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What happened in Benghazi is an aggravation, ‘a craw in our side’, with many veterans still today. It is a sad story of Americans being abandoned by their nation, and it’s unfortunately been used by many politicians for political gain. Excuses were made to explain what happened and to somewhat justify it. Both Republicans and Democrats distort the facts during TV appearances and hearings. But the damage to those left behind - the families and survivors - seems forgotten, without explanation.
Many Americans don’t even understand what these men and women went through - they were living in hell for the thirteen hours preceding the final assault and the evacuation from the CIA annex. Many incorrectly think that the four Americans - Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty - died during the initial assault on the U.S. Diplomatic Compound. There was actually four separate attacks; the first attack on the compound and then three more on the CIA annex where everyone fled to after the first assault. Also, ten others were injured in these attacks. The compound was not an embassy, which means that it didn’t have the normal security detail or bunkering/protections that an American Embassy has. Only five diplomatic security special agents were in Benghazi at the time of the attack; two of them were there by chance, having traveled with Ambassador Stevens from Tripoli. One mile away, a CIA team at the annex was the quick reaction force for the compound, but no one was supposed to know that the CIA security team existed.
Ambassador Stevens was adored by many Libyans and had a great fondness for the country. He felt he could make a difference in the lives of those in Libya, and wanted to show the people that the United States stood behind them in establishing a new democracy. Eastern Libya, Benghazi in particular, was a key hub for intelligence operatives monitoring Ansar al-Sharia and members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Along with Ambassador Stevens, Secretary of State Clinton also wanted a more permanent post in Benghazi.
There was quite a bit of instability in the region prior to the attacks of September 11, 2012. There was frequent IED-related violence. The International Red Cross office in Libya was attacked and there was an assassination attempt on Dominic Asquith, the British ambassador. Requests were made for more security, but according to the regional security officer, Eric Nordstrom, they were rebuffed. Nordstrom told media that, for him and his staff, “it was abundantly clear that [they] were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident.” Lt. Col Andrew Wood, U.S. site security commander in Libya, testified that a regional security officer had tried obtaining more personnel, but was never able to attain a level of security that he felt comfortable with. It was pretty well known within the American intelligence community during the months preceding the attack that Benghazi was unstable and increasingly dangerous - and that a significant attack was imminent.
Top U.S. officials reported the attack as if it had been a spontaneous protest created by an anti-Muslim video...yet there were no such protests immediately prior to the attacks. There was, however, every indication that everything was premeditated. The assault began at nightfall, by militants swathed in flak jackets with covered faces. They were armed with RPGs, hand grenades, AK-47s, mortars, and machine guns. With that level of artillery, it’s quite apparent that this was not a spontaneous protest.
But for some reason...that is what we were supposed to believe.
Ambassador Stevens and State Department information management officer, Sean Smith - an Air Force veteran, died during the initial assault on the compound. The Global Response Staff team, which included former SEAL Tyrone Woods, left the CIA annex approximately twenty minutes later as the Quick Reaction Force in order to aid and/or rescue everyone at the compound. The Quick Reaction Force evacuated everyone from the compound to the CIA annex where they began preparing for potential continuing assaults.
In the ensuing hours, attacks continued as they bunkered at the CIA annex waiting for reinforcements or rescue. Meanwhile another former Navy SEAL, Glen Doherty, and six other men (five CIA operatives and two volunteer Delta operators) gathered at the Tripoli Embassy preparing to mount a rescue - 406 miles away from Benghazi. Since this was not a planned evacuation or rescue attempt by U.S. leadership, they had to figure some way to get to Benghazi. They somehow garnered $30,000 and, with a little persuasion of a couple of Libyan military pilots, they got them to fly from the airport in Tripoli to Benghazi.
At the Benghazi airport, they met up with supportive Libyan troops who took the team of seven men to the CIA annex. Upon arrival, Glen Doherty met Tyrone Woods on the roof of the annex. Within minutes, mortars were fired and both were mortally wounded - two more Americans killed in Benghazi within hours. After this final assault, everyone remaining was transported to the Benghazi airport with the help of the same Libyan troops who assisted Glen Doherty and his team.
The whole incident is very disappointing to me, and something I will never forget. We, as Airmen, Soldiers, Marines and Sailors, exist under an oath stating that we will “never leave our brothers and sisters behind”... but these people were left to die. They were left alone - abandoned by the administration, Congress, and in a sense, by their country. Their families also seemed to be forgotten as they never received any explanation regarding this incident. The names of everyone else who had been in Benghazi were also quickly forgotten. It seemed as though many Americans heard enough and didn’t want the truth regardless of the facts...and still don’t. Overall, the incidents that day were incredibly tragic, and I will continue to hope that someday everyone will have the answers they need!
