Remember
when Barack Obama said his would be the most transparent administration in
history? Remember when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used to
tout the findings of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board as
evidence of her desire for transparency, as well as her absolution?
Paging
Emily Litella...
A
standard defense for Hillary Rodham Clinton when facing questions about
Benghazi, Libya, has been to cite her commissioning of a report from the State
Department’s Accountability Review Board (ARB), which took a deep look at the
attacks that claimed the lives of four U.S. personnel on Sept. 11, 2012. In
testimony before Congress in January 2013, Clinton said: “I hurried to appoint the Accountability Review
Board led by Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen so we could more
fully understand from objective, independent examination, what went wrong and
how to fix it. I have accepted every one of their recommendations.”
In an
interview with Clinton that aired last night on ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer
threw the ARB right back in the face of the former secretary of state. The two
tangled over the preparedness of the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi
for a terrorist attack. In defending her work on this front, Clinton stressed
that she had delegated the particulars of security to the experts in the field.
“I’m not equipped to sit and look at blueprints to determine where the blast
walls need to be, where the reinforcements need to be. That’s why we hire
people who have that expertise,” said Clinton, who did the interview as part of
the tour for her book “Hard Choices.”
Sensing
an opening, Sawyer cited the document that Clinton herself has so often
cited: “This is the ARB: the mission was far short of standards;
weak perimeter; incomplete fence; video surveillance needed repair. They said
it’s a systemic failure.”
The
anchor continued pressing, asking Clinton whether the people might be seeking
from her a “sentence that begins from you ‘I should have…’?” Clinton sort of
ducked that one. The accountability-heavy moment came when Sawyer’s slow and
steady line of questioning on Benghazi security prompted Clinton to utter this
self-contradictory and sure-to-be-repeated statement: “I take responsibility,
but I was not making security decisions.”
For the
record, possible-presidential-candidates-in-abeyance should never attach
conjunctions to their declarations of responsibility-taking.
Another
telling moment came when Sawyer placed before Clinton all the warnings that bad
things were afoot in Benghazi. “Did you miss it? Did you miss the moment to
prevent this from happening?” Sawyer asked. Clinton’s response started with
these two words: “No, but …”
And remember how Obama, Clinton, Carney, et al, all sang Hosannas
about the alleged independence of the ARB?
Well…
Yesterday,
the House Select Committee on Benghazi began a new phase of its probe into the
collapse of America’s policy on Libya. Cheryl Mills, chief of staff to
then-Secretary Hillary Clinton, appeared before the panel to detail what she
knew about the attack on the compound and the State Department’s response to
it. No details of her testimony have emerged, but one Congressman noted that
Mills had a few memory problems, especially when Republicans asked the
questions...
Politico’s Rachel Bade had more
luck in finding out what Mills told the panel. According to
Bade, Republicans grew “alarmed” when Mills told them that she reviewed the
Accountability Review Board’s report and asked for changes to it before its
publication. The Obama administration has insisted all along that the ARB acted
completely independently of State’s influence:
But
raising alarms on the right, Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff at the
State Department, also told the House Select Committee on Benghazi that she
reviewed and made suggestions for changes to the government’s official, final
report on what happened in Benghazi, according to a separate, GOP source
familiar with what she said.
The
source said it “call[s] into question the ‘independence’” of the report’s
conclusions. …
One of
the biggest surprises to the right was that she said she made suggestions to
change state’s accountability review board report. The report was supposed to
be independent from state officials that may be involved, and the GOP argues
top officials should not have had input, long questioning how independent the
findings were.
IT
DOESN’T CALL IT INTO QUESTION; CHERYL MILLS’ TESTIMONY DEBUNKS THE CLAIM OF
INDEPENDENCE ALTOGETHER. That should have been
disregarded from the beginning.
Let’s not
forget that Ambassador Thomas Pickering decided early on to focus on those
below the political-appointment rank in the ARB’s investigation, never
bothering to interview people like Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary of State
whose responsibilities included facility security. Now we find out that
Pickering apparently ran the report by Mills for her approval and editing,
which a truly independent investigation would hardly do. It’s yet another
reason for a Congressional investigation into Benghazi, and the Libya policies
that led up to it.
