Well, this was an interesting tidbit released last week http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/08/04/House-Intel-Committee-Reveals-Benghazi-Findings Surprise, surprise, no smoking gun uncovered. As the post title says, this will change nothing. By the time the country finally pries away responsibility from Issa's cold dead hands, we will likely have seen well over 20 million dollars of tax payer money wasted on the IRS and Benghazi hearings. Quietly, the Republicans will slither away from this like a scumbag who has just slept with his best friend's wife, with a feeling of anger that they were "forced" to do an unpleasant thing and should therefore be given some sympathy for how they now feel.
We deserve the government we get.
there is no smoking gun nor has there ever been. Yes max another 20 million wasted on a republican witch hunt. All it ever has been
ReplyDeleteThis story has been treated as something of a political football on this and other American threads. The rest of the world covered the story for about forty eight hours and forgot about it.
ReplyDeleteCan I ask my friends to give me a one paragraph summation as to how you interpret the story? It would provide an educational experience for me and allow you to resolve in your own minds the difference between the major parties. I can see from posts regularly appearing on this thread that there is a whole lot of stomping on the stump but often there is a degree of bluster without substance. Rick, Max and William would provide a good mix of views so how about it you blokes, give it a go.
Cheers from Aussie
To me Kingston, this is a story that represents part risk and part hubris. The ambassador was there to "win hearts and minds" of the local people. The embassy he was in, however, was by all estimates a "soft target". The hubris was that we could place a not well guarded embassy in such a hostile zone and that by so doing, we could help foster democracy. Judging from some of the pictures seen in the immediate days after, Chris Stevens had won a few hearts and minds. Nonetheless, he was likely under enormous risk from day one. I think this embassy was essentially a target of opportunity for the terrorists who attacked it and whether the cause was that stupid internet film or not, I think it was largely a spontaneous operation. In my opinion, he likely shouldn't have been there at all.
DeleteTwo democrats were quoted on their views of the findings. Surprise, surprise their limited reactions.
DeleteTrey Gowdy will get to the bottom of everything. There is no rush. The facts will come out eventually, history is long. Hillary will remain available to discuss what difference does it make that four Americans were killed.
We'll learn who formed the talking points that Susan Parroted over and over about some inane video. Maybe Hillary will even get back to the loved ones she promised to get back to with full details. Maybe.
None the less, the sordid affair will remain with Hillary until her grave.
And Max, I almost always piss my pants every time some progressive carps about wasting money on an investigation. Nancy Pelosi wipes her decrepit fanny with 20 million dollar bills. To f----in funny.
DeleteUmm, the fact that two Democrats were quoted on the findings of the Republican lead committee doesn't change the reality of the findings. You think a Republican on that committee wants to come out and say that Emperor Issa has no clothes?
DeleteTrey Gowdy, in my opinion, will sadly realize he has been made to look like an idiot in order to give Issa a way to slip away quietly. For most intelligent people, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. For the far right in this country, it's simply what you do to pass the time until you find a new scandal to raise campaign money on.
We'll see won't we Max. New witnesses are coming forward. Hillary her highness herself will make an appearance. Many people were never interviewed.
DeleteWe'll see.
William, the Hillary quote was in response to a question concerning the cause of the attacks.
DeleteAs Max says the ambassador was in there to win hearts and minds. Although the consulate in Benghazi had asked for additional security the main embassy in Tripoli run by of course Ambassador Stevens did not advocate for any more security in the country. It was Chris Stevens choice as ranking ambassador in the country to make that happen. Now King America has many embassies around the world that are secured by Marines, keeping in mind that Benghazi was not an embassy but a consulate. That is a major difference. The Marines are not on site in an embassy solely for the protection of the embassy staff. When an embassy is attacked the first duty is to move all staff to the designated safe room. In Benghazi this happened as Stevens and one of his top aids were lead to the fortified room in the consulate. The next duty of the Marines is to destroy any and all classified paperwork in the embassy, destroying as much as possible before the embassy falls. Since Benghazi was a consulate it didn't have classified paperwork on site nor the ability to produce classified paperwork. Hence no Marine guard. When the trouble started the CIA station a mile away was notified and it took them most of an hour to mobilized and arrive on the scene. The rapid deployment force in Tripoli was mobilized but it arrived for the fight at the CIA station not the embassy. No other assets could have arrived in time. Chris Stevens didn't want a heavy American footprint in Libya as he tried to help the people build a new democratic government. Also this rumor that his body was dragged through the streets is wrong. His body was found by a group of Libyans lead by Stevens good friend in Libya Brubaker Habib. Brubaker took Stevens to a local hospital but he had been dead to long to be helped. The cause of death was asphyxiation and smoke inhalation. Safe rooms evidently don't protect you from that. King this whole affair is a witch hunt trying to pin it on Hillary because if she runs for President they cannot beat her and they know that then and they know that today.
