Emails show White House knew of terrorists’ Benghazi claim within two hours. So why blame a video for two weeks?
The Obama administration/campaign’s story about what happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11 keeps having run-ins with the facts. The latest comes from Reuters:
Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.
The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.
The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a “terrorist” attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.
Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.
The story goes on to say officials referred to evidence that the violence “erupted spontaneously” — an apparent reference to the alleged protests about an alleged anti-Muslim video. But as we now know, there was no protest leading up to the attacks on the consulate, so it’s hard to understand what sort of evidence they could have been describing. A claim of responsibility by an al-Qaida affiliate, on the other hand, would seem to have been sufficient evidence not to frame the issue even once as a matter of First Amendment freedoms gone wrong.
Unless, of course, one happened to be running for re-election and basing one’s pitch to voters in large part on the idea that al-Qaida is on its way to defeat.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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382 comments Add your comment
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
4:54 pm
Lambeau @4:36 pm
I understand that you are incapable of comprehending two independent arguments, and instead you come up with two new lies.
“First it was “give me proof the obama administration blamed the video after day one!””
Lie number one. I never wrote that. I was asking for a proof that Obama lied, which you accused him of, and was never able to prove.
“hes trying to say “Oh but it WAS because of the video!”…”
Lie number two. I never wrote that it was because of the video.
Do you have more lies in your sleeve?
Obama Does Not Love America
October 24th, 2012
4:55 pm
It started with Clinton and when Bush noticed, Big Bad Barney shot it down. You don’t have to make stuff up with Liberals, just watch ‘em.
Doug B
October 24th, 2012
5:02 pm
Does this narrative resonate with anyone? Give it up, Kyle. Until you have some logical reason to explain a lie, this is fruitless. I don’t buy the argument that he needed to polish his foreign policy credentials before the election. He already gets to take credit for taking down Osama bin Laden and he has a Nobel Peace Prize in his pocket. His credentials look great. Lying about something that would inevitably be discovered would just be stupid.
cc
October 24th, 2012
5:13 pm
Left is Right and Right is Rong:
My suggestion to you is that you research Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from Jimmy Carter to the housing bust. You might want to enlighten yourself as to the impact that Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank had on the collapse of the housing market. If you are indeed astute, you might manage to learn of the efforts made by President George W. Bush to get Congress to address this impending problem and subsequent collapse.
You will, of course, do none of this because you would then have to admit where the true fault lies.
independent thinker
October 24th, 2012
5:26 pm
Hey fools the request for more security was at the Libyan Embassy- not some so called consulate off in Benghazi. Any of you brilliant scholars know why our ambassador was not at the embassy but rather in a lightly protected house surrounded by hostile militias?????????????????That is the question that needs to be answered. Americans have been getting kidnapped and murdered in Eastern Libya since 1803 under Jefferson.I guess he was as incompetent and unqualified as Obama.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
6:03 pm
Hey not so independent thinker, security is SUPPOSED to protect people first, property second. The security request was to protect the ambassador.
Nice try at deflection.
Obama Does Not Love America
October 24th, 2012
6:06 pm
You think maybe Obama had him on a covert mission to supply arms or aid to the Muslim Brotherhood? I would like to know the answer to your question. An American getting killed in the ME doesn’t surprise anyone but what about the aftermath? Can you really defend Obama if you are truly an “Independent Thinker’?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
6:07 pm
Lambeau, you have to realize that someone who is as wrong as MarkV is need to be able to veer off into another direction on a moments notice when caught.
It’s all he’s got.
Cherry pick, parse, get caught, deflect.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
6:16 pm
Im not surprised that the libs on here are so intent on defending this fiasco
One, desperation is setting in as polls don’t go there way.
Two, these are the same people who agree with or remained silent when Obama’s witch Cutter accused Romney of killing a guys wife and was a felon.
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
6:19 pm
People like Lambeau are not even clever liars, they are pathetic liars. Do they really think their lies will not be challenged? And there is no wonder that they are supported by Tiberius and his ilk. Birds of a feather.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
6:23 pm
More deflection from MarkV.
Too bad wordsmithing isn’t an accepted form of debate.
Alas, we use reason over here.
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
6:34 pm
I suppose I should thank Tiberius for his compliments, but he might then stop calling me a wordsmith, so I rather let him do it.
World English Dictionary: Wordsmith: a person skilled in using words
Merriam-Webster: Definition of WORDSMITH: a person who works with words; especially: a skillful writer
cc
October 24th, 2012
6:41 pm
“I suppose I should thank Tiberius for his compliments, but he might then stop calling me a wordsmith”
Being called a “wordsmith” is no compliment when the art is used as a replacement for rational thought and argument.
