Steve Hayes wrote an excellent article in the Weekly Standard about the editing of reports describing the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. The was obviously done to make the narrative “politically acceptable” to the administration during a Presidential election campaign. Click on the link if you want to be informed about the story. I expect there will be more information revealed as additional journalists decide they have to put aside their desire to protect President Obama and actually perform as journalists. If you chose to read this postings you will find that I consider the most important question that has not been asked is what did the Commander-In-Chief know and what did he do.
The first report from the State Department Operations Center declared the Benghazi compound was under attack. A follow-up report issued about two hours later said that an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group had claimed credit for the attack. By the time U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went on five Sunday news shows several days later the narrative had been edited a dozen times. References about “Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda” and words such as “attack” had been removed. The talking points prepared for Ambassador Rice focused on the false claim that it was a demonstration caused by a YouTube video that insulted Muslims. President Obama continued that false narrative in his speech to the U.N about two weeks after the attack.
Hillary Clinton was asked about the attack and the talking points in a Congressional hearing. One question was whether it was a terrorist attack or an out of control demonstration. I’ve seen a clip of the response several times and believe I can quote it accurately. “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
The military performs evaluations after training exercises and battles, but there must be a lower standard for the State Department. The military “After Action Report” judges what went well and what didn’t. The purpose is to identify needed improvements to prepare for future events. A commander would be unceremoniously fired if the response was a feeble emotional response such as “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
The first questions asked by a military assessment would probably be about threats and whether there had been adequate preparations. There had been “…at least five other attacks against foreign interests (in Libya) in the previous six months.” Ambassador Stevens had asked for increased security assets but some security personnel were actually removed. The CIA had warned the day before the attack that there was “…the threat of extremists linked to al Qaeda in Benghazi and Libya. It wouldn’t take long to reach the conclusion that preparations in response to these threats were pathetically inadequate as proven by the outcome.
Several
officials have said there weren’t any military assets close enough to provide support even though the attack lasted seven hours. I can picture the general running a military inquiry asking, “When you heard there were threats why didn’t you move some units into position and have them on ready alert? If there were no planes close enough, why didn’t you move something closer? In fact, did you do anything to prepare for the expected threats?”
When President Obama was asked about Benghazi he said it is a “political sideshow.” I agree that politics is at the heart of this issue. President Obama made it clear in his U.N. speech that he did not want the world, or probably more importantly, voters to think a terrorist group had killed four Americans. The Huffiington Post reports that State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland expressed concerns that the talking points as originally written “…could be abused by members of Congress to beat the State Department for not paying attention to agency warnings so why would we want to seed the Hill.” Just a guess, but I judge that indicates the edits were done because of politics and to avoid a “political sideshow.”
What did President Obama do when he heard of the attack? Did he have a restful night?