White House refuses to give CBS pictures of the Situation Room on the night of the Benghazi attack
COB6 sends us this link from CBS News which reports that the White House has declined to provide CBS with the photos of the Situation Room on the night of the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya which cost us four fine Americans, 3 of whom were veterans.
CBS News first requested the images on Oct. 31. In the past, the White House has released photos showing US officials during national security incidents. A half dozen images related to the mission that captured and killed Osama bin Laden were given to the public last year. One depicts President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of the national security team gathered in the Situation Room on May 1, 2011.
A White House official referred our request regarding the Benghazi attacks to the White House Photo Office. On Nov. 1, an official there indicated she would process our request quickly, but then did not respond further. Finally, this week, the White House Photo Office told CBS News it would not release any images without approval of Josh Earnest in the White House Press Office. Earnest did not respond to our telephone calls and emails.
My guess is that the room looked something like this;
“We have provided every bit of information that we have, and we will continue to provide information…,” the President told reporters, adding, “we will provide all the information that is available about what happened on that day…” and “I will put forward every bit of information that we have.”
…or not. We won. COB6 says; “Could it be because someone was there who shouldn’t have been? Someone with more interest in protecting Muslims than saving Americans?
“Or maybe Barry wasn’t there! That would actually make a little sense. A President can delegate alot of shit but he can’t delegate the order for a CBA (Cross border authority). This would explain why General Hamm’s QRF was ready in minutes but never launched.
“But this raises even more questions. Where the hell was Barry that was more important? And the real question is who the hell is running the show? Whoever was running the show is the person who gave the Stand-down order while Americans were being killed!”
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Paula Broadwell was in the photos?
I’m shocked only that CBS reported on the outcome of its request. Nothing else is surprising regarding this mess and the Benghazi Bullshit Brigade.
The media dosnt care and sheeple dont care as long as the free stuff keeps coming.
Yep. What really is important for most Americans with respect to the news is the annual Presidential Turkey Pardon!
If the administration has made it this far–and won an election–without telling the truth, nothing on earth will move them to do so now. There will be no impeachment. We’ll have to await the book deal from a WH insider to learn what actually transpired. The media hated Nixon so it was a joy for them to keep on Watergate. Back in those days, most Americans actually viewed authorizing a break-in as a dastardly deed and a crime. Today, obama assumes certain killing powers and thumbs his nose at inquiries and, gee, it’s all good. It’s a lousy time to be a young American. I’m glad I’m not.
@2
“I’m shocked only that CBS reported on the outcome of its request.”
I’m not. The media is like a spoiled child. No matter how good the relationship was, if you don’t give it what it wants, it tends to lash back.
It all depends on the situation. When Obama wanted to get some positive press of him looking Presidential before the election, the Whitehouse tripped all over themselves releasing a picture of Obama in the situation room as Sandy came ashore, but since this was a debacle that resulted in 4 Americans dying and the administration doing nothing, it wouldn’t be good to show.
I wonder when the media is going to tire of being his press agents.
He, or his administration rather, were more than happy to leak all sorts of sensitive information…when it made him look good; when he thought it would suit his purposes.
Now, they won’t even release the same sort of shot they released when he “got” bin Laden?
If I were CBS, I’d be rightly pissed and tired of being used.
@6: It’s entirely possible they simply don’t want to release photos because they feel that for an event that went badly, the perception would be negative. But that doesn’t imply any wrong-doing.
Given the reports that the edits to CIA’s assessment which had mentioned AQ were scrubbed at the request of the IC, and not the WH (or State), and that these changes were reportedly made to protect sources, not for political reasons, it seems like there’s an unfortunate tendency to grasp at straws and somehow will this into being a conspiracy. It’s not helpful.
I’d much rather see talk on valid issues, such as embassy /consulate security procedures and levels. Searching for a conspiracy will do nothing, whereas focusing on valid concerns both sides can agree on might help ensure the safety of others in the field.
On a different Benghazi-related note:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/21/world/africa/libya-violence/
Even money says, Barry was choking his chicken, jerking the gerkin whatever elsewhere and not in the White House…Little spineless marxist, rat bastard.
Yeah, that too streetsweeper. I just can’t get my blood up anymore. As I say, the peoples has spoken.
@10
Yes. The people have spoken. Unfortunately what they said was “Thank you sir, may I have another?”.
@8. It’s entirely possible they simply don’t want to release photos because they feel that for an event that went badly, the perception would be negative. But that doesn’t imply any wrong-doing.
Does it hurt when you tie yourself into those knots to cover for Obama, or does it come naturally?
And, who, exactly, says that the WH didn’t edit the notes? And what sources were they “protecting”? The President of Libya? He said that this was a terrorist attack, from the get-go. Seems he had his shit together, it was O and his clown posse that didn’t.
Quote:
“But this raises even more questions. Where the hell was Barry that was more important? And the real question is who the hell is running the show? Whoever was running the show is the person who gave the Stand-down order while Americans were being killed!”
I suspect that the answer would likely be Valerie Jarrett.
Anyone who believes that Obama is actually making the decisions is a damned fool.
