UPDATING:
Admirals and Generals Oh My… Are Being Relieved Of Duty
I will be updating this article as the information keeps coming in, so keep coming back to see if any new information has been posted.
A lot of News Stories are coming out with a denial of General Ham’s departure having anything to do with Benghazi. All of them…including the Fox report originated from the Associated Press.
I am not one to start rumors or spread them, but I find this very interesting considering the fiasco at Benghazi Embassy and our military being told to stand down. For the men and women in uniform, it must have of been a hard thing to watch as former Navy SEAL’s are being murdered alongside our ambassador.
UPDATE: This is an update to the top story.
I recalled a story about General Ham complaining about a growing presence of Al Qaeda militants in Libya. According to CNN the General worked closely with Ambassador Stevens.
Just three months ago, the four-star chief of the U.S. Africa Command warned of a growing threat from al Qaeda and other militant groups in Libya.
“There is a real concern in Libya. As Libya is coming out of the revolution and forming its new government, there very clearly are those who wish to undermine the formation of that government,” said Gen. Carter Ham in a speech to senior military and civilian officials from Africa, Europe and the U.S.
“We see some worrying indicators that al Qaeda and others are seeking to establish a presence in Libya,” Ham warned. Ham often worked closely with the late Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Ham has been trying to establish the initial stages of a military relationship with Libya, but the effort has been slowed by the presence and influence of armed militias, such as those suspected of being involved in the attack. Ham noted back in June the problem of bringing even more mainstream groups under the control of the central government.
General Ham was already bucking the narrative President Obama was trying to establish. Obama wanted to go into the election trying to make Libya a success story…which it was not.
The stories that are now coming out;
Gen Ham was fired 30 seconds after deciding to intervene in Benghazi: I heard a story today from someone inside the military that I trust entirely. The story was in reference to General Ham that Panetta referenced in the quote below.
“(The) basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told Pentagon reporters. “And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.”
The Scuttlebutt;
The information I heard today was that General Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.
General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.
The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham’s place as the head of Africon.
That is true to some extent. Stripes confirmed that General Ham will be replaced by General Rodiguez but no explanation was given:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will nominate Army Gen. David Rodriguez to succeed Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Thursday.
Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.
Rodriguez is the commander of U.S. Army Forces Command and has served in a “variety of key leadership roles on the battlefield,” Panetta said.
He’s “a proven leader” who oversaw coalition and Afghan forces during the surge in Afghanistan, and “was the key architect of the successful campaign plan that we are now implementing,” Panetta said.
It also seems an Admiral in charge of a battle group in the Mediterranean Sea will also be relieved for “inappropriate judgement”;
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.
I find both these stories very odd since I am a former military member. I have never seen an Admiral of an entire battle Group relieved of his command in my 10 years experience. I have seen Commanders, but never Admirals.
UPDATE: Via Las Vegas Sun
The top U.S. military officer is denying reports that Army Gen. Carter Ham’s planned departure as head of U.S. Africa Command is linked to the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey issued a written statement Monday calling speculation about the reasons for Ham’s move “absolutely false.”
Hmmm…. Is General Dempsey acting in the capacity of a careerist or a Patriot? I think both General Dempsey, Leon Panetta and General Ham need to give a press conference together Usually with something as questionable as this, you have the youngest officer state it, then the next highest (General Dempsey) and finally the senior in command which would be Leon Panetta.
Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz only stated that General Ham confirmed no orders were given. He did not state whether he gave the orders or whether himself, Panetta or General Dempsey came up with a consensus to stand down.
On average a General stays in the Area of Operation 2 or more years. General Ham became Commander of Africa on March 9th, 2011 so it is quite possible he did meet his schedule rotation… just in the knick of time. Wonder where he is heading now?
UPDATE: This is the first story that I have seen which actually states General Carter Ham was fired for disobeying orders “not to assist the US personnel in Benghazi on the night of September 11.”
