Tag: Libya

UPDATED:On these benghazi hearings and scandal

I know I have written about this subject before and now, I believe my opinion is changing.

For the record, I believe that the terrorist attack in Libya was a tragic event. But, these hearings make me want to vomit.

…and here is why:

Look who is representing these “Whistleblowers”, Via the BooMan Tribune: (H/T Little Green Footballs)

Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing run a law firm together. They are also married. They are also soldiers in the dirty wars we have between the two major parties. When Scooter Libby was indicted, diGenova and Toensing demanded a pardon. In fact, they had been brawling on Libby’s side for years. Toensing even authored an amici curiae brief with the US Court of Appeals in Washington, seeking to overturn the ruling that forced Matthew Cooper and Judy Miller to testify in the Libby case.

Back in 1998, Howard Kurtz reported that diGenova and Toensing had made 300 television appearances in the month after news of the l’affaire Lewinsky broke on Drudge Report. That’s an average of five appearances each, every day for a month. Who appointed them to head the lynch mob?

Strangely, Geraldo Rivera played a part.

“I love him and I love his wife,” the talk host and fellow lawyer says. “They’re the most honorable people inside the Beltway. . . . He’s a strong, principled guy who doesn’t back down. If I played any part in making him a media star, I gloat with pleasure.”

More from Howard Kurtz, circa 1998:

Name a high-profile investigation in this city and chances are the prosecutorial pair is involved.

Charges that Republican Rep. Dan Burton improperly demanded campaign contributions from a lobbyist for Pakistan? DiGenova and Toensing are the Indiana congressman’s personal attorneys.

Newt Gingrich’s ethics problems? Toensing represents the speaker’s wife, Marianne, to ensure her compliance with House ethics rules.

A House committee investigation of the Teamsters and the union’s links to improper Democratic fund-raising? DiGenova and Toensing are leading the probe as outside counsel.

They are nothing more than partisan brawlers. And now they are representing so-called Benghazi whistleblowers who claim they have faced intimidation from their employers in the State Department. Mr. diGenova is representing Mark I. Thompson, who is a deputy coordinator for operations in the State Department’s counterterrorism bureau. Ms. Toensing is representing Gregory N. Hicks, who was serving as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi attacks. Both men will testify on Wednesday before Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight & Government Reform Committee.

If they wanted to be taken seriously, they would have retained less notorious counsel.

Yeah, I know, I quoted the entire thing…sue me. 😛

Let me also be a fair person and point out that Charles Johnson over at Little Green Footballs has done one hell of a good job covering this whole partisan witch hunt since the beginning. I know, he most likely does not care for me at all; and most likely thinks I am in with the crazy right. But, I am not, at all. I do not agree entirely with his politics. But, I give him credit for being the guy to go after people who traffic in smearing those of whom they disagree with politically. While all the while, waving the flag of a protected minority and accusing those who dare to question as being Anti-Semitic. That, my friends, is the tragic state of the modern day Conservative movement. This is why I try to separate myself from the Neocon right.

Update: Some more thoughts that I wanted to add, but realized that this blog entry was getting long. Well, it is a long piece — deal with it. Here is my questions to the Neocon right about these whistle blowers:

  1. Where were these so-called “whistleblowers” when the United States of America was invading the Country of Iraq based upon blatantly false information about so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction”? I mean, if there was any sort of false information being pimped to the media, and there was, trust me — these people would have known about it. 
  2. Where were these so-called  “Whistleblowers” when the United States of America was attacked on 9/11? I mean, if there was any sort of false information being pimped to the media, and there was, trust me — these people would have known about it. 

You want to know where these people where? I will tell you where they were; they were standing around with their noses straight up the goddamned ass of President George W. Bush and the neocon administration in the White House, that’s where!

