The wretched absurdity of the Benghazi report

Only if this report was written with the blood of the dead Americans could it be more insulting to their memory, their families and to the intelligence of the American public

The wretched absurdity of the Benghazi report

CFP:

Under the cover of the Newtown school shooting, an “independent” five member investigative panel quietly released an unclassified, 39-page report Tuesday night, detailing their findings of the attack that led to the murder of four Americans in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. The report cites five main reasons for the loss of life, all primarily related to inadequate security for U.S. personnel. However, the independent panel found that no “U.S. Government employee engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities, and, therefore did not find reasonable cause to believe that an individual breached his or her duty so as to be the subject of a recommendation for disciplinary action.” Stated another way, no one is to blame nor will be held accountable for the murders of Americans Sean Smith, Glen Dougherty, Tyrone Woods, and Ambassador Chris Stevens., so just continue with your business.

The report was released in advance of closed door congressional testimony scheduled for today by two senior panel members, retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also scheduled to testify this week, but she has declined to do so as a result of her recent fainting spell. Others are unavailable to testify or have not been asked, which is a common tactic when the outcome of an investigation is fixed from the beginning, and this, based on an extensive review of all available evidence, most certainly was.

2012 Game show panel: To Tell The Truth

It is an interesting bit of trivia, perhaps, that the popular television game show To Tell the Truth premiered exactly 56 years to the day that the Benghazi report was released. The objective of the 2012 real world panel appears to be the antithesis of former game show, as ferreting out the truth did not appear to be the panel’s objective.

The panel report offers nothing more than obligatory eye candy in the form of a stinging rebuke of State Department management and leadership failures that led to the murder of four Americans. The panel deliberately convolutes the pertinent issues with unrelated historical accounts of security issues in Libya dating back to 1967, giving the reader a sense of thoroughness while leaving the main issues untouched by design.

Ironically, the report opens with a 1905 quote from George Santayanna: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”¬† Included perhaps to add legitimacy and a veneer of integrity to an investigative report unworthy of such a definition, it is an insult to those aware of the actual events leading up to the murderous attacks of 9/11.

To understand how the truth behind the murders and the events of the attack is being buried amid familiar terms and talking points suitable for both political parties and their spokespeople, it is vital to understand the origin and makeup of the “independent” panel. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton convened the Accountability Review Board (ARB) in the wake of the attacks, quietly appointing retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering to chair and direct the panel. His appointment unceremoniously appeared in the October 4, 2012 edition of the Federal Register.

As noted in a previous report by this author, Thomas Pickering is an obvious choice to direct an investigation that could have any negative implications to Iran or this administration’s associations with the Muslim Brotherhood. Pickering is an advisory board member of the pro-Iranian organization known as the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), and co-chairman of the board of directors of the International Crisis Group (ICG), whose executive committee includes the infamous George Soros. Pickering is also vice-chairman of Hills & Co., global consultants founded in 1993 by CFR and Trilateral Commission member Carla Anderson Hills.

The significance of Pickering’s appointment cannot be overstated or underestimated considering that the trail of blood from four Americans leads directly to Ansar al Sharia, a terrorist group funded by Iran. Who better to redirect or cover up the operational conspiracy that exists between Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and that Muslim Brotherhood that exists at the core of the 9/11 attack? Pickering is the obvious choice.

From the untouched to the absurd

Left untouched by the Pickering panel are the intrinsically sinister machinations of Obama, Jarrett and Clinton, as they as are methodically taking us to the brink of a new war in Syria through their weapons running operations in Benghazi. The report intentionally offered only a very narrow view of the events in Benghazi, limiting their scope to the already exposed security deficiencies that were secondary to the redefined Benghazi “consulate.” Using this tactic effectively diverts attention away from the real issue and thus, the actual cause for the attack.

Beyond the narrow focus of the security issues and the subsequent inconsequential wrist slap, the investigative panel descends further into the abyss of absurdity and insult by incredibly asserting that everything possible had been done to rescue and save our Ambassador and Sean Smith, and further asserted that “the interagency response was timely and appropriate, but there was simply not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference.”

That finding alone should alarm every thinking American based on open source intelligence and what is known, as well as what has yet to be disclosed. Only if this report was written with the blood of the dead Americans could it be more insulting to families of the dead and to the intelligence of the American public.

Perhaps Pickering and his cadre of co-conspirators would like to disclose to the American people the strange odyssey of a certain C-130 aircraft that left Croatia for Libya to provide assistance to the Americans under siege at the onset of the attack. The portal-to-portal flight time is about four hours, yet it did not officially “appear” on site for 23 hours. Perhaps it’s time to address the fact that the lie is different at every level, and for Pickering to stop being a firewall between his bosses and the truth owed to every American, and particularly to the families of those who were murdered.

