I agree with Nebe...Bush was to busy squeezing utters on the ranch to care...:)

Spence, you laughed!
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:cheers:
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The NYT article as well as this one don't actually bolster the Administration's claims, they try to deflect from the incompetence of the Administrations handling of the affair. Like the magician who actively uses one hand to create "magic" and all the while distracts the viewer from focusing on the other hand which is manipulating the "slight of hand." Both articles focus, on the one hand, on the rather bogus issue of al Qaeda participation rather than, on the other hand, the actual security issues and disregard for calls to help. As Hillary would say "what does it matter" if it was al Qaeda or unconnected local militias? The results are the same. Handling the situation would not have to differ in either case.

But, though focusing on al Qaeda or no al Qaeda distracts from the handling, focusing on your author's assertion that "turning al Qaeda into a radically loose term is different from observing, correctly, that al Qaeda today involves decentralized local affiliates" does something other than bolster the Administrations "narrative." It shows its incompetence in another, more dangerous way. The author of your article makes the statement as if it were a new, profound, revelation.

The fact is, what he describes has been known for quite a while. Witness Wiki's definitions. There have been many articles, interviews, radio talk shows with Middle East "experts" and Jihadist "experts" who have specifically pointed out that al Qaeda is comprised not only of a small "core," but is disseminated through many diverse affiliated groups, many of which, as they did in Benghazi, fly the black flag. It has been known that "core" al Qaeda has long since disguised itself through infiltrated or created groups with other names. And though your author's assertion that the Administration not being aware of the diversity should allow "in a rational political environment, the President's opponents" to "see this as damning", the contrary fact that they don't see the connection, the similarities of the diverse elements, is even more incompetent.

Both your article and the NYT article actually condemn the Administration in their attempt to exonerate it.

For further explanation of al Qaeda involvement see
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/rya...ltrated-libya/

See also:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...te_772398.html

And see also a more lengthy:
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/aq-libya-loc.pdf

Even the attack on the Cairo embassy was not inspired by the video.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...rew-c-mccarthy

one politician was talkin junk about rebuilding syria
with what? our looks?

if we don't take a step backwards we'll have
good samaritaned ourselves to death monitarilly

meanwhile CHINA is gonna Spank jAPAN

Benghazzzzzzzzzzzzzzziiiii:

http://www.redstate.com/2014/04/30/h...azi-video-lie/

Both her and her husband lie. It's who they are & what they do.......
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Well, at least that's an unbiased opinion :jump1:

All this smoking gun talk is hilarious. The letter doesn't appear to contradict anything from the numerous investigations. Further, if you actually read the email -- rather than just the snipped being reported -- the author goes into detail specifically about the protests at various sites that certainly were a result of the video...

Of course, that's not really important as 99.9% won't bother.

-spence

Well, since the memo was sent just after the Benghazi fiasco, it would stand to reason that Benghazi was at least a part of the motivation for writing it. If not, it would be an abnormally strong message. And it desperately tries to tie the "protests" to the video and not to policy as in the memo's second bullet point:

"To underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video, and not a broader failure of policy."

Why would it be necessary to create a talking point for Susan Rice which would emphasize that it wasn't policy failure? And why be so emphatic that it was about a video when they already had much stronger evidence that it was a coordinated terrorist attack not related to the video . . . and an attack planned by Al Qaida affiliates?

And the first bullet point:

"To convey that the United States is doing everything that we can to protect our people and facilities abroad."

Why was that talking point necessary. Haven't we always assumed that we would do everything required to protect our people? Why, if not to deflect from not having done so in Benghazi?

And if the memo was not about Benghazi, why was it provided in a request through the freedom of information for Benghazi documents?

The memo was about making the administration look good in a bad situation. I understand that the purpose of talking points is mostly to do that. But when they willingly stray far from the truth to paint a picture, or the promise of a picture, of steady, successful leadership in circumstances of abject failure, they are . . . I'll let you provide the word for what they are . . . even a biased one.

shifty = Clinton defines Shifty
and none of them LIE
they just bend the truth

At the time there were protests in response to the video, some violent, in around a half dozen countries swept up in the Arab Spring...this was a big story.

The entire purpose for a document such as this is to prepare someone for hypothetical questions they *could* be asked by a media attempting to challenge the Administration's policy...

The context for the email seems to be the regional situation which was largely a response to the video, and the investigations clearly show it was the CIA who ultimately influenced the talking points.

Again, they were trying to prepare Rice to be ready for potential lines of questioning. The embassy staff in Egypt clearly were feeling threatened by the video protest and this is something that they felt deserved being addressed.

Well, that's an aspect of process. I've read that the email wasn't included in a previous request for Benghazi documents as it was assumed it wasn't specifically about Benghazi. Reading the full email rather than the snippets seems to indicate this is partially accurate. Perhaps it should have been, but I don't see anything that would indicate something substantial was withheld.

Given at the time they didn't know the truth -- as Rice indicated -- I'm not sure how you could accuse them of straying from it.

Is any of the Benghazi conspiracy theory backed by evidence? Most of the systemic mistakes that were made have been long since called out.

-spence

I heard on the hearings today it hadn't been released previously because it was classified. What would have made it classified if it were such mundane info as they try to make you believe?

Likely it wasn't declassified rightly or wrongly because do the reason I mentioned above...I would assume most of these communications were classified, as are most dealing with national security. But even if classified I'd also assume that it would have been available to both the Mullen and House investigations long ago...

More importantly, doesn't the GOP realize they've cried wolf so many times people just don't listen any more?
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And that is the plan isnt it. Let the people who care talk all they want, have the national media totally ignore the story and lie as often as you can ,until the people trying to reach the truth look like the bad guys.
To anybody with a shred of common sense, the lying is incredibly in-your-face. Maybe in the end, karma will bring down the Democratic Party
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One more rant about this because it bothers me to the core.
They lied about the video. The protest in Egypt might've been about the video but the further violence that escalated in regards to the video, was a direct result of the Obama administration lying and continually pushing the video story. Susan Rice did not have to get on every show she could Z,and push that story ,especially knowing that they knew nothing about it. Obama and Hillary did not have to rent time on a middle east TV and apologize for the video . Hillary Clinton told the parents of those dead heroes that the Obama administration would get the guy who made that video. That is despicable!!
And for people to defend that action is totally disgusting.
This is not going away in my mind.
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Are you just making this stuff up? If it bothers you to the core I'd think you'd try to actually understand the situation.

The protests happened primarily before Rice ever hit the talk shows. The Admin released a video not to apologize but to affirm our tolerance because people were dying in Pakistan.

A huge part of this story that's been lost is how big the reaction to the video really was. I said a half dozen protests above, that's just at US diplomatic missions, there were dozens and dozens of protests globally, many violent, with several dozen killed. Put the email (if you actually read it) in context of reality and it's quite appropriate.

Some are so consumed with attacking Obama and Hillary they want the entire story to be about a lie regardless of the truth...perhaps that is the lie.

-spence

The protest became a big story because the Obama administration wanted to be the story. They are responsible for much of the violence in Pakistan and other places . You have your timeframe wrong Spence .
You are the one that makes #^&#^&#^&#^& up
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And what, exactly, di dthe administration do, afetr the attack started, to protect our people? There was a special forces team in Croatia (I think?) that coul dhave been on the ground at the embassy in less than 4 hours, according to the generl in charge of that part of the world. We had jets that could have been there in less than that.

Did Obama order the military to do anything? anything at all?

If Obama and Clinton sens someone to a dangerous placem and they come under attack, you do everything you can.

"Likely" and "Assume" are some pretty wishy wash words. That e mail was only released after Judicial Watch ,the non partisan watch dog group , sued over the Freedom of Information Act.

No,"More importantly ",the Terrorists who killed the 4 Americans, have not been brought to justice as Obama promised, and in addition 4 days after the attack when the bodies were flown home and Hilary met with the parents, when the CIA had already called it a Terrorist attack at 3:15 AM the day of the attack the parents were told it was caused by the video. That is not a "likely " or "assumed" story, it's a fact, I saw the interview with one of the Mothers.