This is why I have not been writing about this whole thing; because I knew the minute that the right began pimping this tragic event out for political purposes; that this political partisan witch hunt was starting. This is the same stuff that the Republican Party and it’s elected officials on the hill did in the 1990’s with the Clinton scandal and this is what they are doing now.  It is nothing more than that good ol’ partisan political theater — for the sole purpose of destroying their enemies.  It is sick, it is cynical, it is un-American and it should stop. What makes it much worse is that it is racist in nature — in more ways than one. The Nation’s first black President and you have old, White, Conservative, Christian Republicans going after him. But, yet, the Republicans are not the racists, the Democrats are — so they say. 🙄

It is, like all politics these days — nothing but a horrible joke. 😡

Update #2: Just as I suspected, this hearing is nothing more than a partisan witch hunt; this right here confirms it and yes, for once : I agree with Jay Carney.

Update #3: Seen this on facebook:

Under Bush:
Jan 22nd, 2002: US Consulate at Kolkata, 5 killed.
June 14, 2002: US Consulate at Karachi, 12 killed.
February 28, 2003 US Embassy at Islamabad: 2 killed.
June 30, 2004 US Embassy at Tashkent, 2 killed.
December 6, 2004 US Compound at Saudi Arabia, 9 killed.
March 2, 2006 US Consulate at Karachi (2nd time), 2 killed.
September 12, 2006: US Embassy at Syria, 4 killed.
March 18, 2008 US Embassy at Yemen, 2 Killed.
July 9, 2008 US Consulate at Istanbul, 6 killed.
September 17th, 2008 US Embassy at Yemen, 16 killed.
60 total
Outraged Republicans: Zero.

I can almost hear it now, “Yeah, but that was Bush and he actually loved this Country, unlike Obama.” 🙄

Update 4: Oh, By the way, Why am I saying all of this? Because like these two people in this video here; I happen to know there is really no difference between these two political parties anymore — That’s why!

Update 5: Cross-posted to My FiredogLake Update 6: Great, someone over at FDL marked my Diary as spam. Nice guys. I defend Obama and that’s the thanks I get? Nice. 🙄 Partisanship is such a drag. 🙁

Update 7: I think another point that people on the left are forgetting is this; the neoconservative hawks on the right were the ones that told Obama, “You have to something in Libya!” and you know what? He did. This idea was debated among the right, but the anti-hawks were overruled.  Boots were put on the ground to help the Libyan rebels. Then, we were actually foolish enough to open a United States embassy there.  All the while knowing that terrorists were operating in that Country. As a result, we lost an ambassador. So, as far as this writer is concerned,  the persons to blame for this horribly tragic event are the neoconservative hawks, like Bill Kristol, John Podhoretz and those whom agree with them.

 

Unreal: Sen. Graham claims Benghazi survivors ‘told to be quiet’ by administration

It’s stuff like this here, that makes my blood boil about this Presidential Administration.

The Video:

The Story:

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, in an extensive interview with Fox News, alleged that the injured survivors of the Benghazi terror attack have been “told to be quiet” and feel they can’t come forward to tell their stories — as he urged the House to subpoena the administration for details if necessary.

The South Carolina senator said he’s “had contact” with some of the survivors, calling their story “chilling.” He told Fox News that “the bottom line is they feel that they can’t come forth, they’ve been told to be quiet.”

The White House is denying any attempt to exert pressure on the surviving victims.

“I’m sure that the White House is not preventing anyone from speaking,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, when asked about the survivors.

But Graham said he thinks the administration is “trying to cover it up,” citing the valuable information the survivors hold.

“The best evidence of what happened in Benghazi is not a bunch of politicians in Washington trying to cover their political ass,” Graham said. “This is the people who lived through the debacle, and I’m going to do all I can to get them before the Congress and American people.

via Sen. Graham claims Benghazi survivors ‘told to be quiet’ by administration | Fox News.

I mean, this is not proof that Democrats cannot be trusted to run the Government, without royally screwing it up; I really do not know what is. I mean, with the Clinton’s it was the Waco Massacre and now this. To be fair, George H. W. Bush did not do very well at Ruby Ridge either; but Christ almighty, at least they were open about their screw ups.

