Suddenly the Main Stream Media Discovers Benghazi

There has been a rash of reporting on the Benghazi massacre as if suddenly the mainstream media realized there might just be a story there and regardless of the outcome of the election the msm was on the verge of being irrelevant in the minds of half the country. Eli lake of the Daily Beast and Sharyl Attkisson of CBS have been on the story from the beginning and both filed new stories. In addition to the aforementioned stories Foreign Policy Magazine revealed that on October 26 its reporters found sensitive material still strewn about the burned consulate in Benghazi. David Ignatius of the Washington Post and Jake Tapper of ABC also took up the Benghazi issue.

Probably the most embarrassing information for the administration comes from Sharyl Attkisson who revealed that the Counterterrorism Security Group was never convened. " Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack," writes Attkisson.

 The CSG is an interagency counterterrorism resource whose business is to know the capabilities of all governmental agencies which could respond to a terrorist attack. Indicative of how poorly understood terror response is within the government an unnamed surrogate of Hillary Clinton requested that the FBI be dispatched to aid consulate personnel. What is it these people have against the military?
" Another senior counter terrorism official says a hostage rescue team was alternately asked to get ready and then stand down throughout the night, as officials seemed unable to make up their minds. "

The Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) was another task force the Obama people never got around to contacting. FEST's seasoned experts leave within four hours of notification and can provide "the fastest assistance possible." While it's doubtful that they could have reacted quickly enough to save Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith they certainly could have come to the aid of Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty who died some 6 or 7 hours after the initial attack.
In the days after the assault, counterterrorism officials expressed dismay over what they interpreted as the Obama Administration's unwillingness to acknowledge that the attack was terrorism; and their opinion that resources which could have helped were excluded.

"Counterterrorism officials from two agencies said they concluded almost immediately that the attack was by terrorists and was not spontaneous. "I came to this conclusion as soon as I heard the mortar rounds were impacting on top of the building our people were occupying," says one. "The position of the mortar must be plotted on a map, the target would have to be plotted, computations would be calculated that would result in the proper mortar tube elevation and the correct number of powder bags to be attached to the rounds."

So while Obama, Hillary and Susan Rice were spinning the YouTube video fiction the professionals on the job knew it was untrue. The final irony in this orgy of incompetence, cowardice, and subterfuge is Obama was meeting with DOD Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey when news of the attack reached the White House.
Foreign Policy Magazine, by digging through documents still at the scene, finds that the consulate staff knew it was under surveillance by the same people who were hired to protect them.
One letter, written on Sept. 11 and addressed to Mohamed Obeidi, the head of the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs' office in Benghazi, reads:

"Finally, early this morning at 0643, September 11, 2012, one of our diligent guards made a troubling report. Near our main gate, a member of the police force was seen in the upper level of a building across from our compound. It is reported that this person was photographing the inside of the U.S. special mission and furthermore that this person was part of the police unit sent to protect the mission. The police car stationed where this event occurred was number 322."

Sean Smith was an online gamer. He posted this message on his game board. “Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.” He did die that night.
FP found drafts addressed to both the State Department and local Libyan official in which the ambassador expressed concern for his safety.

Some of the documents -- such as an email from Stevens to his political officer in Benghazi and a flight itinerary sent to Sean Smith, a U.S. diplomat slain in the attack -- are clearly marked as State Department correspondence. Others are unsigned printouts of messages to local and national Libyan authorities. The two unsigned draft letters are both dated Sept. 11 and express strong fears about the security situation at the compound on what would turn out to be a tragic day. They also indicate that Stevens and his team had officially requested additional security at the Benghazi compound for his visit -- and that they apparently did not feel it was being provided.

Eli Lake reports that the State Department never requested military assistance during the attack. Under normal circumstances the ambassador at the mission is tasked with the responsibility of seeing the facility is secure but in this instance the ambassador was killed early on and no one in main State ever requested assistance.

“The State Department is responsible for assessing security at its diplomatic installations and for requesting support from other government agencies if they need it,” a senior U.S. Defense official said. “There was no request from the Department of State to intervene militarily on the night of the attack.

While it's nice to see the msm finally take an interest in this scandal it's problematic that it will have any impact on the election but it is a large and getting larger issue among active duty and retired military, and their families. For some of them this may have decided their votes.