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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Long Read: “Benghazi Biopsy”

Long Read: “Benghazi Biopsy”

by Anne Laurie|  October 24, 20155:02 pm| 108 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Foreign Affairs, Hillary Clinton 2016, Republican Venality

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Now that the circus parade is over, here’s Kurt Eichenwald’s excellent Newsweek “Comprehensive Guide to One of America’s Worst Political Outrages“:

… The historical significance of this moment can hardly be overstated, and it seems many Republicans, Democrats and members of the media don’t fully understand the magnitude of what is taking place. The awesome power of government—one that allows officials to pore through almost anything they demand and compel anyone to talk or suffer the shame of taking the Fifth Amendment—has been unleashed for purely political purposes. It is impossible to review what the Benghazi committee has done as anything other than taxpayer-funded political research of the opposing party’s leading candidate for president. Comparisons from America’s past are rare. Richard Nixon’s attempts to use the IRS to investigate his perceived enemies come to mind. So does Senator Joseph McCarthy’s red-baiting during the 1950s, with reckless accusations of treason leveled at members of the State Department, military generals and even the secretary of the Army. But the modern McCarthys of the Benghazi committee cannot perform this political theater on their own—they depend on reporters to aid in the attempts to use government for the purpose of destroying others with bogus “scoops” ladled out by members of Congress and their staffs. These journalists will almost certainly join the legions of shamed reporters of the McCarthy era as it becomes increasingly clear they are enablers of an obscene attempt to undermine the electoral process.

The consequences, however, are worse than the manipulation of the electoral process. By using Benghazi for political advantage, the Republicans have communicated to global militants that, through even limited attacks involving relatively few casualties, they can potentially influence the direction of American elections. …

One important point has been universally acknowledged by the nine previous reports about Benghazi: The attack was almost certainly preventable. Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect U.S. personnel at an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate.

The earlier reports—two from the Senate, one from an independent board and six from the Republican-controlled House—were released before the 2014 election; after that, the House voted to form a special Benghazi committee, with the expectation that it would drag out its work until shortly before the 2016 election—four years after the armed assault took place. Despite all the work that has already been done investigating the attacks, the Benghazi committee has demonstrated that its members either have not read the reports or do not care about the conclusions they reached. Its members ask questions of witnesses that have already been answered—again and again. In fact, some of the questions that Republicans say have yet to be addressed have answers that are so well known they already appear on the Wikipedia page about the Benghazi attacks, sourced to the previous government reports…

Conspiracy theories have become a driving force in Washington, and the Benghazi investigation is no exception. What started as a legitimate, important inquiry into the circumstances and failures that led to the tragic deaths of four Americans has transmogrified into a tale of secret plots and treachery in which malicious officials manipulate the government and act as virtual co-conspirators with the terrorists who murdered their colleagues…

In the end, one thing is clear: This rabid partisanship or unmitigated deception or utter incompetence conflicts with everything this country stands for. Four men died serving their country; it is beyond disgraceful that their memories are used for cartoons and political buttons and television shows all for the purpose of advancing outright falsehoods just to gain political points…

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Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    gbear

    October 24, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    I blame Obama.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    Good. The GOP are not clowns performing for our amusement. I’m as snarky as the next guy, but completely serious when it comes to the party that needs to be in control of the government.

  3. 3.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 24, 2015 at 5:18 pm

    I read the entire article yesterday via a link from the Great Orange Santa. Yinz should read it too. Time well spent.

  4. 4.

    Derelict

    October 24, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    I cannot speak to whether the Benghazi hearings have accomplished any of their stated or unstated goals. However, it is clear to me that Hillary’s appearance has to qualify as one of the greatest political own-goals of all time. Instead of damaging HRC’s chances, they pretty torpedoed their own reputations.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    @Derelict:

    The GOP looked so bad that I hope the spectacle is enough to convince a sufficient number of cowardly but hopefully still sane Republicans not to follow it up with a debt default.

  6. 6.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 24, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    I am long past finding Republican idiocy funny. Good for Hillary, she showed who was the adult, in a room full of whining toddlers.

  7. 7.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 24, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    @Baud: Did you see the tongue bath Ryan got from Brooks in yesterday’s Snooze hour.

  8. 8.

    Gimlet

    October 24, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    October 30, 2013
    CNN and Fox News repeatedly aired Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)’s threat to hold up presidential nominations unless witnesses to the 2012 Benghazi attacks are made available for questioning.

    The senator’s implication — that no witnesses have yet been questioned — went unchallenged until CNN’s Wolf Blitzer finally got Graham to admit that survivors of the attacks were in fact questioned by Congress earlier this month.

  9. 9.

