Let's connect some dots..... Yesterday evening the news first starting coming out regarding Benghazi and all of the CIA agents on the ground - naturally , the questions what was their mission , how many were injured , why wasn't this revealed months ago as the information on the State department killed and wounded as well as the security personnel was well documented.... a good example of the discussion is set forth below in this piece.....
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/02/2013 10:56 -0400
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/02/2013 11:49 -0400
CNN bombshell: Dozens of CIA operatives were on the ground during the Benghazi attack, agency in panic over revelations
POSTED AT 6:31 PM ON AUGUST 1, 2013 BY ALLAHPUNDIT
What kind of panic are we talking about here? Actual quote from agency “insider” communications obtained by CNN: “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”
The word of the day is “unprecedented.” Phony scandal no more:
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings…It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career…Another [insider] says, “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.”…Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.
Thirty-five Americans on the ground, 21 at the CIA annex. Maybe the skeletal security crew at the consulate wasn’t as skeletal as thought. Is that what happened here — not so much a security vacuum as a security presence so secret that it couldn’t be revealed publicly, despite the White House being pounded over its failures for months afterwards? None of which is to say that they shouldn’t have had more security; the consulate and annex were overrun regardless, no matter how many people were there. But maybe that helps explain why the formal security presence wasn’t bigger: There was a lot of CIA in the area and maybe the White House didn’t want to attract attention to what they were doing there by inserting a squad of Marines to patrol the grounds. We already had an inkling of that, in fact, per thisinteresting but vague WSJ story from last November, which argued that the CIA’s role in the city appeared to be more important than thought. (“The consulate provided diplomatic cover for the classified CIA operations.”) CNN itself followed up in May by reporting that “the larger mission in Benghazi was covert” and alleging that there were more Americans there tied to the CIA — 20 of 30 in all — than to State’s diplomatic presence.
But what were they doing there to justify such agency paranoia now about people blabbing? Former CIA analyst Robert Baer tells CNN that agents are typically polygraphed ever fewyears, not every month. What could be so tippy top secret that it needs to be kept under wraps even if it means threatening agents’ families to buy their silence? On Twitter, Lachlan Markay points to this Business Insider piece, also from May, speculating that weapons were involved. Which isn’t surprising — everyone knows the feds are trying to round up loose arms from Qaddafi’s stockpiles before jihadis get hold of them. What’s surprising is where the weapons might, might have been headed. To a depot back in the U.S.? Maybe not:
Also in October we reported the connection between Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who died in the attack, and a reported September shipment of SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles (i.e. MANPADS) and rocket-propelled grenades from Benghazi to Syria through southern Turkey.That 400-ton shipment — “the largest consignment of weapons” yet for Syrian rebels — was organized by Abdelhakim Belhadj, who was the newly-appointed head of the Tripoli Military Council.In March 2011 Stevens, the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan rebels, worked directly with Belhadj while he headed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.Stevens’ last meeting on Sept. 11 was with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi “to negotiate a weapons transfer in an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists.”Syrian rebels subsequently began shooting down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets with SA-7s akin to those in Qaddafi’s looted stock.
This theory seems sound enough to CNN that they actually mention it in today’s bombshell, albeit as something that’s being kicked around on the Hill. Is that what happened here? The White House decided to secretly start arming the rebels a year ago with the sort of SAMs that everyone fears might eventually be used to shoot down western airliners? Did Congress, or at least the intel committees, know about it? Do note: Even now, after the U.S. announced that it would arm the rebels openly last month, we’re supposedly withholding SAMs from thembecause they’re too dangerous. If the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, then in fact we’ve been giving them the dangerous stuff for at least a year. Beyond that, anyone recognize the name Abdelhakim Belhadj? I’ve written about him before. Belhadj is no “moderate” of the sort we’re allegedly working with within the rebel ranks. He’s a hardcore jihadi who fought with Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If he was the point man on helping to transfer dangerous weapons to the Syrian rebels, there’s even less reason to think that they ended up in “moderate” hands rather than in the hands of the mujahedeen.