@12: I don’t see how that’s ‘covering’ for Obama – I’m saying I wouldn’t be surprised if, for political reasons (as opposed to a valid reason like national security) they wouldn’t release such photos. I don’t see a conspiracy, so I’m putting forth a plausible alternate theory, that’s all. No knots necessary. In short, I was agreeing with Old Trooper on that aspect of things.
As for ‘who’, that seems to be Shawn Turner, the spokesperson for the DNI. And presumably they’re protecting sources in AQ who were able to give them corroborating evidence of the link. We can surely agree that detailing, in public, CIA’s assets and capabilities is not smart, correct?
So yes, CIA said it was a terrorist attack, and were they the only player in the IC then surely that would have been the report, and it appears some additional details to that effect WERE in the classified one. But the unclassified one was a collaborative effort of the IC as a whole and they changed things.
It’s not a scandal, it’s SOP.
Here’s one article:
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/19/official-changes-to-benghazi-talking-points-made-by-intel-community/
@8 I don’t think this is ‘searching for a conspiracy’, but attention focused on trying to get answers and transparency. If there isn’t anything to hide, why can’t the WH be truthful and fully disclose the events and actions taken (or not) in regard to the attack on the consulate in Benghazi?
@12. And today Ms. Rice is sticking to her story, pointing the finger of blame at the intel community for her view of the who and the what of the Benghazi fiasco. So, days and days pass between her initial briefing and her talk-show appearances and we are to believe that she did not even entertain a semblance of doubt regarding the spontaneous protests tracing to a video when even we uninformed types saw it straightaway? This was an orchestrated, directed BS campaign led by the WH and carried out by Rice, Clinton, Patraeus, Panetta, and the official and unofficial WH mouthpieces. Oh, I nearly forgot Generalisimo Marty of the Joints.
Where was Valerie Jarrett while this was going on? Obama makes very few decisions without talking to her. Did Jarrett change it?
Typical WH BS! If it’s not gonna make comade omammy look good, quash it. I don’t believe anything he or his administration say. I don’t care if they’re standing there with their hands on bibles…or in his case, th e koran.
Preezy voting “present” again…. and it cost four Americans their lives!
Does anyone besides me wonder how many people are taking unauthorized copies of stuff home in their jackets and purses?
It’s NOT grasping at straws when the CIC offers false narratives from the very beginning. False narratives that actually tried to put Americans to blame for the death of Americans. That’s not a conspiracy. At the very least it’s an attempt to cover up incompetence during an election cycle. There was a time when all Americans would be headhunting over such matters, demo or repub. Not so anymore. The left is so doubled down on ideology that they don’t care what their guy does. The Embassies were still on fire during the foreign policy debate and somehow the left were too eager to proclaim victory for their guy. It’s the same with Benghazi. Your guy is a foreign policy train-wreck. One that get’s people killed, put’s people at risk, and makes a mockery of our presence in the world. He get’s caught trying to make after-election concessions with Russians on an open mic and somehow it’s cutesy. Being the President means you acknowledge your mistakes, fix them and move forward, not have your media lap dogs cover your every move. How about you democrats start treating the President like a grown ass man instead of making excuses for his every mistake? It’s disgusting to see Americans so hypnotised over a politician. Especially such an incompetent one.
@20
You’re being paranoid. Obama himself designed the security of our intelligence agencies to be as tight as a sieve.
@21
“Being the President means you acknowledge your mistakes, fix them and move forward, not have your media lap dogs cover your every move.”
And to be fair, both sides do it. I would suggest that it’s impossible to be president of the US without making mistakes…well…unless you’re not doing anything at all.
But when did it become such a fucking sin to say “Sorry. I dicked this up. Here’s the steps I’m taking to fix it and here’s the steps I’m taking to make sure it doesn’t happen again”? When did it become so wrong to do that?
The same Left that beat us on active-duty during the Bush era over the head daily with the demoralizing unjust war, Gitmo, waterboarding, Koran inadvertently getting kicked ad nauseum bullshit. Now that a democrat is killing little pashtun babies from the air we hear crickets. Why is that? If I didn’t know better I wouldn’t know we are fighting a war right now.
@23. Does this admin. know how to do that? All I ever see is a smug “oh by the way I got OBL.” I’ve never heard or seen this President be held accountable for anything.
@ 23-Nik, you’re assuming we have a president, which we don’t. We have a community activist who promised continued welfare for lazy rat bastards and as many other welfare programs as he…his staff could think of. We have an apologist who hates the US and is ready to turn us over to Muslim extremists.
Ret Col Bing West asks “where is the execute order?”. If BO allegedly did everything possible to rescue the 4 men under siege, much can be clarified by what orders BO gave to the SECDEF, CJCS and than down to the AFRICOM COCOM GEN Carter Ham. A Republican Administration would have an army of media camped out on the WH lawn demanding answers. Guaranteed there would be 24/7 full court press media coverage if this were Bush or Romney…what did you know and when?
Ultimately, this incident will get buried…it will get the stonewall/slow roll treatment. You say tomahto, they say tomayto. The MSM will provide topcover all day long and most Republicans have been cowed into submission by the said media…your a racist, you hate the poor, tax cheat etc. Really, why should this administration comply and give pictures to the media? As if the MSM are suddenly going to get serious and do hard hitting investigative pieces on BO? Not a chance, and BO knows it.
Also, Whaddayaknow a room full of empty chairs….
Most transparent administration EVAH!