The founder of the site claims to have 25 years of Intelligence experience. Perhaps the readers can confirm this story. There might be a possiblility that this site is picking up on all the information already flying around the blogosphere and added to it the story.
VIA Gerard Direct
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced on Sunday that General Carter Ham Commander of GOC Africa Command (Africom), headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. (U.S. Africa Command is one of six unified geographic commands within the Department of Defense unified command structure.) for refusing to obey orders not to assist the US personnel in Benghazi on the night of September 11. Army General David Rodriguez has been appointed by President Obama to become replace him.
One of their partners is the “Center For Security Policy”
UPDATE: According to Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommitees confirms that General Ham confirmed forces were available was given “No” orders to use them. Some bloggers feel this removes the rumor that General Ham was relieved of command because he wanted to disobey an order to “Stand Down”.
I disagree… This only confirms that “No” orders were given from the top (i.e. POTUS or Panetta) to save the Ambassador and the former SEALs
Via FrontPage Mag
We’re not dealing with anonymous sources here. This comes from an interview with Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommittees relaying the responses from General Carter Ham heading up the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) who had direct responsibility for the situation.
General Ham told Chaffetz that the forces were available, but that no order to use them was given. Defense Secretary Panetta had claimed that the refusal to use force had come from him, General Dempsey and General Ham.
General Ham appears to have broken with that story and is taking no responsibility for the decision not to bail out the consulate and the Navy SEALS.
UPDATE Via Conservative Commune
Friday and Saturday, the news leaked out that Tyrone Woods was found dead, slumped over his ammo-exhausted machine gun on top of the Annex, where he and Glen Doherty had fought against 150 or so al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Sharia militants who followed them from the embassy, waiting for Libyan forces to arrive and relieve them and the other US personnel stationed there, along with those they’d saved from the embassy complex. Rumor has it that the two former SEALs had killed 60 of those militants in the firefight.
Today, administration apologists were all over the networks talking about how unhelpful and partisan it is to demand answers from the White House, who want to get the answers more than anybody . . . after the elections. Oh, wait: administration apologists were on FOX, which was the only network really to address the matter.
More details were delivered by FOX tonight. You really have get a look at the information to see how bad it all looks for the administration. The evidence has been mounting that the White House hung them out to dry. If Woods and Doherty had not relieved the embassy and defended the Annex, the American body count almost certainly would have been much higher. Their heroism was repaid with . . . dead fish.
The administration has thus far refused to release the videos, citing their “ongoing investigation,” but after years of selective leaks and administration attempts to throw the intelligence community under the bus, it’s too late. Apart from FOX, Sharyl Attkisson at CBS (who revealed Obama’s “60 Minutes” statements at the peril of her career there) and Jake Tapper at ABC, the legacy networks and most of their print coreligionists have done everything they can to keep the story under wraps.
Rahm Emanuel also tried to throw a block for Team Obama today, talking about how President Gutsy Call “took control” of that Benghazi business, how he answered the call . . . even as the calls went unanswered.
Four real Americans died. Obama and his crowd of Proggie thugs and apologists have lived to screw another day. They need to be put out of our collective misery.
UPDATE: Tweeted by Moe Lane and retweeted by Elizabeth Scalia, two fairly prominent bloggers.
Moe Lane ?@moelane
I suggest that @barackobama should have Gen. Ham come out and debunk this rumor IMMEDIATELY. LINK LINK
Retweeted by Elizabeth Scalia
This story is making its rounds so eventually Obama or someone else is gonna have to come out. Washington Times, Times123 and AmericanThinker have picked up on the story also.
UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has picked up on it
UPDATE: BlackFive has a little “back and forth” with a legendary Delta Force Operator who said;
Having spent a good bit of time nursing a GLD (ground Laser Designator) in several garden spots around the world, something from the report jumped out at me.
One of the former SEALs was actively painting the target. That means that Specter WAS ON STATION! Probably an AC130U. A ground laser designator is not a briefing pointer laser. You do not “paint” a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station.
Only two places could have called off the attack at that point; the WH situation command (based on POTUS direction) or AFRICOM commander based on information directly from the target area.
