Vets push Benghazi issue
The Washington Times reports that two groups of special operations veterans are calling for more scrutiny in regards to the attacks on the Benghazi consulate on September 11th, 2012;
In separate letters to House members, the groups Special Operations Speaks and Operational Security (OpSec), urged support for the resolution introduced by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, calling for a special congressional committee of inquiry to look into the deadly attacks.
“The traditional committee [oversight] process has failed stalled out,” OpSec founder Scott W. Taylor, a former Navy SEAL, told The Washington Times.
In a second letter to every member of the House signed by 700 retired military personnel, Special Operations Speaks demanded a “full accounting” of the Benghazi attack, listing lingering questions about the incident and the Obama administration’s responses.
What with all of the distractions of North Korea, gun control legislation, immigration reform, the civil war in Syria, Iran’s nuclear intentions, Benghazi seems to have fallen off our national radar screen. At least some veterans haven’t forgotten.
Our buddy Susan Katz Keating says that a fifth person died in that assault on our consulate. Sean Hannity spoke to Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith who died in that assault, and she told him that the Obama Administration asked her to shut up about her son asking for more security and asking questions about the circumstances of his death.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Yeah, we worked the attack and cover up over damn well around here. I’m glad some folks aren’t letting it go. It’s a stain that obamaman and H. WideLoad Clinton cannot wash from their sticky fingers. Good for the Washington Times for running the story. All the demands for answers don’t amount to a hill of beans if no one publishes these stories.
1. Impeach Obama, jail the entire white house staff and Hillary too
2. Or we could just continue ignoring it like it never happened.
You write:
“…and she told him that the Obama Administration asked her to shut up about her son asking for ..”
From the article you linked to:
“Smith then spoke of the intimidation she has experienced, in her quest for answers, noting she is being silenced, though Hannity clarified it is not by someone in the government”
I highly doubt the Obama administration is telling a woman who lost her son to shut up about things. Even if you think they’re evil bastards, that’s just bad politics.
@3 “Even if you think they’re evil bastards, that’s just bad politics.”
I agree. Do you ever see evil bastards practicing GOOD politics?
We need to get Hilary before she slips into obsurity, because after that fiasco there is no way her name should be even close to the 2016 ballot.
@2 If this were Bush the nightly news would begin with a story about how we are now months passed the event with no new information whatsoever and the administration stalling and avoiding the question….and the sales of Impeach Bush bumper stickers would be through the roof in the libtard crowd….
That 4 or 5 dead Americans are being ignored is nothing new in the Obama administration….after all 40 Americans a day are murdered and nothing has been said for almost 5 years about it under Obama….but a sensational killing of a bunch of white kids in an elementary school suddenly offered Obama and his minions the opportunity to enact a law that would be meaningless in the prevention of crime while disarming millions of honest and law abiding citizens who have never done a wrong thing in their lives….over 40,000 murders since Obama took office but the 26 school children in CT are what he is most worried about….we kill more people every 3 weeks than have been murdered in all the mass killings added together over the last 20 years…so all of our politicians have been pretty good at ignoring dead Americans…
Such a hideous example of government incompetance, at best. It is likely much more than that, of course.
@3. Um, anonymous, that “shut up” description wasn’t a quote from the article. Nor did anyone pretend it to be. It was a restatement, in straightforward language, of the phrase “being silenced.” When one is silenced, that’s a $5 description for being told to STFU.
@4: I meant ‘good’ politics in terms of effectiveness, not morality. I prefer my evil bastards to be incompetent buffoons; it’s the competent ones capable of good politics that I worry about.
@8: My point wasn’t the distinction between ‘silenced’ vs’ ‘shut up’, but rather the fact that the ‘shut up’ (if you prefer) wasn’t something coming from the Obama administration.
I wouldn’t doubt she’s being intimidated and harassed by partisan bloggers, activists, or any other collection of people with more anger than sense, but that’s a different statement than “.. the _Obama Administration_ asked her to shut up ..”
@9 I know what you meant. And I meant that if you truly believe governments will not threaten individuals who become inconvenient, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. An evil government is capable of effectiveness — it usually accomplishes that through mass graves. Incompetent evil simply leaves the bodies laying around. Both start that process through intimidation, threats, and torture.
@10 Right, the Obama administration would never use a proxy for that purpose. They’ve been so open about the entire incident there’s no need for proxy silencing of the voices asking uncomfortable questions.
I don’t trust either party lately, and I sure as h3ll don’t trust the hacks at 1600…
Too many people on both sides forgive the transgressions of their guys while constantly castigating the guys on the other side….I like questioning them all, in both parties because I think they are all equally full of sh1t…and most likely will lie to continue to hold powerful positions….
