Susan Rice- ✔
Posted on 10/19/2012 2:50:46 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Not just on the day he died, mind you. Multiple times before, too. I’m near the point now where I want to abandon the whole “pre-planned attack versus spontaneous protest” line of inquiry just because it’s steering us away from the more important topic of State’s negligence on his security. Besides, we already know, more or less, why Carney and Rice pushed the “spontaneous protest” theory. Ask Saxby Chambliss:
“Talking points distributed by the administration [in the immediate aftermath] are nearly identical to intelligence assessments within hours of the attack, except in one important way: the intelligence judgment that the attackers had ties to al-Qa’ida was excluded from the public points,” [Saxby] Chambliss said in a statement on Friday.
“The administration omitted the known links to al-Qa’ida at almost every opportunity … Whether this was an intentional effort by the administration to downplay the role of terrorist groups, especially al-Qa’ida, is one of the many issues the Senate Intelligence Committee must examine,” Chambliss said.
The guy who got Bin Laden and knocked out Qaddafi didn’t need a storyline in the middle of a campaign about AQ affiliates killing the American ambassador in the heart of the “new Libya.” That’s straightforward, and that’s almost certainly why the “spontaneous protest” theory got traction initially. (“Al Qaeda is on the run” used to be part of Obama’s standard stump speech, in fact. That line has been quietly dropped lately.) What’s not straightforward is why State refused to boost Stevens’s security despite countless warnings about the danger, some from the man himself. It’s inexplicable. It’s not a budget issue, either: Charlene Lamb testified to that before the House. She also testified that State had “the correct number of assets in Benghazi,” which literally no one but her seems to believe is true. So, once again: Why didn’t Stevens have more security? What were they waiting for before making a decision to either send him a more professional force or end the American presence in Benghazi? Was that politicized too, i.e. State didn’t want abandon the consulate over security fears because that would have made for some bad headlines about conditions inside the “new Libya”?
On Sept. 11 — the day Stevens and three other Americans were killed — the ambassador signed a three-page cable, labeled “sensitive,” in which he noted “growing problems with security” in Benghazi and “growing frustration” on the part of local residents with Libyan police and security forces. These forces the ambassador characterized as “too weak to keep the country secure.”…
Roughly a month earlier, Stevens had signed a two-page cable, also labeled “sensitive,” that he entitled “The Guns of August: Security in Eastern Libya.” Writing on Aug. 8, the ambassador noted that in just a few months’ time, “Benghazi has moved from trepidation to euphoria and back as a series of violent incidents has dominated the political landscape.” He added, “The individual incidents have been organized,” a function of “the security vacuum that a diverse group of independent actors are exploiting for their own purposes.”
“Islamist extremists are able to attack the Red Cross with relative impunity,” Stevens cabled. “What we have seen are not random crimes of opportunity, but rather targeted and discriminate attacks.” His final comment on the two-page document was: “Attackers are unlikely to be deterred until authorities are at least as capable.”…
“Islamic extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Libya,” the ambassador wrote [on June 25], adding that “the Al-Qaeda flag has been spotted several times flying over government buildings and training facilities …”
Libyan guards at the consulate also thought security was too thin to meet the challenge from local mujahedeen, but were reportedly told by the Americans they spoke to that everything was cool and that no one would dare approach the consulate — even though, as noted above, even the Red Cross wasn’t spared from attack. (That may have been part of a jihadi strategy to push all western outfits out of the city.) I’d sure like to know which Americans said that; based on his increasingly dire reports to the State Department, it doesn’t sound like Stevens was one of them.
I’ll leave you with this. Funny how Susan Rice is capable of detecting a terrorist attack right away in some cases. Is she sure that Beirut bombing this morning wasn’t a reaction to the Mohammed movie?
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We condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist bombing in #Beirut & extend our condolences to the victims' loved ones. #Lebanon
What do the Democrats get from that? I don’t see Hillary as being a Moslem.
Yeah, well, if you kill someone and then wave into the cameras and say "I did it," don't you think the rest of what passes for law enforcement should take notice?
Let alone the population of the country?
What else is she supposed to do - lock herself up?
Of all Hillary's cynical plans (and that's saying something) this has to take the cake (and THAT'S saying something). She freeking admitted the murder, and the country yawns.
America, I hardly know you anymore.
Yeah, well, if you kill someone and then wave into the cameras and say "I did it," don't you think the rest of what passes for law enforcement should take notice?
Let alone the population of the country?
What else is she supposed to do - lock herself up?
Of all Hillary's cynical plans (and that's saying something) this has to take the cake (and THAT'S saying something). She freeking admitted the murder, and the country yawns.
America, I hardly know you anymore.
OK, but what do the Democrats get? They might use some Moslems to get what they want, but what do they want from Libya, Egypt and Syria? I don’t believe they are the least bit religious, including Moslem.
They do. The 9/11/2001 attack on the WTC occurred on the anniversary of the Battle of Vienna on Sept 11, 1683.
The battle marked a defeat for the Ottoman Turks, and the end of their incursion into Europe. This marked the beginning of the slow decline of the Muslim Ummah, as they no longer had an influx of loot and slaves from conquered territories.
Hillary is to blame for this; and Obama is to blame as he doesn't feel that security briefings are worth attending.
They need to be hammered hard on this and held accountable.
That so-called journal that was found by a CNN reporter, was nothing but seven hand written pages about the security conditions and his request for help. If that was found on the floor, it was probably found next to the dead ambassador.
Zee plot thickens.
Action Memo For Senator Undersecretary Kenedy -M, Future of Operations in Benghazi (Doc Dump, pdf)
And Foxnews's Brett Baer(sp?) has a special this evening on the Benghazi Attack .
Thanks for the headsup on that. DVR set. It airs at 10:00 PM EST and again at 1:00 AM EST.
Thanks Ernest. I downloaded it and now viewing for a quite first quick read.
Money and votes, currently.
Afterward.... the promise of a lifetime position of authority, and to be eaten last.
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