Unmanned drone observed Benghazi attack, no help sent for 7 hours

From CBS News. (H/T Bad Blue)

Excerpt:

The closer we get to the election, the harder Republicans in Congress are pushing for answers to a big question: What really happened in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month that killed the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans?

Some lawmakers are asking why U.S. military help from outside Libya didn’t arrive as terrorists battered more than 30 Americans over the course of more than seven hours. The assault was launched by an armed mob of dozens that torched buildings and used rocket propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles.

CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle.

The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to say what military options were available. A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies.”

But it was too late to help the Americans in Benghazi. The ambassador and three others were dead.

According to the CI operatives in the video above, including a former station chief, the Situation Room in the White House would have been immediately informed of the attack. They could have ordered an air strike to push the attack back. They could have ordered the drone to open fire. But they did nothing. This is not surprising given the other actions of the administration to undermine our national security.

But why did they do nothing? Could it be that the Obama administration was afraid of the backlash from the terrorists? Could it be that they were afraid of the perception that killing Bin Laden did nothing to stop Al Qaida? Could it be that they knew immediately that it was weakness and disarmament in Benghazi that had provoked the evil terrorists to attack? Could it be that this terrorist attack undermined their “Arab Spring”?

It will be interesting to see much of this comes up in the foreign policy debate tomorrow (Monday) night.

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