If there were no f#ckups in Libya why not discuss it openly and reveal what took place? Instead of worrying about passing laws that won’t stop any mass murderers maybe they could look at a procedural change and implementation that will save the lives of our embassy personnel who serve in the sh1tholes of the world….of course those kind of discussions are not very sexy and don’t provide great photo ops with legions of police officers or the families of dead kids behind you on stage to prove just how important you and your current monologue are for the nation…
@10. So, then, why the kibosh on interviewing the survivors? Why can’t even congresscritters reach them? And, yes, I prefer shut up, thanks.
@12 (and others): There are plenty of very good questions to ask about Benghazi and the aftermath. I’m not saying there weren’t fuckups and that it shouldn’t be discussed openly. I was simply pointing out that a statement made by Jonn is not supported by the article.
I think the best way to ensure we DO learn more about Benghazi is to NOT turn things into a partisan attack on the President and his administration by making assumptions about guilt, proxies, etc., when there is currently no evidence to support that theory, just a lot of anger. The more it remains a simple question of what happened, the more people can support it. Start talking about conspiracies? You lose people who don’t think that’s plausible. Start talking about how the President is part of an evil or incompetent team? You lose people whose politics differ from your own. When you lose too many people through things like this, over something which should be widely supported regardless of politics, it becomes a small, politically-based minority that’s easy to ignore or dismiss.
@14 Except that today every thing seems to become partisan in a heartbeat these days.
But you do touch on that singular problem of the current lack of skepticism in our electorate. We have too many people willing to accept whatever tripe their party gives them and not enough people who question both parties because they are both equally full of sh1t on a regular basis.
I suspect there is less to be learned about guilt and more to be learned about incompetence in any hearing related to this issue. People at the top ignore their responsibilities fairly often. One of my favorite lines from Clinton during the questioning was that she gets lots of memos every day and no one can expect her to read them all, while quite true a reasonable person would expect that the memos from an unstable nation in the middle east might get more consideration than the memos from say, Luxembourg…..it’s a convenient dodge to say she’s overwhelmed, but that’s what staff and directives are for to carry out a mission statement. Too busy to read the memos that would save lives is not exactly an acceptable answer from someone who would still like to be president I suspect.
I don’t trust republicans or democrats, we should always ask the hard questions whether we like the politicians in question or not. Our politicians should understand we have the right to ask these questions since we are giving these politicians a great deal of power over us, the least they can do is be honest with us.
I’m still reeling over Hillary’s question where she said, “What difference does it make?!”
Bitch.
Here’s the story of Benghazi: portable SAM in the hands of terrorists in numbers to shut down Bagram and Khandahar, turning those APOE into 21st Century Dien Bien Phu.
I’m rather curious as to why the survivors are still being held in Supermax and no one is curious.
Oh yeah people were held accountable alright, unfortunately not the ones truly responsible for Benghazi debacle:
GEN Carter Ham has stepped down from AFRICOM and put in his retirement paperwork. Gen Ham took command in 2011 and based on normal COCOM command intervals, wasn’t scheduled to relinquish command until 2014. We suspect real reason for early departure and it isn’t to spend more time w/ the family.
Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette was given a career ending letter of reprimand for allegedly using profanity and other insensitive language towards a CAPT for steaming his carrier to quickly in congested waters….but we know the real reason for the admiral’s removal – wink wink.
@14. “Start talking about how the President is part of an evil or incompetent team? You lose people whose politics differ from your own.” Then they are lost. They were lost anyway; that’s how the evil, incompetent SOB was re-elected, at least in part. It certainly didn’t help that the Ken Doll was the R nominee. No matter. I await the other revolution. Now excuse me whoile I re-enforce my foil ceiling. I use gold foil, by the way. Lats longer than the tin stuff.
Forbes ran an article lat month, wondering where the survivors of Benghazi are. Yeah, I’m wondering too. Why have they not come forward? Are they camera shy? Have they been told, in so many words, not to speak with the press? If the WH could benefit from their speaking, I rather think we would have heard from a few by now. On the other hand…
So, how many of the administration’s folks have been disciplined for the Benghazi fiasco? Guess. Hint: It looks like an egg, on end. Some six resigned/retired but NOT ONE was disciplined. I wonder why.
Benghazi is fast becoming ancient history. It ought not. There are far too many unanserwed questions.
Still wondering the same things, AC. In today’s world, with so many running to a news camera to share details which the rest of us neither need nor want about any and every life event, this silence is deafening.