Top Question for Obama: Why Did You Ignore the Call for Help?

The Benghazi tragedy could be the missile that will sink President Obama’s hopes and dreams of re-election on November 6th. The directness of the question, if posed tonight, would require the balls of a brass monkey, so I doubt the question will ever be asked. Hillary Clinton accepted the blame for the lack of security in Benghazi, but after listening to the sworn testimony of State Department officials before Congress on October 10, 2011 there is much more blame to be accepted. The top question for President Obama tonight should be:

“Why, Mr. President, did you ignore the Benghazi call for help?”

Deputy Secretary of State Charlene Lamb described the “full-scale” assault on the Benghazi compound as “unprecedented in its size and intensity.” Ms. Lamb told Congress that the attack began with gunfire and an explosion at 9:40 pm local time. Diesel fuel was then used to set fire to the Libyan 17th February Brigade’s barracks. Lamb then gave the most important paragraph of her entire testimony:

“When the attack began, a Diplomatic Security agent working in the Tactical Operations Center immediately activated the Imminent Danger Notification System and made an emergency announcement over the PA. Based on our security protocols, he also alerted the annex U.S. quick reaction security team stationed nearby, the Libyan 17th February Brigade, Embassy Tripoli, and the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Washington. From that point on, I could follow what was happening in almost real-time.”

Ms. Lamb made it very clear that when the attack began a Diplomatic Security agent activated the Imminent Danger Notification System, alerted the annex U.S. quick reaction security team stationed nearby “and the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Washington.”

Once the Diplomatic Security Command Center is notified that our diplomats are in danger protocols are activated and a well-defined notification system is activated. Hundreds of people move into action in response. Colonel David Hunt described the scene for radio talk show host, Howie Carr, in which hundreds of people became involved in the emergency situation. Monitors in a dozen or more command centers tuned into the real-time action. Amongst them were:

• National Military Command Center at the Pentagon (NMCC)

• White House Situation Room

• National Military Joint Intelligence Center (NMJIC)

• State Department Operations Center at Foggy Bottom

• Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters

• Counterterrorism Command Center

• European Command Center

• African Command Center

• NATO Command Center

As soon as the command centers receive the emergency information direct phone calls are made while contingency plans of attack are being organized. The Secretary of State, the President, the Vice President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the CIA Director and the Secretary of Defense were called on their direct lines and were immediately made aware of the Benghazi attack as it was happening. They were advised on plans to assist our diplomats. The President’s approval was all that was needed to initiate a rescue attempt.

The attack continued for six hours and nothing was done to save them!

No one answered the call or gave the approval to send helicopters, gunships or U.S. Special Ops Teams to rescue our diplomats. Apparently the call came too close to our Presidential election and President Obama did not want the situation to endanger his prospects for re-election. The only deployment calls made by this President were the calls to concoct a cover-story.

The best cover the Obama administration could come up with was the anti-Islamic video story which they stuck with for a full two weeks after the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans. Our diplomats were left behind by a leader whose politics are more important than the lives of the American heroes he called to serve.

Secretary of State Clinton fell on the sword yesterday for the State Department’s failure to respond to the multiple requests for increased security in Benghazi. Eric Nordstrom, former Regional Security Officer in Tripoli, said this about his lack of support in Libya,

“It’s not the hardships. It’s not the gunfire. It’s not the threats. It’s dealing and fighting against the people, programs and personnel who are supposed to be supporting me . . . ‘For me, the Taliban is on the inside of the building.’ ”

I, like most Americans, believe that the buck stops at the President’s desk. More serious than the shortage of security at the Benghazi compound was the shortage of leadership by the man who occupies our nation’s highest office.

The question that needs to be asked at the debate tonight is:

“Why, Mr. President, did you ignore the Benghazi call for help?”

I hold little HOPE for a CHANGE like that!

Candy Crowley, assigned to pass muster over this debate, would quickly “freeze the balls” off that brassy one, wouldn’t she?