Sean smith along with former navy seals tie wooden Glenn Doherty. It was eight weeks before election day. Obama officials including Hillary Clinton incorrectly pointed to the christian producer of a Youtube Video that they claim 10 whipped up protesters into violence. They excised words like islamic and al qaeda from public talking points. In recent days, the House Benghazi Committee released results of its investigation. Democrats call it one of the longest and most partisan probes in history and said officials did not make intentionally misleading statements. They blamed fastmoving circumstances. There was much news in the report. Chaos, delay and efforts to mislead with evidence coming from the permit insiders and many questions are left unanswered. What did the president do while americans were under attack and call the shots . Unknown. What house photos taken that night blocked from public release. The d not given inventory of available military assets. One over action conclusion by republicans, the response from the worlds most powerful military was perplexing only and adequate. Today we visit our report looking at evidence from a rescue interrupted. We need immediate assistance. We are overrun. Do if you do not get here soon were all going to die. 13 hours of secret soldiers up and ghazi opened last january. We are the only help we have. It is the harrowing account of six cia team members in an annex about a mile from the compound when it fell under attack. They claim when they tried to go to the rescue, their boss delay them. You were not the first responders. You are the last resort. Now and email hidden from public you for three years reveals another rescue attempt was the military offered to deploy special forces to benghazi during the assault. Long before the attackers killed cia contractors and former navy seals, Glenn Doherty and tiger woods. Three and half hours into the eight hour long siege, the militarys chief of staff, jeremy ash, email top state officials. We have identified the forces that could to ben ghazi. They are spinning up as we speak. They include a special Operations Forces element that was in croatia. Spun up as we speak means weve made contact with them and they confirmed that they been given the order and they are making progress toward going to that location. Retired Army Green Beret colonel andrew wood commanded a special forces Antiterrorism Team protecting amb. Chris stevens and other diplomats in libya. I feel duty bound to come forward. In 2012, mr. Wood told congress his team was removed by the Obama Administration a month before the attack despite warnings of terrorist violence to come. Or would speaking out with a startling claim. Those special forces offered in the military email were on their way to benghazi, but returned back. Those individuals, i know, loaded the aircraft and got on their way to benghazi to respond to that incident. They were not allowed to cross the border as per protocol until they get approval from the commanderinchief. That authority did not come from him otherwise they are not allowed they are not allowed to go further into the country. That was based on information that i heard from individuals that were there. Those forces were put into motion. They simply were not allowed to go for further. The white house refused while americans were under attack on foreign soil. Following a short briefin he virtually disappears from the publics narrative. The white house declined to comment for this report, but as long denied any assets were available or ready and set Everything Possible was done. Yet, the email indicates special forces were ready and highranking Obama Administration officials were on the way in. Assuming principals agree to deploy these elements, we will have the state with secure the approval from host nations the military tells the state department. Please advise how you wish to convey that approval to us. Inexplicably, but he did seek libyas approval for the us forces to fly into hell. The availability of special forces is news to greg hicks, the top diplomat in tripoli in he was repeatedly told there was no military help available. I asked the defense that had been talking with and with the joint staff, is anything coming . Will they be help . Is there something out there . Responding to the newly public email, hicks tells for measure and aggressive interpretation of the military options presented have task me with obtaining flight and landing clearances from the libya government. I have no doubt they would have been granted. The significance of this memo would you say . Incredibly significant and you would understand what the administration not what people to see that those elements within the government that were tasked with the protection of lives and property actually started the process and were stopped. Gary brunson is a former cia operation officer and chief of station. He commanded Counterterrorism Missions and to let the Response Team after islamic extremists bombed africa in 1998. Like mr. Are tasked to handle emergencies exactly like benghazi and automatically spin up unless and until they are stopped. If there is an emergency and americans are at risk, americans have died or are under the threat of death or a threat of kidnapping or any kind of violence, we are moving. A military source familiar with some of the nights events also confirms military options were provided. They were both conventional and special forces and assigned to Africa Command offered up by general carter ham on a video teleconference. Based on what i know, the forces they were talking about could have gotten there pretty quickly. Only political instructions from above would have stopped them. There is no one is going to wait. That is my experience of having done this for almost 25 years. Having led the teams myself. You are going. When we come back, the military response that night and we ask why a rescue would have are you okay . Yeah, i just got charged for my credit monitoring. Thats how i know its working. Ah. You know you can go on creditkarma. Com and check it out there. Its completely free. Really . Yeah oh, that didnt hurt at all. Yeah, completely painless. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Sharyl we continue with questions over whether benghazi involved a rescue interrupted and an email showing the u. S. Military offered up a special forces team to deploy to benghazi long before the last two americans were murdered. But the Obama Administration never sought approval for their planes to fly into libya. Lets go, man. Under attack. Sharyl the film 13 hours the secret soldiers of benghazi recounts the story of c. I. A. Agents who say they were prevented from going to the immediate rescue of the americans under attack a mile away. And no outside military came to help. But now an internal government email shows u. S. Special forces not far away had spun up during the attack and sources say they were headed to benghazi but were stopped. The new details may help explain why congress had so much trouble getting direct answers from obama official who is insisted a rescue attempt was impossible. We questioned in 2013 general martin dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and secretary leon panetta of the department of defense or d. O. D. , gave no hint that special forces had actually spun up. Was any d. O. D. Asset ever deployed to help these people before the end of the attack . Would you would you was any d. O. D. Asset, aircraft, or individual soldier, ever sent, put in motion, to help these people before the attack was over . If i could, as soon as we knew there was an attack, the National Mission force and the fast teams began my question is, did anybody leave any base anywhere to go to the aid of the people under attack in benghazi, libya, before the attack ended . No. Because the attack ended before they could get off the ground. Thank you. Sharyl multiple officials said the same thing. There simply wasnt enough time at that point to bring u. S. Military forces. Flair assets were too far away to make much difference in any timely fashion. There simply was not enough time for u. S. Military forces to have made a difference. Sharyl adding to the claims of a rescue interrupted, the leader of support team in the u. S. Earlier testified his squad, too, was stopped from responding. And a small u. S. Military team in tripoli was ordered not to board a plane for benghazi during the attacks. Wood says that all implies a decision at the highest level. Otherwise, he believes, the military would have gotten a position to respond five hours before the benghazi attacks when the u. S. Faced a related crisis, islamic extremists overran the American Embassy in cairo, egypt. The compound had been breeched and there were people now inside their buildings under protection of marine guards awaiting for someone to bust into the rooms. To me, that would signal that somebody should be getting the those Reaction Forces ready to stand by and perhaps move. And then five hours later, when things occurred in benghazi, and that again the alarm apparent response, thats a pretty tough one to explain. With events transpiring in cairo at the embassy in cairo, i think the decision not to react may have been made very early on in the day when those when those events were transpiring. So that by the time benghazi happened, it wasnt going to happen. Because that decision was made early on. Sharyl if so, why why isnt clear. But the attacks came eight weeks before the 2012 elections. President obama had campaigned on the idea that hed sent terrorists running. Al qaeda is on the path to defeat and sam is dead. And osama bin ladson dead. Sharyl it could have been viewed as more harm gl to the campaign than the incorrect explanation the administration gave that protesters attacked after being whipped up by an antiislamic Youtube Video. I understand, father. Sharyl a special forces his team and u. S. Diplomats in libya were briefed that if they ever got into trouble, those special forces in europe were tasked with coming to the rescue. Theyre kept in a high state of readiness just for that purpose. So theyre theyre willing and able and ready to jump like the fire department. Any town in any city in the United States. Sharyl to illustrate how close the u. S. Special forces in croatia were, a commercial flight taking off at the start of the benghazi attacks with an hour and a half layover in turkey could still have arrived in libya before woods and doherty were killed. But the special forces offered up by the military ended up at the u. S. Naval base in italy instead of benghazi and a delay that remains unexplained, it took 17 hours from the time the military said theyd spun up for them to make that hour and a half flight from croatia to italy, far too late to help. I operated there under belief that those Reaction Forces would be there for us. If we got into some kind of trouble like what happened. Sharyl two groups of testimony given under oath by government officials were there were no forces that could have responded quickly. And that even if they had scrambled more people they couldnt have got there in time to make a difference . I dont believe either of those reflect the truth. Of what occurred on the ground there. They had forces moving. They could have intervened. They should have intervened. And had they, we likely would have been in a position to save the second two men who bravely sacrificed their lives. Sharyl the state department has said the notion that it did not do Everything Possible to protect our people that night is as offensive as it is wrong. Theres one piece of evidence that could help in the debate, military after action reports dissecting the medical tear response but the pentagon has refused congressional and media requests to see them. Still ahead on full measure the president calls for action reaction. We drill down on the u. S. And sharyl president obama has warned he will not sit idly by on the sidelines during his final year in office and instead hes boasted about his ability to get a lot of things done using his executive authority. It signals what may be a busy few final mons to further what president obama considers key issues to his administration and legacy. So we might expect a number of additional executive actions or executive orders. The difference makes a difference. This reality check. On the first day of his last year in office, president obama called on congress to take action on gun control. We president obama we cant stop every act of violence but what if we tried to stop even one . The media and politicians went into overdrive. The president of United States may come out with an the president set to lay out a series of executive orders. I am very proud of president obamas announcement today to on my first day behind that desk those orders are gone. President obama until we have a congress thats in line with the majority of americans, there are actions within my Legal Authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives. The president s plan to tighten control and increase enforcement of firearm laws in the u. S. By expanding background checks is an executive action. Not an executive order. And yes, theres a difference. Explains steven j. Wayne, professor of government at georgetown university. When he issues an order, its usually a broader statement of in the future, i want it to happen this