| | November 16, 2012 | | Confusing After a month of collecting data and film from Benghazi, the CIA, State Department, and FBI can’t really explain what happened last Sept. 11—and former CIA director David Petraeus is slated to testify before Congress on Friday. The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake reports. CONFLICT A ceasefire on Friday between Israel and Hamas collapsed after just three hours when Palestinians continued launching rockets over the border, and Israel resumed air strikes in retaliation. The cease-fire had been planned for Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil’s visit to Gaza. The Israeli military also announced on Friday morning that it was calling up 16,000 reservists for a potential ground operation. An official in Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Egypt had requested the ceasefire for the visit and that Israel had promised the military "would hold its fire on the condition that during that period, there won't be hostile fire from Gaza into Israel.” RED LINE The Pentagon informed the Obama administration that seizing Syria’s supply of chemical weapons would require more than 75,000 troops. The Defense Department has not yet been ordered to draw up detailed plans for such an operation, but it calls into question whether or not the U.S. could act quickly in such an instance. The assessment emerged amid reports that militant group Hizbollah has set up training camps near some chemical weapons depots. In August, President Obama had warned that “a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus.” OH REALLY? Where’s the trust? The CIA’s inspector general has reportedly begun an internal investigation into the general conduct of David Petraeus during the 14 months he was in charge of the agency. The FBI has already said that their investigation has not turned up any threat to national security, but the inspector general reportedly wants to make sure that Petraeus did not misuse any agency assets during his affair with Broadwell. A CIA spokesperson said the investigation is “exploratory” and “doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.” | |
GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast.
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment