When the latest memo to come out of the Benghazi investigation came out\u2026<\/p>\n
OK, let me back up. Actually, the memo was never given to the Congressional investigation. It took a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit<\/a> by Judicial Watch for this memo to come out. So for starters, it really looks like the administration did not want this out in public.<\/p>\n The thrust of the message was clear: Protect Obama\u2019s image (and re-election efforts) at all costs; American interests and the American public\u2019s right to know be damned. It contained four bullet points:<\/p>\n \u2013\u201dTo convey that the United States is doing everything that we can to protect our people and facilities abroad;<\/p>\n \u2013\u201dTo underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy;<\/p>\n \u2013\u201dTo show that we will be resolute in bringing people who harm Americans to justice, and standing steadfast through these protests;<\/p>\n \u2013\u201dTo reinforce the President and Administration\u2019s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Remember, this all happened in the heat of the President’s re-election campaign. As to the bullet points, we now know that the US was not<\/em> doing everything it could to protect the consulate, the protest were not<\/em> rotted in an Internet video (and the administration knew that almost immediately after the incident), we did not<\/em> bring anyone to justice (not even now, 20 months after the incident), which goes to show that the President and the Administration do not<\/em> have strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.<\/p>\n But the kiester-covering was in full swing and scapegoats were worth their weight in gold.<\/p>\n In his congressional testimony, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell said that then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is the one who linked the video to the Benghazi attacks but that the video was not part of the CIA analysis. In other words, the administration made it up out of whole cloth to deflect blame for its policy failures in relaxing the war on terror\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Indeed, the day after the event:<\/p>\n An email on Sept. 12, 2012, to Rice from Payton Knopf, deputy spokesman at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, confirmed the attacks were \u201cplanned in advance\u201d and \u201ccomplex,\u201d not spontaneous in reaction to a video.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Poor Jay Carney had the unenviable job of trying to deny that these memos had anything to do with Benghazi<\/a>, even though they were provided due to a FOIA request about\u2026Benghazi.<\/p>\n The fact that they, indeed, speak to the Benghazi issues specifically, but the administration hung on to these memos and did not give them to Darrell Issa and the committee, shows just how revealing they are.<\/p>\n But only now<\/em> are the mainstream media noticing this story. The Benghazi hearings have been pitifully covered. The idea that this has been a “Fox News story” (as though they made it up) only came because they gave it the coverage it deserved, while the rest of the media sat on its collective hands. Now, even ABC news reporters<\/a> found themselves amazed at the stonewalling and dissembling.<\/p>\n