Many Americans don’t even understand what these men and women went through - they were living in hell for the thirteen hours preceding the final assault and the evacuation from the CIA annex. Many incorrectly think that the four Americans - Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty - died during the initial assault on the U.S. Diplomatic Compound. There was actually four separate attacks; the first attack on the compound and then three more on the CIA annex where everyone fled to after the first assault. Also, ten others were injured in these attacks. The compound was not an embassy, which means that it didn’t have the normal security detail or bunkering/protections that an American Embassy has. Only five diplomatic security special agents were in Benghazi at the time of the attack; two of them were there by chance, having traveled with Ambassador Stevens from Tripoli. One mile away, a CIA team at the annex was the quick reaction force for the compound, but no one was supposed to know that the CIA security team existed.
Ambassador Stevens was adored by many Libyans and had a great fondness for the country. He felt he could make a difference in the lives of those in Libya, and wanted to show the people that the United States stood behind them in establishing a new democracy. Eastern Libya, Benghazi in particular, was a key hub for intelligence operatives monitoring Ansar al-Sharia and members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Along with Ambassador Stevens, Secretary of State Clinton also wanted a more permanent post in Benghazi.
There was quite a bit of instability in the region prior to the attacks of September 11, 2012. There was frequent IED-related violence. The International Red Cross office in Libya was attacked and there was an assassination attempt on Dominic Asquith, the British ambassador. Requests were made for more security, but according to the regional security officer, Eric Nordstrom, they were rebuffed. Nordstrom told media that, for him and his staff, “it was abundantly clear that [they] were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident.” Lt. Col Andrew Wood, U.S. site security commander in Libya, testified that a regional security officer had tried obtaining more personnel, but was never able to attain a level of security that he felt comfortable with. It was pretty well known within the American intelligence community during the months preceding the attack that Benghazi was unstable and increasingly dangerous - and that a significant attack was imminent.
Top U.S. officials reported the attack as if it had been a spontaneous protest created by an anti-Muslim video...yet there were no such protests immediately prior to the attacks. There was, however, every indication that everything was premeditated. The assault began at nightfall, by militants swathed in flak jackets with covered faces. They were armed with RPGs, hand grenades, AK-47s, mortars, and machine guns. With that level of artillery, it’s quite apparent that this was not a spontaneous protest.
But for some reason...that is what we were supposed to believe.
Ambassador Stevens and State Department information management officer, Sean Smith - an Air Force veteran, died during the initial assault on the compound. The Global Response Staff team, which included former SEAL Tyrone Woods, left the CIA annex approximately twenty minutes later as the Quick Reaction Force in order to aid and/or rescue everyone at the compound. The Quick Reaction Force evacuated everyone from the compound to the CIA annex where they began preparing for potential continuing assaults.
In the ensuing hours, attacks continued as they bunkered at the CIA annex waiting for reinforcements or rescue. Meanwhile another former Navy SEAL, Glen Doherty, and six other men (five CIA operatives and two volunteer Delta operators) gathered at the Tripoli Embassy preparing to mount a rescue - 406 miles away from Benghazi. Since this was not a planned evacuation or rescue attempt by U.S. leadership, they had to figure some way to get to Benghazi. They somehow garnered $30,000 and, with a little persuasion of a couple of Libyan military pilots, they got them to fly from the airport in Tripoli to Benghazi.
At the Benghazi airport, they met up with supportive Libyan troops who took the team of seven men to the CIA annex. Upon arrival, Glen Doherty met Tyrone Woods on the roof of the annex. Within minutes, mortars were fired and both were mortally wounded - two more Americans killed in Benghazi within hours. After this final assault, everyone remaining was transported to the Benghazi airport with the help of the same Libyan troops who assisted Glen Doherty and his team.
The whole incident is very disappointing to me, and something I will never forget. We, as Airmen, Soldiers, Marines and Sailors, exist under an oath stating that we will “never leave our brothers and sisters behind”... but these people were left to die. They were left alone - abandoned by the administration, Congress, and in a sense, by their country. Their families also seemed to be forgotten as they never received any explanation regarding this incident. The names of everyone else who had been in Benghazi were also quickly forgotten. It seemed as though many Americans heard enough and didn’t want the truth regardless of the facts...and still don’t. Overall, the incidents that day were incredibly tragic, and I will continue to hope that someday everyone will have the answers they need!
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 232
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CAPT Hiram Patterson
You are exactly right! They didn't care from the first inkling of what happened came out.
