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Graham Won’t Lift Nominee-Hold Threat Over Benghazi (+video)

Photo Credit: Getty ImageSen. Lindsey Graham says he still plans to use Senate holds on President Barack Obama’s nominees until he gets answers on the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Pressed on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, the South Carolina Republican said he hasn’t been able to interview the five survivors of the attack, and so he’ll continue to threaten holds on nominees until he gets to talk to them, as well as relevant CIA officials.

The holds are a last resort, he said.

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New Twist in Benghazi Account: Mystery Man with Slain Ambassador

Photo Credit: WND A four-page incident report written by a private contractor that provided security to the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, adds yet another layer of intrigue to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.

The report, for the first time, claims that another American aside from Ambassador Christopher Stevens was being treated at the Libyan hospital reportedly controlled by the Ansar Al-Sharia terrorist group.

The American was described in the report by the private Blue Mountain Group as being “black” and shot in the hand. The report says the man was presumed to be “one of the ambassador’s close protection team as both were black.”

The State Department’s Accountability Review Board report, or ARB, detailed what it claimed was the official version of events during and after the attack. The ARB report does not mention any other American at the hospital with Stevens.

The ARB report states only that Stevens’ body was transported from the hospital to the Benghazi airport. The ARB does not describe how Stevens’ body was released from a hospital said to be under Ansar Al-Sharia’s control.

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’60 Minutes’ Contradicts State’s Key Benghazi Claim: No Orders to Wait

Photo Credit: WNDAlthough unmentioned by the newsmagazine show, last week’s “60 Minutes” segment on Benghazi apparently contradicts a central element of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board report on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, WND has found.

“60 Minutes” reported “orders to wait” were given to forces in Tripoli that could have immediately aided the besieged Benghazi compound. However, the Accountability Review Board, or ARB, specifically states the team was “not delayed by orders from superiors.”

The CBS program reported that about “30 minutes into the attack, a quick reaction force from the CIA Annex ignored orders to wait and raced to the compound, at times running and shooting their way through the streets just to get there.”

Continued “60 Minutes” reporter Lara Logan: “Inside the compound, they repelled a force of as many as 60 armed terrorists and managed to save five American lives and recover the body of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith. They were forced to fight their way out before they could find the ambassador.”

The narrative of ignoring “orders to wait” seems to directly contradict page 23 of the ARB report.

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Graham Says He’ll Continue to Block Obama Nominees Unless He Gets Benghazi Info

Photo Credit: APSouth Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham reiterated his pledge to block all of Obama’s nominees for executive branch positions until Congress is allowed to hear testimony from those on the ground during the Benghazi terrorist attacks in 2012.

“I shouldn’t have to do this – to make these threats,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Graham says there are still too many unanswered questions about the Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

While there have been a number of Capitol Hill hearings on the deadly attack in Benghazi, Graham is among a group of lawmakers who say they aren’t satisfied with the information provided and want more.

“I don’t think it’s over the top to find out what happened to four dead Americans,” he said. “I don’t think it’s over the top to talk to survivors. The State Department interviewed these survivors.”

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Benghazi Attorney’s Major Assertion: ‘Reason to Believe’ People Who ‘Insisted’ on Military Response That Night Were ‘Relieved of their Duty’ (+video)

Photo Credit: APSome military commanders may have been relieved of duty for insisting on trying to send help for the Americans trapped at the Benghazi compound during the terrorist attack there on Sept. 11, 2012, an attorney for Benghazi whistleblowers said Monday.

Joe diGenova, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, made the assertion during a Monday moning radio interview on WMAL, the D.C. radio station where he is a regular legal analyst.

“We have reason to believe that things happened that night in the chain of command where people were relieved of their duty because they insisted that there be a military response,” diGenova told WMAL. “We’re working on trying to establish that with news organizations. But there is very, very good evidence that people were actually relieved of command because they refused not to try and dispatch troops and some response.”

Because the information is preliminary, diGenova did not delve into names. But he said he would like to see former Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta answer questions on the matter.