ReplyDeleteTwo simple questions rick. Where was Mr Obama and what was the time line of his activities during the ongoing firefight?
DeleteAnd oh yeah one more. How much campaign money did he raise the next day after he flew to Vegas?
DeleteKingston, Sadly we are at a point where every tragedy is milked for political advantage. Honesty and integrity are values of the past, and the primary driving force is money and power. Both sides are guilty.
DeleteWilliam does it really matter where he was? The assets that could be of assistance were dispatched, the CIA unit in Benghazi and the rapid deployment force in Tripoli. Unfortunately because of the insignificance of the consulate in Benghazi there were no real time pictures for him to watch and see what was going on. I guess he could have flown there but as the African Command of our armed forces who by the way are stationed at Stuttgart Germany, I figure he would have arrived to late. Our African military infrastructure consists of........... Do you know William? Camp Lemonnier at the Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport. The Camp is manned by various National Guard units who rotate in and out. Sometimes they have a couple of planes sitting around that belong to the U S Sixth fleet. I don't know if they had any planes there the night of Benghazi, but I am going to assume no or they would have been scrambled to respond. Chris Stevens was on his own and he knew it. When the trouble erupted Chris Stevens was dead before we even knew about the problem. Chris Stevens through the Tripoli Embassy that he commanded was asked by the assets in Benghazi for more security and he did not advocate up the ladder to make that happen. WHAT DOES IT MATTER if Obama was asleep, practicing for a debate, playing golf. All that could have been mobilized with time to get there was mobilized, The nearest units took almost an hour to get to the scene. I guess maybe you could have pulled some assets out of your ass to send. Obama doesn't have that ability.
DeleteWilliam what does campaign contributions have to do with anything about Benghazi. You are grasping my friend.
DeleteWe know that Obama did not visit the situation room that evening. We know that Obama and Biden were on the phone with Bi Bi while the fire fight raged and were unavailable. We know the Hilary called Obama at 10 pm.
DeleteWe know little else of the actions of Obama, Hilary, and Biden.
Gowdy will find out.
Why have the Benghazi survivors been silenced?
DeleteWe don't know any of the above. You have been told that by your rogue websites and Fox News. William what the hell would you want him to do? Grab a gun and scramble with Chuck Norris and the Delta force?. The fight at the embassy was pretty much over when we even found out about it. The fight at the CIA station lasted a few hours. Every available asset was already sent. Even the latest results of the witch hunt verify that. William what would you have done in the situation? You get the news that an American ambassador was missing and possibly dead. ( Yes the first troops from the CIA station attempted to locate Stevens in the consulate but could not because of the fighting and the fire which eventually drove them back to the CIA station.) Also William you do realize that the CIA station was highly covert right? Very few in our government even knew it existed. So what would you do?
DeleteSo,,, we're there to win the hearts and minds of the locals (I can barely breath),, and we're running a covert CIA operation nearby (how interesting),,,and the locals watched some Utube video that made them pissed (still my beating heart),,,and the president can't be bothered to visit the situation room (but he can prep for a Vegas fundraiser the next day),,,and Joe and Barack spend a couple hours speaking to Bi Bi while the battle rages,,,and the secretary of state and president lie to victims parents telling them they will get to the bottom of things,,,and onsite survivors are sworn to secrecy,,,and the FBI can't investigate the site for week,,,,
DeleteYeah, there is nothing there,,,yeah,,,what difference does it make?