The fact that this administration will not admit to any sort of cover up, and is pressuring the survivors to keep quiet, tells me that this Administration is in full on Nixon mode. They will do anything, include threaten people to keep their legacy. Which is why I refused to vote for this man at all. It is because he is a black racist; I believe that President Obama believes that the white people who were killed in Libya had it coming, because of what happened 300 years ago in this Country. I will believe that till the day that I die and nobody at all will ever be able to tell me any different. President Obama found those people to be expendable, and was willing to let them die.

Others: Weasel Zippers – Via Memeorandum

Some tough questions for Sen. John McCain

In light of the grilling that Chuck Hagel received at the hands of the Jewish right,  Paul Abrams has some very tough questions for John McCain:

1. You are trying to establish accountability for Benghazi where four Americans tragically died. For clarification, nearly 12 years later, could you tell us whom you hold accountable for 9/11/2001 when 3,000 Americans died?

2. No WMD were found in Iraq. Whom do you hold accountable for taking us into war based upon cherry-picking the information, deliberately misleading the American people and you?

3. Did you read the entire National Intelligence Estimate prior to voting for the Iraq War? What did you make of the doubts and uncertainties expressed in that document?

4. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, you said that we would be greeted as liberators and that the war would last 18 months. In fact, it lasted 9 years, 4,400 Americans were killed, 32,000 were seriously injured, and it cost more than $1 Trillion. Do you hold yourself accountable for that bad judgment? If so, what consequences are there to you for being so wrong?

5. Do you believe that the U.S. should support Israel’s foreign policy no matter what? If not, can you tell us what Israel has ever done with which you disagree?

These are questions that Independent thinking Americans, like myself, really want to know the answers to. Because the way I see if, the Republicans are going to bitch and gripe about Libya, then we should open it up to 9/11 as well. Who failed us? and why have they not been brought to justice too?

I admit it, in the beginning, I have some serious issues with what happened in Libya. I still think it could have been handled better than it was handled. But, the Republicans got the information that they wanted and yet, they still keep pressing for stuff that is just not there. You know why they keep pressing? Well, for one, partisanship and for two, they are resentful of a black President. It is just that simple. It is called racial resentment.

It is same thing that Obama did, when he let those 4 white guys die in Libya. He let them die, because they were white. Instead of the Republicans being better than Obama, they are playing the same game in reverse. It is sick and sad thing, and it sucks that the taxpayers money is paying for such monkeyshine nonsense!

Just my opinion.

Benghazi: What really happened

This is very interesting: (H/T InstaPundit)

David Petraeus was betrayed by his own bodyguards and vengeful high-ranking enemies in the CIA, who made sure his affair with his biographer was exposed to the public, a new book claims.

MailOnline can reveal a new angle on the story that rocked Washington last fall. It comes from two retired special operations commandos – a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret – who say they discovered a plot against the former CIA director while doing research about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Senior CIA officers targeted Petraeus because they didn’t like the way he was running the agency – focusing more on paramilitary operations than intelligence analysis. They used their political clout and their connections to force an FBI investigation of his affair with Paul Broadwell and make it public, according to ‘Benghazi: The Definitive Report.’

‘It was high-level career officers on the CIA who got the ball rolling on the investigation. It was basically a palace coupe to get Petraeus out of there,’ Jack Murphy, one of the authors, told MailOnline. — Via U.K. DailyMail

Needless to say, this is going to be an explosive book and could bring down people in the Obama Administration.

Get the Book:

Believe it or not, Hillary might actually be telling the truth

I am, of course, talking about the story below: 

“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” Clinton responded, raising her voice at Johnson, who continued to interrupt her. “Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk last night who decided to kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.” Clinton continued, defending the State Department’s efforts in the wake of the assault. “Honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is people were trying their best in real time to get to the best information,” she said. — via Hillary Clinton, Ron Johnson Engage In Heated Exchange At Benghazi Hearing (VIDEO)

I will not bother posting the video, as I saw it and the Rand Paul video. Now there is a chance that Hillary might actually be telling the truth about her knoweldge about Libya. The reason I say this is because it is now very well known that President Bush was totally out of the loop on the situtation in Iraq until it was much too late for him to really do anything about it. I mean, Bush was out of loop in 2006 very badly, as his lower in command did not want him to be upset about the outbreak of violence there. 

