Citizens Committee on Benghazi: US switched sides in war on terror

The UK’s Daily Mail reports that the Citizens Committee on Benghazi, a self-appointed committee, released their report on the September 11th, 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. They claim that the attack sprang from the Obama Administration allowing a half-billion-dollar shipment of weapons to al-Qaeda from the United Arab Emirate;

‘The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,’ Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline.

She blamed the Obama administration for failing to stop half of a $1 billion United Arab Emirates arms shipment from reaching al-Qaeda-linked militants.

‘Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,’ Lopez claimed. ‘They were permitted to come in. … [They] knew these weapons were coming in, and that was allowed..

‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’

The weapons were intended for Gaddafi but allowed by the U.S. to flow to his Islamist opposition.

The committee’s work was funded by the right-leaning Accuracy in Media so I’m not sure how much stock can be put in their conclusions, but it does make for an interesting perspective in the discussion. They claim that Gaddafi offered to step down in the early months of the revolt against him but that the US wouldn’t entertain that option, for whatever reason. Of course, we know that Gaddafi wasn’t the most rational of actors on the world stage, anyway.

Admiral James ‘Ace’ Lyons told the group that he believes the raid on the Benghazi compound was intended as a kidnapping exercise, aimed at snatching U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and demanding a prisoner swap for the ‘blind sheikh’ Omar Abdel-Rahman.

[…]

Lyons also said U.S. claims that it lacked the resources to mount a counterattack in time to save lives is false.

‘I’m going to tell you that’s not true,’ he said. ‘We had a 130-man unit of forces at Sigonella [AFB in Italy]. They were ready to go.’

‘The flight time from Sigonella to Benghazi is roughly an hour.’

I think some of their conclusions are too easy to arrive at, but I would like to see this administration answer some of the charges. This is me not holding my breath.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War