20 September 2012

Libyan Consulate Protected by British Firm Not Among the 8 Approved State Dept Firms

A badly wounded 27-year-old Libyan man says he was hired by a British group to guard the exterior of the Libyan consulate on the night Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were murdered. He says there were a total of 8 guards. There were no protests – “there wasn’t a single ant outside.” “The attack “was immediate and bold…” The State Department sent Victoria Nuland to a microphone to say “at no time did we contract with a private security firm in Libya.”



Contrary to Friday’s claim by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland that “at no time did we contract with a private security firm in Libya,” the department inked a contract for “security guards and patrol services” on May 3 for $387,413.68. An extension option brought the tab for protecting the consulate to $783,000. The contract lists only “foreign security awardees” as its recipient.

The State Department frequently hires security companies to protect diplomats in conflict zones. It usually is done through what’s known as the Worldwide Protective Services contract, in which a handful of approved firms compete to safeguard specific diplomatic installations. In 2010, State selected eight firms for the most recent contract. Blue Mountain wasn’t among them, and the State Department did not explain why the Benghazi consulate contract did not go to one of those eight firms. Source: The Danger Room

Maybe a “no bullets” policy was acceptable only to Blue Mountain?
The guard said he had been hired by a British company seven months ago to protect the compound, and that the first explosion knocked him to the ground, leaving him unable to fire his weapon. Four other contracted guards, and three members of Libya’s 17th of February Brigade, a group that was formed at the start of the uprising that ousted Libya’s former military dictator, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, and integrated into the Libyan security forces, made up the security force protecting the outer perimeter of the consulate grounds; along with the eyewitness. According to this witness, that meant that the total security team guarding the perimeter of the compound were eight guards. After the men stormed the main gate, the men rushed into one of the buildings within the compound, and there was no resistance from inside the building. Source: The Eaminer

Breitbart reported that the British company, Blue Mountain Group, was hired because it agreed to Hillary Clinton’s “no bullets” Rules of Engagement policy.  Breitbart News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the Rules of Engagement (ROE). This guard, however, indicates that he could have fired his weapon but was knocked to the ground. Note that according to the him, no gunfire appears to come from inside the Consulate in self-defense.

The Examiner story repeats that former SEALs Doherty and Woods were there that night as security, but NBC and ABC say they were in Libyan to track down and destroy “dangerous weapons in the area.” ABC claims that Doherty personally gave that information to its reporter.