open up new lines of inquiry on the attack and its aftermath. Among them, Hicks claimed that Rice's faulty claims about the nature of the attack hurt the FBI investigation.
Hicks argued that Rice's comments so insulted the Libyan president -- since they contradicted his Sept. 16 claims that the attack was premeditated -- that it slowed the FBI's investigation.
"President Magariaf was insulted in front of his own people, in front of the world. His credibility was reduced," Hicks said, adding that the president was apparently "still steamed" two weeks later.
This bad blood, he claimed, contributed to the FBI team being stuck in Tripoli for about 17-18 days.
"I definitely believe that it negatively affected our ability to get the FBI team quickly to Benghazi," he said, adding that the U.S. could not even get the Libyans to secure the crime scene during that time.
miércoles, mayo 08, 2013
Benghazi Hearing Aims to Reveal High Level Decision-Makers
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee say there will be “explosive” revelations that will come forth during the Committee’s hearing on Wednesday when three State Department witnesses reveal what they knew the night the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya were attacked by terrorists. Committee members will be hearing the testimonies of State Department employees Greg Hicks, Mark Thompson, and Eric Nordstrom.
The Committee appears to be interested in finding out who ultimately made the decision to tell military assets not to send help to the Americans who were under assault in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. The attack took the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a member of the Oversight Committee, has said the whistleblower witnesses will discuss whether or not there could have been military assets deployed during the siege that could have saved the lives of former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty.
Hicks told the Oversight Committee in April:
If we had got clearance from the Libyan military for an American plane to fly over Libyan airspace. The Libyans that I talked to and the Libyans and other Americans who were involved in the war have told me also that Libyan revolutionaries were very cognizant of the impact that American and NATO airpower had with respect to their victory. They are under no illusions that American and NATO airpower won that war for them. And so, in my personal opinion, a fastmover flying over Benghazi at some point, you know, as soon as possible might very well have prevented some of the bad things that happened that night.
“[T]he administration says we couldn’t have gotten there in time which defies logic, because they had no idea had long the attack was going to last,” Gowdy told Fox News on Tuesday night. “Mr. Thompson is going to shed light on...the siege itself and whether or not our fellow Americans were crying for help and we could have helped them and for whatever reason chose not to,” he said.
Additionally, Gowdy says he will be questioning the witnesses about the administration’s explanation for falsely blaming an online video, made in part by California resident and Coptic Christian Mark Basseley Youssef, for instigating the attack on the consulate. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went onto five Sunday news shows following the attack and touted the administration’s position that the video was the reason for the attack on the consulate.
“You’re going to know that [Ambassador Susan Rice] was demonstrably false. You’re going to know that she was the only person who held onto that narrative even after everyone else went away from it,” Gowdy said, adding, “And importantly..what you're going to hear that this cover up, her choosing to rely on those false talking points about the video, impeded and obstructed our ability to get at what happened in Benghazi. The [FBI] was denied access to the crime scene as a direct result of her false narrative that it was a video.”
Hicks will tell the Committee, according to Gowdy, how the State Department attempted to protect high-level officials at the Department after the attack. Excerpts of Hicks’ interview with the Committee show Hicks thought the Department's Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) report did not palace blame on anyone, telling the Committee:
I thought it was incomplete. I thought that it was--that the recommendations were unbalanced in favor of building higher walls, pouring more concrete, that it was insufficiently strong in recommending that the State Department personnel needed to have more and better training to be deployed to critical threat environments…
I mean, the ARB report itself doesn’t really ascribe blame to any individual at all. The public report anyway....It does let people off the hook. In our system, people who make decisions have been confirmed by the Senate to make decisions. The three people in the State Department who are on administrative leave pending disciplinary action are below Senate confirmation level. Now, the DS assistant secretary resigned, and he is at Senate confirmation level. Yet the paper trail is pretty clear that decisions were being made above his level. Certainly the fact that Under Secretary Kennedy required a daily report of the personnel in country and who personally approved every official American who went to Tripoli or Benghazi, either on assignment or TDY, would suggest some responsibility about security levels within the country lies on his desk...
The witnesses will likely be asked to describe what their transition was like after the attack, particularly focusing in on any threats they may have received from the State Department if they broke their silence about what they knew.
martes, mayo 07, 2013
sábado, mayo 04, 2013
BENGHAZI: Names of ‘whistleblower’ witnesses revealed
Their identities have been a well-guarded secret, known only to their high-powered lawyers and a handful of House lawmakers and staff. But now Fox News has learned the names of the self-described Benghazi “whistleblowers” who are set to testify before a widely anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
Hicks was at the time of the highest-ranking American diplomat in the country.
Nordstrom previously testified before the oversight committee, which is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in October 2012. Of the three witnesses, he is the only one who does not consider himself a whistleblower. At last fall's hearing, however, Nordstrom made headlines by detailing for lawmakers the series of requests that he, Ambassador Stevens, and others had made for enhanced security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in the period preceding the attacks, requests mostly rejected by State Department superiors.
"For me the Taliban is on the inside of the [State Department] building," Nordstrom testified, angry over inadequate staffing at a time when the threat environment in Benghazi was deteriorating,
The other two witnesses have not been heard from publicly before.
Hicks is a veteran Foreign Service officer whose overseas postings have also included Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican and committee member, said Hicks was in Tripoli at 9:40 p.m. local time when he received one of Stevens’ earliest phone calls amid the crisis.
