Republicans in the House of Representatives have announced their intention to form a select committee to investigate the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on Sep. 11th, 2012. This committee is being formed as a result of newly released emails showing administration officials knew the attacks were not due to an anti-Islam Youtube video, as was originally claimed, but were a pre-planned terrorist attack.
These emails clearly show that the administration willingly and knowingly crafted bogus “talking points” to avoid hurting President Obama’s chances in the 2012 election. The race with Mitt Romney was too close to call at the time of the attacks. A few days before the attacks occurred, Vice President Biden famously said, “GM is alive and bin Laden is dead.” A terrorist attack immediately following these remarks would have cast doubt on the temerity of this statement.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is among the candidates being considered to head the committee, and Speaker of the House John Boehner has already indicated that he is willing to subpoena Sec. of State John Kerry.
Most mainstream media outlets have avoided discussion of Benghazi, taking the President at his word that these were “phony scandals.” The real scandal here is government bureaucrats going out and lying to the American people about something to protect the re-election chances of their boss. The press in America has been just as culpable as the people telling the lies in the first place, by ignoring or dismissing questions about Benghazi. At best, it is a systematic failure; at worst – a clear-cut example of a compliant media running interference for the President.
Susan Rice made the rounds on all the Sunday talk shows, repeating these “talking points” and blaming a Youtube video for offending Muslims, the whole time knowing this wasn’t true. One of the worst parts about this story is that the man behind the video supposedly responsible was thrown in jail on trumped-up charges as a result of this controversy.
At this point, there is absolutely no doubt that Benghazi was a terrorist attack, and not a “spontaneous protest,” as the administration has claimed. A recent poll by Fox News shows that 61% of Americans believe the administration has engaged in a cover-up. The new emails were only released as a result of a lawsuit, and came despite efforts by the administration to stonewall any investigation.
These emails represent the smoking gun. This is direct evidence that, at the very least, the State Department knowingly lied to the American people. If there’s one behavior that the American public will not tolerate, it is being lied to by their government. Partisan politics don’t enter a normal person’s thought process when they find out they’ve been lied to; they cast aside party loyalty and condemn any public servant who lies to them – and rightfully so.
Perhaps the President didn’t have any knowledge of what happened after Benghazi – he was at an important fundraiser in Las Vegas when the attacks happened, after all.
He should be given the benefit of the doubt. However, he promised the “most transparent administration in history.” Does a transparent administration lie to the public, and continue to do so for two years after the fact?
chas holman • May 8, 2014 at 11:04 pm
When the first 8 investigations they did wasted time and money for nothing, they do a 9th.
I reckon it is almost 1/5th better than doing 50 rounds of trying to appeal the ACA without a single productive thing from it.
I wonder how many millions of dollars and thousands of hours of lost man hours and productivity this round of GOP fundraising will cost the rest of us?