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US forces could have intervened in Benghazi, ‘special operator’ tells Fox News

Vince Coglianese Editorial Director
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An American special operator with intimate knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, says that U.S. forces could have intervened in the hours-long attack, but didn’t.

“There simply was not enough time for U.S. military forces to have made a difference,” retired Admiral Mike Mullen — vice chairman of the accountability review board that investigated the administration’s response — told reporters on Dec. 19, 2012.

But Fox News Channel reported Monday evening that the administration’s claim is untrue, according to an anonymous “special operator who watched the events unfold [and] has debriefed those who were a part of the response.”

“I know for a fact that C-110, the EUCOM CIF was doing a training exercise, not in the region of North Africa, but in Europe. And they had the ability to act and to respond,” the source told Fox News’ Adam Housley. “We had the ability to load out, get on birds and fly there, at a minimum stage.  C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in a matter of about four—about four hours, four to six hours from their European theater, to react.”

“They would have been there before the second attack,” realizes Housley, referring to the second strike on U.S. personnel in Benghazi that killed two former U.S. Navy SEALs — 41-year-old Tyrone Woods and 42-year-old Glen Doherty. According to a Pentagon timeline, that attack took place over 7 hours after the first strike on the U.S. consulate, where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed.

“They would have been there before the second attack,” agreed the special operator. “They would have been there at a minimum to provide a quick reaction force that could facilitate their exfil out of the problem situation.  Nobody knew how it was going to develop.  And you hear a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of advisors say, hey, we wouldn’t have sent them there because the security was [an] unknown situation.”

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“If it’s an unknown situation,” the source explained, “at a minimum, you send forces there to facilitate the exfil or medical injuries.”

Those with knowledge of what went down in Benghazi “feel threatened and are afraid to talk,” the source told Fox News.

Active duty service members within the special operations community “would be decapitated” if they spoke out, the source insisted, though that same community feels betrayed by the Obama administration.

“There were at least two elite military units that could have made it in time” to preempt or turn back the second attack, Housley reports.

“Two more assets that could have been on the ground,” explained the special operator. “It’s frustrating. It’s upsetting, especially being in the community. The hardest thing to deal with in any kind of, you know, dangerous scenario or gun fight is, you know, we always look to each other to help each other. And that’s how we get through situations. It’s not about the assets overhead. It’s about the guys on the ground.”

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