One other point. As far as I know, it’s a lingering mystery as to how the jihadis who attacked the consulate in Benghazi knew where the CIA annex was. The consulate’s a public presence so it’s a sitting duck. The annex kept a lower profile, even though it was close by, and yet the attackers zeroed in on it later in the evening of 9/11/12. Why? Could be it was as simple as knowing that there was another building in the neighborhood that had lots of Americans working at it and therefore that building was worth hitting too. Or maybe they just noticed suspicious traffic to the annex on the evening of the attack and decided to take a closer look. But if the “secret weapons shipments” theory is true, it could also be that bad actors in the city had actually dealt with the CIA there about getting arms to Syria and therefore knew full well where the annex was and who was inside. If that’s what happened, it’s like Afghanistan in microcosm in terms of jihadis ultimately biting the American hand that fed them.
Exit question: What was the CIA doing in Benghazi?
Answer to question above ?
CIA ‘running arms smuggling team in Benghazi when consulate was attacked’
August 2, 2013
Source: The TelegraphThe CIA has been subjecting operatives to monthly polygraph tests in an attempt to suppress details of a US arms smuggling operation in Benghazi that was ongoing when its ambassador was killed by a mob in the city last year, according to reports.
Up to 35 CIA operatives were working in the city during the attack last September on the US consulate that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, according to CNN.
The circumstances of the attack are a subject of deep division in the US with some Congressional leaders pressing for a wide-ranging investigation into suspicions that the government has withheld details of its activities in the Libyan city.
Read More
Up to 35 CIA operatives were working in the city during the attack last September on the US consulate that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, according to CNN.
The circumstances of the attack are a subject of deep division in the US with some Congressional leaders pressing for a wide-ranging investigation into suspicions that the government has withheld details of its activities in the Libyan city.
Read More
Fascinatingly , the following occurred ( starting subsequent to the Benghazi bombshell from CNN ) .......
US Embassies Across Muslim World Mysteriously Shutting Down This Weekend
Amid all the high-fives over stocks hitting all-time highs and Edward Snowden's temporary freedom hogging the headlines yesterday, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf quietly pointed out that, due to an "abundance of caution," an unspecified number of US embassies and consulates in the Muslim world will be closed this weekend (and diplomatic facilities maybe longer). House foreign affairs committee chairman Royce suggested this morning that this closure is 'Al-Qaeda-threat-related'; and, as AP reports, the last major warning came last fall when embassies warned American diplomatic facilities across the Muslim world of potential violence around Sept. 11. (and the disaster that was Benghazi). But we can't help but worry about the coincident 'leak' by US officials of Israel's airstrike on Syria (and the potential forced response from Assad this would seem to portend).
The United States is closing its embassies and consulates throughout the Muslim world on Sunday after receiving an unspecified threat, officials said.State Department officials said Thursday they were acting out of an "abundance of caution."Spokeswoman Marie Harf cited information indicating a threat to U.S. facilities overseas and said some diplomatic facilities may stay closed for more than a day.Other U.S. officials said the threat was in the Muslim world, where Sunday is a workday....Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.The State Department issued a major warning last year informing American diplomatic facilities across the Muslim world about potential violence connected to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks....In Benghazi, Libya, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed when militants assaulted a diplomatic post. The administration no longer says that attack was related to the demonstrations.
And while Royce 'confirms' this is an Al-Qaeda threat-related move, the following does make one think...
Unnamed US officials leaked information Thursday on alleged Israeli air strikes in Syria, and told The New York Times they expect an additional attack by Israel in the near future.The sources, described by the Times as “American intelligence analysts,” discussed what they said were classified assessments, according to which a July 5 IAF strike on a Syrian facility housing Russian surface-to-sea missiles in Latakia failed to destroy them all....The American leaks have raised concerns among some observers in Israel that Syrian President Bashar Assad would be unable to refrain from responding to the attacks due to the embarrassment he would incur.“The mere fact that such leaks happen often indicates that the Pentagon leadership does not have Israel’s interests at heart,” Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post. “It is difficult to assess the motivation of such leaks.”...“As soon as there is fire from Syrian territory that endangers us, or enters our territory and violates our sovereignty, we identify the source of fire and destroy it.”
And the wag the dog , look over there Al Qaeda hype surged further today.....