way. When he issues a memorandum or a derivative directive or makes a statement its much more specific. But theyre mainly ceremonial. And they dont have the policy pa obama is bypassing congress and earning criticism. Representative calling it a distraction and disservice to the american people. Are you being pushed on the sidelines while the white house steers the ship . He would like to have it like that. But thats not the way the Founding Fathers set this republic up. And thats not the way the constitution reads. Some democrats including representative Mike Thompson of california have come to obamas defense. The critics of president obamas executive actions say that that hes overstepping his boundaries. Hes going he thinks hes the king. The same folks say its ok to take arms and overrun a government building. Its a real contradiction. In isnt the first time the president has taken heat for overstepping congress. Institutional and political rivalries will generate debate over president obama with all the actions ive taken this year im issuing executive orders at the lowest rate in more than 100 years. So its not clear how it is that recognize didnt seem to mind when president bush took more executive actions than i did. Sharyl during his eight years in Office President george w. Bush issued nearly 300 executive orders. President obama isnt too far behind. So far hes issued more than 240 orders. Ahead on full measure well visit an exhibit of Iconic Images that illustrate why wwell you dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Then she says. Bazang ok, good one. laughs bazang. Remember . Bazang. You get it . Bazang . Yeah uh, how do i check my credit score . Credit karma, dont worry bud its free. Ohhhh. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Sharyl they are some of the most memorable images to grace the pages of magazines and newspapers. But some of these Iconic Images have been altered. Last year, we visited an exhibit in new york that exposed news photographs manipulated to fool the public. These altered images prove why you cant believe your eyes and raise ethics of photo journalism. On a busy Street Corner in the bronx, between bodegas and tenement walkups a small museum is trying to make a big stir. Michael camber runs the bronx documentary center. Hes created an exhibit of photos going back over 150 years. That show our perspective of history then and now deserves a close second look. This is a great, great just an iconic war ii. One of the most published photos of all time. The photographer was actually a soviet army photographer. He wanted to replicate joe rosenthals famous photo from the soldiers to go up and its not a real event. At its core we put this show together because we want to get the debate going about photographs. The generation of photographers and photo journalism that i grew up with very set sort of rules and ethics and standards. And were watching those just kind of dissolve in front of our eyes from what i can see its falling apart. I want to have that conversation that this is something thats always gone on. Its fascinating that the very first photo that we were able to find from 1855. Its the original work of photo journalism. Theres two versions. One with cannon balls in the road and one with no cannon balls on the road. Right in the beginning they were already changing things. I would say the iranians with the Missile Launch a few years back w only three of the missiles launched you can see here. So they simply cloned in one of the missiles to make it appear as if it was a successful launch. When in fact it wasnt. That picture ran all over the United States. It ran on the front page of the l. A. Times. And other newspapers. Hugely effective. But in fact extensively manipulated. And not a real true representation of what happened. I think that people are really just going to lose faith, certainly in photo journalism and documentary photography. I think once people see photos and say oh, i wonder if that really happened or i wonder if thats been modified or i wonder if the photographer staged that, then weve just lost all credibility. It really damaged the profession and damages the media. I think it really damages america. These are the o. J. Covers. And we wanted to show these side by side. News week and time. And time took the muck shot that came from the mug shot that came from the lapd and got an illustrator to darken the photo and you can see its almost blackblack just looks really threatening and sort of menacing. And that caused a huge uproar. People all over the United States were outraged and time actually had to pull the cover and republish it. My favorite bogus celebrity shot it would have to be the oprah photo. Tv guide did a story on oprah. They put her head on Ann Margarets body. Just a wonderful misrepresentation. Totally bogus but really campy and kind of trk. Were seeing it a lot with magazine covers and with anything having to do with celebrities and stars. There its just accepted. People have to be able to believe in what theyre seeing. And know that this represents the historical record. Certainly in a news we have to maintain viewers trust in photo journalism and get it right. We have to create honest accounts of what happened. Sharyl three other photos in the bronx gallery not part of the exhibit. David told us they are the photos of Three Friends and colleagues. Tim were killed and james foley was killed in syria in 2014. The First American beheaded by isis. Reminders that neither freedom nor truth come without costs. Coming up next week on full measure one of our favorite stories this year, the story of an Afghan Air Force that never left the ground. Hundreds of millions of your tax dollars spent on a giant boondoggleary craft too dangerous to fly. Approximately 600 million for 20 planes that dont work, never worked, couldnt be used, were poorly maintained, and were eventually turned into scrap. Sharyl thats next week on full measure. Thats all for this week. Thanks nor watching. Im sharyl attkisson. Until next time, we will be searching for more stories that hold powers accountable. Well e from washington d. C. And around the world, this is Government Matters. With francis rose. Thanks very much for watching the Weekend Edition of Government Matters featuring the latest topics like technology, defense, workforce, security and industry. Government matters is the only show exploring trends in the federal community. Im your host, francis rose. Federal agencies have a new tool in the quest to secure their networks and data. Three vendors are approved for a high impact program. Fed ramp high is a product of the general services
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