BENGHAZI REVISITED FINALLY

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Yesterday there were hearings on Capital Hill looking into the truth of the attack on Benghazi.  Did you watch?  Did you find it on TV?  It was there on FOX, CNN and C-SPAN.  Networks did not carry this one.  They did carry the hearings when Hillary lied before the Congress.

Yes I said it – Hillary Lied.  There is now proof that she was aware this was a terrorist attack on the day of the event and the next day. She blamed a video even at the hearings in January.

Greg Hicks, the second in command in Benghazi said he told the State Dept. when he talked with them that they were ‘under attack’.  He said he did not mention protest or video.  He is the man that Hillary talked with at 2AM in the morning after the attack.  He does not remember her even asking about either option.  Since he had reported in, he believed she knew the truth as she asked nothing further about the attack.

In the hearings there also was further information brought forth by Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina about State Department emails.  It seems there was a Sept. 12th email from Beth Jones, Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs that showed her stating that the strike was “affiliated with Islamic terrorists”.  As I watched Rep. Gowdy further said that he was an average judge, I believe.  At any rate he designated himself as average and that this information would have been strong proof for him to bring the case that people knew it was not the video.

Then we heard that the military was told to ‘stand down’.  These men are trained to go help.  To hear this twice – once that a FEST team would not be deployed and second when the military in Tripoli were told not to go.

On Fox and Friends this morning I heard Sean Smith’s mother say that Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice told her “nose to nose” that it was the video that was responsible for the killing of her son, one of the diplomats, in Benghazi.  They knew differently.  To tell someone a falsehood when you know the truth is lying in my book.

I am not going to recap all of this as you can find it somewhere on the web.  The TV news was visibly absent.  I looked at the couple of photographers in the well.  I saw there were empty seats.  Where were the news people?

I remember Watergate and the well of the congress was filled to overflowing with cameras snapping away as John Dean and all the others gave their testimony.  There was standing room only in the gallery.  My how times change.  The crimes are not dissimilar.  It is lying and cover up with the exception that four men died n Benghazi.

I watched most of the hearings yesterday on CSPAN as I did not want commercials or analogy.  I wanted to hear it.  I am sad I heard so much partisanship.  I was pleased with the couple of Democrats that seemed genuinely interested in getting to the truth rather than to just berate the Republicans for cutting the budget for State.  It was noted a couple of times that even the State Dept. Rep Charlene Lamb said in the first round of hearings that money was not an issue.

I look forward to seeing where this will go.  I am hoping for truth no matter where it is to come out.  I commend CBS for its presence this time around.  When I went to look for back ground this morning they were the only network, aside from FOX, that had anything available when I did a Bing search.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

“…AT THIS POINT…”

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I believe our whole country has missed the boat.  While we all were slamming Secretary Clinton for her non caring of the Benghazi incident follow up, those interviewing her missed the most important part of the statement.  She was telling us the truth.  At some point it made a difference.  I would rather have had the panel ask her, “Madam Secretary if ‘AT THIS POINT’ it does not make a difference, when did it?”

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference in August of 2012 when the Ambassador contacted State to tell them that they needed more help?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference if Chris Stevens had not been sent to Benghazi under confusing intentions?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference on Sept. 11^th if the State Department had taken action to help when at 4PM the attack began and we were notified?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference on that day at 5PM when the President was notified if he had taken some action?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference if he had stayed with it?  The President of the United States was nowhere to be found after 5PM according to most reports.

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference if the State Department had that day disclosed that they had received an email at 6:07PM from Ansar AL Sharia claiming they were responsible?  This news was not discovered until Oct 24^th by Reuters News Agency.

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference in the announcement from the White House with Hillary standing next to the President when they blamed a video?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference if the commercial to be shown in Libya blaming the video at the cost of $70,000 had not been made?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference when we did not acknowledge the Ambassador of Libya’s apology for the terrorist attack?  Were we not calling them liars?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference on Sept. 14^th when at the ceremony receiving the dead that the Secretary of State and President had called it a terrorist attack and not once again blamed the video?  They did call it an act of terror and still did not blame terrorists as if there was a difference?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference if they had been honest before sending out Susan Rice on the Sunday shows on Sept. 15^th?