US Escalates: Issues Worldwide Travel Alert Following Embassy Closures
With US leaks about Israeli air strike on Syria, John Kerry stirring the civil war pot in Egypt, and the closure of US embassies across the Muslim world (Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, UAE, Algeria, Mauritania, Sudan, Israel (Tel Aviv) and Jordan), it appears something is afoot. To add to the intrigue, the US State Department just issued a worldwide travel alert for US citizens.
- *STATE DEPARTMENT WORLDWIDE TRAVEL ALERT EXPIRES AUGUST 31, 2013
- *STATE DEPT ISSUES WORLDWIDE TRAVEL ALERT FOR U.S. CITIZENS
An Al-Qaeda threat has been posited but with no follow-up but we can't help but fear what we wondered about previously - the need for deficits to re-awaken (via some external event that no-one can 'un-patriotically' demur) providing more room for Bernanke to avoid his need for Taper.
The Department of State has instructed certain U.S. Embassies and Consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4. The Department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, indicates we should institute these precautionary steps.
On Egypt,
Demonstrators calling for the reinstatement of ousted former president Mohammed Morsi (2012-13) remained defiant on 1 August, a day after the interim cabinet authorised the police to dismantle their protest camps.The authorities in recent days have filed additional charges for incitement to violence against senior members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties....Accordingly, Embassy Cairo will be closed on Sunday, August 4. U.S. citizens requiring emergency assistance should contact the Embassy switchboard which is manned 24/7 at 02-2797-3300.Various media sources are reporting possible marches or demonstrations for Friday, August 2 and possibly throughout the weekend. In addition, several media sources are reporting that the police have been given the authority to clear protestors from permanent gathering locations. Should police move to clear these various locations, it may escalate into violent confrontations. U.S. citizens should maintain a low profile and limit movements within their immediate residential neighborhoods.
On Saudi Arabia,
Department of State urges U.S. citizens to carefully consider the risks of traveling to Saudi Arabia. As the August 26, 2012, arrest of two terrorist cells by Saudi security authorities indicates, there remains an ongoing security threat due to the continued presence of terrorist groups, some affiliated with al-Qaida, who may target Western interests...
Why is Ben unhappy? Simple - as a reminder, the only reason Ben is even contemplating tapering has nothing to do with the economy. After all the Fed chairman (and/or his successor) is willing to send the stock market into stratospheric overdrive and would be very happy to add not subtract from the monthly QE $85 billion notional since it means more "wealth effect" and thus brings the US closer to the "Keynesian successful endgame" (that the logic here is completely inverted is well known to all but the most die-hard Keynesian fanboysand is not in the scope of this article).However, the fact that the gross US debt issuance is declining (if only until the demographic and healthcare crunch hits in 2015 and deficits explode once more) means Bernanke has less primary issuance to monetize. Were Bernanke to maintain his monetization run rate into a lower deficit regime, the Chairman would destabilize the liquidity in the already increasingly illiquid Treasury market in which the Fed now holds over 30% of all 10 Year equivalents and its holdings increase by 0.3% every week. This illiquidity is manifesting itself most directly in the "special" repo rates that have become a norm in the past few months especially in the 10 Year, and which indicate an ongoing shortage of TSY collateral.Of course, there is a very simple and elegant solution to declining defense spending, one which has been used time and again in US history when the US government needed to provide the Fed with more securities (i.e. deficit) to monetize: war.
Because, if in dire need to boost deficit spending, the chart below shows the most usual suspect:
Further interesting developments ( apart from US allegedly leaking Israel attacks on Syria - trying to goad an Assad retaliation ) , we find the UN is investigating Syrian rebel chemical weapon use at Aleppo !
UN probes allegations of Syria rebel crimes | ||||
Experts are investigating claim that fighters killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in village near Aleppo after seizing it.
Last Modified: 02 Aug 2013 19:17
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Rebels seized control of the village of Khan al-Assal after fierce battles with regime troops in July [Reuters]
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| United Nations experts are investigating allegations that rebels killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a village near Aleppo after they captured it from government troops, an incident that could amount to a war crime, the world body's human rights chief said. Navi Pillay on Friday said in a statement that a UN team in the region is looking into reports about killings that followed the battle in Khan al-Assal in July.