If the AC130 never left Sigonella (as Penetta says) that means that the Predator that was filming the whole thing was armed.
If that SEAL was actively “painting” a target; something was on station to engage! And the decision to stand down goes directly to POTUS!
PJ Tattler has some more info
Hillary Clinton’s Lawyer allegely has documents that prove Obama held back security for the Embassy. She is witholding it incase Obama intends to throw her under the bus. If she decides to hold this from the American people, I will personally make sure the American people never forget that she put her career first before these Patriotic soldiers.
UPDATE: via GatewayPundit
On Friday former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West told Greta Van Susteren that if Obama gave the order to secure the consulate in Benghazi on 9-11 there would be a paper trail.
This morning on FOX News Bing West doubled down.
West does not believe there ever was a presidential order:
“In my judgement the audio track will show the White House knew that there was an attack going on. The real critical issue is the president says that he immediately ordered all available assets to help. The military would have put out an order from the president. There’s no question about that… What I’m asking is, “Show us the order!” Mr. President if you said use everything available and our military immediately sent out the order, simply show us the order. I have great reservations that there is no such order.“
Apparently Obama was also in the situation room when it was all going down, So he was directly involved.
UPDATE: I am trying to keep all the stories in one spot, so bear with me…
We have been hearing stories of Obama trying to pass the buck to different agencies. First it was the State Department, then it was the CIA and the military.
Michelle Malkin has info on CIA
CIA: We didn’t tell anybody not to respond to the request for help during the Benghazi attack
Also;
General Patraeus Throws Obama Under The Bus
UPDATE; Via National Review Online
Chris Wallace asked Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on whether the American drones monitoring the Benghazi attack were armed.
I can understand how it would be politically embarrassing for the administration if it turns out those drones were armed and the weapons were not fired when those men, the Americans, were under attack for 7 hours. I can’t understand how it would give up valuable intelligence. Can you tell me directly, were the drones armed or not that were flying over Benghazi and were recording it in real time?
I will be updating this article as the information keeps coming in, so keep coming back to see if any new information has been posted.
A lot of News Stories are coming out with a denial of General Ham’s departure having anything to do with Benghazi. All of them…including the Fox report originated from the Associated Press.
I am not one to start rumors or spread them, but I find this very interesting considering the fiasco at Benghazi Embassy and our military being told to stand down. For the men and women in uniform, it must have of been a hard thing to watch as former Navy SEAL’s are being murdered alongside our ambassador.
UPDATE: This is an update to the top story.
I recalled a story about General Ham complaining about a growing presence of Al Qaeda militants in Libya. According to CNN the General worked closely with Ambassador Stevens.
Just three months ago, the four-star chief of the U.S. Africa Command warned of a growing threat from al Qaeda and other militant groups in Libya.
“There is a real concern in Libya. As Libya is coming out of the revolution and forming its new government, there very clearly are those who wish to undermine the formation of that government,” said Gen. Carter Ham in a speech to senior military and civilian officials from Africa, Europe and the U.S.
“We see some worrying indicators that al Qaeda and others are seeking to establish a presence in Libya,” Ham warned. Ham often worked closely with the late Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Ham has been trying to establish the initial stages of a military relationship with Libya, but the effort has been slowed by the presence and influence of armed militias, such as those suspected of being involved in the attack. Ham noted back in June the problem of bringing even more mainstream groups under the control of the central government.
General Ham was already bucking the narrative President Obama was trying to establish. Obama wanted to go into the election trying to make Libya a success story…which it was not.
The stories that are now coming out;
Gen Ham was fired 30 seconds after deciding to intervene in Benghazi: I heard a story today from someone inside the military that I trust entirely. The story was in reference to General Ham that Panetta referenced in the quote below.
“(The) basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place,” Panetta told Pentagon reporters. “And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.”
The Scuttlebutt;
The information I heard today was that General Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.
General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.
The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham’s place as the head of Africon.
