It’s a shame that this is such a long story (three minutes). It would make a powerful ad.

Why didn’t they?

A few days ago, I speculated that they might have been able to provide support from Sigonella. Bing West confirms it:

In the past, presidents had taken immediate actions to protect Americans. In 1984, President Reagan had ordered U.S. pilots to force an airliner carrying terrorists to land at Sigonella. Reagan had acted inside a 90-minute window while the aircraft with the terrorists was in the air. The Obama national-security team had several hours in which to move forces from Sigonella to Benghazi.

Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour; the commandos inside three hours. If the attackers were a mob, as intelligence reported, then an F18 in afterburner, roaring like a lion, would unnerve them. This procedure was applied often in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Conversely, if the attackers were terrorists, then the U.S. commandos would eliminate them. But no forces were dispatched from Sigonella.

Someone should ask him why at the debate tonight.

…or fog of lies?

Col. David Hunt has persuaded me that the attack was followed in real time not merely by the State Department but more than a hundred people in the White House situation room as well as in similar facilities within DoD and intelligence agencies. Logs [would have been] kept noting what officials entered these facilities, when they were notified, what decisions were requested/made, what was said by officials, etc., etc.

Col. Hunt paints this picture based not on direct knowledge but on his extensive knowledge of how these government agencies conduct crisis management operations. Obviously, in a six hour crisis there was plenty of time for all the various crisis management facilities to come on line, something that Col. Hunt depicts as happening pretty much instantly.

I am persuaded by this picture, and I think it leaves a dramatic — and much more damning — impression of the alleged confusion, passivity, and disengagement of the president.

Sounds about right.

How Obama bungled it.

I agree that historians will view this with much more opprobrium than the Libya mess.

…in the Benghazi blame game:

President Obama’s top spokesman — and Vice President Joe Biden, in last week’s debate — have been busy pointing fingers of blame at State and the IC.

It won’t work. Neither Foggy Bottom nor the intel community’s legion of spooks, analysts and secret-keepers is likely to go quietly.

Indeed, State has already started the pushback. It has pointedly released the transcript of an Oct. 9 media briefing in which Brad Klapper of the Associated Press asks what “led officials to believe for the first several days that this was prompted by protests against the video?”

Someone described only as “Senior State Department Official Two” answers, “That is a question you would have to ask others. That was not our conclusion.”

I don’t think they’ll be able to contain this internecine war until November 6th. I sure hope they can’t.

[Update a while later]

Rudy Guliani: “The White House is trying to run out the clock.”

Plus this: “Am I debating with the president’s campaign?…If this weren’t a Democratic president, I think you people would be going crazy.”

No kidding.

[Update a few minutes later]

You know, per Rudy’s comments, if this were a Republican administration, I’d be just as outraged. In fact, I’d be even more so, because I’d have higher expectations. But the usual suspects come along in comments to pathetically try to defend the indefensible, and blame the Republicans.

Are the Benghazi attacks the equivalent for Barack Obama?

They should be.

…distracts from Big Bird. A must-read from Mark Steyn:

“There’s only one candidate in this race who is going to continue to fight for Big Bird and Elmo, and he is riding on this plane.”

She’s right! The United States is the first nation in history whose democracy has evolved to the point where its leader is provided with a wide-body transatlantic jet in order to campaign on the vital issue of public funding for sock puppets. Sure, Caligula put his horse in the Senate, but it was a real horse. At Ohio State University, the rapper will.i.am introduced the President by playing the Sesame Street theme tune, which, oddly enough, seems more apt presidential walk-on music for the Obama era than “Hail To The Chief.”

I can’t figure out who’s the bigger embarrassment to the Dems, Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, or Stephanie Cutter.

…has arrived:

Will this Obama/Biden message of “We killed Osama but they forgot to remind us about the blowback” really carry them past the election? The buck stops where?

I suspect that Mitt will make this a (to use a Bidenism) big effing deal during the debates.

[Update a couple minutes later]

More Hillary bus thoughts at PJMedia.