Expert Analysis

Why The White House is Dragging Their Feet Re: Benghazi Suspects

Some frustrated voices are starting to come out with information about how the FBI has positively identified a number of suspects who are thought to be behind the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th of last year.  Fox News cites an anonymous Special Operations soldier voicing his frustration, in many ways the frustration of much of America, about the Obama administration’s inaction.  The problem is, we don’t know what we don’t know.

Meanwhile in Libya, many associated with the late Gaddafi regime have been dropping like flies.  The media have been chalking it up to tribal violence, even as non-Gaddafi regime Libyans are targeted, most of them seeming to be killed while inside their vehicles.  Even Ben Qumu, the former Gitmo inmate in charge of Ansar Al-Sharia, the militia primarily behind the Benghazi attack, has a bull’s eye painted on the back of his head as he dodged an assassination attempt about a month ago.  His right hand man, Yahya Abdel Sayed ate it in Sitre just prior to that.

The leaking of the FBI’s five Benghazi suspects is problematic for the Obama administration in a number of ways.  For one thing, it puts the suspects within the frame of reference of law enforcement, making it essentially impossible to vector in on the suspects for “targeted killings,” or even a low-visibility snatch and grab operation, which would deliver them to Gitmo.  With the spotlight on them, the only recourse left may be to have them arrested.

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Some frustrated voices are starting to come out with information about how the FBI has positively identified a number of suspects who are thought to be behind the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th of last year.  Fox News cites an anonymous Special Operations soldier voicing his frustration, in many ways the frustration of much of America, about the Obama administration’s inaction.  The problem is, we don’t know what we don’t know.

Meanwhile in Libya, many associated with the late Gaddafi regime have been dropping like flies.  The media have been chalking it up to tribal violence, even as non-Gaddafi regime Libyans are targeted, most of them seeming to be killed while inside their vehicles.  Even Ben Qumu, the former Gitmo inmate in charge of Ansar Al-Sharia, the militia primarily behind the Benghazi attack, has a bull’s eye painted on the back of his head as he dodged an assassination attempt about a month ago.  His right hand man, Yahya Abdel Sayed ate it in Sitre just prior to that.

The leaking of the FBI’s five Benghazi suspects is problematic for the Obama administration in a number of ways.  For one thing, it puts the suspects within the frame of reference of law enforcement, making it essentially impossible to vector in on the suspects for “targeted killings,” or even a low-visibility snatch and grab operation, which would deliver them to Gitmo.  With the spotlight on them, the only recourse left may be to have them arrested.

But there is another good reason why the Obama administration would prefer to kill those behind Benghazi with a drone strike or by sending in JSOC shooters.  As I’ve written previously, the United States had to kill Osama Bin Laden.  Bringing him to trial was out of the question because of the things he would begin to talk about when put on the stand.  There is no need for conspiracy theory here, just talking about any US support he may have received while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980’s would have been a massive embarrassment for America and American foreign policy.  This is why the Benghazi suspects need to be eliminated, from the administration’s perspective, one suspect in particular.

You know where this is going.  One of them received covert US support not long after the Libyan Civil War.  Apparently he had a fairly cordial relationship with the US government, a quid pro quo arrangement.  If the FBI manages to arrest him and bring him to trial, it will look like Iran-Contra Part Two for the Obama administration.  That’s why the suspects, along with Ben Qumu, will more than likely quietly disappear.

And everyone knows that a post-conflict environment, filled with tribal violence, and an extremely weak transitional government, sets the perfect stage for hiding an assassination.

About Jack Murphy View All Posts

Jack served as a Sniper and Team Leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion and as a Senior Weapons Sergeant on a Military Free Fall team in 5th Special Forces Group. Having left the military in 2010, he graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science. Murphy is the author of Reflexive Fire, Target Deck, Direct Action, and Gray Matter Splatter. His memoir, "Murphy's Law" is due for a 2019 release and can be pre-ordered now.

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