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference had the truth come out during the last Presidential debate on Oct, 10th?  Romney was close and shut down by the moderator.

‘AT THIS POINT’ Would it have made a difference, if the whole truth had been out, on Nov. 6^th when America voted for a new President?

From Factcheck.org we find the following information that came out after the attack.

http://factcheck.org/2012/10/benghazi-timeline/

Oct. 24: Reuters reports the White House, Pentagon and other government agencies learned just two hours into the Benghazi attack that Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamic militant group, had “claimed credit” for it. The wire service report was based on three emails from the State Department’s Operations Center. One of the emails said, “Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripol.” The article also noted, “Intelligence experts caution that initial reports from the scene of any attack or disaster are often inaccurate.” (It should be noted that Reuters first reported on Sept. 12 that unnamed U.S. officials believed that Ansar al-Sharia may have been involved.)

Oct. 24: Clinton warns at a press conference that you cannot draw conclusions from the leaked emails because “cherry-picking one story here or one document there” can be misleading. She said, “The independent Accountability Review Board is already hard at work looking at everything — not cherry-picking one story here or one document there — but looking at everything, which I highly recommend as the appropriate approach to something as complex as an attack like this. Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence, and I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be.”

Oct. 24: Carney, the White House spokesman, says that “within a few hours” of the attack Ansar al-Sharia “claimed that it had not been responsible.” He added, “Neither should be taken as fact — that’s why there’s an investigation underway.”

I believe our Representatives missed the mark at the hearings in January.  They missed the opportunity to ask deeper questions.  It is my hope that as further information comes out we will truly understand the difference it makes.

For me, I am jumping out on a limb and publically stating the obvious to which a few have eluded.  I believe there was a cover-up as the President wanted to win an election.  I believe the information was not forthcoming as Barack Obama and his team worked to keep it under wraps until after November 6^th.  I believe it was all political and about the election.  There is another thought.  It is that our current administration is simply inept.  I have written about that as well.

I have long contended in this blog that this administration is as bad as the Nixon crew.  I only hope that the Congress goes after them as strongly as they did Nixon for a simple break in at a hotel.  In Benghazi four of our fellow Americans died.  It is ‘AT THIS POINT’ that it makes a difference.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

HILLARY – WHAT DIFFERENCE at this point DOES IT MAKE?

GOOD MORNING WORLD

If I had not been seated when I heard Hillary Clinton say “What difference at this point does it make?” with her fists clenched during the Senate hearings I think I would have fallen down as if hit by a lightening bolt.  “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?”  People were killed.  I wonder if that makes a difference?

I also heard her say “What does it matter?” when there was a reference to the reports after.  She seemed to believe it was not important.  The difference I believe is between true and false.  I watched her during the whole day of  her questioning.  (iron in hand much like Watergate) I was amazed at what she said she did not know.  I was stunned that she did not read emails from a ‘hot spot’ embassy.  I was amazed that at a question by Rand Paul about guns trafficking in that area that she did not have any information about it.  What information does she get – her travel schedule?

The news will report on this ad nauseum.  I do not have the intelligence nor the time to research this political and real situation.  I do have an answer to what difference does it make.

The difference it makes is between true and false.  Trust or not.  The difference is between knowing how to proceed in the future.  I think the quote is if we do not understand our history we are destined to relive it?  Isn’t it important to know what happened in order to plan a move forward.

How about her husband’s infidelities?  Did it make a difference there for her to talk with him?  Did it make a difference for her to ask him what went on? Did she not want to get to the truth of how the affairs came about?  In one case she called it a ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’?  What difference would it have made had she had the right information.  Maybe it would have allowed her to not look so much like a simpleton.

Were we not as a nation told to leave her alone as they healed their relationship back during his Presidency?  She banished her husband from their bedroom to understand and they barely spoke for months according to their books.  What difference does it make?