    Woodrow

    October 24, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    Please disabuse yourself that this depressing spectacle will matter by next October. Mr Eichenwald’s observations here are spot on, but we are no longer in a world that truth is a matter of professional pride for the overwhelming majority of the political media in the U.S.
    Fournier, Blitzer, Tapper, Politico, and the immensely odious Halperin won’t need to break a sweat to re-establish Both Sides Do It-ism, probably by Halloween. Why should they change? They’re Awfully Savvy — and that keeps the bookings and canapès coming.

  10. 10.

    Gimlet

    October 24, 2015 at 5:39 pm

    Daughter of Benghazi

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/planned-parenthood-congress_562a9622e4b0443bb56405dd

    The eight Republican members of the Select Investigative Panel who will probe the practices of “big abortion providers” — which everyone understands to mean Planned Parenthood — have spent years trying to defund the reproductive health provider and restrict women’s access to abortion.

    In his Friday announcement of the eight appointees to the panel, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the group would “focus on the grisly practices of big abortion providers,” without mentioning Planned Parenthood by name.

    “Recent videos exposing the abortion-for-baby-parts business have shocked the nation, and demanded action,” Boehner said in a statement. “At my request, three House committees have been investigating the abortion business, but we still don’t have the full truth. Chairman [Marsha] Blackburn and our members will have the resources and the subpoena power to get to the bottom of these horrific practices, and build on our work to protect the sanctity of all human life.”

  11. 11.

    Pseudonymous Bosch

    October 24, 2015 at 5:39 pm

    What started as a legitimate, important inquiry into the circumstances and failures that led to the tragic deaths of four Americans

    Gives way too much credit. This was partisan bullshit from the get-go.

  12. 12.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    @Derelict:

    Not only that — Hillary solidified her status as front-runner and burnished her progressive credentials with her performance. Nothing, absolutely nothing, inspires progressives as much as a Democrat set upon by reactionaries who then turns the tables and crushes them.

    This, despite the fact that HRC is more in line with George W. Bush in terms of policy than with the Democratic party. HRC loves TBTF banks and opposed splitting ’em up; HRC adores endless unwinnable foreign wars and promises more of them once she’s elected; HRC dotes on extraordinary rendition and warrantless wiretapping and more undeclared martial law for the streets of America, and we’ll get lots more of that if she’s elected.

    So in one stroke HRC both crushes the Republicans and makes herself seem like a shining beacon of progressive hope when in reality she’s somewhat to the right of Obama — who is already far far far to the extreme right of a progressive like Bernie Sanders. You don’t hear Sanders talking about how he’ll sort through pictures of 17-year-old girls to target them for U.S. JSOC death squad assassinations once he’s elected.

    Secret kill lists and laws that allow kidnapping U.S. citizens without a trial or charges and hurling ’em into a dungeon forever are not the powers of the presidency of the united states…they’re the kind of gangster shit Al Capone used to pull. HRC loves her some unconstitutional gangster kidnapping and murder. Bernie, not so much. But after the Benghazi fiasco, Democrats are likely to overlook that crucial distinction as they rush to worship Hillary for her admittedly stellar performance.

  13. 13.

    Debbie

    October 24, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    @Gimlet:

    Bet they’ll be too chicken to call Cecile Roberts again.

  14. 14.

    Gimlet

    October 24, 2015 at 5:44 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I thought the conspiracy Democrats accused Bush of lying us into Iraq, of not serving his TANG commitment, of not winning the 2000 and 2004 elections…

  15. 15.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 5:45 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I don’t watch SH.

  16. 16.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 5:48 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Somehow I don’t see a lot of this bullshit advanced by Democrats.

    In a 1998 interview with president Bill Clinton, Hillary described the Republicans as “a vast right-wing conspiracy.”

    Guess what?

    She was right.

    The Benghazi hearings were a conspiracy to discredit HRC. The debt ceiling threat is a conspiracy by Republicans to unconstitutionally force the repeal of Obamacare. The Republican congress’s obstructionism against Barack Obama is an enormous conspiracy aimed at blocking a black president for reasons of pure racism.

    There are plenty of conspiracies in Washington today — but they’re real, and fomented by Republicans.

  17. 17.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    What started as a legitimate, important inquiry into the circumstances and failures that led to the tragic deaths of four Americans has transmogrified into a tale of secret plots and treachery in which malicious officials manipulate the government and act as virtual co-conspirators with the terrorists who murdered their colleagues…

    WTF??!?!?!?!????

    This is the worst kind of inside-the-beltway both-sides-do-it outright lying to maintain the fiction of “press objectivity.”

    Try again, assholes in the press:

    What started as a legitimate, important inquiry illegitimate utterly trivial witch hunt into the circumstances and failures irrelevant emails that led to had nothing whatsoever to do with the tragic deaths of four Americans has transmogrified into a tale of secret plots and treachery in which malicious officials manipulate the government and act as virtual co-conspirators with the terrorists who murdered their colleagues…

    D’oh, as Homer Simpson would say. A bullshit witch hunt devolved into a bullshit witch hunt. Quelle surprise. Fuck me, are these beltway reporters really this stupid…?