“We’re under attack! We’re under attack!” the ambassador reportedly shouted into his cell phone at Hicks.
Chaffetz, who subsequently debriefed Hicks, also said the deputy “immediately called into Washington to trigger all the mechanisms” for an inter-agency response.
“The real-life trauma that [Hicks] went through,” Chaffetz recalled to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “I mean, I really felt it in his voice. It was hard to listen to. He’s gone through a lot, but he did a great job.”
According to the State Department website, Thompson “advises senior leadership on operational counterterrorism matters, and ensures that the United States can rapidly respond to global terrorism crises.”
Five years before the Benghazi attacks, he lectured at a symposium hosted by the University of Central Florida and titled “The Global Terrorism Challenge: Answers to Key Questions.”
Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, and wife Victoria Toensing, a former chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee -- Republicans -- disclosed this week that in their private practice in the nation’s capital, they now represent pro bono two career State Department employees who regard themselves as “whistleblowers” and would be testifying before Issa’s committee at its next Benghazi hearing, on May 8.
The lawyers said their clients believe their accounts of Benghazi were spurned by the Accountability Review board (ARB), the official investigative body convened by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to review the terrorist attacks, and that the two employees have faced threats and intimidation from as-yet-unnamed superiors.
“I'm not talking generally, I'm talking specifically about Benghazi -- that people have been threatened,” Toensing told Fox News on Wednesday. “And not just the State Department; people have been threatened at the CIA….It's frightening….They're taking career people and making them well aware that their careers will be over.”
DiGenova told Fox News on Thursday, by way of describing his and Toensing’s respective clients: “There were people who were material witnesses, who wanted to talk to [the ARB], and they were not allowed to talk to them.
“The people that we are representing are career civil servants...people who have served the country overseas…in dangerous positions all over the world, have risked their lives and only want to tell the truth.”
jueves, mayo 02, 2013
Special ops called for military backup during Libya attack, sources say
The disconnect was one example of what sources described as a communication breakdown that left those on the ground without outside help.
"When you are on the ground, you depend on each other -- we're gonna get through this situation. But when you look up and then nothing outside of the stratosphere is coming to help you or rescue you, that's a bad feeling," one source said.
Multiple sources spoke to Fox News about what they described as a lack of action in Benghazi on Sept. 11 last year, when four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
"They had no plan. They had no contingency plan for if this happens, and that's the problem this is going to face in the future," one source said. "They're dealing with more hostile regions, hostile countries. This attack's going to happen again."
Under normal circumstances, authorities in Benghazi would have fallen under the chief of mission, one source said -- the person in charge of security in the country who in this case was Stevens. But once Stevens was cornered and members of his security detail pushed his distress button, that authority would have been transferred to his deputy. However, that deputy was out of the country.
That meant the authority then reverted directly to the U.S. State Department, and oversight of the response to the attack that night fell to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, who were calling the shots.
Sources said that shortly after the attack began around 9:40 p.m., special forces put out the calls for assets to be moved into position.
"What that does is that enacts ... every asset, every element to respond and it becomes a global priority," one source said. "I would tell you that was given and the only reason it was given is because of special operations pack."
However, the source said, "Assets did not move."
The failure of the State Department or White House to give the military permission to go into Libya, according to the source, only accentuates the significant breakdown in communication among the State Department, military, CIA and White House.
"I can see the initial confusion in the beginning. I mean, you have a situation that's developing. The problem with the State Department is they don't have procedures in place. And if they do, they haven't practiced or exercised them. And now they are making up for all the mistakes they have made, with excuse. And there is no excuse," the source said, describing a "huge breakdown between State and military."
Last October, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the response, saying the military was reluctant to put forces at risk.
"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," Panetta said. "And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation."
The State Department Accountability Review Board, which investigated the attack and what led up to it, also claimed that "Washington-Tripoli-Benghazi communication, cooperation, and coordination on the night of the attacks were effective."
But one source told Fox News there was "not good communication" between State and Defense "on any level."
FBI seeks help identifying three suspects seen at Benghazi mission during attack
FBI.gov
The FBI is seeking information about these three individuals who were on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2012.
The FBI is seeking the public’s help identifying three suspects captured by surveillance cameras on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the nighttime assault.
The FBI, working with a number of U.S. and foreign agencies, has identified about 45 persons suspected of involvement in the attack, according to law enforcement sources who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity. Of those 45 about 25 have been identified, they said.
The bureau, which posted photos of the trio on its website, did not explain why it focused on them among the 25 unidentified suspects.
“We are seeking information about three individuals who were on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission when it was attacked,” it said in a short post accompanying the photos. “These individuals may be able to provide information to help in the investigation.”
The FBI urged anyone with information to send a text or email to BenghaziTips@ic.fbi.gov.
Up to several hundred gunmen attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission and a CIA annex in Benghazi in the night of the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington by al Qaeda.
The incident has raised questions about the adequacy of security at U.S. embassies around the globe and where to draw the line between protecting American diplomats in dangerous places and giving them enough freedom to do their jobs.
U.S. intelligence officials say militants with ties to al Qaeda affiliates were likely involved in the attack and witnesses say members of the Islamist Ansar al-Shariah group were at the scene.
Libyan authorities said eight people were detained in the immediate aftermath of the attack and around 50 were "wanted for investigation.” The eight turned out to be only looters, Reuters reported in December, citing local officials.
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