I know it sounds crazy, but, the ol’ gal might be actually being truthful here. Now, as for her statement of, “What does it matter?” Oh, that is not going to play well for her, if she decided to run for President. Because you have to know that the Republicans and yes, maybe even the Democrats will play that one against here. All it would take is a well-funded Democrat who is a bit of a blue dog to play that for all it is worth. 

What is sad though, is that the right is turning the Libya thing into a partisan witch hunt; and that is sad for the familes of those killed on that fateful day. 

Memeorandum roundup here. 

Gingrich should put up or shut up

I would hate to think that Gingrich is playing politics with this stuff.

On Tuesday night’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on the Fox News Channel, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that major news networks might have secret emails proving that the White House canceled plans to assist the besieged U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

Gingrich said that the bombshell emails could be revealed within the next two days.

“There is a rumor — I want to be clear, it’s a rumor — that at least two networks have emails from the National Security Adviser’s office telling a counterterrorism group to stand down,” Gingrich said. “But they were a group in real-time trying to mobilize marines and C-130s and the fighter aircraft, and they were told explicitly by the White House stand down and do nothing. This is not a terrorist action. If that is true, and I’ve been told this by a fairly reliable U.S. senator, if that is true and comes out, I think it raises enormous questions about the president’s role, and Tom Donilon, the National Security Adviser’s role, the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who has taken it on his own shoulders, that he said don’t go. And that is, I think, very dubious, given that the president said he had instructions they are supposed to do everything they could to secure American personnel.”

via Gingrich: Senator told me networks may have White House emails commanding counterterrorism group to stand down on Benghazi rescue | The Daily Caller.

Well, it is like this here; if Gingrich knows which Networks has them, he should really name them or shut up. This is not a good time for political brinksmanship. Plus, this Libya thing is a military tragedy and should not really politicized.

Just my opinion.

Others:  CNSNews, Hot Air, The Powers That Be, protein wisdom, The Gateway Pundit and The Other McCain

Seal’s Dad: “Better to die the death of a hero than it is to live the life of a coward”

I don’t know about y’all. But there’s a particular Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww factor about seeing Geraldo kiss another guy…. Sick

The Story via Daily Caller:

In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Geraldo at Large” Sunday night, Charles Woods, father of slain Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, said President Barack Obama did not do all he could to save the four Americans who were killed in a terrorist raid on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Obama should have reacted sooner, he said, because the consulate was American soil.

“I was contacted by military personnel yesterday, who told me an interesting fact. And that is any consulate anywhere in the world is American soil,” Woods said. “Any attack on an American consulate is an attack on American soil. There were American citizens that were attacked for seven hours on American soil a couple thousand miles away from Washington, D.C.”

[…]

“First of all, I am not angry at all,” Woods said. “In fact, Mr. President, if I had the opportunity of speaking to you face to face, and I would really love to, I would say this: ‘Mr. President, I respect your office. However, if you are responsible for the death of my son, I totally forgive you.’”

“This is about honor, courage and about love for America. And remember this, Mr. President:  My son and the others died heroes and it’s better to die the death of a hero than it is to live the life of a coward. If you are responsible for the death of my son, I forgive you, I love you. I also love America.

Great way of putting it, gross way of handling it!

Others: National Review, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys and The Right Scoop

Two Very Interesting videos

This is regarding Libya, that, as we know, is rapidly turning into a huge fluster cuck.

These video come via Ed Morrissey and HotAir.com:

Now, watch this video of Rush Limbaugh taking a caller from the Military:


Bill O’Reilly is right, all the President has to do, is tell the truth and he will not. This very well could cost him the election; and in this writer’s opinion, that would be a good thing.