Former
Libya Site Security Team Commander: Al-Qaeda "More Established Than We
Are" In Libya
Lt. Colonel Andrew Wood Testified Before The House Oversight
Committee That Al Qaeda Is “More Established Than We Are” In Libya. REPRESENTATIVE
DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH): “Does anybody else here know how many shoulder to
air missiles that can shoot down civilian airliners are still loose in Libya?
Does anyone know?” LIEUTENANT COLONEL ANDREW WOOD: “The figures that we
were provided were fluid, but the rough approximation was between ten and
20,000.” REPRESENTATIVE DARRELL ISSA (R-CA): “The gentleman's time has
expired. Did you want them to answer anything in response to al queda
growth? If anyone has an answer on that one, they can answer and then
we’ll go on.” KUCINICH: “Is Al Qaeda more or less established in Libya
since our involvement?” WOOD: “Yes, sir their presence grows every day,
they are certainly more established than we are.” (House Oversight And
Government Reform Committee, Hearing, 10/10/12)
State
Department: Budget Had Nothing To Do With Security Decisions At Benghazi
State Department Official Charlene Lamb
Testified Before The House Oversight Committee That Budget Cuts Had Nothing To
Do With Security Decisions In Benghazi. REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R-CA): “It has
been suggested the budget cuts are responsible for lack of security in
Benghazi, and I’d like to ask Ms. Lamb, you made this decision personally, was
there any budget consideration and lack of budget that led you not to increase
the number of people in the security force there?” STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS CHARLENE LAMB: “No, sir.” (U.S.
House Of Representatives, Oversight And Government Reform Committee, Hearing,
10/10/12)
Libya
Embassy Security Officer -Obama's Plan For Libya: "Hope That Everything
Would Get Better"
Eric Nordstrom, Former Regional Security Officer At The U.S.
Embassy In Libya, Testified Before The House Oversight Committee That The Obama
Administration Did Not Have A Plan In Libya, Only “A Hope That Everything Would
Get Better.” REGIONAL SECURITY OFFICER ERIC NORDSTROM: “Absolutely. That
was one of the tensions that we always had. We obviously understood the need to
engage across a wide spectrum of programs. That was one of the main reasons we
wanted that security resources, so that we could deploy sufficient resources to
respond when there was a problem. There was not open warfare at all times in
Libya. Generally speaking, we saw a lot of improvements. It was fairly
permissive during the daytime. Things started to heat up after hours. We had
sort of a joke, I saw that it was in the newspaper, but we had a saying that it
was, in Libya, you would be fine until you’re not. Our problem was if someone
found themselves in an issue, we had three officers specifically trapped in the
Prime Minister's building when it was stormed by some fighters protesting a pay
issue. Were we going to have sufficient people who could respond and navigate
their way in and extricate those people? With time and with less resources, we
were not going to have that. One of the frustrating things that I found early
on and as I mentioned in my testimony, I was extremely pleased with the planning
to get us into Libya. The frustrating thing that I found is once the first
teams and the first TDY-ers started to expire at 60 days, there was a complete
and total absence of planning that I saw in terms of what we were supposed to
do from that point on. So when I requested resources, when I requested assets,
instead of supporting those assets, I was criticized. And somehow it was my
responsibility to come up with a plan on the ground and not the responsibility
for DS. I raised that specific point in a meeting with the DS director in
March, that 60 days there was no plan. And it was hope that everything would
get better.” (House Oversight And Government Reform Committee, Hearing,
10/10/12)
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