I am glad you brought up the whole video thing William as I was steering clear of that controversial issue. But here's the truth about that. Our embassies were under siege across Northern Africa and the Middle East that weekend from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, and even into Indonesia. Know why? A video on line that depicted Muhammad in a negative light. Now the perpetrators of the Benghazi attack were pure and simple opportunists. Maybe it happened at Benghazi instead of Tripoli because that's where the ambassador was. Who knows. And William how did the video get online and gain widespread play? Who supported that? Who promoted that film William?. Ever heard of a Florida evangelical pastor goes by the name of Terry Jones? Yes William the same one who proposed burning Korans in 2010, until secretary of Defense Robert Gates convinced him it would put American soldiers at great risk around the world? Jones did go through with his burning in March of 2011 when a single Koran was burnt under his supervision at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville. He burnt more Korans in 2012 and was arrested with a truck load of kerosene soaked Korans in 2013 while on his way to a Mulberry Florida park for another Koran burning. This kind of intolerance helps nothing William and in today's connected world only leads to more danger and trouble for our soldiers and diplomats overseas. How would you like it if an Imam decided to burn a truckload of the Christian bible? Yes William "the video" promoted by this intolerant man contributed to did lead to a lot of unrest in the area on Sept 11, 2012. Maybe not particularly this attack but opportunists seized this moment to force their attack.
DeleteThe actions of Terry Jones although commended by people of your stripe, flies directly into your platform of the constitution and freedom of religion. Yes Terry Jones has the right to speak his mind but no he does not have the right to condemn fellow Americans for their religious practices.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/11/221528510/pastor-terry-jones-arrested-before-planned-quran-burning
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/koran-burning-florida-pastor-terry-jones-arrested-article-1.1453195
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-12/news/os-terry-jones-movie-embassy-bombing-20120912_1_florida-pastor-islam-protests
So now it's some nut case pastors fault that four American's were killed on the anniversary of 9/11 in Benghazi.
DeleteKeep in mind that we have captured exactly 1 "alleged" terrorist connected to the assault to date.
You are a deranged blame America first sicko rick. Making excuses for Obama's and Hillary's inaction. You are as bad as they are.
William the fact is that action by people like Jones does nothing to help the situation. Especially in todays connected world when it takes the push of 1 key to broadcast his nonsense across the world. Foreigners especially in the middle east don't truly understand our democracy which gives this nut case the right to express this opinion through his actions. They see the lack of government action against him which cannot happen in our society as agreement with what this whack job and others do. Why is that so hard for you to understand.
DeleteInitially, it was reported by the media the Benghazi attack was a spontaneous protest triggered by an anti-Muslim video, Innocence of Muslims. Subsequent investigations determined that there was no such protest and that the attacks were premeditated, though captured suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala stated that the assault was in retaliation for the video.[16][17]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/world/africa/suspect-in-benghazi-attack-scoffs-at-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/middleeast/apprehension-of-ahmed-abu-khattala-may-begin-to-answer-questions-on-assault.html?hp&_r=2
The leader of the attackers says what William in two separate interviews. Retaliation for the video.
Again what inaction? All available assets were sent to the scene. Even your parties witch hunt has determined that.
Morning everyone,
ReplyDeleteFirstly my thanks for the numerous posts in response to my request. I wish I could say I am better informed although I am certainly surer in my own mind that Australians and Americans are so much alike that friendship and cooperation is inevitable.
We too milk tragedy for political advantage, we watch and listen as our politicians twist the truth or even worse, ignore truth if it gets in the way of falsehoods. There are examples of the media encouraging and even assisting the dissemination of lies because editorial support leans in one direction.
I think Mick has made the most salutatory observation. Milking tragedy for political advantage. This appears to be particularly evident in respect of the comments directed at Hillary Clinton. From the little I have seen in international media, there appears to be a lot of dirt thrown by unclean hands. It would appear that this tragic episode is likely to be a millstone for HRC to carry into the next presidential election if she decides to run.
The above is meant as an unbiased comment, I am after all a Republican, at least in Australian terms! To show that not all the dirt is on your side of the Pacific, a story running in media here is about an Australian couple engaging a surrogate mother in Thailand to carry their child. The surrogate delivered twins and one was a Downs syndrome baby. The Australian parents rejected the abnormal child and took the healthy one back to Australia. It has now emerged that the natural father has served jail time for sex offences against young children. I feel sick to my gut but it is a timely lesson that we are not the perfect race we thought we were.
Again my thanks for your responses; I now have to delve into the story so that I may become better informed.
Cheers from Aussie