April 5, 2011: Special envoy Christopher Stevens arrives in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to forge ties with the forces battling Moammar Gadhafi.
February 2012: The U.S. Embassy requests – and is granted – a four-month extension, until August, of a Tripoli-based “Site Security Team” (SST) composed of 16 special forces soldiers who provide security, medical and communications support to the embassy.
March 2012: State Department Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom sends a cable to Washington asking for additional diplomatic security for Benghazi, later he says he received no response. He inquires again in July, with the same result.
April 6: Two fired Libyan security guards throw an IED over the embassy fence.
May 22: President Obama appoints Christopher Stevens as Ambassador to Libya. An Islamist attack on the Red Cross office in Benghazi is followed by a Facebook post that warns “now we are preparing a message for the Americans.” Another Facebook posting a month later highlights Stevens’ daily runs in Tripoli in an apparent threat.
June 6: (The most underreported fact on this schedule) The embassy has a hole blown in the north gate described by a witness “to be big enough for 40 men to go through.” The jihadist group the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades, is suspected as they left leaflets at the scene claiming the attack was retaliation for the death of Libyan al Queda No. 2 Abu Yahya al Libi.
July 2012: The anti-Islam video is posted on the internet.
August, 2012: A report (“Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile) prepared by the research division of the Library of Congress (LOC) under agreement with the Defense Department’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office is released. The report details al Qaeda’s plans for Libya, including the growth of a clandestine terrorist network that has attempted to hide its presence. According to a report by CNN our assassinated Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, feared al-Qaeda’s growing influence in Libya and believed he was on a hit list.
August 14: The SST team leaves Libya. Team leader Lt. Col Andy Wood has testified that Stevens wanted them to stay on.
In Weeks Prior: Libyan security guards are reportedly warned by family members of an impending attack. On September 8, the Libyan militia tasked with protecting the embassy warns U.S. diplomats that the security situation is “frightening.”
September 9/10: Al Queda chief Ayman al-Zawahri posts a 42-minute video urging Libyans to attack Americans to avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, the terror organization’s second-in-command, whom U.S. drones killed in June of 2012 in Pakistan.
September 11: Protestors converge on the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt, scale its walls and replace the U.S. flag with the Islamist banner. The protests eventually spread to 20 countries around the world. It is later reported that al-Queda ordered the protests to seek the release of the Blind Sheik. That night, Republican candidate Mitt Romney criticizes an embassy statement denouncing the video before the events unfolding in Libya are known to the world. Late that night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says in a statement that “some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.”
Detail of Islamic Terrorist Attack on 9/11 in Benghazi as posted by media outlets across the country:
Ambassador Stevens spends the night in Benghazi, and for the 11th Anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic Terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, holds meetings inside the compound only. It is an enclosed area about 300 yards long by 100 yards wide, with a 9-foot outer wall topped by barbed wire and augmented by barriers, steel drop bars and other security upgrades. There are four buildings in the compound. Five diplomatic security officers are present, along with four members of a local militia deployed by Libya's government to provide added security.
Around 8:30PM Libyan Time, Stevens finishes his final meeting of the day and escorts a Turkish diplomat outside the main entrance of the consulate. The situation is calm. There are no protests.
Around 9:40PM Libyan Time, Agents hear loud noises, gunfire and explosions near the front gate. A barracks at the entrance housing the local militiamen is burnt down. Agents viewing cameras see a large group of armed men flowing into the compound. Alarm is sounded. Telephone calls are made to the embassy in Tripoli, officials in Washington, the Libyan authorities and a U.S. quick reaction force located at a second compound a little more than a mile away. The Seals at the CIA Annex call their headquarters letting them know they hear gun fire and want to move in for support of the Consulate and the Ambassador.
One agent, armed with a sidearm and an M4 submachine gun, takes Stevens and computer specialist Sean Smith to a safe room inside one of the compound's two main residences. It has a heavy metal grill and several locks, medical supplies and water, and windows that can be opened only from the inside. The other agents equip themselves with long guns, body armor, helmets and ammunition at other buildings. Two try to make it to the building with Stevens. They are met by armed men and are forced to retreat.
Attackers penetrate Stevens' building and try to break the grill locks for the safe room but cannot gain access. They dump jerry cans of diesel fuel in the building, light furniture on fire and set aflame part of the exterior of the building. Two of the remaining four agents are in the compound's other residence. Attackers penetrate that building, but the agents barricade themselves in and the attackers can't reach them. Attackers try to enter the tactical operations center, where the last two agents are located. They smash up the door but cannot enter the building.
