Editorial: Few answers amid the fog of Benghazi

Dallas Morning News ^ | October 30, 2012 | Editorial

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Stephanie Cutter wandered into deep left field when she said “the entire reason” the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya, was a topic was that the Mitt Romney campaign wanted it that way.

There is, of course, the matter of four Americans killed on Sept. 11, including the U.S. ambassador to a dangerous, war-torn North African country......

....Even so, Americans who care about this story have had to chase their own conclusions through a confused series of information dribs and drabs. Obama officials were slow to coalesce around the obviousness of a terrorist attack, focusing blame too long on an anti-Islam video. The earliest questions centered on Stevens’ security and whether his team in Libya was denied the protection he requested.

Only recently have we learned, through news reports, that a U.S. military drone fed real-time video to top officials during the attack; that Stevens’ whereabouts were a mystery for seven hours; that Woods’ urgent requests for military backup were denied; and that CIA operators were told to “stand down” instead of attempting to find Stevens a mile away at the consulate.

Woods, it turns out, went anyway and died trying.

Instead of clarity and directness — transparency, in other words—the administration has fallen into a reactive pattern of vague comments, no-comments and partial denials.

....Still, the questions remain. Who denied Woods’ request for help? Could military assistance have arrived quickly enough from Tripoli or Italy to save American lives? Who ordered a drone into the Benghazi airspace before the attack even began and for what purpose?

And as Americans are scarcely closer to understanding what happened Sept. 11 in Benghazi—and, importantly, why — parents, family and friends grieve. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, increasingly on the hot seat, decries the “Monday-morning quarterbacking,” and we would agree to a point: It shouldn’t have to be this way.

[Marine_Uncle]

Nice assembly of facts revolving around the Islamic Terrorist Attack in Benghazi on 9/11. Hussein and Hillary lied, our brave patriots’ died.

[Marine_Uncle]

"The fog, essentially is smoke from the administration."
Yes. They have had the fog machine turned on for some three and a half years now. The machine may soon break due to over use.