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| Sources challenge White House claim of all-hands-on-deck pursuit of Benghazi suspects |
| 2013-05-21 |
| U.S. military sources serving in North Africa are challenging the latest White House claim that the administration is applying "all the resources" at its disposal to bring the Benghazi attackers to justice, charging instead that the Obama administration knows who is responsible but is not acting. "They have let it slip by because of politics, and now we've taken all the correlation we had and dropped the ball because of risk (aversion) -- and now the security in Libya is more fragile than ever," one U.S. special operator told Fox News. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirms that U.S. forces have tracked the alleged attackers since October but have since lost the trail of some of them, as no one up the chain of command would authorize them to capture or kill the targeted militia members. Sources who have worked in and around Benghazi since last October spoke out after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney repeatedly said at a briefing more than a week ago that the administration was going after the suspects in the Sept. 11 terror attack. "From the beginning, the president has committed all the resources of this administration, of this government, to finding out who was responsible and to bringing them to justice," Carney said, as he faced a barrage of critical questions from the press on the heels of reports that challenged the administration's Benghazi narrative. "Carney just said they want to bring those responsible to justice -- that's a big ole negative," said one special operator who watched the press conference with part of his team and disputed Carney's characterization of the administration's efforts in the wake of the attack. According to well-placed sources, the administration has known where some of the perpetrators are, based on information given to the Pentagon back in January, but no action has been taken to capture or kill them. Further, sources said they are being restricted from any reconnaissance or advanced force operations to go after those responsible in the eastern part of Libya. "We know exactly where the mastermind lives," one U.S. official said. U.S. intelligence sources claim the "mastermind" and other suspects are on video that night at the U.S. compound, and that investigators have other evidence. Fox News reported last fall that investigators have visually identified several attackers at the compound, including one who was caught in Turkey, deported to Tunisia and eventually released by the Tunisian government due to a "lack of evidence." The information on potential targets, sources said, went to the military's AFRICOM command and the Defense Secretary's office in January, after more evidence had been collected. Representatives from the Pentagon did not return requests for comment. The State Department would need to be on board for any operation to take place inside Libya. |
| Posted by:tipper |