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Report: First Western Eyewitness in Benghazi to Go Public Gives Account of Attack, Warning Signs

Photo Credit: Fox News The first Western eyewitness to the deadly Benghazi terror attacks has given an account of the seven-hour assault on the U.S. outpost in Libya and says Americans knew such an incident was inevitable.

The witness — a former British soldier who for decades helped protect U.S. diplomats and military leaders — told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that Al Qaeda forces first attacked the U.S. Special Mission Compound in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed. Then they launched a second attack on a secret CIA annex about a mile across the city.

“They knew what they were doing,” the security guard told CBS. “That was a well-executed attack.”

The guard said he was in his apartment about 15 minutes away from the attacks when he learned of them through a frantic phone call from a Libyan guard.

“I could hear gunshots,” said the guard, “And he said, ‘There are men coming into the mission’ … You could tell he was really scared and he was running.”

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U.N. Benghazi Report an Inconvenient Truth for Obama?

Photo Credit: WND Is the State Department hiding the involvement in the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack of an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood-linked terrorist group?

A new United Nations report ties perpetrators of the Benghazi attack to the Muhammad Jamal Network, or MJN.

The network and its founder, Egyptian Muhammad Jamal, were designated by Obama’s State Department this month as “specially designated global terrorists” affiliated with al-Qaida.

The designation not only sanctions MJN’s assets but now allows President Obama to use a Bush-era military doctrine to capture Jamal terrorists overseas.

The State Department document designating MJN as terrorists does not mention the Benghazi attack.

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Former Guantanamo Detainee Was on Ground in Benghazi During Terror Attack, Source Says

Photo Credit: Fox News A former Guantanamo Bay detainee with Al Qaeda ties was in Benghazi the night of the Sept. 11 attack, according to a source on the ground in Libya.

The source told Fox News that ex-detainee Sufian bin Qumu, who is suspected of running camps in eastern Libya where some of the assailants trained, is also a “respected member” of Ansar al-Sharia — one of the Islamist groups identified in State Department email traffic two hours after the attack.

Two sources familiar with the investigation, when asked about bin Qumu’s whereabouts the night of the attack, did not dispute the claim he was in Benghazi.

While it is not clear whether bin Qumu was directing the assault, his security file from Guantanamo may be revealing. Having already trained in Usama bin Laden’s camps, in 1998 bin Qumu joined the Taliban in Pakistan and “communicated with likely extremist elements via radio during this period indicating a position of leadership,” the file shows.

Fox News’ ongoing reporting on the attack has shown that at least four key Benghazi suspects have ties to the Al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan. They include bin Qumu and Muhammad Jamal, whose network is also suspected of training jihadists for the attack. Jamal was held, and later released by, Egyptian authorities. Earlier this month, the State Department’s terrorist designation for Jamal and his network cites letters he exchanged with Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, where Jamal asked for money and explained the scope of his training camps, which included Libya and the Sinai.

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‘We’re Here to Kill Americans,’ Benghazi Attackers Declared: Witness (+video)

Photo Credit: GettyThe attackers on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, said they were there “to kill Americans,” a Westerner who witnessed the terrorist strike tells CBS News.

The full interview with the British security expert hired to train Libyan guards will air at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday on “60 Minutes.”

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.

The man called himself “Morgan Jones” to protect his identity, although his face is shown on camera.

Read more from this story HERE.

Media Matters Snagged in Benghazi Deceit

Photo Credit: WNDIn their new e-book, “The Benghazi Hoax,” Media Matters for America executives David Brock and Ari Rabin-Havt dispute the claim that highly trained Special Forces were available and could have been deployed in time to make a difference in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The authors, however, fail to inform readers that Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded highly trained Special Forces were stationed just a few hours away from Benghazi on the night of the attack but were not told to deploy to Libya, as WND was first to report.

Brock and Rabin-Ravt also did not raise the many questions prompted by Dempsey’s testimony, including an admission to the highly unusual move of changing command of the Special Forces in the middle of the Benghazi attack.

Instead, Brock and Rabin-Ravt attempt to refute an exclusive Fox News interview aired April 30 in which a special government operator, speaking on condition of anonymity, contradicted claims by the Obama administration and a State Department review that there wasn’t enough time for military forces to deploy the night of the attack.

Read more from this story HERE.