While abuses by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been systematic and widespread throughout the two-year conflict, human rights groups have said the frequency and scale of rebel abuses also has increased in recent months. Specific allegations against opposition fighters include claims that rebels have routinely killed captured soldiers and suspected regime informers. Rebels say any such violations are condemned and an unfortunate result of the government crackdown. Opposition fighters in recent weeks have suffered major setbacks on the battlefield. Infighting among various armed groups also has plagued rebel ranks, weakening the opposition's campaign against Assad's rule. Rebels 'not immune' The capturing of Khan al-Assal on July 21 was overshadowed by activists' claims that rebels had killed 150 government soldiers after taking the village. Some of the soldiers who were killed had surrendered to the rebels, the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state media reported that rebels killed 123 "civilians and military personnel" in Khan al-Assal. In a statement issued in Geneva, Pillay said two of the videos the UN team reviewed apparently show government soldiers being ordered to lie on the ground, while another shows several bodies scattered along a wall and a number of bodies at an adjacent site. Preliminary findings of the UN probe also suggests that armed opposition groups, in one incident documented by video, executed at least 30 individuals, the majority of whom appeared to be soldiers, Pillay said. "These images, if verified, suggest that executions were committed in Khan Al-Assal," Pillay said. She called for a "thorough independent investigation to establish whether war crimes have been committed". She also warned that opposition forces "should not think they are immune from prosecution". Opposition condemnation Syria's main opposition bloc last week condemned the killings and blamed the killings on "armed groups" not affiliated with the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition. The umbrella group of opposition fighters is known as the Free Syrian Army.
In a statement last week, Jabhat al-Nusra confirmed its fighters had participated in the battle for Khan al-Assal. The group has not claimed responsibility for the soldiers' killings, though it did confirm in a statement last week that 150 soldiers, pro-government gunmen and Shia fighters were killed in Khan al-Assal. More than 100,000 people have been killed since March 2011 when crisis started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. It turned into civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent. Millions have been fled their homes, with some seeking shelter in more peaceful parts of Syria and more than a million fled into neighboring countries. And let's not even bring up Boston and the related unanswered questions - that just won't go away..... Boston Marathon Bombing: U.S. Rep. Keating Demands Answers from New FBI DirectorAugust 2, 2013
Source: Who What Why, Guest Posting
By David J. Krajicek
FBI Director James Comey
Keating, a Cape Cod Democrat, sent the three-page letter to James Comey on Wednesday afternoon, two days after he was confirmed by the Senate to replace Robert Mueller as head of the agency. “Open questions remain, particularly in regard to inadequate information-sharing, restrictive investigative guidelines/protocols, and an inability to follow up on suspicious activities/travel of individuals residing in the U.S.,” Keating wrote. He added he hopes the FBI would “agree to assist in closing loopholes that may hinder the future identification or capture of dangerous individuals before lives are lost.” Keating demanded answers to seven questions concerning what the FBI knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the dead bombing suspect, and why it had failed to share its intelligence with other law enforcement agencies, including the Boston Police Department. The Congressman traveled to Russia in late May to investigate on his own after being stonewalled by the FBI. He said the Federal Security Service of Russia shared with him a “quite detailed” March 4, 2011, message the Russian agency sent to the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency concerning Tsarnaev. “Despite numerous requests to obtain a copy of and discuss this information, I have not heard anything back from the FBI,” Keating wrote to Comey. Keating is a member of both the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees. He also understands the machinations of law enforcement: He spent 12 years as district attorney for Norfolk County, Mass., before he was elected to Congress in 2010. “As a former District Attorney, I understand the sensitivities surrounding an ongoing investigation,” he wrote to Comey. “However, none of the questions I have would compromise the integrity of the investigation into the bombings. I’m not looking to place blame. What I am looking to do is identify our security shortcomings and change them. Without forthright information from the FBI, we are prevented from taking the critical steps needed to protect the American public. It is my hope that Director Comey makes this a priority because I intend to keep demanding answers until I receive them.” Read More... | ||||
and......
