Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Security Lapses In Afghanistan Net 2 Fired Generals, While Clinton-Obama Still Not Accountable For Benghazi And Other Scandals

At Reuters Phil Stewart reports that "...in an extraordinary and rare public censure," the head of the Marine Corps fired two U.S. generals, "...over their failure to defend a major base in Afghanistan from a deadly Taliban attack last year..."

Sacked were Major General Charles Gurganus, regional top commander, and Major General Gregg Sturdevant for not taking "...adequate force protection measures within the range of responses proportionate to the threat..."

Stewart recounted that in 2012 "...Two Marines were killed and eight personnel were wounded when Taliban insurgents breached what a military investigation determined was inadequate security at Camp Bastion, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province..."
"...Beyond the loss of life, the Taliban also caused millions of dollars in damage, destroying six Marine AV-8B Harrier jets during a large-scale Taliban attack including use of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
The Central Command review concluded that Gurganus 'made an error in judgment when conducting his risk assessment of the enemy's capabilities and intentions.'
Sturdevant, who commanded the aviation arm of the Marine force, also did not adequately assess security at Bastion Airfield, the Marines said..."
Meanwhile, no one has been called to answer for the security breaches that accounted for four Americans killed at a U.S. compound in Benghazi over a year ago, and a report issued by the government essentially white-washed the incident, which initially was blamed on the release of an anti-Muslim extremist video.

Shortly after President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton, along with others in their administration, asserted that the video was what had prompted a retaliatory attack on the Benghazi embassy compound, it was found that not only was that assertion false, but that the attack was the result of a series of major security blunders.

To date survivors of the attack have yet to testify before a Congressional Committee tasked to find answers about the Benghazi attack, and reportedly witnesses have been confronted with signing "non-disclosure" agreements, prompting suspicions of an administration cover-up of events regarding the Benghazi incident.

Congressional sources said that last month House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) as part of the ongoing investigation into the Benghazi terrorist attacks, released an interim report focused on the conclusions of the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB). 
"...The ARB had placed blame on mid-level officials but did not examine the role of more senior officials involved in security decisions.  Relying on documents and testimony of State Department officials, the report describes the concerns and shortcomings of an investigation that Administration officials have incorrectly described as independent and exhaustive...'The ARB was not fully independent,' said Chairman Issa on releasing the report.  'The panel did not exhaustively examine failures and it has led to an unacceptable lack of accountability. While Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen have honorably served their country, the families of victims and the American people continue to wait for more conclusive answers about how our government left our own personnel so vulnerable and alone the night of the attack.'..."
That full report can be seen HERE...

Mid September, Oversight Committee Chairman Issa, demanded that the State Department comply with the Committee's request to interview survivors of the Benghazi attack, indicating that the committee might use compulsory measures if state department cooperation was not forthcoming:
"...'The survivors of the attacks are the only people who can give testimony to the Committee about what happened on the ground in Benghazi,' said Issa in the letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry one day before the anniversary of the Benghazi attacks. 'Details provided by the survivors will not only help the Committee determine what took place during the attack, but will also help the Committee and other interested parties determine ways to prevent future tragedies.'...'The State Department has further restricted the Committee’s access to these witnesses, claiming that they must be insulated from congressional investigators as they ‘would very likely be witnesses in any criminal proceedings relating to the Benghazi attacks’… The Department’s concerns about jeopardizing law enforcement efforts were not at issue during its own internal ARB investigation, and should not be an issue with the congressional investigation...I must receive confirmation that the Department will make these witnesses available to Committee investigators by September 24, 2013 ...Otherwise, I will have no alternative but to consider the use of compulsory process.'..."
Two ranking Generals in Afghanistan have been forced to resign over security breaches that led to an attack resulting in the deaths of two Americans, but Obama, Clinton and others have yet to answer for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, and the administration and the complicit media continue to hide not only the details of the Benghazi incident, but a series of scandals including:

  • IRS targeting of Conservatives, and thus politically tampering with a national election; 
  • Spying on Americans by the National Security Agency; Justice Department criminalizing of reporters' journalistic activities, in clear violation of the first amendment; 
  • Fast and Furious: a gun-running program hatched to plant guns in the hands of drug cartel operatives, so that the administration could claim that weapons were being smuggled into Mexico, thus necessitating gun-control legislation in the U.S. The guns let loose by the Justice Department have been used in the murder of hundreds of Mexicans and in the death of at least one American.


Click HERE for a full list of the Obama Scandals for which the administration has yet been held accountable.


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