Subject: AIR FORCE EXPERT
"Hands" Handley is a well-respected USAF fighter pilot. Here is his short resume and what he just wrote about Benghazi below that.If anything, Handley is pessimistic in his timeline of when F-16s have reached Benghazi . I think they could have been airborne even sooner and turned quicker at Sig. The decision to not try was not based on capability. We had the operational capability in every way.I hope Handley's taxes are in order. His IRS audit is forthcoming. Colonel Phil "Hands" Handley is credited with the highest speed air- to-air gun kill in the history of aerial combat. He flew operationally for all but 11 months of a 26-year career, in aircraft such as the F-86 Sabre, F-15 Eagle, and the C-130A Hercules. Additionally, he flew 275 combat missions during two tours in Southeast Asia in the F- 4D and F-4E. His awards include 21 Air Medals, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Silver Star.----------------------------------------------
Betrayal in Benghazi
Phil "Hands" Handley Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
The combat code of the US Military is that we don't abandon our dead or wounded on the battlefield. In US Air Force lingo, fighter pilots don't run off and leave their wingmen. If one of our own is shot down, still alive and not yet in enemy captivity, we will either come to get him or die trying.
Among America 's fighting forces, the calm, sure knowledge that such an irrevocable bond exists is priceless. Along with individual faith and personal grit, it is a sacred trust that has often sustained hope in the face of terribly long odds.
The disgraceful abandonment of our Ambassador and those brave ex-SEALs who fought to their deaths to save others in that compound is nothing short of dereliction-of-duty.
Additionally, the patently absurd cover-up scenario that was fabricated in the aftermath was an outright lie in an attempt to shield the President and the Secretary of State from responsibility.
It has been over eight months since the attack on our compound in Benghazi.The White House strategy, with the aid of a "lap dog" press has been to run out the clock before the truth is forthcoming.
The recent testimonies of the three "whistle blowers" have reopened the subject and hopefully will lead to exposure and disgrace of those responsible for this embarrassing debacle. It would appear that the most recent firewall which the Administration is counting on is the contention that there were simply no military assets that could be brought to bear in time to make a difference" mainly due to the unavailability of tanker support for fighter aircraft.
This is simply BS, regardless how many supposed "experts" the Administration trot out to make such an assertion.
The bottom line is that even if the closest asset capable of response was half-way around the world, you don't just sit on your penguin ass and do nothing.
The fact is that the closest asset was not half-way around the world, but as near as Aviano Air Base, Italy where two squadrons of F-16Cs are based.
Consider the following scenario (all times Benghazi local): When Hicks in Tripoli receives a call at 9:40 PM from Ambassador Stevens informing him Greg, we are under attack!" (his last words), he immediately notifies all agencies and prepares for the immediate initiation of an existing "Emergency Response Plan."
At AFRICON, General Carter Ham attempts to mount a rescue effort, but is told to "stand down". By 10:30 PM an unarmed drone is overhead the compound and streaming live feed to various "Command and Control Agencies" and everyone watching that feed knew damn well what was going on.
At 11:30 PM Woods, Doherty and five others leave Tripoli, arriving in Benghazi at 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning, where they hold off the attacking mob from the roof of the compound until they are killed by a mortar direct hit at 4:00 AM.
So nothing could have been done, eh? Nonsense. If one assumes that tanker support really "was not available" what about this:
When at 10:00 PM AFRICON alerts the 31st TFW Command Post in Aviano Air Base Italy of the attack, the Wing Commander orders preparation for the launch of two F-16s and advises the Command Post at NAS Sigonella to prepare for hot pit refueling and quick turn of the jets.
By 11:30 PM, two F-16Cs with drop tanks and each armed with five hundred 20 MM rounds are airborne. Flying at 0.92 mach they will cover the 522 nautical miles directly to NAS Sigonella in 1.08 hours. While in-route, the flight lead is informed of the tactical situation, rules of engagement, and radio frequencies to use.
The jets depart Sigonella at 1:10 AM with full fuel load and cover the 377 nautical miles directly to Benghazi in 0.8 hours, arriving at 1:50 AM which would be 20 minutes after the arrival of Woods, Doherty and their team.Providing that the two F-16s initial pass over the mob, in full afterburner at 200 feet and 550 knots did not stop the attack in its tracks, only a few well placed strafing runs on targets of opportunity would assuredly do the trick.
