Incredible Incompetence

As the typical media outlets focus on the sex scandal surrounding former CIA Director David Petraeus and the shirtless emails from an FBI agent, the real tragedy of Benghazi goes unnoticed and the president’s woeful incompetence has yet to be challenged. There are a magnitude of questions still unanswered about the assassination of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the deaths of 3 other Americans when the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by a coordinated group of terrorists.

Were the president, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, CIA Director and Director of National Intelligence aware of multiple requests for additional security in the weeks leading up to the attack?
If so, who denied the requests and why?
If not, why not?
Why did Stevens meet with a Turkish diplomat an hour before the attack?
Was President Obama in the Situation Room during the attack?
If so, who gave the stand down, not once, but three times?
If so, why did the president, his campaign staff and UN Ambassador Rice lie about the attack being a mob protest gone wrong for 2 weeks?
If the president was not in the Situation Room, why not?

Congressional hearings scheduled for later this week will be “closed” and without media inclusion. Both Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has hired a high-powered legal team, are no longer scheduled to testify at the hearings, which could have offered insight as to the multiple requests for additional security and other details about the US operation in Libya. Petraeus is out due to his resignation, Clinton cites a schedule conflict, though both could be subpoenaed.

The timing and circumstances of Petraeus’ resignation begs the question, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” considering the Obama administration’s history of failed vetting and lack of control of military commanders.

General Stanley McChrystal was fired in 2010 after he made statements in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that the administration claimed were disrespectful. Administration officials said the interview was not the principle reason for McChrystal’s firing. McChrystal replaced General David McKiernan just a year earlier as the commander for Afghanistan because then Defense Secretary Robert Gates “lacked confidence” in McKiernan.

General Carter Ham was the commander of US operations in Africa until just after the September 11th terrorist attack in Libya. Congressman Jason Chaffetz (UT-R) said publicly that Ham told him that no request for military support for the Americans under attack in Benghazi was made to Ham. Though speculation has circulated the news wires, there has not been a definitive statement as to why Ham decided to leave his post just 1 year before his scheduled retirement.

Former General David Petraeus would most certainly have been vetted by administration officials before taking his post as Director of the CIA. Who vetted him for that position? Being that the alleged affair with his autobiographer Paula Brodwell is reported to have occurred while Petraeus was still a general, why did the information on the affair not come out during the vetting process?

Either the president and his chosen administration knew these things and ignored them, has no control over their own personal appointments at the very highest levels of the military, or the vetting process is completely inept. When will the media begin asking questions that provide the answers?