That is true to some extent. Stripes confirmed that General Ham will be replaced by General Rodiguez but no explanation was given:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will nominate Army Gen. David Rodriguez to succeed Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Thursday.
Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.
Rodriguez is the commander of U.S. Army Forces Command and has served in a “variety of key leadership roles on the battlefield,” Panetta said.
He’s “a proven leader” who oversaw coalition and Afghan forces during the surge in Afghanistan, and “was the key architect of the successful campaign plan that we are now implementing,” Panetta said.
It also seems an Admiral in charge of a battle group in the Mediterranean Sea will also be relieved for “inappropriate judgement”;
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.
I find both these stories very odd since I am a former military member. I have never seen an Admiral of an entire battle Group relieved of his command in my 10 years experience. I have seen Commanders, but never Admirals.
UPDATE: Via Las Vegas Sun
The top U.S. military officer is denying reports that Army Gen. Carter Ham’s planned departure as head of U.S. Africa Command is linked to the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey issued a written statement Monday calling speculation about the reasons for Ham’s move “absolutely false.”
Hmmm…. Is General Dempsey acting in the capacity of a careerist or a Patriot? I think both General Dempsey, Leon Panetta and General Ham need to give a press conference together Usually with something as questionable as this, you have the youngest officer state it, then the next highest (General Dempsey) and finally the senior in command which would be Leon Panetta.
Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz only stated that General Ham confirmed no orders were given. He did not state whether he gave the orders or whether himself, Panetta or General Dempsey came up with a consensus to stand down.
On average a General stays in the Area of Operation 2 or more years. General Ham became Commander of Africa on March 9th, 2011 so it is quite possible he did meet his schedule rotation… just in the knick of time. Wonder where he is heading now?
UPDATE: This is the first story that I have seen which actually states General Carter Ham was fired for disobeying orders “not to assist the US personnel in Benghazi on the night of September 11.”
The founder of the site claims to have 25 years of Intelligence experience. Perhaps the readers can confirm this story. There might be a possiblility that this site is picking up on all the information already flying around the blogosphere and added to it the story.
VIA Gerard Direct
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced on Sunday that General Carter Ham Commander of GOC Africa Command (Africom), headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. (U.S. Africa Command is one of six unified geographic commands within the Department of Defense unified command structure.) for refusing to obey orders not to assist the US personnel in Benghazi on the night of September 11. Army General David Rodriguez has been appointed by President Obama to become replace him.
One of their partners is the “Center For Security Policy”
UPDATE: According to Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommitees confirms that General Ham confirmed forces were available was given “No” orders to use them. Some bloggers feel this removes the rumor that General Ham was relieved of command because he wanted to disobey an order to “Stand Down”.
I disagree… This only confirms that “No” orders were given from the top (i.e. POTUS or Panetta) to save the Ambassador and the former SEALs
Via FrontPage Mag
We’re not dealing with anonymous sources here. This comes from an interview with Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommittees relaying the responses from General Carter Ham heading up the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) who had direct responsibility for the situation.
General Ham told Chaffetz that the forces were available, but that no order to use them was given. Defense Secretary Panetta had claimed that the refusal to use force had come from him, General Dempsey and General Ham.
General Ham appears to have broken with that story and is taking no responsibility for the decision not to bail out the consulate and the Navy SEALS.
UPDATE Via Conservative Commune
Friday and Saturday, the news leaked out that Tyrone Woods was found dead, slumped over his ammo-exhausted machine gun on top of the Annex, where he and Glen Doherty had fought against 150 or so al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Sharia militants who followed them from the embassy, waiting for Libyan forces to arrive and relieve them and the other US personnel stationed there, along with those they’d saved from the embassy complex. Rumor has it that the two former SEALs had killed 60 of those militants in the firefight.
Today, administration apologists were all over the networks talking about how unhelpful and partisan it is to demand answers from the White House, who want to get the answers more than anybody . . . after the elections. Oh, wait: administration apologists were on FOX, which was the only network really to address the matter.
