Don’t Forget Benghazi
It’s nice to see that more media organizations are coming around to the realization that the Obama administration bungled the response to the Benghazi attacks, and did not take enough care in the first place to prevent those attacks from happening. One wonders what took some of the entities in the media so long to grasp the obvious, however.
And speaking of Benghazi, consider this story:
The United States considered moving its Benghazi consulate a mile away to a CIA base a month before the deadly attack by militants linked to al-Qaeda which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three.
A classified cable also reveals the U.S. mission drafted a contingency plan to suspend its operation as security in the Libyan city deteriorated amid increasing violence.
The secret cable, sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office, reflected officials’ concerns that the Libyan militia protecting the consulate could have been infiltrated by extremists.
The message, seen by Fox News, reported the discussions from an August 15 emergency meeting, including the detail that members of the Libyan February 17 Brigade were hesitant to share information with the Americans.
Consulate staff believed they were under surveillance in the early hours of September 11 when a member of the police unit guarding the compound was found taken photographs of the inside of the mission, according to documents recovered from the site by Foreign Policy magazine.
Days after the attack, an intelligence source told Fox News: ‘One thing for sure is that the 17 Brigade was nowhere to be found and the Americans were left on their own in the assault.’
I’d certainly like to see more information about these “secret cables” and statements from anonymous sources before fully buying into the contentions made by the story, but at the very least, these are charges that the Obama administration needs to answer. This White House has claimed that it is one of the most transparent–if not the most transparent–in history, but judging the aftermath of the Benghazi attacks, you certainly wouldn’t know it.
And by the way, yes, this is a campaign issue. It was a campaign issue from the beginning and given the degree to which Hurricane Sandy has been politicized, I see no reason whatsoever why the response to Benghazi should not be politicized as well–particularly given the fact that the president of the United States wields a great deal of power when it comes to war, foreign policy, national security and diplomacy.
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
That is why media organizations are reluctant to investigate this, because it IS a campaign issue. No different than the suppressing of the Jeremiah Wright story in 2008.
Oct '10
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
Vote early and avoid the mess when Benghazi hits the fan.
Jun '10
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
Bengahzi will likely never touch Obama. I think the most elaborate and well designed structure in this administration is the Plausible Deniability structure. As of the current telling, Holder never saw the Fast and Furious emails written to him, nor did the person below him who decides which emails get to him.
Obama is surrounded by at least two rings of loyalists. Unless someone, under oath, says something like "I told the President that we had assets locked in on that mortar emplacement and he said 'Cancel that - I'd rather lose a couple of rogue CIA agents who refused orders to stand down, than make it look like we're attacking Libyan people.' " then he and State will skate on "I (We) never saw that" "there was too much conflicting information..." and the rest of that bushwa.
Edited on November 4, 2012 at 8:05pmDec '11
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
Eeyore, I agree with you, but for a different reason.
Regardless of the viability of the "Plausible Deniability structure", the average, medium-to-low information voter is too busy to grasp the details and the implications of the Benghazi story. They have jobs to do, children to watch over, meals to cook, and homes to maintain. This is too much for a sound-bite, and it's too removed from day-to-day life to arrest their attention.
If they aren't paying attention, it cannot touch Obama.
Mar '11
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
The non-denial denial continued today on Fox News Sunday with Axelrod:
Malfeasance!
Dec '11
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
Crow's Nest: The non-denial denial continued today on Fox News Sunday with Axelrod:
Malfeasance! · 2 hours ago
Imaginary conversation between Obama & Donilon:
Oct '11
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
I am SCREAMING this...what a horrendous happening ..for the adminstration, for the American people for all that is honorable and good. I really can't believe we are going to sleep through this..Please "WAKE UP"
..
Nov '10
Re: Don’t Forget Benghazi
There is a long article beginning on the front page in the Friday Wall Street Journal which is mainly an apology for the CIA and Petraeus. As m most of you know, the Journal is rather leftie in its news sections and is reliable only on its editorial pages. The article seems to be making a case for "confusion" between State and the Agency over what their respective roles in providing security for the two facilities (the consulate and the "annex") but trying to persuade readers that adequate forces were on hand.
It presents to me an account of what used to be called a "Chinese fire drill". The idea of a relief force idled at an airport while trying to arrange transport to the scene of the action is risible, except that people's lives were at stake.