Were the F-16s fuel state insufficient to recover at Sigonelli after jettisoning their external drop tanks, they could easily do so at Tripoli International Airport , only one-half hour away.
As for those hand-wringing naysayers who would worry about IFR clearances, border crossing authority, collateral damage, landing rights, political correctness and dozens of other reasons not to act" screw them. It is high time that our "leadership" get their priorities straight and put America's interests first.
The end result would be that Woods and Doherty would be alive. Dozens in the attacking rabble would be rendezvousing with "72 virgins" and a clear message would have been sent to the next worthless POS terrorist contemplating an attack on Americans that it is not really a good idea to tug" on Superman's cape.
Of course all this would depend upon a Commander In Chief that was more concerned with saving the lives of those he put in harm's way than getting his crew rested for a campaign fund raising event in Las Vegas the next day. As well as a Secretary of State that actually understood "What difference did it make?", or a Secretary of Defense whose immediate response was not to effect that "One of the military tenants is that you don't commit assets until you fully understand the tactical situation." Was he not watching a live feed from the unarmed drone, and he didn't understand the tactical situation?
YGBSM!
Ultimately it comes down to the question of who gave that order to stand down? Whoever that coward turns out to be should be exposed, removed from office, and face criminal charges for dereliction of duty. The combat forces of the Untied States of America deserve leadership that really does "have their back" when the chips are down.
FOR THOSE OF YOU HAVE ACTUALLY TAKEN THE TIME TO READ THIS, YOU NEED TO DO ONE THING FOR ME! FORWARD THIS OUT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!! WE CAN NEVER ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN AGAIN AND WHOEVER GAVE THE "STAND DOWN" ORDER NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED!!AND PROSECUTED.
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26 comments:
If anything, Handley is pessimistic in his timeline of when F-16s have reached Benghazi
Even if an F-16 could have gotten there, what the fuck good would it have done? Its a supersonic jet fighter, how exactly would it have been able to somehow fend off one half of a small arms firefight in the middle of a crowded city at night? This isn't a video game. Its insane that they thing a simple fly over or a blind strafing run (at what, exactly?) would have magically saved the day.
I hope Handley's taxes are in order. His IRS audit is forthcoming
More wingnut bullshit. The IRS scandal has been proven to be a right wing farce. One more "fact" which exists only in the fever dream that is the right wing mind, same as Obama's birth in Kenya and Vince Foster's "assassination".
Nothing amuses me more than a bunch of Right Wing chickenhawks masturbating over the prospect of military action.
The love of all things military since 9/11 by people who wouldn't join under threat of death has reached epidemic proportions.
It's an illness, and it needs to be stopped.
Impeach the Liar-in -Chief..who cares Nothing for this country! Anyone who pays $1.0000000 Million to hide his records has something to hide. No other president in history has done so. The guy is a Fraud and America must Wake Up... IMPEACH THE FRAUD!
Impeach the Liar-in -Chief..who cares Nothing for this country! Anyone who pays $1.0000000 Million to hide his records has something to hide. No other president in history has done so. The guy is a Fraud and America must Wake Up... IMPEACH THE FRAUD!
He was to busy getting his beauty sleep to want to care about our guys in harms way over there. He and his wife hate America, but they love flaunting their entitlement of position by spending Millions on lavish and frequent vacations while people are jobless and Loosing their homes. He and his Marxist cronies love destroying true freedom while he parties up with the Muslim Brotherhood. The guy is a Divider of this country, and he needs to go!
So does the guy who is using multiple handles keeps writing up the poor grammatical and misspelled comments really believe what he is spewing or does he just desperately need attention?
@ Anon
A little from column A, and a lot from Column B.
If this rightwing troll is so pissed off about Benghazi then s/he needs to get the facts straight. The people to be pissed off at are Rumsfeld & Petraeus.
Benghazi has been a CIA hangout for a long time, and it was under W that the CIA used it to supply arms to various groups, including Al Qaeda, to stir up trouble throughout MENA.
Ignorance is easy to come by is you listen to Rush all day long, however.