It’s time to ask whether the crew of that C-130 was ever identified and interviewed. It’s time to locate and ask the personnel on board that aircraft how long it was, after they changed from their military uniforms into their street clothes to enact a rescue, were they forced to wait while the embattled Americans endured the attack and met their deaths. Oh yes, there is information known and crying out to be made public despite the contempt for the truth and equally important, the contempt for the American people by Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton and Valerie Jarrett.

Four Americans were murdered in Benghazi. Over forty thousand are dead in Syria. Soon, it will be four million dead as a result of the hidden agenda of our elected leaders, the complicity of a corrupt media, and the complacency of a brainwashed public. Today we cry over the deaths in Newtown, but tomorrow, our sobs will be for the masses.

Douglas Hagmann, founder & director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, and a multi-state licensed private investigative agency. Doug began using his investigative skills and training to fight terrorism and increase public awareness through his website. Doug can be reached at: director@homelandsecurityus.com

Independent report: “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” at State led to Benghazi deaths

HotAir: Congress now has the Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including the first US Ambassador murdered in 33 years, and it’s easy to see why the State Department contemplated keeping it under wraps. The ARB rips the State Department from the top down all the way to the late Ambassador Chris Stevens — and unequivocally states that there never was a protest in front of the consulate, as the Obama Administration insisted for more than a week afterward:

1. The attacks were security related, involving arson, small arms and machine gun fire, and the use of RPGs, grenades, and mortars against U.S. personnel at two separate facilities – the SMC and the Annex – and en route between them. Responsibility for the tragic loss of life, injuries, and damage to U.S. facilities and property rests solely and completely with the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks. The Board concluded that there was no protest prior to the attacks, which were unanticipated in their scale and intensity.

2. Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department (the “Department”) resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.

Security in Benghazi was not recognized and implemented as a “shared responsibility” by the bureaus in Washington charged with supporting the post, resulting in stove-piped discussions and decisions on policy and security. That said, Embassy Tripoli did not demonstrate strong and sustained advocacy with Washington for increased security for Special Mission Benghazi.

The short-term, transitory nature of Special Mission Benghazi’s staffing, with talented and committed, but relatively inexperienced, American personnel often on temporary assignments of 40 days or less, resulted in diminished institutional knowledge, continuity, and mission capacity.

The ARB also blasts State for its reliance on the February 17 militia for security in general, finding them “poorly skilled” and “inadequate.” But there’s more to the story than that, emphasis mine:

Although the February 17 militia had proven effective in responding to improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on the Special Mission in April and June 2012, there were some troubling indicators of its reliability in the months and weeks preceding the September attacks. At the time of Ambassador Stevens’ visit, February 17 militia members had stopped accompanying Special Mission vehicle movements in protest over salary and working hours.

Essentially, then, embassy security was on a low-level strike at the time. And this was the situation at this outpost in an area known to be teeming with Islamist terrorists, including al-Qaeda affiliates, on the anniversary of 9/11.

With the report in hand, Congress would have been prepared for Hillary Clinton’s testimony, originally scheduled for tomorrow before the Secretary of State fainted and ended up with a concussion. This report’s conclusions about the “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” won’t be a headache she can shrug off as easily as a concussion, however. The Hill’s Julian Pecquet wonders what happens to Clinton after the publication of this indictment of the organization she ran for nearly four years prior to the attack:

The Benghazi report released Tuesday night bemoans “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” in Hillary Clinton’s State Department that could come back to haunt her should she run for president in 2016.

Clinton remains one of the nation’s most popular politicians and has worked tirelessly to improve America’s image abroad following President George W. Bush’s tenure. The independent review of the Sept. 11 attack, however, tarnishes that legacy by faulting the department for failing to put in place a coordinated approach for handling security, even if it does not single anyone out for disciplinary action.

The report does fault Congress for forcing State to “struggle to obtain the resources necessary to carry out its work, with varying degrees of success,” which gives Hillary a way to fight back in Congressional hearings — but that’s a big trap. State spent lots of money on other outposts with far less risk than the one in eastern Libya, and there isn’t any indication that State warned Congress about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi. To have done so would have allowed Congress to question Barack Obama’s war on Moammar Qaddafu that was fought without Congressional approval.

Hillary Clinton herself said that the buck stopped with her on Benghazi. The organizational failures outlined in this report belong to the one who sat at the top of that organization since January 2009, long before the US turned eastern Libya into a free zone for Islamist terror networks, and at least indirectly to the President who insisted on conducting the war that created that environment. In any sane political environment, the leadership failure at State would preclude any effort to seek higher office out of sheer contrition after it resulted in four dead Americans.

by Ed Morrissey

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