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Gordon Bleam
Politicians care about politics and how it is going to make them look, not what happened or how it affects human beings, just chess pieces that can be written off easily.
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In hindsite.......the person who gave the "Standdown" order should be court martialed and shot !!
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Another "forgotten incident" is that of the USS Liberty (GTR-5) which was deliberately attacked on June 8, 1967 by our "ally", Israel, with the loss of 34 sailors' lives. According to crew accounts and NSA and CIA dispatches, the attack was deliberate; even the lifeboats were strafed, in contravention of Geneva convention protocols. 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of this "act of war"; there was NOT A PEEP from the American news media. Admiral John S. McCain (yeah, John McCain's "daddy") assisted in the "cover-up" of this act of war with complicity by none other than President Lyndon Baines Johnson, as he did not want to embarrass an "ally". It is interesting to note that Captain McGonigal, the skipper of the Liberty was awarded the "Medal of Honor", not at the White House, which is protocol, but at an obscure Naval base...
The "cover-up" continues to this very day.
An interesting note: The USS Liberty is the most decorated ship in the Navy...
The "cover-up" continues to this very day.
An interesting note: The USS Liberty is the most decorated ship in the Navy...
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MSgt (Join to see)
During the Six-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty in international waters off Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed, was attacked first by Israeli aircraft that fired napalm and rockets at the ship. The Liberty attempted to radio for assistance, but the Israeli aircraft blocked the transmissions. Eventually, the ship was able to make contact with the U.S. carrier Saratoga, and 12 fighter jets and four tanker planes were dispatched to defend the Liberty. When word of their deployment reached Washington, however, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered them recalled to the carrier, and they never reached the Liberty. The reason for the recall remains unclear.
Back in the Mediterranean, the initial air raid against the Liberty was over. Nine of the 294 crewmembers were dead and 60 were wounded. Suddenly, the ship was attacked by Israeli torpedo boats, which launched torpedoes and fired artillery at the ship. Under the command of its wounded captain, William L. McGonagle, the Liberty managed to avert four torpedoes, but one struck the ship at the waterline. Heavily damaged, the ship launched three lifeboats, but these were also attacked–a violation of international law. Failing to sink the Liberty, which displaced 10,000 tons, the Israelis finally desisted. In all, 34 Americans were killed and 171 were wounded in the two-hour attack. In the attack’s aftermath, the Liberty managed to limp to a safe port.
Israel later apologized for the attack and offered $6.9 million in compensation, claiming that it had mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. However, Liberty survivors, and some former U.S. officials, believe that the attack was deliberate, staged to conceal Israel’s pending seizure of Syria’s Golan Heights, which occurred the next day. The ship’s listening devices would likely have overheard Israeli military communications planning this controversial operation.
Back in the Mediterranean, the initial air raid against the Liberty was over. Nine of the 294 crewmembers were dead and 60 were wounded. Suddenly, the ship was attacked by Israeli torpedo boats, which launched torpedoes and fired artillery at the ship. Under the command of its wounded captain, William L. McGonagle, the Liberty managed to avert four torpedoes, but one struck the ship at the waterline. Heavily damaged, the ship launched three lifeboats, but these were also attacked–a violation of international law. Failing to sink the Liberty, which displaced 10,000 tons, the Israelis finally desisted. In all, 34 Americans were killed and 171 were wounded in the two-hour attack. In the attack’s aftermath, the Liberty managed to limp to a safe port.
Israel later apologized for the attack and offered $6.9 million in compensation, claiming that it had mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. However, Liberty survivors, and some former U.S. officials, believe that the attack was deliberate, staged to conceal Israel’s pending seizure of Syria’s Golan Heights, which occurred the next day. The ship’s listening devices would likely have overheard Israeli military communications planning this controversial operation.
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Sgt Terrence Truax
The USS Liberty is currently homeported in some obscure North Korean shipyard, open occasionally to tourists with more money than brains. The Egyptians attacked Pueblo while she was flying the U.S flag. I went through that whole incident and haven't gotten over it yet. I was stationed at Camp Zama, Japan. Some of Pueblo's crew were from my neighborhood. Stand by, Little Fat Boy with the bad haircut and worse wardrobe: Your Day Is Coming!
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AMEN!!!!! I, also fully believe that the Obama administration and yes, specifically, Sec. of State Clinton should be held responsible and charged. Disappointed is not the word I choose...I'm still Pissed off about the whole situ. Less we never forget! What Goes Around, Comes Around and me thinks it'll be sooner rather than later...to be cont'd...