Anyone pissed off at Obama for what happened in Benghazi is a clueless idiot who probably thinks all the NSA domestic spying is a good thing.
Still all fake-butthurt about Benghazi. That dog will NEVER hunt with normal Americans. The polls show that decisively. But still they screech about it.
So easily manipulated, living in their bubble-world. The desperate need to shield their minds from what is obvious to everyone else is not seen in any other stripe on the political spectrum. They dismiss verified facts, links to citations, and recoil in horror from non-partisan sources of information because it disrupts their cozy worldview of WASP persectution.
It would be sad except these assholes cause so much mischief and damage.
IMPEACH the MARXIST Destroyer of America! The worst kind of racialist, elitist with a hatred of traditional America! With a hatred of white America!
Everything I needed to know about Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetero, I learned from his Friends and Mentors:
A Billionaire Socialist
A Domestic Terrorist
A Racist Preacher
And a Communist.
the saying holds true; "You will be judged by the people you associate with."
Love and agree with Leno's statement .."The liberals are asking us to give Obama time. We agree...and think 25 to life would be appropriate." Amen!!
I rest my case.
Love and agree with Leno's statement
Who? There are no other "Lenos" on this page. There is an (*ahem*) "jay". Perhaps when you, "Mike", were typing in "jay"'s comment forgot to include the Leno part in the fake username?
The "Leno" quote is from a pretty obviously misattributed e-mail forward (surprise!) that is very obviously not in the style of any of the talk show hosts whose mouths they stuff lame "jokes" into.
Did that article call for the jets to make strafing runs on a crowd in the dark?
I WISH Obama was a Marxist and Communist... sadly, he's NOT.
Funny how this rightwing nutjob calls Obama a "billionaire socialist."
How's that work?
And although Obama is most definitely a millionaire, he's not even a billionaire.
So wrong on so many levels.
Again: I am not a fan of Barack Obama, but this kind of b.s. lying rightwing think tank crap nonsense about Obama being a CommieSocialistNazi is worthless in terms of really addressing the problems in our nation.
Which is why this sock puppet troll is spouting out this crap.
Oh well. Onwards...
As many others have said, what was that fighter plane supposed to do once it got to Libya? It couldn't drop support troops or land on the roof for an evacuation. If an Airforce Colonel wrote this how did that man become Colonel with such a short-sighted outlook? Maybe he's retired for a reason. Or maybe he's another rightwing fantasy.
OBAMA ON...OBAMA:
"I chose my friends carefully.
The more politically active Black students.
The Foreign students.
The Chicanos.
The Marxist professors and structural feminists."
Obama talking about his MARXIST roots.
"ISLAM has a proud tradition of TOLERANCE."
Yeah, tell that to the 3,000 victims familes of the World Trade Ctr..The Boston Bombings.......................
President Barack Obama
Cairo University
June 4th, 2009
IMPEACH HIM NOW!!
"The only people who don't
want to disclose the truth
are the people with something to hide."
----President Barack Obama
What are YOU hiding President Obama, paying a Million $$$$ to conceal it and you talk about "something to hide". You should Know! From FAST and FURIOUS to your baptismal records and everything in between. Odd how we know more about All Americans than our own president.
"I will cut the deficit in half"
Obama in 2008
"The commitments I've made, I've kept"
Obama in 2012
IMPEACH the LIAR!
"America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership"
Barack H Obama
March, 2006
If BO thought the debt was a problem under Bush in 2006....what would you call it today? Prophetic words coming back to HAUNT him. He seems to ONLY want more and more debt. Could he be attempting to collapse our ECONOMY? If so, he is doing a WONDERFUL job. America SUFFERS under Obama!
"We Must Educate Our Children to
Become Like Young Egyptian People..."
President of the USA
Barack Hussein Obama
Well, well...our little sock-puppet troll is Sean of the Dead.
Welcome back! Probably shouldn't have tipped your hand, genius.
Some rightwing think tank or another must have a serious bug up their butts to pay this sock puppet to high jack these threads.
LOL!!
Won't work.
I'm sure they'll get tired of it eventually. Just a bunch of rightwing LIES and b.s. talking points signifying eff all.
Good job, Dave, and everyone! Keep 'em pissed off.
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