General Petraeus Throws Obama Under the Bus (Benghazi issue)

Just that one aspect is questionable. The rest of the mess is still there. Independent film makers everywhere are intimidated.

 

So let me get this straight. You take unnamed sources via FN as gospel over Petraeus?

If Petraeus states he did not deny the request of help, who did? Clearly help was requested to the CIA. Petraeus is implying he would have given the help. Who has the power to mute Petraeus decision?

 

Did a CIA official confirm that a request was made? And if so, how do we know the rejection came from someone at the top, and it wasn't a screw up in relaying the request up the chain of command?

 

No, they aren't.

 

As director of the CIA, you don't make public comments haphazardly. He was clearly CYA'ing the accusation that the CIA denied the request. If he didn't receive the request, he would have stated otherwise.

Secondly, something of this magnitude doesn't just get screwed up because Betty the office manager just hit 5 o'clock and decided to scribble the message on a post-it and put it in his chair. Deliberate decisions were made, whether they were good or bad.

 

I'm just trying to understand which is more likely:

- A request for backup was received but it wasn't made clear what the threat was

- A clear request was made for backup against a violent assault, but someone screwed up in communicating the nature of what was happening.

- A request was made, it was clear what was happening to all who received the request, and the request was denied at the top of the command chain.

I can't imagine a US official denying help if they understood what was the nature of the threat. My guess (and its really just a hunch right now) is that there was confusion over whether this was a legitimate violent attack or just some overly rowdy protesters. Someone assumed the latter for whatever reason, and told the people on the ground to sit tight.

 

I don't know how you arrived to that innuendo. How can someone mute Petraeus' decision, when in fact CIA said they made the decision to help?

"CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood, though, denied the claims that requests for support were turned down."

CIA/Petraeus was DENYING the FOX News report that they did not help. He is not implying that they would help. CIA FACTUALLY said they DID help.

"We can say with confidence that the Agency reacted quickly to aid our colleagues during that terrible evening in Benghazi," she said. "Moreover, no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate."

It's FOX report vs CIA.

The unnamed sources told FOX that there were request for help and that CIA turned them down. Petraeus is refuting this.

 

First off this seems very thin, a tiny blurb of an article based on a tweet from Jake Tapper. I would like to see some more about this, such as who was the spoke person that made the statement from the CIA and has Petraeus himself commented on this?

 

Our military personnel deserve better.