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I also blame the Generals who cared more for their careers than the lives of Americans. When American lives are at stake, screw the orders to stand down.
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So if understand what you're saying than the next logical step is to blame George Bush for 9-11 Bill Clinton for the USS Cole Ronald Reagan fit the Marine Barracks in Beirut. Every adminstration since Woodrow Wilson had things happen in they watch. Ultimately the President is responsible for things that happen on their watch. Another thing to look at is the funding or lack of budget approval the last eight years. They would directly impact any president from bring fully funded to provide the services for foreign diplomats.
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MSgt (Join to see)
The difference is they didn't lie to Americans about why it happened. The Administration and the State Department were involved in some sort of collusion with factions of libyans (like arming rebels) that they didn't want coming out to Americans and thats why the cover up. Why else would their be a need of a secret CIA base in that very volatile area of Libya. Why would we put them in such danger, there was enough warning signs that something could or would happen?
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Cpl Timothy Heckman
I would believe you but I need proof hearsay from news sources of just that. If you have the committee minutes I would believe that. News outlets with axes to grind are not credible for me to believe. Terrorist acts are just that though everyone is free to believe what they want. I'm the end 4 Americans died and using their deaths for political gain is in bad taste.
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MSgt (Join to see)
Cpl Timothy Heckman -
Why was it necessary for the lie to the American people? As you say, 'Terrorist attacks are just that'.
The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, had touted Qaddafi as a key counterterrorism ally against rabidly anti-American jihadists in eastern Libya. Why the policy shift in which our government changed sides in Libya — shifting support to the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies.
The Washington Times reported The State Department initially approved a weapons shipment from a California company to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 even though a United Nations arms ban was in place, according to memos recovered from the burned-out compound in Benghazi. The U.N. had agreed only to military operations for the purpose of protecting civilians, not offensive operations against the regime. Documents, obtained by The Washington Times, showed U.S. diplomats at the Benghazi compound were keeping track of several potential U.S.-sanctioned shipments to allies, one or more of which were destined for the Transitional National Council, the Libyan movement that was seeking to oust Gadhafi and form a new government. At least one of those shipments, kept in a file marked “arms deal,” was supposed to come from Dolarian Capital Inc. of Fresno, California, according to an end use certificate from the State Department’s office of defense trade controls licensing that was contained in the file. Dolarian Capital, part of a small network of U.S. arms merchants that has worked with U.S. intelligence, confirmed one of its licensing requests to ship weapons via Kuwait to Libya was approved by the State Department in spring 2011.
The New York Times reported The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar in 2011, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats. The Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government.
As Business Insider’s Michael B. Kelley recounts, before becoming ambassador, Stevens was the Obama administration’s official liaison to Qaddafi’s Islamist opposition in Libya, including its al-Qaeda-linked groups. The latter included the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). Stevens worked directly with a top LIFG leader, Abdelhakim Belhadj. The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and included SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. Those heavy weapons are most likely from Muammar Gaddafi’s stock of about 20,000 portable heat-seeking missiles — the bulk of them SA-7s — that the Libyan leader obtained from the former Eastern bloc.
Reuters reported that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets. The ship’s captain was “a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support,” which was presumably established by the new government.
Fox News subsequently reported that the ship, a Libyan-flagged vessel, Al-Entisar (The Victory), docked in the Turkish port of Iskenderun, only 35 miles from the Syrian border, on September 6, 2012. That was just five days before jihadists conducted the patently coordinated terrorist attack on the mysterious State Department and CIA compounds in Benghazi. It is incontestable that the Obama administration has worked closely with the Islamist government of Turkey in efforts to arm and train “rebels” in Syria. Stevens’s last meeting on the night of September 11, 2012, right before the State Department’s Benghazi compound was attacked, was with Turkey’s consul general, Ali Sait Akin.
In the months leading up to the attack on the State Department facility, and on the even more shadowy CIA outpost a little over a mile away, jihadists in eastern Libya conducted a series of attacks against Western targets — including, on June 6, 2012, a bomb detonated just outside the State Department compound. The British government and the International Red Cross pulled their personnel out; yet the Obama administration left U.S. government personnel in, despite grossly inadequate security precautions.
Why was it necessary for the lie to the American people? As you say, 'Terrorist attacks are just that'.
The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, had touted Qaddafi as a key counterterrorism ally against rabidly anti-American jihadists in eastern Libya. Why the policy shift in which our government changed sides in Libya — shifting support to the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies.
