The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Pentagon releases Benghazi timeline, defends response
- CIA Director Petraeus resigns, admits extra-marital affair
- Argentines showed guns to keep ship from being moved in Ghana
| Pentagon releases Benghazi timeline, defends response Posted: 09 Nov 2012 07:39 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon leaders knew of the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi an hour after it began, but were unable to mobilize reinforcements based in Europe in time to prevent the death of the U.S. ambassador, according to a timeline released on Friday.
Senior defence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected criticism accusing the Pentagon of failing to move quickly to send reinforcements to relieve the consulate or using armed aerial drones to fire on the attackers. "The Department of Defense acted quickly after learning of the incidents unfolding in Benghazi," said one official, adding that Marines, special forces and other military assets had either been employed or put in motion during the attack. "Unfortunately, no alternative or additional aircraft options were available within a timeline to be effective," the official added. The Obama administration's response to the attack became a highly charged political issue in the last weeks of the presidential campaign. The CIA, which had a base near the consulate, and the State Department have released timelines on the incident. According to the Pentagon's timeline, the military's Africa Command, based in Europe, ordered an unmanned, unarmed surveillance drone diverted to the city in eastern Libya just 17 minutes after the attack on the consulate began about 9:42 p.m. local time (3:42 p.m. EDT), the first military action in response to the incident. It took the drone more than an hour to arrive at the scene. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's office was notified of the attack 50 minutes after it began, and Panetta learned of it shortly thereafter as he and the military's top general headed to a previously scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. Obama, Panetta and Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed potential responses to the unfolding events in Benghazi during their meeting, which began 78 minutes after the start of the Libya attack, according to the timeline. PENTAGON MEETINGS Panetta and Dempsey then returned to the Pentagon and began a two-hour series of meetings with General Carter Ham, head of Africa Command, and other senior military leaders from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EDT (12 a.m. to 2 a.m. Libya time) to organize responses to the attack. But as they arrived at the Pentagon, the surviving personnel from the consulate in Benghazi were being evacuated by a CIA team that arrived from a nearby base, about two hours after the start of the attack. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was missing. Stevens' body was found at a local hospital. He apparently died of asphyxiation in the smoke-filled diplomatic compound after it was set ablaze by the attackers. Stevens and three other U.S. personnel died in the attack on the consulate and a nearby CIA annex. "When initial reports came in, we knew the ambassador could not be reached," a senior defense official told reporters. "We were looking at the possibility of a potential hostage-rescue scenario, for instance. So we didn't know if this was going to be an hours-long event or a days-long even or longer." During the meetings, the group formulated a response to the attack and gave verbal orders to prepare to deploy two teams of Marine anti-terrorism troops, used for providing security, and two special forces units, one based in Europe and the other in the United States. One Marine Corps Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, or FAST team, was designated for the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and the other for the consulate in Benghazi. The special forces units were ordered to prepare to go to a staging base in Europe. As the Pentagon meetings got under way, a six-man security team from the embassy in Tripoli, which included two Defense Department personnel, left for Benghazi, landing at the airport at 1:30 a.m Libya time (7:30 p.m. EDT). A CIA timeline released last week said that team was held up at the airport trying to organize transportation and locate the missing U.S. ambassador. The team from Tripoli got to the CIA base in Benghazi, at about 5:15 a.m. Libya time (11:15 p.m. EDT), arriving at the start of a mortar attack by militants that killed two U.S. security officers. An hour after that, a Libyan military unit arrived at the CIA base and helped evacuate all U.S. personnel and the bodies of Stevens and the other slain Americans. Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| CIA Director Petraeus resigns, admits extra-marital affair Posted: 09 Nov 2012 07:06 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA Director David Petraeus resigned as head of the leading U.S. spy agency on Friday, saying he had engaged in an extramarital affair and acknowledging he "showed extremely poor judgment."
In a letter to the CIA workforce, Petraeus, 60, said he met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and asked "to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position." "After being married for 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair," he wrote. "Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours." Obama, who was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday, said in a statement he had accepted Petraeus' resignation, praising him for his work at the Central Intelligence Agency and for leading U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The woman with whom the former CIA director had the affair is Paula Broadwell, according to a person familiar with the matter. She is an author who wrote a biography of Petraeus titled "All In." Attempts to reach Broadwell were unsuccessful. There was no answer at the door of her house in the affluent Charlotte, North Carolina, neighbourhood of Dilworth. Much about the sudden and dramatic turn of events remained unknown Friday evening, including how long the affair had gone on and what prompted Petraeus to resign now, just days after the 2012 presidential election. There were indications, however, that the affair was first uncovered a few months ago during an investigation by the FBI. A U.S. national security source said the FBI had stumbled across evidence of Petraeus' affair during an apparently unrelated investigation of news leaks. Petraeus' revelation of the affair appeared to end the public career of a widely admired warrior-scholar who played a key role in the Iraq war, led the U.S. Central Command and commanded U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Petraeus' name had circulated speculatively as a possible Republican presidential nominee before Obama tapped him as CIA chief. Before taking the CIA post, he retired as an Army general after nearly four decades of military service. Petraeus led the CIA for only 14 months. His sudden departure threatened to usher in a period of instability at the spy agency, which is grappling with a levelling off in its budget after a decade of steady increases. The agency is also fending off questions about its performance before and after the attack that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. officials insisted the CIA's handling of the Benghazi incident had nothing to do with Petraeus' decision to resign. TESTIFY ON CAPITOL HILL Petraeus recently travelled to Libya and the Middle East, and had been scheduled to testify about the Benghazi events next week behind closed doors to the House and Senate intelligence committees. Now, he will not give that testimony. There is no indication Petraeus broke any agency rule in connection with his admitted affair, sources familiar with the matter said. The CIA has no broad rule banning officials from engaging in extramarital affairs though, if discovered, liaisons by CIA personnel with suspected foreign agents would pose security problems for a U.S. agent. In his statement, Obama said "I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission." Obama, who accepted Petraeus' resignation in a phone call with him on Friday afternoon, said Michael Morell, the agency's long-time deputy director, would serve as acting CIA chief. Morell is a leading candidate to be Petraeus' permanent successor, sources said. He earned Obama's trust when he frequently briefed the president during planning for the operation to take down Osama bin Laden, a senior administration official said. "He's respected, a straight shooter, and has great relationships with the White House and Capitol Hill. Not to mention over 30 years of agency experience," said a former CIA official, who called Morell "the odds-on favourite." Other possible candidates being discussed on Capitol Hill include John Brennan, Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser; Obama's national security adviser Thomas Donilon; and former congresswoman Jane Harman, who chaired the House intelligence committee. Petraeus' resignation also adds a new vacancy on Obama's national security team. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will leave after Obama's first term, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is widely expected to leave as well. Petraeus' wife, Holly, has been an advocate for U.S. veterans and head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Last month, Petraeus and his wife appeared together at a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington to celebrate the premiere of the Ben Affleck film "Argo," which chronicles a successful operation in which the CIA and Canadian diplomats smuggled a group of U.S. officials out of Tehran during the 1979-81 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. At the Pentagon, people who worked closely with Petraeus expressed shock at the revelations and at his resignation. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement: "I wish President Obama had not accepted this resignation, but I understand and respect the decision." (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Phil Stewart in Washington and Rick Rothhacker in Charlotte; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Jackie Frank, Jim Loney and Todd Eastham)
Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| Argentines showed guns to keep ship from being moved in Ghana Posted: 09 Nov 2012 06:53 PM PST BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The crew aboard an Argentine military training vessel displayed their weapons to keep port authorities in Ghana from forcibly boarding the ship this week to move it to another berth, the Argentine Defense Ministry said on Friday. The ARA Libertad tall sailing ship was detained in Ghana's eastern port of Tema on October 2 on a court order obtained by NML Capital Ltd, which claims Argentina owes it $300 million (188 million pounds) on bonds in default since 2002. About 300 crew members were evacuated from the ship last month and fewer than 50 sailors remain on the vessel to keep up essential maintenance. When Ghanaian authorities tried to board the ship on Wednesday to ease port congestion by moving it to another berth, the Argentines dissuaded them by putting their guns on display. The Argentine Defense Ministry said in a statement that port officials first cut off water and power supplies to the ship while mooring personnel and two tug boats approached the vessel. The ship's captain, under orders from Buenos Aires, retracted the landing stage to keep the officials from boarding. The Ghanaian port authorities responded by placing a crane near the ship as a means to get on board, the ministry said. "Faced with these circumstances, that the Ghanaian port authority intended to board the ship and forcibly move it without a firm judicial order backing that, the order was given that the crew exhibit their regular arms on deck with the purpose of dissuading any attempt to board," the ministry said. An Argentine daily newspaper reported that the stand-off was more aggressive. "I was there and they took out rifles and aimed them at us," Jacob Kwabla Adorkor, a Ghanaian port official, told La Nacion, confirming an article published by Ghanaian newspaper The Chronicle, which said the showdown lasted about four hours. Argentina's government said Defense Minister Arturo Puricelli communicated with his Ghanaian counterpart to seek his immediate intervention to stop actions that the ministry described as a "clear violation of our sovereignty and an act of hostility." The port officials eventually desisted. A 'VULTURE' FUND The Argentine Defense Ministry initially filed a motion contesting the ship's detention, claiming sovereign immunity for the military vessel, but a court in Ghana's capital, Accra, upheld the seizure as legal. Argentina has appealed the ruling. Argentine officials call NML Capital a "vulture fund" because it buys distressed or defaulted debt and then sues in international courts to get paid in full. Creditors like NML have won several billion dollars in court-awarded damages in the United States, but they have largely been unable to collect because most Argentine assets are protected by sovereign immunity laws. These creditors are called "holdouts" because they rejected Argentina's 2005 and 2010 debt swaps, through which the country restructured about 93 percent of the roughly $100 billion in debt instruments it defaulted on a decade ago. President Cristina Fernandez said recently that Argentina will not pay "one dollar to the vulture funds." Foreign Minister Hector Timerman launched a diplomatic offensive in New York last month, urging top United Nations officials to pressure Ghana to release the ship. (Reporting by Guido Nejamkis; Additional reporting and writing by Hilary Burke; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Philip Barbara) Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
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