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  • 2012-10-31 (xsd:date)
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  • Attack on the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi (en)
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  • The September 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, have been a wellspring of rumors, most of them critical of the Obama administration's response to the situation (particularly the actions of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The block below captures some of the more prominent rumors from various sources that made the online rounds in the immediate aftermath of the attacks: The claim that top Obama administration officials were gathered in the Oval Office watching a real-time video feed of the September 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, but did nothing to intervene appears to have originated with a 24 October 2012 Forbes op-ed piece (White House Watched Benghazi Attacked And Didn't Respond), the opening paragraph of which is quoted in the example block above. However, that description is a rather distorted version of what the news sources it references (CBS News and ABC News) actually reported. A CBS News story from that same day (U.S. military poised for rescue in Benghazi) stated the following: According to that report, it was not the case that President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of Defense Panetta, and a national security team were watching real-time video of developments from a drone circling over the site; rather, a single diplomatic security official was listening to an audio feed of events in Benghazi. Security cameras in the U.S. consulate compound did record video of the events as they unfolded, and a U.S. surveillance drone camera did capture the last hour of the attack, but neither of those sources was watched real-time by officials in Washington, as the consulate video recordings were not recovered until weeks after the attack: On 26 October 2012, Fox News reported urgent requests for military back-up from those on the ground during the attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi were turned down by the CIA: However, administration officials denied that any requests for military assistance by those at the U.S. mission in Benghazi were rejected: On 1 November 2012, U.S. intelligence officials released an account stating the CIA had in fact rushed security operatives to the U.S. mission compound in Benghazi within half an hour of the start of the attack: The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's 15 January 2014 review of the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi viewed video footage documenting the dispatch of a security team to the Mission compound within 20-25 minutes of the first report of the attack, and they found that no stand down orders were issued to the security team at the Annex: General Carter Ham headed the U.S. Africa Command during the attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. A late October 2012 rumor claimed General Ham declined an order to stand down and attempted to provide military assistance during the attacks, only to be relieved of his command within a minute of doing so, and Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette was likewise relieved of his command for ordering his forces to support those ordered into action by General Ham. That rumor was fueled by an 18 October 2012 announcement that President Obama had selected a nominee to replace General Ham (who subsequently retired from the U.S. Army in April 2013) as commander of the U.S. Africa Command: However, Secretary of Defense Panetta stated during an October 2012 press briefing that General Ham was one of the military commanders who had judged it too dangerous to send troops to Benghazi without a clearer picture of events on the ground: On 29 October 2012, General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also asserted that this rumor was false: General Ham himself testified before the House Committee on Armed Services in June 2013 that the decision not to deploy close air support during the attack was made by him based on his assessment of the situation at the time, not because he was ordered to stand down: General Ham also addressed this rumor directly during his testimony: Admiral Charles M. Gaouette was also relieved of his command of an aircraft carrier strike group in late October 2012 for a reason that was initially specified only as a recent case of inappropriate leadership judgment: It was later revealed that Adm. Gaouette had been relieved of his command not for any reason connected to the September 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, but because a complaint about his unprofessional demeanor had been filed against him by the USS John C. Stennis' commanding officer, Capt. Ronald Reis. A subsequent Navy investigation reprimanded Gaouette for repeatedly violating U.S. Navy policy by making and sending offensive comments and e-mail messages: (en)
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