What difference would it make?  For Mrs. Clinton personally the retrospection that I am guessing she did after the Lewinsky affair came to light probably made it possible for her to admit she loved her husband and wanted to stay married.  Or it was a more political decision.  Whichever it was the decision was not made without reviewing what had happened.

In any situation we need to look back in order to look forward with wisdom. I cannot tell you how many mistakes I have made in my life.  Too many to list.  I do not believe I am alone in saying that in order to move forward I had to review and analyze and understand what had happened.  It made a difference in my life.  Usually I was changed for the better from this exercise.

Once again it comes down to character.  If you cannot take the time to look at your mistakes or failings I might question the strength of your character.  A person who cares nothing for others I believe has little character.  They plow ahead fearing no retribution and if it comes slough it off like water off a duck’s back.  People of character are wounded by their failings and take time to reflect ask forgiveness and change to be better people.

What difference does it make Mrs. Clinton?  To you not much.  Unless you see it as a success to have completely joined the classification of ‘just another politician’.  I was in the 65% who liked you Hillary.  Moving to the 35% now.  Yesterday you revealed to me more of who you really are and the character that you lack.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

NO RED LINE FOR ALLIES – ENEMIES GIVEN WITHDRAWAL DATE -NO CONSISTENCY

GOOD MORNING WORLD

This mornings post may be better for a small facebook post as it is full of questions.  I am terribly confused.  Are we not supposed to stand up for our friends through thick and thin?  What is going on with our government?  How can we not react to the death of a US Ambassador?  They stormed our embassy and tore down the flag in Cairo.  Where is our reaction to that?  The crisis in these areas came about due to a obscure 14 minute internet movie trailer???

The first response to these actions was to apologize for the movie?  On the 9-11 anniversary Hillary Clinton condemned the actions and the President disavowed it and Mrs. Clinton contradicted him and gave the same apology.  Who is in charge?

The President came right to the podium when Trayvon Martin was killed.  Ambassodor Chris Stevens was killed in Libya and where is the President?  We received a written statement?

Our President has refused to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel and is going to be the David Letterman show the same week?

The President spoke out against Scott Walker in Wisconsin when the unions went on strike against Walker.  There has been no word from the President on the matter of the teacher’s strike in Chicago except that he wishes to remain neutral.  Where is the consistency in this?

I have to say this morning I am very unsettled about our country and the leadership.  It has more to do with this President’s lack of experience than it does with partisan politics.  It is reminiscent of Jimmy Carter.  Weren’t there hostages taken under his 4 years in office? 

The facts scare me.  Obama’s inexperience scares me.  Our President reportedly has only attended 60% of his briefings.  He has been to 200 fundraisers.  He apologized his way across the world when he first took office.  He believes that it is okay to lead from behind.  He has spent these last almost 4 years blaming Bush for what he is not accomplishing.  This morning I heard this quote, ‘blame never solved a problem’.  We are still having problems and need leadership.  Obama is still in charge and inconsistent and I think he needs to ask for help.

I have no way to judge these situations as they are ongoing.  I only know from my life experiences that if I want people to follow me in whatever I am doing I better be saying the same thing all the time.  With children you do not say one thing and do another.  You do not tell them one thing and then have the other parent say another.  We must present a unified front.  I do not see it.

I heard Bruce Herschenshon who is an American political commentator and a senior fellow of Pepperdine University School of Public Policy and served under Nixon and was on Reagan’s transition team.   (Herschensohn has been a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has taught politics at the University of Maryland, Whittier College and at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy)  He calls these latest acts, ‘acts of war’.  He said these embassies should be as safe as our own homes.  He calls for the President to go back to work and stop campaigning.

K.T. McFarland and Victoria Clarke, both former assistant Secretaries of Defense, agree that this is an act of war.  They called for the President to get to a podium and look the American people and the world in the eye and tell everyone that this will not be tolerated. 

They also noted that it seemed odd that these occurred on 9-11.  Perhaps Obama will take time to speak sometime later today.

Perhaps we will understand this better later.  For now, I can only share that I do not want to see us go to war and am very uncomfortable with the world today.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…