Posted on 05/05/2013 8:20:21 PM PDT by smoothsailing
May 5, 2013
Accountability is not a word that the Clinton clan believes in; as the Weekly Standard documents how the CIA talking points were reduced to mush and blame was redirected away from Hillary Clinton and toward a guy who uploaded a YouTube trailer.
After a briefing on Capitol Hill by CIA director David Petraeus, Democrat Dutch Ruppersburger, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, asked the intelligence community for unclassified guidance on what members of Congress could say in their public comments on the attacks. The CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis prepared the first draft of a response to the congressman…
This initial CIA draft included the assertion that the U.S. government “know[s] that Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda participated in the attack.” That draft also noted that press reports “linked the attack to Ansar al Sharia. The group has since released a statement that its leadership did not order the attacks, but did not deny that some of its members were involved.” Ansar al Sharia, the CIA draft continued, aims to spread sharia law in Libya and “emphasizes the need for jihad.” The agency draft also raised the prospect that the facilities had been the subject of jihadist surveillance and offered a reminder that in the previous six months there had been “at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy.”
The talking points were full of facts. Troubling facts.
The obvious question here was who was to blame for not foreseeing attacks this inevitable. Not to mention the whole Jihad and Sharia thing was bound to upset Muslims.
So the snipping began…
Less than an hour later, at 7:39 p.m., an individual identified in the House report only as a “senior State Department official” responded to raise “serious concerns” about the draft. That official, whom The Weekly Standard has confirmed was State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland, worried that members of Congress would use the talking points to criticize the State Department for “not paying attention to Agency warnings.”
Shouldn’t the State Department be critiqued for not paying attention to those warnings? Maybe, but the CIA was headed up by a guy purged for an affair while State was headed up by the future Democratic presidential nominee who would be instrumental to Obama 2012.
So the cover up had to begin.
In an attempt to address those concerns, CIA officials cut all references to Ansar al Sharia and made minor tweaks. But in a follow-up email at 9:24 p.m., Nuland wrote that the problem remained and that her superiors—she did not say which ones—were unhappy. The changes, she wrote, did not “resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership.”
Moments later, according to the House report, “White House officials responded by stating that the State Department’s concerns would have to be taken into account.” One official—Ben Rhodes, The Weekly Standard is told, a top adviser to President Obama on national security and foreign policy—further advised the group that the issues would be resolved in a meeting of top administration officials the following morning at the White House.
And the cover up moved all the way up to the White House, which also worried about the buck stopping too close to the Oval Office.
If the story of what happened in Benghazi was dramatically stripped down from the first draft of the CIA’s talking points to the version that emerged after the Deputies Committee meeting, the narrative would soon be built up again. In ensuing days, administration officials emphasized a “demonstration” in front of the U.S. facility in Benghazi and claimed that the demonstrators were provoked by a YouTube video. The CIA had softened “attack” to “demonstration.” But as soon became clear, there had been no demonstration in Benghazi.
More troubling was the YouTube video. Rice would spend much time on the Sunday talk shows pointing to this video as the trigger of the chaos in Benghazi. “What sparked the violence was a very hateful video on the Internet. It was a reaction to a video that had nothing to do with the United States.” There is no mention of any “video” in any of the many drafts of the talking points.
Still, top Obama officials would point to the video to explain Benghazi. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even denounced the video in a sort of diplomatic public service announcement in Pakistan. In a speech at the United Nations on September 25, the president mentioned the video several times in connection with Benghazi.
A man was locked up to provide a cover story for Hillary Clinton. An Islamic terrorist attack was used to go after “Islamophobes”.
Four Americans died. A political prisoner was added to the rolls. The truth about a terrorist attack was covered up. All in support of Obama’s 2012 campaign and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
What bothers me is that Petraeus participated in the cover-up, after he was outed as an adulterer.
Let’s be very careful here. I’ve never believed the coverup was designed to protect Obama’s “we’ve got them on the run” political meme, and overtly providing arms to Syrian rebels wouldn’t have bothered anyone. No, they’re protecting something bigger than that, and something that Patraeus would be on board for.
What mission was Benghazi part of that would unite the three of them, Obama, Hillary, and Gen Petraeus? I don’t think funneling weapons to Syria would have accomplished this. Whatever it was, Petraeus was brought on board specifically for this mission, IMHO. The heavy CIA presence in Benghazi says a lot.
Who else could have used some American weaponry, that may wish to overthrow their government? Why was Turkey involved?
Hillary, it might have been right at the end... but you knew your place under the Obama bus was coming.
They all need to go down for this COVER UP. We’re talking perjury and lies at all levels of two agencies and the White House. Don’t forget o’s little BS speech in front of the UN.
I actually think panetta was left out of the clinton, petraeus, brennan, obama loop and there was nothing he could do even if he wanted to.
Anyone who thinks this beotch will take one for the Bamster doesn’t know what the other end of a canoe paddle is for.
I watched Watergate go down from my position at the STRATCOM center in Tehran. Remember when then CIA director Helms was moved from CIA to be Ambassador to Iran? I certainly do. Cards are falling right now, and this is two days before the hearings start.
Nothing really important happened until Jim Baker asked that infamous question in the Senate Watergate Hearings. Seeing now a few Democrat house members asking questions or moving back away from the table is the dike hole just starting to trickle a few drops. After this weeks hearings, I would suspect someone like Ron Wyden to be the Jim Baker of any subsequent Senate hearings following the events this week.
Hillary has taken responsibility for the security, but no one has taken responsibility for the cover up - the false videotape story and the scrubbing of the talking points to eliminate references to al Qaeda.
” I haven’t seen obama, brennan, or petraeus mentioned ONCE. This is not right.”
Don’t forget Panetta at Defense.
The off with their head question is who ordered the stand down of our military. Or who refused to send help and why.
It was Romney who let them get away with this.
The coverup points to Ben Rhodes at the direction of Obama. Nuland played a similar role at State for Clinton. It's clear that Rhodes and Nuland were coordinating their efforts. At least as clear as these sort of things can be.
Interesting observation. Something to chew on.
Well, I guess that book “The Ruling Class,” is right on the mark. MCain makes noises like the old fighter jock he used to be, but my guess is that he never buys his own groceries.
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