DC Trawler

Today in the State Department’s ongoing Benghazi cover-up

Font Size:

We already know that the Obama administration and the State Department lied about Benghazi for weeks, blaming it on a private citizen’s exercise of his free speech rights when they knew from the start that it was a terrorist attack. Not only that, but they had ample warning of the attack and yet they were caught flatfooted.

Now their cover story, concocted to cover up their own ineptitude, has completely collapsed. Now they’re telling you not only that the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens was a terrorist attack, but that they’ve said so all along.

Orwell was an amateur.

So, that happened. That’s known, at least if you’ve been paying attention. Here are a few more odds and ends as of this afternoon.

WaPo:

BENGHAZI, Libya — Three weeks after the attack that killed four Americans in this city, the investigation of its causes remains in its initial stages, with just a handful of suspects detained, the crime scenes minimally secured and Walid Faraj waiting for a phone call from someone, anyone, asking him what he saw on the night he was injured while protecting the U.S. diplomatic post here.

Faraj, a member of the militia that local officials tasked with securing Americans in Benghazi, said he saw the attack nearly from start to finish. But neither American nor Libyan investigators have paid him a visit, even as he fears that the perpetrators know who he is…

Meanwhile, an FBI team flown into Libya remains in Tripoli, hundreds of miles from Benghazi. A Libyan official involved in the inquiry said Tuesday that he was aware of only three suspects in custody. Meanwhile, members of the militant group suspected of playing a primary role in the attack have gone underground, apparently taking their weapons with them.

Faraj said he wondered whether anyone was trying to find out what happened the evening that U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed along with three other Americans.

“Since that day, nobody has called, nobody cared,” said Faraj, 28, who lost a tooth in the attack and whose legs are peppered with small wounds from the firefight. “How is it the Americans didn’t anticipate anything?”

Great job, guys.

But don’t worry, America. Hillary is promising answers. Eventually. Foreign Policy:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrel Issa (R-CA) Tuesday afternoon to pledge the State Department’s full cooperation with Congress in getting to the bottom of the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi consulate that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

“I appreciate that you and your committee are deeply interested in finding out what happened leading up to and during the attacks in Benghazi, and are looking for ways to prevent it from happening again. I share that commitment,” Clinton wrote in the letter, obtained by The Cable. “Nobody will hold this department more accountable than we hold ourselves — we served with Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods.”

That’s right: Nobody holds the State Department more accountable than the State Department. That’s pretty funny.

But wait, here’s the best part:

Clinton asked Issa to withhold any final conclusions about the Benghazi attack until the review board finishes its work and reports to Congress, which could come as early as November or as late as early next year.

What else happens in November? Anything important? Is there a particular reason Hillary wants to put the Benghazi investigation on hold until after a certain date? Nahhhhh.

Now that “It was all because of a YouTube video! Stop hating us!” has fallen apart, the administration is trying to switch back to “Suck it, Bin Laden” mode. Ed Morrissey:

The New York Times reports this morning that the US has begun preparing for a military attack on the “militants” involved in the terrorist attack, but that may run into some complications:

The United States is laying the groundwork for operations to kill or capture militants implicated in the deadly attack on a diplomatic mission in Libya, senior military and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday, as the weak Libyan government appears unable to arrest or even question fighters involved in the assault.

The top-secret Joint Special Operations Command is compiling so-called target packages of detailed information about the suspects, the officials said. Working with the Pentagon and the C.I.A., the command is preparing the dossiers as the first step in anticipation of possible orders from President Obama to take action against those determined to have played a role in the attack on a diplomatic mission in the eastern city of Benghazi that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three colleagues three weeks ago.

Let’s pause for a moment here. If this is so “top-secret,” then how can the NYT be reporting on it? Simple: the administration is leaking this in the desperate attempt to look like they’re back on top of this situation. The Obama administration has discovered what happens when the White House lies, and lies badly, about terrorist attacks and their preparation for those attempts, and now they want to undo some of the damage by looking tough.

Anything to avoid admitting error. Especially this close to the election.

Elsewhere in this hall of mirrors, Reuters reports:

Within hours of last month’s attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama’s administration received about a dozen intelligence reports suggesting militants connected to al Qaeda were involved, three government sources said.

Despite these reports, in public statements and private meetings, top U.S. officials spent nearly two weeks highlighting intelligence suggesting that the attacks were spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim film, while playing down the involvement of organized militant groups.

You know they’re in trouble when even Reuters can’t turn a blind eye anymore.

Finally, our own Neil Munro reports:

White House spokesman Jay Carney is successfully stonewalling media questions about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, amid damaging new revelations about security flubs, new congressional inquiries and the election-eve crash of the administration’s Muslim outreach strategy.

“Embassy security is a matter that has been the purview of the State Department. … So I’m not going to have very much to provide to you on the security situation on the ground in Libya,” Carney told ABC’s Jake Tapper, in response to a question about the leaked news that requests by embassy staff for increased security were rejected by officials in Washington.

Carney passes it off to the State Department. The State Department refuses to answer questions. Maybe everybody will stop asking.

The Obama White House and the State Department ignored warnings of a terrorist attack in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. Then, when our ambassador was murdered by terrorists, they blamed it on a YouTube video by a guy who has since been thrown in jail, “coincidentally” enough. Now they’re trying to pretend none of that happened and they’ve had the whole thing under control all along.

Hey, did you hear about Romney’s dog?

Update: Courtesy of Ace of Spades, here’s Hillary Clinton blaming Chris Stevens’ murder on a YouTube video. Knowing full well it was a lie. While standing in front of his casket.

Update: The evidence continues to mount.

Letters obtained exclusively by Fox News appear to show the State Department refused to get involved when the company tasked with protecting the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, raised security concerns, the latest indication that warning signs may have been ignored in the lead-up to last month’s terror attack.

The letters pertain to a dispute between Blue Mountain Libya, the security license holder in Libya, and its operations partner Blue Mountain UK, which trained and provided the local guards.

A source with knowledge of two State Department meetings — one in June and a second in July — told Fox News that Blue Mountain Libya felt the security provided by the UK partner was “substandard and the situation was unworkable.”

But according to the source, when the Libyans tried to bring in a third party — an American contractor — to improve security, a State Department contract officer declined to get involved.

Outsourcing.

Update: Sensitive documents left behind at American mission in Libya. Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Hey, did you know Mitt Romney makes a lot of money?