Let's put aside the cover-up, which, I can "assume", was "likely" orchestrated to prevent an adverse impact on the election.

Spence, the top military general in that region said he was never ordered to move any of his assets into Libya in the immediate moments after the attack started. Why the f*ck not?

Hilary promised the families o fthe fallen that the murderers would be brought to justice. How many have been arrested?

Amazing how Obama started this entire thing. Latest word is the Administration used tax revenue from abortions to secretly fund the video to distract from a much larger conspiracy. *Hint* It's made from people :eek:

-spence

If you'd pay attention to a single ounce of reporting on the subject you'd know that the military leadership has been very consistent that we didn't have resources positioned to respond in time. I believe as a measure they did move some troops closer if there was a follow on event.

Hell, in the House's desparate attempts to troll through this again the idea was shot down yet again...just yesterday Air Force Brigadier General Robert Lovell said:

-spence

"the military leadership has been very consistent that we didn't have resources positioned to respond in time. "

Spence, one simple question...when the attack first happened, neither Obama nor his military leadership had absolutely any way of knowing how long the attack was going to last, correct? So how could he know, at that time, whether or not he could have sent help before it was over. The attack could have lasted for days. They could not have known, at the time the first decisions were being made, how long the attack was going to last.

When an attack is underway, American commanders don't ask (at least, until Obama they didn't ask) "gee, the Americans would probably all be dead before we could get boots on the ground, so why bother? I'm off to Pebble Beach!"

I cannot wait for your response. I sinmply cannot wait...

When you send Americans to a dangerous place, and they come under attack while serving the President, then you move heaven and earth to get them out of harm's way. It doesn't matter that it may be unlikely that you can get help there in time. You do anything you can possibly do. Even if it turns out that it was mathematically impossible to get help there before they were all dead, Obama should still get crucified for not trying. When Americans are under attack in a situation like that, you aren't supposed to do a cost-benefit-analysis before you send in th ecavalry.

You said they couldn't send help "in time". The problem with that Obama apology, is that at the time, no one had any idea what "in time" meant. Right?

Have they been "consistent"? Here's another quote from Lovell's recent testimony...U.S. forces "should have tried" to get to the outpost in time to help save the lives of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. He blamed the State Department for not making stronger requests for action.

""The military could have made a response of some sort," he (Lovell) said.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/general-sa...030646726.html

Read your own article...

And when pressed during testimony Lovell walked back his statement as I quoted above.

Funny how misleading it is when you only read 1/2 of the story...

-spence

I think the issue here is you don't know what you're talking about.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118500

Make a little effort to try and understand.

-spence

The funeral was two days after the attack. At that point they were still investigating. Hell, three days after the funeral Rice's talking points from the CIA indicated the evidence pointing towards the video.

But props to FOX News for using a grieving parent to bump their ratings.

-spence

Sorry Spence, it was YOU, not me, who quoted Lovell as if he was an authoritative source. Your source, the man you quoted, said we should have done more. I'm sorry if that pokes holes in your theory, but that's your fault for bringing Lovell into this. You did that, not me.

"Make a little effort to try and understand"

I understand you perfectly. All you do is find some source, any source, anywhere, to applaud Obama, no matter what he has done. When, as in this case, that source seems to be critical of Obama, you cast your original source aside and find another source.

Spence, on any issue, you can post sources that praise Obama, I can post sources that attack him. How come you won't post what you think for yourself? Hint: I already know the answer, we all do.

OK, so when a Republican congressman says that your source doesn't know what he's talking about, that's good enough for you to discredit him?

Spence, you, not I, quoted this guy. I guess you're saying that as long as anyone says Obama is perfect, they are a credible source. When anyone suggests Obama may have acted less than flawlessly, then they don't kno what they're talking about.

You are quoting a Republican to discredit your own source...you cannot make that up.