Meanwhile, Stevens' building rapidly fills up with thick diesel smoke and burning fumes from the furniture. Inside, visibility is less than 3 feet. Unable to breathe, the Americans go to a bathroom and open a window but still can't get enough air. They decide to leave the building. The agent goes first, flopping out onto a patio enclosed by sandbags. He takes immediate fire, including probably rocket-propelled grenades. Stevens and Smith don't come out of the building. The agent, suffering severely from smoke inhalation, goes in and out of the building several times to look for them. He then climbs a ladder to the roof of the building and collapses. He radios the other agents to alert them to the situation there.
The other four agents are able to reunite and take an armored vehicle to Stevens' building. They reach the collapsed agent and try to set up a perimeter. They take turns going into the building, searching on hands and knees for the missing Americans. Smith is pulled out, dead. Stevens cannot be found.
A six-person, quick-reaction security team arrives from their CIA Annex. About 60 Libyan militiamen accompany them. They attempt to secure a perimeter around Stevens' building and take turns going inside. Taking fire, Libyan forces determine they can't hold the perimeter. A decision is made to evacuate the compound and return with everyone to the Annex.
Agents pile into an armored vehicle with Smith's body and leave through the main gate. They face immediate fire. Crowds and groups of men block two different routes to the Annex. Heavy traffic means they are traveling only about 15 mph and trying not to attract attention. On a narrow street they reach a group of men who signal for them to enter a compound. They sense an attack and speed away, taking heavy fire from AK-47 machine guns at a distance of only 2 feet and hand grenades thrown against and under the car. Two tires are blown out.
They speed past another crowd of men and onto a main street and across a grassy median into opposing traffic. The agents drive against traffic, eventually reaching the Annex. Security gets into firing positions around the Annex and on the roof. They take more gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades intermittently for several hours.
In the night, a team of reinforcements from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrives on a chartered aircraft at the Benghazi airport and reaches the Annex security compound.
Around 4AM Libyan Time, the Annex is hit by mortar fire. The roof is hit and two security personnel are killed (Doherty and Woods). One agent involved in the attack from the beginning is severely wounded. The men decide to evacuate the city entirely. They spend the next hours securing the Annex and moving a large convoy of vehicles to the airport. They evacuate on two flights.
September 12: Media reports that Stevens and three other Americans have been killed in an attack by well-armed militants. Obama denounces an “outrageous and shocking attack” without mentioning the video or terrorism. Reuters reports for the first time that some administration officials believe the assault “bears the hallmarks of an organized attack.”
September 13: White House spokesman Jay Carney says “the protests we’re seeing around the region are in reaction to this movie.”
September 14: Carney says the administration had “no actionable intelligence” about a pending attack. Also, at the transfer of the remains ceremony Secretary of State Hillary Clinton states in front of the press and families of the murdered Americans, “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with.” President Obama responds to a report there may have been advanced notice of the attack by saying, “I have seen that report, and the story is absolutely wrong. We were not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent. That report is false.”
September 16: Ambassador Susan Rice appears on five Sunday talk shows and says the attacks were provoked by the video. “Based on the best information we have to date…it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest outside of our consulate in Benghazi,…We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.” That same day, interim Libyan president Mohamed Magarief insists on CBS that “it was planned, definitely.”
September 17: State Department spokeswomen Victoria Nuland refuses to call attacks an act of terror.
September 19: National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen testifies before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the assault was a “terrorist attack” but goes on to call it an “opportunistic” attack in which armored militants took advantage of an ongoing protest.
September 20: CBS reports that witnesses in Benghazi say there was no protest prior to the armed assault against the embassy. Obama at a town hall event says: “What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests.” Carney declares it “self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”
September 21: News outlets report that Carney’s statement was the first time White House says it was a terrorist attack. ABC News, “Carney, for the first time Benghazi named as a terrorist attack; LA Times, “For first time…”; Fox News, “For the first time…”; CNN, “The White House for the first time Thursday declared the attack was…” Secretary of State Clinton at a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister, says “What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.” Highest administration official to say so.
September 25: Obama addresses the U.N. General Assembly, he doesn’t mention terrorism but makes repeated references to the video as the problem. “A crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world.” This same day on ABC’s “The View,” Obama says “we don’t have all of the information yet so we are still gathering” and blames “extremist militias.”
September 26: Published reports show U.S. Intel agencies and the Obama Administration knew within 24 hours that al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist were involved. Libya’s president Magarief on NBC’s “Today Show,” states for the second time that “It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens.”
September 27: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says it’s “clear that there were terrorists who planned that attack.” The filmmaker for “Innocence of Muslims” Mark Basseley Youseff (aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula) is arrested and denied bail for “probation violation.”
