While much has been written on the Benghazi hearings of this past week and the usual pundits race to defend the former Secretary of State. I am struck by what is not being said by those on either side of the aisle.
I listened as Greg Hicks detailed the phone calls coming from Amb. Stevens, the rounding up of embassy staff at Tripoli and the work that was done to destroy sensitive communications devices and hard drives by a staff that must have been in fear for their lives.
I listened as Ranking Member Cummings rolled out the usual partisan talking points, attempting to deflect and defend an Administration that has been caught in a lie that may, as things are revealed, bring about the end of the political aspirations of Hillary Clinton.
I listened as Rep. Trey Gowdy revealed an email that showed the State Department knew the attack was coordinated by Ansar al Sharia, apparently independently of Hick's report to State as the attack began.
I listened as Greg Hicks detailed his telephone conversation with Secretary of State Clinton at 10pm Eastern time.
What I never heard though from anyone was: Where was the President?
According to published reports, the attack on Benghazi began around 9:40 pm (5:40 pm eastern). The President was briefed by Secretary of Defense Panetta for approximately 30 minutes between 5pm and 6pm eastern. So the attack was just underway when the President was briefed.
As Deputy Mission Chief Hicks stated, he notified the State Department and the White House of the attack shortly after his phone call with Amb. Stevens. So it appears Washington was fully aware of the situation. Obiously, the Secretary of State was aware since she contacted Hicks via phone later that evening.
But what of the President? Let me get this straight, the Commander in Chief is briefed that an American Embassy/Outpost/Consulate/Ambassador is under attack and yet he is NOT engaged?
Is this the same CIC that watched every move of Seal Team Six via drone and then walked out of the situation room and told the world Osama bin Laden is dead?
How can this be? You have an attack on US embassy personnel, the American Ambassador is missing and yet the President isn't on record for doing...anything?
When will either Issa, Chaffitz, or Gowdy start asking the hard questions about Benghazi that everyone knows, but are apparently afraid to ask. When will the media start actually doing their jobs instead of acting as this Administration's apologists.
Something is very wrong with this entire Benghazi affair.
It was stated the Secretary of State wanted to transform Benghazi into a functioning consulate and Amb. Stevens went there because he had to have the paperwork back to Washington by September 30th. But if this was the case, why was the Turkish Ambassador meeting with Stevens in Benghazi? Coincidence? I wonder.
It is understandable that having a terrorist attack on US personnel didn't fit the narrative of the President that al Qaeda was on the run. Certainly not so close to a Presidential election. But would a President disengage and concoct a story about a "video", that was sure to unravel?
There is more to this story than has been told to date.
The Benghazi story may be dripping out slowly now, but I think a flood may be on the horizon.
Well, of course, the RUMOR is that our government was gun running and Stevens was in the middle of it. Hmm. Gun running. Just like Mexico, where Obama recently made the statement that "most of the guns used in Mexico come from the States." HIS program. HIS gun running.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't the traditional gunrunning but manpads. There are supposedly 20,000+ surface to air missles now in the hands of Syrian rebels. Makes Iran-Contra look like a sideshow.
ReplyDeleteGreat. And when they show up like they did with murdering at least 300 Mexicans a couple of border agents, then it'll be the Republicans' fault again.
ReplyDeleteThe web of the lie is directly proportional to the number of asses needing cover...and there are undoubtedly several CYAs involved in this monumental cover-up.
ReplyDelete12 re-writes of the "talking points." 5 Sunday news shows for spokes person Susan Rice." Countless news briefs given by B. H. Obama and Hilary R. Clinton, as well as statements to the "global community (what ever that is) using the same rehearsed talking points. Yes, each attempting to weave a web large enough to cover several assumed-to-be important rear ends by using something so ridiculous as a YouTube video that no one watched (yes, videos have counters).
Only the blissfully ignorant and under-informed would be so gullible as to believe such a woven web of hoo-doo.
So, why the hoo-doo and not the truth? Because the consulate in Benghazi was anything but an embassy (why did Obama issue orders to kill Khadafi after he had been lying dormant for years?) and the murder of Ambassador Stevens was anything but a casualty.
Dead men don't talk.
Will Issa, Chaffitz, or Gowdy ask the tough questions when Issa let the ball drop 6 months ago? Hard to predict.
The media and, by association, the public were relentless demanding full investigation into the Watergate scandal. An individual would have to be living under a bridge not to know about Watergate, as everything on TV was preempted for the unveiling of that sage.
But, now things are different. We have cable, now, and a million channels available to bypass the preemptive "annoyance" of congressional hearings. So, avoiding "news" on TV is not only entirely possible now, it's actually standard behavior.
Newspapers? Subscriptions are down because no one reads them...and if they do, they are so biased to the left that the reader wouldn't know the truth if s/he stumbled across it in a cartoon.
Word of mouth? Unless it's texted, it won't be "heard."
Contact your elected officials? Gee, anyone ever get anything other than an automated form letter response back from any of your officials?
Social internet sites? If your postings don't politically agree with that of your "friends," they'll simply shut off your activity from their feeds with the click of a mouse. Silenced in one!
Write on OpEd pages? See newspapers, above.
Town crier? See TV and newspapers, above.
Pony Express? Too many towns; so little horses and riders. Also, see TV and newspapers, above.
Railroad Caboose? No cabooses anymore.
Anything? Yes, buy cable and TV networks...seriously. Eliminate government unions and take back our schools. Dry up Hollywood. Boycott all things socialist.
And, perhaps most essentially, support the efforts of those who are trying to get the word out. Let representatives know when they're doing the right thing with your financial support and written encouragement.