  18. 18.

    JPL

    October 24, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    CBSN is streaming Hillary’s campaign rally. Katy Perry is performing Roar.

  19. 19.

    Michael Bersin

    October 24, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    @Gimlet:

    Ah, yes, in west central Missouri we know Representative Vicky Hartzler (r-the Chinese are spying on us through our toasters), one of the members of the new select committee, quite well:

    Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): Your famos!

  20. 20.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    @JPL:

    I hope she does, “I voted for a girl and I liked it.”

  21. 21.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    Bill Clinton is on CNN right now speaking at the rally.

    He is such a dynamic speaker, he’s almost as good as Baud.

  22. 22.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    @JPL:

    Yeah, if Hillary wins the nomination, I think we’ll all look back and say “Those Benghazi hearings were the moment when she knocked the ball out of the park.” That was the political equivalent of Babe Ruth looking the pitcher in the eye and pointing over the bleachers and hitting a home run out of the stadium.

  23. 23.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    @David Koch:

    I’ve heard Bill Clinton speak live, 20 feet away. He’s earnest, enthusiastic, very sharp, and has an oleaginous quality that makes you want to check your wallet after you leave the rally.

    I’m a Bill Clinton fan, but just saying. He does have a certain slickness about him, the aura of the born seducer and manipulator…

  24. 24.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    @David Koch:

    The era of big government is back, and ready to kick 1% ass.

    Baud! 2016!

  25. 25.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    Washington (CNN)–Obama administration on Saturday announced new guidelines toward standardized tests, saying kids spend too much time taking “unnecessary” exams in schools.

    The plan recommends that students spend no more than 2% of classroom time taking these tests.

    Testing shouldn’t “crowd out teaching and learning”.

    Two major teachers unions hailed the announcement.

    Thanks Obama

  26. 26.

    JPL

    October 24, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    @mclaren: I mentioned yesterday that I was with a few repubs yesterday who praised her performance, and they called the hearings a sham.

  27. 27.

    Russ

    October 24, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

  28. 28.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    @David Koch:
    BTW, another fucking evil effort to wreck America by The Drunk-Driving C-Student. This insane high-stakes testing bullshit really got started with “No Child Left Behind,” along with the gigantic charter school privatization scam.

    Both the No Child Left Behind horseshit and the charter school scam need to be demolished with a hammer. Bill Gates is strongly implicated in the charter school scam too, and someone needs to call him out on this evil effort to roll back U.S. education to pre-1850 levels in order to make gigantic profits for a small number of private school Ponzi scams and testing companies.

  29. 29.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    @JPL: What I like about Katy Perry is she’s such a forward thinker.

  30. 30.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:13 pm

    LOL!

    The Secret Service agents are drooling over Katy Perry.

  31. 31.

    mai naem mobile

    October 24, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    I know this is an awful thing to say and its a ‘hindsight is 20/20’ kind of comment,but,jeezus why was Ambassador Stevens hanging out in Benghazi on a 9/11? He should have been in Tripoli in the most secure area that he could find on that day. Also,from what I remember,initially, they were trying to hide the fact that there was a CIA outpost there. As usual with the GOP,information that shouldn’t be leaked is leaked when its politically beneficial to them. Nobody needed to know half the info that was released. Our adversaries might guess this stuff but we don’t need to hand it to them on a silver platter.

  32. 32.

    dogwood

    October 24, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    @mclaren:
    Plenty of democrats were complicit in NCLB. Teddy Kennedy the most culpable.

  33. 33.

    The Golux

    October 24, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    @mclaren:

    I’m a Bill Clinton fan, but just saying. He does have a certain slickness about him, the aura of the born seducer and manipulator…

    Someone I know works for the talent agency that books Bill’s speaking gigs (or at least used to). He has met Bill, and says that the charm factor is almost immeasurable.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    @David Koch:

    What channel is it on?

  35. 35.

    pat

    October 24, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    I just read the whole thing. Lays out all the details. Definitely worth the time.

    The repubs are revealed to be incompetent, ignorant and evil.

  36. 36.

    Gex

    October 24, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    Sort of notable that the only examples similar to this were also waged by Republicans.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    @efgoldman:

    A 21st century campaign for a 21st century America.

  38. 38.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    She is gorgeous.

    Hopefully when Baud! wins the nomination he can introduce me to her.

  39. 39.

    mclaren

    October 24, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    @pat:

    The repubs are revealed to be incompetent, ignorant and evil.

    Revealed?

    Cripes, we knew that back in 1948 when Senator Joe McCarthy started howling and screeching. If anyone had any doubt post-1953, Reagan’s presidency solidified that characterization “incompetent, ignorant and evil” as conclusively documented fact.