More details were delivered by FOX tonight. You really have get a look at the information to see how bad it all looks for the administration. The evidence has been mounting that the White House hung them out to dry. If Woods and Doherty had not relieved the embassy and defended the Annex, the American body count almost certainly would have been much higher. Their heroism was repaid with . . . dead fish.
The administration has thus far refused to release the videos, citing their “ongoing investigation,” but after years of selective leaks and administration attempts to throw the intelligence community under the bus, it’s too late. Apart from FOX, Sharyl Attkisson at CBS (who revealed Obama’s “60 Minutes” statements at the peril of her career there) and Jake Tapper at ABC, the legacy networks and most of their print coreligionists have done everything they can to keep the story under wraps.
Rahm Emanuel also tried to throw a block for Team Obama today, talking about how President Gutsy Call “took control” of that Benghazi business, how he answered the call . . . even as the calls went unanswered.
Four real Americans died. Obama and his crowd of Proggie thugs and apologists have lived to screw another day. They need to be put out of our collective misery.
UPDATE: Tweeted by Moe Lane and retweeted by Elizabeth Scalia, two fairly prominent bloggers.
Moe Lane ?@moelane
I suggest that @barackobama should have Gen. Ham come out and debunk this rumor IMMEDIATELY. LINK LINK
Retweeted by Elizabeth Scalia
This story is making its rounds so eventually Obama or someone else is gonna have to come out. Washington Times, Times123 and AmericanThinker have picked up on the story also.
UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has picked up on it
UPDATE: BlackFive has a little “back and forth” with a legendary Delta Force Operator who said;
Having spent a good bit of time nursing a GLD (ground Laser Designator) in several garden spots around the world, something from the report jumped out at me.
One of the former SEALs was actively painting the target. That means that Specter WAS ON STATION! Probably an AC130U. A ground laser designator is not a briefing pointer laser. You do not “paint” a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station.
Only two places could have called off the attack at that point; the WH situation command (based on POTUS direction) or AFRICOM commander based on information directly from the target area.
If the AC130 never left Sigonella (as Penetta says) that means that the Predator that was filming the whole thing was armed.
If that SEAL was actively “painting” a target; something was on station to engage! And the decision to stand down goes directly to POTUS!
PJ Tattler has some more info
Hillary Clinton’s Lawyer allegely has documents that prove Obama held back security for the Embassy. She is witholding it incase Obama intends to throw her under the bus. If she decides to hold this from the American people, I will personally make sure the American people never forget that she put her career first before these Patriotic soldiers.
UPDATE: via GatewayPundit
On Friday former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West told Greta Van Susteren that if Obama gave the order to secure the consulate in Benghazi on 9-11 there would be a paper trail.
This morning on FOX News Bing West doubled down.
West does not believe there ever was a presidential order:
“In my judgement the audio track will show the White House knew that there was an attack going on. The real critical issue is the president says that he immediately ordered all available assets to help. The military would have put out an order from the president. There’s no question about that… What I’m asking is, “Show us the order!” Mr. President if you said use everything available and our military immediately sent out the order, simply show us the order. I have great reservations that there is no such order.“
Apparently Obama was also in the situation room when it was all going down, So he was directly involved.
UPDATE: I am trying to keep all the stories in one spot, so bear with me…
We have been hearing stories of Obama trying to pass the buck to different agencies. First it was the State Department, then it was the CIA and the military.
Michelle Malkin has info on CIA
CIA: We didn’t tell anybody not to respond to the request for help during the Benghazi attack
Also;
General Patraeus Throws Obama Under The Bus
UPDATE; Via National Review Online
Chris Wallace asked Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on whether the American drones monitoring the Benghazi attack were armed.
I can understand how it would be politically embarrassing for the administration if it turns out those drones were armed and the weapons were not fired when those men, the Americans, were under attack for 7 hours. I can’t understand how it would give up valuable intelligence. Can you tell me directly, were the drones armed or not that were flying over Benghazi and were recording it in real time?
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