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President Obama's Other Libya Scandal
Townhall.com ^ | October 19, 2012 | Ken Blackwell

Posted on 10/19/2012 5:53:45 AM PDT by Kaslin

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison.

As presidential debaters clash over the meaning of a Rose Garden general reference to “acts of terror,” and whether that phrase was applied to the murder of our ambassador to Libya and three of his colleagues, and with a debate moderator throwing a “life line” to one of the candidates, it’s interesting to note something else said in the secure environs of the White House complex the bright morning after that night of flame and death in Benghazi.

It’s almost like Poe’s short story, The Purloined Letter. The critical evidence is in plain sight. The day after the murders of the Americans, President Obama promised to cooperate with our presumed friends in the new Libyan regime in Tripoli. Here’s what he said:

The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. We're working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats… And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

Rose Garden Statement, September 12, 2012

The “make no mistake” phrase has been poll-tested, no doubt, to suggest the speaker is most resolute, most firm. In this context, however, the phrase is as vacuous as Bill Clinton’s definition of “is” is, or Joe Biden’s definition of “we.”

The candid world has already seen just how cooperative this new Libyan regime is. The New York Times inadvertently showed us the spots of this leopard in its story on the reported death of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi back in May.

Tripoli’s new leaders refused to return him. But, under international pressure, they signaled a willingness to get to the bottom of the Lockerbie case, still unresolved after nearly a quarter of a century of struggle among nations and investigations that spanned the globe, touching on Iranians, Syrians, Palestinians and Libyans.

The Times then reported how Tripoli’s new rulers had declined to help the U.S. bring closure to the investigation into the bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Recall, these are rulers whom President Obama helped to put in power. For them, he ordered NATO airstrikes against the dictatorship of Col. Muammar Khaddafi. For them, he has requested another $250 million in foreign aid.

Suddenly, the man who was imprisoned in Scotland, but who later infamously was released from jail and flown home to a rapturous reception in Tripoli, has turned up dead. How convenient.

It is this same Libyan gang that President Obama says he will work with to get to the bottom of the murders in Benghazi. Don’t hold your breath. We’ve been waiting 24 years for the “international community” to bring to justice the killers of 270 passengers of the doomed jet liner and bystanders on the ground in Lockerbie. With the supposed death of Megrahi, we will probably count PanAm 103 as a cold case and not pursue it further.

Libya is a burning issue. The case of the PanAm jet that fell in flames from the skies cries out for justice. Why should we give a penny in aid to a so-called government in Tripoli that stonewalled our efforts to bring Megrahi to justice?

That same Tripoli government was duty-bound under international law to protect our diplomats and State Department employees. We saw on September 11th—of all days—how indifferent this Libyan bunch was to the safety of our American personnel.

“Working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats” is one of the weakest excuses in history. We already know how much this Libyan regime cares about American lives.

They do care, of course, about another $250 million in American aid. Not a penny of that money should be given unconditionally to people who have already shown their indifference to human lives—ours and others.

The final presidential debate is scheduled for next week. Let us see whether CBS’ Bob Schieffer will raise this burning Libyan issue with the candidates.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hillaryclinton; libya; obama; scandal

1 posted on 10/19/2012 5:53:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

they LIED for two whole weeks at every turn and sought out chances to broadcast their lies. It was supposed to be a fake kidnapping of our ambassador, only the Seals intervened and killed a bunch of them, they thought they were set up, called for reinforcements and killed everybody.

obama was supposed to trade the blind sheik for the ambassador, that was the plan. it got foiled, like rotten things do sometimes

obama has consistently supported the bad guys in foreign relations


2 posted on 10/19/2012 5:58:16 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Kaslin

3 posted on 10/19/2012 5:59:23 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

“Let us see whether CBS’ Bob Schieffer will raise this burning Libyan issue with the candidates.”

Shieffer more than likely will address the issue this way: Mr. Romney, when Reagan ordered the Navy to challenge Qadaffi about the gulf of Sidra, do you think he was planting the seeds for the destruction of the pan am 747 and the later killing of our ambassador through his policy of gun boat diplomacy rather than the excellent measured insightful measures taken by wonderful President Obama?


4 posted on 10/19/2012 6:03:36 AM PDT by Mouton (Voting is an opiate of the electorate. Nothing changes no matter who wins..)
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To: yldstrk

Totally agree...the plan was take over consulate...hold Ambassador Stevens hostage (Iran 79), the Present Obama would ride in on his white pony and save the day.
Problem’s 2 former S.E.A.L.’s who were on site for a different mission.
Present Obama or his Admin, did not react as surprised!
The Egyptian Embassy started the “It’s a Video”, for the sole purpose of stirring up the hornet nest. There were no “protests” prior to the Egyptian Embassy tweeting!

64K question....Where were the Ambassadors’ personal security detail? Every Ambassador has personal security details...fact!


5 posted on 10/19/2012 6:17:15 AM PDT by Fully Awake DAV (Navy Vet when homosexuality was not tolerated)
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To: Kaslin

Obama obviously suffers from Correctile Dysfunction.............


6 posted on 10/19/2012 6:24:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (Why yes, that was crude and uncalled for.......That's whay I said it..............)
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To: Fully Awake DAV

yep and that is why they didn’t send help, the ambassador was supposed to be kidnapped, not murdered. their little plan went south, they are rotten to the core


7 posted on 10/19/2012 6:27:11 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Red Badger
Obama obviously suffers from Correctile Dysfunction.............

That's a great line!

8 posted on 10/19/2012 6:29:10 AM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: yldstrk

There are many who recognize this aspect of the Benghazi incident, yet the public is being fed multiple lies, fabrications of reality to facilitate total misunderstanding!


9 posted on 10/19/2012 6:31:35 AM PDT by Fully Awake DAV (Navy Vet when homosexuality was not tolerated)
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To: GreenHornet

Maybe he needs Lie-agra.......


10 posted on 10/19/2012 6:41:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Why yes, that was crude and uncalled for.......That's whay I said it..............)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: Kaslin

The LEFTISTS always complained that “Bush went into Iraq w/o a plan for what to do after winning.”

Yet history is repeating itself with Libya: Maybe Libya would have been better off under control of a dictator than with the MB and AQ moving in the vacuum we created?


12 posted on 10/19/2012 6:48:13 AM PDT by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
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To: Kaslin

Why is not also a scandal that Obama engaged our military in Libya without Congressional approval? Imagine if GWB has done this...


13 posted on 10/19/2012 6:56:46 AM PDT by oblomov
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