September 28: The Director or National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr. issues a statement backing the Obama Administration’s changing story about the Libyan attack. Report says facts were evolving. It made the first link of the Benghazi attack to the video and then some time after determined it to be a terrorist attack. Blatantly missing from the report were any dates or times when each of these differing conclusions were derived. Additionally the same day, three U.S. intelligence officials who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the press stated that in monitoring communications from jihadist members they heard some brag about their successful attack against the American consulate in Benghazi – this was within the first 24-hours of the event.
October 1: State Department spokeswomen Victoria Nuland says Clinton stands by Rice after House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-NY) calls for her resignation.
October 2: Carney declines to comment on reported requests from diplomats in Libya for additional security, citing the State Department’s internal investigation. Hillary Clinton sends letter sighting 13 security threats against U.S. facilities in Libya in preceding 6 months leading up to the terrorist attack.
October 3: FBI investigation team finally arrives at crime scene in Benghazi which has remained unsecured for weeks since the terrorist attack.
October 6: In a letter to Senate Republicans demanding an explanation for the shifting rhetoric, Rice lays the blame on the intelligence community, says she “relied solely and squarely on the information the intelligence community provided to me and other senior U.S. officials.”
October 9: Senior State Department officials for the first time acknowledge that there was never any protest in Benghazi during a background call with reporters. They say linking the attack to the video was “not our conclusion,” suggesting they’re blaming intelligence officials.
October 10: Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb, who oversees diplomatic security, testified before the House Oversight Committee today. In her testimony she said that from her command center in Washington she was able to track the lethal events of Benghazi is something akin to real time. She was in constant communication with the agent on the consulate grounds who first notified Washington that an assault – “attack, attack,” the agent said – was underway. Ms Lamb also said that the State Department was receiving a steady stream of data on the afternoon of September 11 indicating that terrorism was “afoot.” Lt. Col Andy Wood and Eric Nordstrom also testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing on security lapses in Libya. They say their requests for more security were denied by their superiors in Washington, testimony confirmed by cables made public by Chairman Darrel Issa (R-CA).
October 11: During the Vice Presidential debate, Biden says, “We weren’t told they wanted more security there.” He also denies responsibility for the administration’s shifting explanation: “The intelligence community told us that. As they learned more facts about exactly what happened, they changed their assessment.”
October 12: After questions arise, the White House says Biden was only speaking for himself and the president since those decisions are made by the State Department.
October 16: Clinton takes responsibility for the attack, saying security at all diplomatic missions is her job, not that of the White House. She says: "I take responsibility. I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000 people all over the world (at) 275 posts." Libya becomes a major issue in the second presidential debate. It's the first time Obama uses the exact phrase "terrorist attack." The president says that the day after the attack, "I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime." Romney countered, "I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror." Obama takes responsibility for the security in Benghazi.
October 17: Senator John McCain(R) says, "But first of all, responsibility for American security doesn't lie with the Secretary of State. It lies with the President of the United States. It's either willful deception or a degree of incompetence and failure to understand fundamental facts on the ground." Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein(D) raised questions about Clapper's actions following the attack: "I think what happened was the Director of Intelligence, who is a very good individual, put out some speaking points on the initial intelligence assessment. I think that was possibly a mistake. There's no question but that it was a terrorist attack, there is no question but that the security was inadequate, and I think that there is no question that we need to work on our intelligence."
October 18: The President says on "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, "If four Americans get killed, it's not optimal. ... We're going to fix it."
October 19: The AP reveals that the CIA's Libya station chief sent a report within 24 hours of the attack that there was evidence that militants were behind the assault, rather than a mob upset about the anti-Islamic video. The Wall Street Journal today is questioning Mrs. Clinton’s statement last week, “everyone had the same intelligence” which was in agreement of Assistant Secretary of State, Charlene Lamb’s testimony before Congress about the near real time data they had concerning the events of 9/11 in Benghazi.
Mrs. Clinton’s statement about everyone being in the loop and on board with the same intelligence would appear to be untrue. Because it appears from the statements of the administration that the information that was known to the Assistant Secretary of State was somehow withheld for at least 8 days from the Secretary of State herself, from our UN Ambassador, from the Director of National Intelligence, from the Analytical Corps at the CIA, from the President’s chief spokesman and from the President himself. How can that be?
The Wall Street Journal also takes exception to the President’s supposed acknowledgement of it being a terrorist attack on the night of October 16 during the debate. President Obama claimed to have “told” the American people that Benghazi was a terror attack the very next day when speaking in the Rose Garden (see September 12). However, that assertion is untrue, despite what Candy Crowley, the moderator claimed to the contrary. The President had only spoken generally of terror attacks, and Benghazi would have been understood to fall under that umbrella only if it had been acknowledged as a terror attack, and it wasn’t, not for many, many days.