Assassination: Florida won’t investigate police shooting of Chechen man
August 1, 2013
Source: The Guardian
State investigators in Florida have rejected a request for an independent investigation of the fatal shooting of a Chechen man while he was being questioned about his ties to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
Florida’s department of law enforcement declined the request by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida to look into the death of Ibragim Todashev.
Todashev was killed in May while being questioned by FBI agents and others. Officials originally said Todashev lunged at an FBI agent with a knife. They later said it was no longer clear what happened.
Tuesday’s letter said it would be inappropriate for the Florida agency to intervene.
ACLU of Florida director Howard Simon said he found the response extremely disappointing. “Secrecy fosters suspicion and the people of Florida deserve better than to be left without an explanation from their government about what led to a person being shot to death,” Simon said in a news release.
Read More...
Todashev was killed in May while being questioned by FBI agents and others. Officials originally said Todashev lunged at an FBI agent with a knife. They later said it was no longer clear what happened.
Tuesday’s letter said it would be inappropriate for the Florida agency to intervene.
ACLU of Florida director Howard Simon said he found the response extremely disappointing. “Secrecy fosters suspicion and the people of Florida deserve better than to be left without an explanation from their government about what led to a person being shot to death,” Simon said in a news release.
Read More...
Russia Today has more revelations regarding global spying on citizens......
Telecom giants give GCHQ unlimited access to networks, develop own spyware – Snowden leaks
Major telecom companies have been assisting the UK intelligence agency GCHQ by granting access to all the traffic passing through their fiber-optic cables – and by developing Trojan software, leaked papers obtained by German media reveal.
The classified slides obtained by German news agencies Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and NDR list global telecommunication operators among the collaborators of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters. The documents are said to have been leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The 2009-dated GCHQ slides reportedly provide the names of the following companies, along with their agency’s internal aliases: American provider Verizon Business (code name: “Dacron”), British majors BT (“Remedy”) and Vodafone Cable (“Gerontic”), as well as Global Crossing (“Pinnage”), Level 3 (“Little”), Viatel (“Vitreous”) and Interoute (“Streetcar”).
The listed telecom giants have allegedly been passing on details of phone calls, emails and Facebook entries to the agency in line with the GCHQ’s operation Tempora. Snowden earlier revealed that Tempora was part of the UK’s data collection programs dubbed ‘Mastering the Internet’ and ‘Global Telecoms Exploitation.’
The seven providers named in the reports own tens of thousands of kilometers of fiber-optic networks, including the high-capacity undersea cables, and literally form the backbone of the internet’s infrastructure.
According to a Guardian intelligence source cited in June, all such firms had “no choice” but to engage in spying, compelled by the GCHQ warrants. Until now, the companies’ names had been strictly kept secret by the agency for fear of “high-level political fallout” and major market losses.
But the fresh leaks also claim to be showing another side of the secret deal, with telecom majors allegedly receiving rewards for developing the spying software for GCHQ on their own. Such software could come in a form of Trojan viruses installed on targeted computers, the reports say, stating that the companies’ involvement in data collection is much larger and more complicated than previously thought.
The reports also list network attacks and deliberate disinformation as the tactics employed by the UK’s intelligence agency in their task for ‘dominating’ the internet.
So far, all but one of the providers listed in the report failed to directly confirm or deny the claims, some saying they comply with the law of the countries they operate in. German market leader Level 3 denied providing access to its communication networks to “any foreign government,” according to SZ. But the news agency then speculated that the company could still serve as a hub for outside data transfer, as in 2011 it acquired the Global Crossing, inheriting its foreign networks – and, possibly, agreements.
The sensitive revelations about GCHQ’s so-called ‘intercept partners’ come as a follow up of the recent Snowden leak saying that the British agency has received at least $150 million from its American counterpart NSA for the “dirty work” of massive intelligence gathering.
The fugitive whistleblower has repeatedly said that the massive surveillance was “not just a US problem,”and that the UK also “has a huge dog in this fight” – GCHQ, which makes it “worse than the US.”
The fugitive whistleblower has repeatedly said that the massive surveillance was “not just a US problem,”and that the UK also “has a huge dog in this fight” – GCHQ, which makes it “worse than the US.”
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