CIA Operators in Benghazi Were Ordered to “Stand Down”

The leaked emails about the events in Benghazi on the night of September 11 2012 have confirmed what the fever swamps of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy have been saying all along — the attack on the consulate was an Islamic terrorist operation, the White House and the intelligence agencies knew that fact all along, and the absurd story about a “spontaneous” demonstration against the Mohammed video was just a cynical smokescreen.

It is now well-documented that the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Situation Room in the White House were fully informed about what was happening no later than two hours after the attack began. All the stories that were spun after that time by President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Ambassador Rice were — to put it bluntly — shameless lies.

It’s good to see this topic move out of Glenn Beck into Fox News. But it still isn’t being covered anywhere else in the MSM.

The story is said to be the “smoking gun” against the Obama Administration and its disastrous foreign policy. And indeed it should be. But a smoking gun is of no use if it is never picked up by detectives and displayed as evidence in an open courtroom.

As long as the major media ignore the issue, most Americans will remain unaware of the treasonous behavior of their elected and appointed leaders.

It will be interesting to see if it spreads beyond Fox. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Below are excerpts from the accompanying Fox News article:

EXCLUSIVE: CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack, sources say

By Jennifer Griffin

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later was denied by U.S. officials — who also told the CIA operators twice to “stand down” rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to “stand down,” according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to “stand down.”

Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Spectre gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours — enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.

A Special Operations team, or CIF which stands for Commanders in Extremis Force, operating in Central Europe had been moved to Sigonella, Italy, but they were never told to deploy. In fact, a Pentagon official says there were never any requests to deploy assets from outside the country. A second force that specializes in counterterrorism rescues was on hand at Sigonella, according to senior military and intelligence sources. According to those sources, they could have flown to Benghazi in less than two hours. They were the same distance to Benghazi as those that were sent from Tripoli. Spectre gunships are commonly used by the Special Operations community to provide close air support.

According to sources on the ground during the attack, the special operator on the roof of the CIA annex had visual contact and a laser pointing at the Libyan mortar team that was targeting the CIA annex. The operators were calling in coordinates of where the Libyan forces were firing from.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday that there was not a clear enough picture of what was occurring on the ground in Benghazi to send help.

“There’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here,” Panetta said Thursday. “But the basic principle here … is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on.”