From
Matt Bracken:10-25-2012
The biggest stench from the Benghazi fiasco is that it is beginning
to smell like Obama went “nighty-night” to rest up for Las Vegas,
instead of manning up in the Situation Room and seeing the crisis
through and (had he only been awake) ordering a rescue mission.
In Benghazi, after 6-8 hours enduring a few “Fort Apaches,” with running street battles in …
between, (like a mini Blackhawk Down), the living Americans must have
been thinking, “Any minute now, here come the helicopters! Just hang
on!”
But they didn’t. So even though Delta had forward staged to Sigonella
Sicily (rumint) from base in Germany, nobody was willing or able to
pull the trigger and send a rescue force. Or even a few F-18 supersonic
flybys, to bust windows and warn, “Here comes American airpower, and you
camel jockeys know what that means.” Just as a morale booster it would
have helped the besieged staffers.
But it was never sent, not even a lousy supersonic low-level flyby. One hour from bases in Italy, max.
Here is the deal. The military automatically does a lot on its own,
under standing orders and SOPs. The minute they see that the consulate
is under attack, and the ambassador and others are in a “safe room”
hiding, it becomes TOP priority. Every other mission aborts or slaves
over to support any possible rescue.
At that moment when the critical incident alarm messages start
ringing, military steps happen on autopilot in real time. Everybody in
the Navy and USAF chain of command swings into a crisis contingency plan
mode. What ships are closest? Helicopters? Marines? Delta is in
Germany? Get them moving right now. Where is closest? Sigonella, for
now. It’s NATO, no permission needed, just fly.
En route in C-17s, the D-boys would even be prepping for an immediate
action rescue mission, that is, the C-17s will fly directly to some
desert road outside of Benghazi, and here comes “The Raid On Entebbe,”
done in crisis mode, canned actions, but they would do it. They practice
for these exact scenarios, and leave gear staged for them.
They would coordinate with fighters out of Italy, mid-air-refueling
platforms start shifting, it’s a huge show that swings into action for
thousands of miles around Behghazi. The ongoing consulate attack is JOB
ONE, the only job. VIPs will be tossed off of planes at remote runways
if they need that platform.
Or Marines on amphibious ships in the central Med, (if any were
available), would also be put on the real-time options board. We used to
have a “Amphibious Ready Group” of about 3-5 USN gator freighters,
including a helo carrier like a Tarawa class. They carry an entire
battalion of USMC, plus SEALs etc, with helos and Ospreys to carry them
all. (But not at once.) Where was our ARG? Does our Navy have enough
ships for that mission any more?
But while all of that military staging would have happened/did happen
during the 6-8 hour battle at the consulate and annex, what the
military cannot do on their own say-so is cross an international border
without an order from the NCA, the National Command Authority, and that
means POTUS, Obama.
Only POTUS can authorize a cross-border hostile mission. That is,
guns clear, no official permission from the Tripoli govt (if it really
exists outside State Dept fantasies.)
Only one man can pull that trigger and say, “GO!” Obama.