- Ed Morrissey, Mills: I reviewed the ARB report
on Benghazi before publication, made “suggestions” for changes, 4
September 2015
Ambassador Pickering didn't even really query the Secretary of
State, HRH Hillary Rodham Clinton.
BOB SCHIEFFER: But let me understand what you're saying.
You had Secretary Clinton but you didn't ask her any questions? And why not?
AMBASSADOR PICKERING: Because in fact, we knew where the
responsibility rested. She had already stated on a number of occasions, she
accepted as a result of her job, the full responsibility. On the other hand,
legislation setting up our board made it very clear that they didn't want a
situation in which a department or agency had accepted responsibility and then
nobody looked at where the decisions were made. And how and what way those
decisions affected performance on security. And whether people where thus
responsible for failures or performance. That's what we were asked to do and
that's what we did.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, do you think in retrospect it might
have been a good idea to question her? And some of these other ranking
officials?
AMBASSADOR PICKERING: I think that we knew and understood because
we had questioned people who had attended meetings with her. What went on at
those meetings and how they were handled? What was relevant? I don't believe
that it was necessary to do that. I don't think that there was anything there
that we didn't know.
He said this even though:
1. Hillary Clinton had to issue a waiver for the consulate
in Benghazi because security failed to meet its own basic security standards
and those set forth in Federal law.
2. Hillary Clinton knew the Benghazi consulate had been
bombed twice in the 5 months leading up to 09.11.12.
3. Hillary Clinton knew specific threats had been made
against the ambassador, the consulate, and other assets in Benghazi.
4. Hillary Clinton knew there were increasing threats to
and attacks on the Libyan nationals hired to provide security at the U.S.
missions in Tripoli and Benghazi had been made during the 6 months prior to the
attack.
5. Hillary Clinton knew that on 10 June 2012, an
assassination attempt had been made on the British ambassador, which led to the
entire mission being abandoned.
6. Hillary Clinton knew that many diplomatic cables,
including those specifically addressed to her, warned of security concerns in
Benghazi and flatly said the consulate could not withstand a coordinated
attack.
7. Hillary Clinton knew that the Red Cross had been attacked
in May and al Qaeda had left threats there on the day of the attack mentioning
the American consulate.
8. Hillary Clinton knew that on 22 June 2012, AMBASSADOR
STEVENS, PERSONALLY, WARNED BOTH HER AND HER UNDERLINGS AT STATE THAT EXTREMIST
GROUPS WERE CARRYING OUT TERRORIST ATTACKS, MAKING THREATS AGAINST WESTERN
TARGETS, AND HE BELIEVED THAT HE WAS A TARGET.
9. Hillary Clinton knew that on 9 July 2012, Stevens
requested at least 13 more security personnel. She denied this increase in
security while approving $250,000 in electric car charging stations and
associated items for the embassy in Vienna, as well as ordering an increase in
security at the embassy in Bermuda.
10. Hillary Clinton knew that on 21 July 2012, the private
security contractor, Nordstrom, warned State to be on high alert for terrorist
activity. State refused to renew Nordstrom's contract on 5 August.
11. Hillary Clinton knew that Nordstrom had been replaced it with
a Welsh group, Blue Mountain, which had little knowledge of the conditions in
Libya and hired inexperienced locals, who were often unarmed, for $4 an hour.
12. Hillary Clinton knew that on 2 August 2012, Stevens sent HER an
urgent cable requesting a “protective detail bodyguard.”
13. Hillary Clinton knew that on 16 August 2012, the consulate
security team leaves while SENDING A MESSAGE DIRECTLY TO **HER** OF THE DIRE
SECURITY SITUATION.
14. Hillary Clinton knew that on 8 September 2012,
Libyan officials in Benghazi warned both she and Ambassador Stevens of a
pending attack on the consulate.
15. Hillary Clinton knew that 4 hours before he was killed,
Stevens cabled Washington. HE TOLD SECRETARY CLINTON AND HER OFFICE THAT THERE
WERE AT LEAST 10 AL QAEDA GROUPS OPENLY TRAINING IN BENGHAZI AND HE/AND THE
CONSULATE WERE OPERATING UNDER EXTREMIS CONDITIONS.