October 20: Susan Collins(D) and Joe Lieberman(I), the leaders, respectively, of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent separate letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, asking for classified documents and briefings about the Benghazi 9/11 Islamic terrorist attack. CBS News, John Tapper reporting said the Ambassador Stevens “repeatedly voiced concern about security even on the day he died.” Also, he showed a June cable from the Ambassador that stated, “Islamic extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Libya and that the al-Qaeda flag…flying over government buildings.”
October 23: Reuters News Agency – Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails obtained from government sources not connected with US spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks. The brief emails also show how US diplomats described the attack to Washington, even as it was still under way.
October 24: Reuters News Agency releases emails leaked from the State Department that contradict Obama and the State Department positions following the Islamic terrorist attack. CBS News verifies that there was at least one Drone in the air above the site sometime within two hours of the attack. Below: in Bold are the State Department e-mails - other times posted are in an effort to put it all in context:
12:54PM ET – Sean Smith (State Official Killed 9/11) writes on the internet warning that there may be trouble.
2:30PM ET – The attack on the Consulate in Benghazi begins.
4:05PM ET – State Department communicates: “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack” – “The Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard as well.” The message continued: “Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four…personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support.” – The 17th of February Militia was an Islamic group guarding the CIA Annex about one mile down the road, not the Consulate. Please note that these State Department communiqués went to the White House Situation Room, the FBI, the DOD, and the CIA.
4:54PM ET – State Department communicates: “Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi.” The Embassy in Tripoli reports that “the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi has stopped and the compound had been cleared.”
5:00PM ET – We know President Obama is in the White House with VP Biden and Secretary of Defense Penetta (As of this date, no additional information has been released from the White House as to the whereabouts of the President during the attack).
6:07PM ET – State Department communicates: “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack.” “Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and had called for an attack.”
October 26: Fox News release, Jennifer Gardner reporting, that sources have confirmed that three urgent requests for military assistance sent from the CIA Annex were all denied. Also, CIA operatives were told to “stand down” rather than respond when shots were heard around 9:40PM Libyan time (2:40PM ET), on September 11. The CIA Annex (Safe House) is about a mile from the Consulate.
The Annex calls their CIA contacts for help stating shots are being fired at the Consulate – their request was denied and they were told to stand down. An hour later they call a second time stating they continue to hear gun fire and again they were denied and told to stand down. The two Seals and two others (possibly more) disregard orders and go to help and rescue people remaining in the Consulate which was on fire, evacuating those people remaining and the body of Sean Smith who was killed in the initial attack – they could not find Ambassador Stevens and returned to the Annex about Midnight, Libyan time (5PM ET). The Seals make a third request for help saying they are now under attack at the Annex – but again were denied assistance. They were in constant contact with their headquarters and had no radio problems. At least one member of the team was on the roof of the Annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired on the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Specter Gunship, which is commonly used by US 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.
Sources appear to claim that there were potential options that could have been pursued, although these avenues were reportedly not taken during the September 11 attack. While the forces available at Sigonella could have been flown into Benghazi in less than two hours, they, too, were also allegedly told to “stand down.”
Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were part of a Global Response Staff (GRS) that provides security to CIA case officers and provides a countersurveillance and surveillance protection. They were killed by a mortar shell about 4/4:30AM Libyan time (9/9:30PM ET), nearly seven hours after the attack on the Consulate began – time enough for the US military to send back-up from nearby bases in Europe, according to sources familiar with Special Operations.
Also, on this day The Blaze reveals some of the private interaction between the President, the Vice President and Secretary of State as told to them by the father of slain Navy Seal Tyrone (Ty) Woods. Charles Woods stated that “the President would not look him the eye and it was like shaking hands with a dead fish.” The Vice President asked him, “did your son always have the balls the size of cue balls?” And if that were not offensive enough under the light of the information that has come out since the Islamic terrorist attack, Hillary told him, “we’re going to have that person arrested who did that video.” Remember, this conversation was held on the 14th of September after the Administration fully knew it was an Islamic terrorist attack but yet she specifically raised the specter of some obscure internet video to the families of these hero’s as the cause of this tragedy (the man who produced the video was arrested and is in jail, held without bail and is not scheduled for release until three days after the election).
President Obama was on a radio show today answering questions on Benghazi when he stated “…I was not personally aware of requests to increase security before the attack.” Interesting statement, back on September 14 the President’s press secretary Jay Carney told the media in regards to questions about Benghazi and security in general, “…the President is always briefed and brought up to speed about all precautions taken…”
I will continue to update this story as time progresses but it is certain there is something else going on here – again, why the misleading information coming out of the White House? Start looking into it and reading the reports and come to your own conclusions – I will be posting mine as time goes by.
Original Post: 10/18
Updates to Post: 10/24
10/26
