A couple of days ago I published an article entitled “Republicans, the Party of Hypocrisy, Part 1” which was just a small example of how Republicans are often hypocrites when making political accusations. Now comes a much bigger example.
As some of you may remember, for the last two years the Republicans have made a HUGE deal about the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Lybia, that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and State Department Information Officer Sean Smith. Somehow the attack and the resulting talking points by Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations — that a video called the “Innocence of Muslims” had been responsible for inciting the attack — were all part of a grand conspiracy orchestrated by the Obama administration to help in his re-election. Now, it turns out that this is all nonsense. But don’t just believe me; believe the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which conducted a two-year comprehensive investigation into the attacks and its aftermath.
In summary, the Committee found (1) that the CIA ensured sufficient security for CIA facilities in Benghazi and assisted the State Department ably on the night of the attacks; (2) that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks, as the intelligence community did not have specific, tactical warning of the September 11 attacks; (3) that a mixed group of individuals, including those affiliated with Al Qa’ida, participated in the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi; (4) that after the attacks, the early intelligence assessments and the Obama administration’s initial public narrative on the causes and motivations for the attacks were not fully accurate, but that there was a stream of contradictory and conflicting intelligence that came in after the attacks; (5) that mistakes were made in developing the talking points for Ambassador Susan Rice; and (6) that any officer was intimidated, wrongly forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement or otherwise kept from speaking to Congress. In particular, the Committee found intelligence to support CIA’ s initial assessment that the attacks had evolved out of a protest in Benghazi; but it also found contrary intelligence, which ultimately proved to be the correct intelligence. The CIA only changed its initial assessment about a protest on September 24, 2012, when closed caption television footage became available on September 18, 2012 (two days after Ambassador Susan Rice spoke), and after the FBI began publishing its interviews with U.S. officials on the ground on September 22, 2012.
Brian Joyce, on the Huffington Post, published an An Open Letter of Apology to the United States of America shortly after the report was released. It was on behalf of all the talk show hosts, like himself, who had fanned flames of conspiracy.
Joyce noted that after “two years of investigations, endless hours of hearings, and at least one concussion, the Republican-led Intelligence Committee has finally admitted what many of us knew all along: that the Obama administration did nothing wrong in Benghazi; that the White House, CIA and State Department did not deliberately mislead the American people on Benghazi; and that the Obama administration did everything it could to respond to Benghazi in a timely and appropriate manner.” He goes on to say that “like many members of the media, I enjoy entertaining my audience with exciting topics and stimulating conversation. But unlike many members of the media, I will not resort to lies, myths and misinformation to do it. I will not accuse the President of doing things he never did, and I will not become so blinded with delusional, partisan hatred that I will say anything to get you to listen to my show.”
If only the folks at Fox News were so forthcoming.
You know, Fox News, intended to enrage, not to inform.
And yet, if Hilary Clinton dares run for President in 2016, you can be sure that these old canards will resurrect themselves. One hears that the House is thinking of creating a new committee anyway. Boehner: I’m ready to ‘reappoint’ members to special Benghazi panel in new Congress.
Seriously John? This is how you want to spend your time in the run-up to the 2016 election?
We’ll soon be reporting on Republicans, the Party of Hypocrisy, Part 3. Stay tuned.
I noticed this report and Lindsey Graham noticed then promptly doubled-down, as many Republicans are wont to do when faced with facts, calling the report “full of crap.
Oh yes Ian. Didn’t take long. And there will be more investigations, we can be sure of that.