The Washington Times reported The State Department initially approved a weapons shipment from a California company to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 even though a United Nations arms ban was in place, according to memos recovered from the burned-out compound in Benghazi. The U.N. had agreed only to military operations for the purpose of protecting civilians, not offensive operations against the regime. Documents, obtained by The Washington Times, showed U.S. diplomats at the Benghazi compound were keeping track of several potential U.S.-sanctioned shipments to allies, one or more of which were destined for the Transitional National Council, the Libyan movement that was seeking to oust Gadhafi and form a new government. At least one of those shipments, kept in a file marked “arms deal,” was supposed to come from Dolarian Capital Inc. of Fresno, California, according to an end use certificate from the State Department’s office of defense trade controls licensing that was contained in the file. Dolarian Capital, part of a small network of U.S. arms merchants that has worked with U.S. intelligence, confirmed one of its licensing requests to ship weapons via Kuwait to Libya was approved by the State Department in spring 2011.
The New York Times reported The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar in 2011, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats. The Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government.
As Business Insider’s Michael B. Kelley recounts, before becoming ambassador, Stevens was the Obama administration’s official liaison to Qaddafi’s Islamist opposition in Libya, including its al-Qaeda-linked groups. The latter included the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). Stevens worked directly with a top LIFG leader, Abdelhakim Belhadj. The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and included SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. Those heavy weapons are most likely from Muammar Gaddafi’s stock of about 20,000 portable heat-seeking missiles — the bulk of them SA-7s — that the Libyan leader obtained from the former Eastern bloc.
Reuters reported that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets. The ship’s captain was “a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support,” which was presumably established by the new government.
Fox News subsequently reported that the ship, a Libyan-flagged vessel, Al-Entisar (The Victory), docked in the Turkish port of Iskenderun, only 35 miles from the Syrian border, on September 6, 2012. That was just five days before jihadists conducted the patently coordinated terrorist attack on the mysterious State Department and CIA compounds in Benghazi. It is incontestable that the Obama administration has worked closely with the Islamist government of Turkey in efforts to arm and train “rebels” in Syria. Stevens’s last meeting on the night of September 11, 2012, right before the State Department’s Benghazi compound was attacked, was with Turkey’s consul general, Ali Sait Akin.
In the months leading up to the attack on the State Department facility, and on the even more shadowy CIA outpost a little over a mile away, jihadists in eastern Libya conducted a series of attacks against Western targets — including, on June 6, 2012, a bomb detonated just outside the State Department compound. The British government and the International Red Cross pulled their personnel out; yet the Obama administration left U.S. government personnel in, despite grossly inadequate security precautions.
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WE, the members of the US Military have been turned into, the 'Sacrificial Lambs', on the World Stage, not for and in the interests of the American People, but for Foreign-International, mainly Zionist causes. Let us go back to Vietnam! Over 58 thousand of our fellow soldiers have paid the Ultimate Price! About 21 hundred POW/MIAs! What about those, victims? Did Henry Kissinger made a big deal, about them, at the Paris deliberations? Right after that agreement, tens of thousands of Soviet Jews were allowed to go to the Zionist State and the US! Now what about the, "USS LIBERTY", that was attacked on June 8, 1967, by the Air and Naval Forces of the Bolshevik-Zionist Apartheid Theocracy of the Terror State of Israel? 34 of our fellow citizens murdered, 172 maimed, wounded, some disabled for life? What does the US public knows, about those victims?? Now since the end of the 'DRAFT' our, prostituted Congress, is a lot more inclined to engage in all sorts of conflicts all over the world, but mainly in the Middle East and Africa! They don't have to worry about a major public demonstration, uproar, since those who serve, mostly represent the, 'lower echelons', ( wealth and influence), of our society! BRING BACK THE DRAFT!! When the Sons and Daughters of Congress and the Elite Political Structure, gets engaged, 'called UP' and NO Excuses, for avoiding the DRAFT, like in the past!!
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You are right on, master sergeant. In this day & age we can deploy probably hundreds of troops to anywhere in the world within a few hours, it is inconceivable that these men were left to die. 100% Crooked Hillary/Obama's fault
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LTC (Join to see)
Right, because Hillary Clinton planned the attack, I see.
I think I'll go with the ELEVEN investigations that found no wrongdoing rather than your right-wing talking point bullshit, thanks.
I think I'll go with the ELEVEN investigations that found no wrongdoing rather than your right-wing talking point bullshit, thanks.
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SPC Jamie Smith
The real investigation is just starting now, under President Trump. Of course Obama was not going to admit to any wrongdoing on his or Crooked Hillary's part
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While the President and Secretary of State may have abandoned them, they didn’t abandon each other. Americans came to the aid of Americans.
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