I guess if it’s all you’ve got . . .
md
October 24th, 2012
6:48 pm
“Romney cannot unilaterally eliminate a bill passed by Congress and his plan to grant states waivers may also be a non-starter.”
yet Obama has done it several times…..first in granting amnesty to some illegals and second in not defending/enforcing DOMA.
Seems if that’s the precedent, all Romney has to do is issue an executive order to not enforce Obamacare…………
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
cc @6:41 pm : “Being called a “wordsmith” is no compliment when the art is used as a replacement for rational thought and argument.”
As if you knew what a rational thought and argument were…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
Perhaps I should have clarified, MarkV.
You’re a nit-picking, anal-retentive wordsmith serving no useful purpose in intelligent dialogue.
md
October 24th, 2012
6:53 pm
” IMO nothing was clear right after it happened and it was not a time for rash statements.”
You are correct about the first part…..nothing was clear. So, if that was the case, why keep peddling this bs about a movie and protesters?
Wouldn’t it be more logical to say “nothing is clear at the moment”??
md
October 24th, 2012
6:54 pm
“Lying about something that would inevitably be discovered would just be stupid.”
Bingo…..and yes it is, hence all the discussion about the stupidity in the way the situation was handled.
md
October 24th, 2012
6:56 pm
“Hey fools the request for more security was at the Libyan Embassy- not some so called consulate off in Benghazi.”
Yes, which is where Stevens was when he made the request PRIOR to going to Benghazi……..
cc
October 24th, 2012
7:04 pm
MarkV:
“As if you knew what a rational thought and argument were…”
You won’t get any argument from me because I learned a very valuable lesson long ago. Never argue with an idiot: they will only drag you down to their level and ultimately beat you with their experience in idiocy.
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
7:51 pm
cc @ 7:04 pmI
I will remember that and will not argue with you.
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
7:52 pm
Tiberius @6:49 pm
An intelligent dialogue is such a terra incognita for you, you would not know what to do there.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 24th, 2012
8:04 pm
And yet, you have always failed to respond to mine, yet never make one of your own, MarkV.
Go figure.
Gary J
October 24th, 2012
10:09 pm
The fog of war, and this administration provided the fog.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
October 24th, 2012
10:24 pm
Scumbag Obozo wasn’t thinking of the country or our public servants overseas. He was thinking about the effect on his reelection, and his fundraising schedule.
MarkV
October 24th, 2012
11:13 pm
What a pathetic bunch of losers we see here.
They cannot win any arguments, so all that is left to them is bluster. They will tell me that my arguments are just semantics, wordsmithing ,that they won, that I lost – they will say anything, except to present arguments and provide evidence for their lies. Poor, pitiful, pathetic losers.
Lee Kerr
October 25th, 2012
1:20 am
The aftermath of the attack on our U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya on 9/11/12 leads Americans to only one of two possible conclusions about the Obama Administration. Either the Administration was incapable for nearly 2 weeks to determine we were again victims of a terrorist attack on 9/11, rendering Obama unworthy in our faith or trust with our national security for another 4 years, or the Obama Administration deliberately attempted to mislead the American people about the true facts concerning the terrorist attack since it did not fit their faulty political narrative about their progress in dealing with terrorism, which would also render Obama unworthy of Americans faith or trust for another 4 years. How can we trust an administration to protect us when they can’t even determine when we are attacked, or would lie to us about it?
Harry Masters
October 25th, 2012
2:04 am
If there were simply one or two inconsistencies I would give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but even in a court room , the volume of circumstantial evidence can pile up to the point where a conviction is handed out by a jury.
At this point the odds of a cover up are much higher than a series of incredible blunders that stretch our common sense.
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
jim
October 25th, 2012
8:51 am
People will still vote for obama even if they cover up the facts on how the americans were killed . What has this country come to ? All for political gain.So obama can say he has squashed Al Qaeda
MarkV
October 25th, 2012
9:22 am
jim @ 8:51 am
People will vote for Obama, and he has not covered up facts on how the Americans were killed. He also did not say that he has squashed Al Qaeda. What has this country come to? I would ask, what has some people come to in their hate, when they keep lying like you do.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
October 25th, 2012
10:54 am
The emails and other facts that have come to light show that in fact Obozo knew there was no protest outside the Benghazi consulate, that the attack was carried out by an affiliate of al Qaeda, and that it had nothing to do with the YouTube video.
Obozo lied.
Iconoclast
October 25th, 2012
9:01 pm
Congratulations, Kyle, on finishing the whole gallon of GOP Kool Aid