Benghazi Whistle-blowers Come Up A Breath Short

Eyewitnesses with potentially damaging information on the Obama administration’s handling of last year’s terror attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, are testifying at a hearing this week. The right-wing propaganda machine already promoted this trial as cause for the impeachment of President Obama. On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry accused critics of spreading ?an enormous amount of misinformation? about the attack.

Mike Huckabee, a Fox News commentator?and 2012 presidential hopeful, predicted that the president will be forced from office before the end of his term, by the controversy over the?Benghazi consulate attack?last September (Source). According to Huckabee, while the?Watergate scandal?was ?bad,? Benghazi is worse because four Americans died there, including?Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

?I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term. I know that puts me out on a limb,? the former Arkansas governor said on The Mike Huckabee Show. ?But this is not minor. It wasn’t minor when Richard Nixon lied to the American people and worked with those in his administration to cover-up what really happened in Watergate. But, I remind you ? as bad as Watergate was, because it broke the trust between the president and the people, no one died. This is more serious because four Americans did in fact die.?

Watch Huckabee’s video:

 

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a member of the oversight sub-panel on national security, told Fox News that the eyewitnesses would ?expose new facts and details that the Obama administration has tried to suppress.?

?You know that hearsay evidence is not so interesting. Firsthand accounts by eyewitnesses are much more compelling. I am not at liberty to disclose the identity of the witnesses, but I will just say ? it is going to be a very informational and instructive hearing. I would encourage you to follow it. Benghazi is warming up. It is not going away despite the efforts of this administration.?People who have actually seen the documents, who have actually conducted a real investigation, completely reject the allegation that they were made for political purposes.”

Watch Gowdy’s video:

 

The conservative bolstering over this hearing seems to be in vain. The whistle-blowers? testimonies actually conflicted with the allegations presented against the Obama administration. Democrats also rejected the notion that early talking points on the attack were deliberately changed, to downplay terrorism for political reasons.


Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) questioned Gregory Hicks, Foreign Service Officer and the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, about his allegation?that fighter jets could have been flown over Benghazi, preventing the second wave of the attacks from occurring. Cummings asked Hicks whether he disagreed with Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey’s assessment that no?air assets were in range the night of the attack. Hicks?didn’t?disagree, saying he was ?speaking from [his] perspective? and what ?veteran Libyan revolutionaries? told him, rather than Pentagon assessments.

House Republicans concluded in their?interim report?on Benghazi that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lied about her knowledge of the attack during her testimony this January. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) preceded asking all three witnesses about?standard protocol for outgoing cables and telegrams leaving the State Department. All three agreed with Maloney: the Secretary of State’s name is placed at the bottom of all outgoing messages, obliterating the GOP claim.

Republicans have been attacking the State Department’s official in-house review of the shortcomings seen before, during, and after the assault in Benghazi. That criticism prompted House Republicans to write their own report. When asked point blank about the recommendations of the Board, however, the witnesses?didn’t?cooperate with the GOP narrative. ?Absolutely,? Eric Nordstrom, the Regional Security Officer for Libya prior to the assault in Benghazi, answered when asked if he believes implementing the recommendations would improve security. ?I had an opportunity to review that, along with two other committee reports. I think taken all together [are] fairly comprehensive and reasonable.?

Hicks did have some pejorative things to say about the State Department trying to block him from cooperating with Issa’s committee. But that?wasn’t?quite the evidence of anything, but that politics drove the administration’s response to Benghazi.


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Edited by AEK

Published by TW

 

I am a liberal from the overly conservative state of North Carolina, and to make a bigger distinction, I am a Secular Humanist. My goal is to objectively study and relay information in the pursuit of enlightenment; to confront and persuade people away from the pervasive ignorance of inequality. I aim to understand and appreciate all basic values in hopes to form a mutual understanding between my fellow women and men.