Obama Freak-Out on Benghazi 'Sideshow'
May 13, 2013 20:57:08 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on May 13, 2013 20:57:08 GMT -5
Obama Freak-Out on Benghazi 'Sideshow': 'There's No There There'
Kyle Becker
On May 13, 2013
President Obama insisted that the brewing Benghazi story was nothing but a “sideshow” and that “there’s no there there.” But the substance of new findings and growing public sentiment are at odds with the president.
The president stammered repeatedly as he lashed out at critics of the meager security at the diplomatic outpost, the ineffectual way the crisis was handled, and the White House’s obvious cover-up in the aftermath:
The whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process, has been a sideshow. We have been very clear about throughout that immediately after this event happened we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were.
It happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo as a consequence of this film and nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days. And the e-mails that you allude to were provided by us to congressional committees. They reviewed them several months ago, concluded that in fact there was nothing afoul in terms of the process that we had used. And suddenly, three days ago, this gets spun up as if there is something new to the story. There is no there there.
The findings from the Benghazi whistleblowers’ hearing were manifold in their import for what actually took place and what the American people were told. There was State Department intimidation of the second man in charge in Libya not to cooperate with a House investigation into what happened. When Gregory Hicks disregarded the warning, thereby putting his career on the line, he was demoted to a desk job.
No flyover authority for armed U.S. aircraft in Libyan airspace was ever requested, proving how disinterested the White House’s response to the nearly 13 hour crisis was. Gregory Hicks also backed up the crucial point that a stand down order was issued from somewhere in the Chain-of-Command, possibly AFRICOM or SOCAFRICA, to “furious” U.S. soldiers available in Tripoli, Libya — just hours away.
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa responded to the attempt by the president to keep the Benghazi developments buried:
“Only the president could tell us with a straight face that there’s never been any confusion and that from the beginning they’ve said the right thing. … As you go through the facts as they were, yes, in real-time, we knew this was an al Qaeda backed terrorist attack and everything else in between is simply revisionist history.”
An increasing number of the literate public disapprove of the president’s handling versus those who approve. According to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll:
The poll found that 42 percent of Americans said they disapprove of the way it has been handled, while 27 percent said they approve. In another HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted last October, respondents disapproved by a similar margin, 41 percent to 32 percent. [...]
By a 42 percent to 33 percent margin, more said the Obama administration “deliberately misled” the public on the issue than those who said the administration “shared facts as they became available.” Another 25 percent said they weren’t sure.
Beyond what informed people know, there are certain to be more learning about the story in the coming weeks:
The new poll was conducted before new information came to light Friday about the State Department pushing for revisions to the initial talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice after the attack occurred in September. [...]
The new poll also suggests that many Americans are paying relatively close attention to news about the attack and its aftermath. Fifty percent of respondents said that they’ve heard a lot about it, 33 percent have heard a little, and 12 percent have heard nothing at all.
The president shows up at a press conference to talk about the Benghazi terrorist attacks and the main thing he has to say is that ‘there is no there there.’ But that isn’t giving the American people answers about what happened that deadly night of September 11th, it’s telling them that there are no good answers.
Video at the link:
www.ijreview.com/2013/05/52062-obama-on-the-benghazi-attack-sideshow-theres-no-there-there/
Kyle Becker
On May 13, 2013
President Obama insisted that the brewing Benghazi story was nothing but a “sideshow” and that “there’s no there there.” But the substance of new findings and growing public sentiment are at odds with the president.
The president stammered repeatedly as he lashed out at critics of the meager security at the diplomatic outpost, the ineffectual way the crisis was handled, and the White House’s obvious cover-up in the aftermath:
The whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process, has been a sideshow. We have been very clear about throughout that immediately after this event happened we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were.
It happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo as a consequence of this film and nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days. And the e-mails that you allude to were provided by us to congressional committees. They reviewed them several months ago, concluded that in fact there was nothing afoul in terms of the process that we had used. And suddenly, three days ago, this gets spun up as if there is something new to the story. There is no there there.
The findings from the Benghazi whistleblowers’ hearing were manifold in their import for what actually took place and what the American people were told. There was State Department intimidation of the second man in charge in Libya not to cooperate with a House investigation into what happened. When Gregory Hicks disregarded the warning, thereby putting his career on the line, he was demoted to a desk job.
No flyover authority for armed U.S. aircraft in Libyan airspace was ever requested, proving how disinterested the White House’s response to the nearly 13 hour crisis was. Gregory Hicks also backed up the crucial point that a stand down order was issued from somewhere in the Chain-of-Command, possibly AFRICOM or SOCAFRICA, to “furious” U.S. soldiers available in Tripoli, Libya — just hours away.
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa responded to the attempt by the president to keep the Benghazi developments buried:
“Only the president could tell us with a straight face that there’s never been any confusion and that from the beginning they’ve said the right thing. … As you go through the facts as they were, yes, in real-time, we knew this was an al Qaeda backed terrorist attack and everything else in between is simply revisionist history.”
An increasing number of the literate public disapprove of the president’s handling versus those who approve. According to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll:
The poll found that 42 percent of Americans said they disapprove of the way it has been handled, while 27 percent said they approve. In another HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted last October, respondents disapproved by a similar margin, 41 percent to 32 percent. [...]
By a 42 percent to 33 percent margin, more said the Obama administration “deliberately misled” the public on the issue than those who said the administration “shared facts as they became available.” Another 25 percent said they weren’t sure.
Beyond what informed people know, there are certain to be more learning about the story in the coming weeks:
The new poll was conducted before new information came to light Friday about the State Department pushing for revisions to the initial talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice after the attack occurred in September. [...]
The new poll also suggests that many Americans are paying relatively close attention to news about the attack and its aftermath. Fifty percent of respondents said that they’ve heard a lot about it, 33 percent have heard a little, and 12 percent have heard nothing at all.
The president shows up at a press conference to talk about the Benghazi terrorist attacks and the main thing he has to say is that ‘there is no there there.’ But that isn’t giving the American people answers about what happened that deadly night of September 11th, it’s telling them that there are no good answers.
Video at the link:
www.ijreview.com/2013/05/52062-obama-on-the-benghazi-attack-sideshow-theres-no-there-there/