16. Sean Smith told his fellow gamers online hours before he
died 'HOPE I
DON'T DIE.' He told his mother less than an hour before he died
that he had seen someone taking pictures, reported it, and asked for
reinforcements. ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS, HE TOLD HIS MUM THAT AMBASSADOR
STEVENS, HE AND OTHERS HAD REPEATEDLY FOR BETTER SECURITY.
17. Hillary Clinton knew that it was the 11th anniversary of
the original 9/11.
18. Hillary Clinton knew on 09.12.12 that the CIA station
chief in Libya reported that eyewitnesses confirmed the participation of
Islamic militants and makes it clear that U.S. facilities in Benghazi had come
under a terrorist attack.
19. Hillary Clinton knew on 09.12.12 that Beth Jones, acting
assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs at the State Department, sent an
email stating 'the group that conducted the attacks, Ansar al Sharia, is
affiliated with Islamic terrorists.'
20. Hillary Clinton knew - in real time - that
the attack on Benghazi was being carried out by affiliates of al Qaeda and not
'a protest or [some] guys out for a walk one night and decided they’d go kill
some Americans.'
But, being the congenital liar that she is, Hillary Clinton
immediately set out telling blatant falsehoods.
On 09.12.12 @04:07 (09.11.12 @10:07 PM EST), Secretary
Clinton issued a statement acknowledging the death of one State Dept. officer,
Sean Smith, and blamed an Internet video for violence. The statement
includes:
'We are
working to determine the precise motivations and methods of those who carried
out this assault. Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with
the protest that took place at our embassy in Cairo yesterday, AS A RESPONSE
TO INFLAMMATORY MATERIAL POSTED ON THE INTERNET. AMERICA'S COMMITMENT TO
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE GOES BACK TO THE VERY BEGINNING OF OUR NATION. BUT LET ME
BE CLEAR: THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS; NONE.'
Even though she and the rest of the administration knew the real
reason why the Benghazi compound was attacked, they continued to lie. Hillary
Clinton and President Obama even took to Pakistani airwaves blaming the You
Tube video and assuring the country that ‘this is not who we are',
‘Islam is the Religion of Peace’, yada, yada, yada.
So shameless in her lies, Hillary Clinton, as she stood over the
bodies of their children and ‘her good friend, Chris’ at Andrews Air Force
Base, told the mother of Sean Smith and the father of Ty Woods:
‘We are going to have the filmmaker arrested.’
And, that is exactly what happened. On 09.27.12, US Federal
authorities arrested Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in Los Angeles charging him with
8 counts of probation violation. Some of the charges related to
statements he made relative to the film and the alias 'Sam Bacile,' but none
was for the use of the internet, which his probation terms prevented. He
was put in solitary confinement, denied bail, and had his first court hearing
set for the day after the American presidential elections. HE STAYED
THERE FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR.
Between the attack on Benghazi and 2012 presidential election,
Barack Obama described al Qaeda as being ‘decimated’, ‘on the run’, and ‘on the
path to defeat’ at least 32 times, according to White House transcripts.
This despite the fact that Libyan President Mohamed Yousef El-Magarief,
members of the intelligence community, members of Congress, and numerous press
reports from the New York Times, the Washington Post,
and international media, including many in the Middle East, confirming that al
Qaeda had played a role in the attack.
On 11.01.12, Obama said:
‘Thanks to sacrifice and
service of our brave men and women in uniform, THE WAR IN IRAQ IS
OVER, the war in Afghanistan is winding down, AL
QAEDA HAS BEEN DECIMATED, Osama bin Laden is dead.’
Obama:
'We're leaving
behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq.’
And, we certainly cannot avoid giving HRH Hillary Rodham Clinton
credit for her Libyan Adventure because it is most certainly due.
Hillary:
‘We came. We
saw. He died.’
And, Europe thanks you for the millions of refugees....
Pantsuits, you could always blame it on a video.
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