  40. 40.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    @Baud:

    http://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/katy-perry-sings-at-clinton-rally-in-iowa/

    http://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/hillary-clinton-campaigns-in-des-moines-ia/

  41. 41.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    @David Koch:

    Ah thanks. Can’t watch online right now.

  42. 42.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    I’m reading rumors on Twitter that the AFL-CIO plans to endorse Baud! 2016 this week in Des Moines.

    If true it will shake up the race.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    October 24, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    @David Koch:

    Repeal Taft-Hartley!

  44. 44.

    BGinCHI

    October 24, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    Would flogging Luke Russert on the steps of the Capitol go a long way toward helping right this wrong?

    It will hurt us to do it, but I think in the long run we’ll be glad we did it.

  45. 45.

    Russ

    October 24, 2015 at 6:24 pm

    @mai naem mobile: whenever you read CIA and State Dept. together, somebody frcked up.

  46. 46.

    Bobby Thomson

    October 24, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    The word preventable is doing a lot of work in that article. .

  47. 47.

    RIDDELL

    October 24, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    The GOP is a lost cause but for much of the rest of ‘official’ Washington why is it so hard to believe that the Benghazi attack was both a preplanned attack and influenced by the video. The two are not mutually exclusive. There certainly have been enough riots caused by depictions of The Prophet that it wasn’t unreasonable to think this was just one more.

    Similarly why is it so hard to get your head around that Hillary and Stevens were friends at work and Blumenthal was a personal friend of long standing. Stevens had more that one way to reach the State Dept. he didn’t need Hillary’s e-mail or home phone number.

  48. 48.

    pat

    October 24, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    @mclaren:

    Just some more evidence. I forgot to add stupid.

  49. 49.

    Citizen Alan

    October 24, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    @mclaren:

    He does have a certain slickness about him, the aura of the born seducer and manipulator…

    So in other words, he’s Reaganesque.

  50. 50.

    dmsilev

    October 24, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    It will hurt us to do it, but I think in the long run we’ll be glad we did it.

    Why would it hurt us? I smell pay-per-view fundraiser.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    October 24, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    By using Benghazi for political advantage, the Republicans have communicated to global militants that, through even limited attacks involving relatively few casualties, they can potentially influence the direction of American elections. …

    To the contrary, the hearings demonstrate that the Republicans will ignore reality, including actual threats to the nation, in order to attempt to undermine Obama, his potential Democratic Party successor and anyone else who opposes their monomaniacal delusions.

  52. 52.

    gordon schumway

    October 24, 2015 at 6:35 pm

    @Russ: Won’t get fooled again!

  53. 53.

    Bobby Thomson

    October 24, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    @David Koch: pretty sure that 2% won’t mean any changes.

    ETA testing prep time is the problem.

  54. 54.

    jon

    October 24, 2015 at 6:41 pm

    @mai naem mobile:

    I think the Benghazi compound was thought of as being more secure and less of a target, probably. It was manned by a lot of CIA types (who are likely to have an active presence in a country with a revolution we supported,) and those guys and the contractors who work for them are a lot happier with their triggers than the typical Marines flying a flag at an official embassy. 20/20 hindsight can be awesome, but I would imagine that after the embassies in Cairo and elsewhere were attacked/protested against, it probably seemed a good idea on that particular date to be away. Unfortunately, “away” was also dangerous. It was the wrong call, but I can’t say it was a bad one.

    If not for the ambassador’s presence, it would have just been another firefight in a facility with “contractors” and such.

  55. 55.

    PhoenixRising

    October 24, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    @mai naem mobile: Chris Stevens was a diplomat’s diplomat. The reason we *had* a ‘consulate’ (read ‘spook shop’) in a secondary city in Libya was that Chris hoped to support the movement for secular democracy in the Maghrib, and knew so much about the region that he insisted on that location. It was where the action was/is.

    When I was in college, Chris Stevens was the grad-student ‘judge’ of our Model Arab League exercise and a part-time assistant lecturer in our courses on international relations. He was sharp, ambitious, helpful to us young kids and a nice guy when he had nothing to gain from it.

    Trey Gowdy isn’t fit to carry Chris Stevens’ jockstrap. And neither was any of the other Pecksniff ghouls on that committee. Hillary showed remarkable restraint about the questions that weren’t irrelevant, (why does your hubby’s old friend get to email you whenever he wants?) but instead bore on the actual facts.

    If he’d been my rising-star employee running our operation in a difficult region, when I was directing a complex bureaucracy that is always short of energetic Arabic speakers whose loyalty to US goals is unquestionable even by Congress, who died in a fire that might have been prevented by adequate funding for embassy security…I’d have turned over the table at Thursday’s display of arrogance.

    Also too: His parents were there, to the last gavel. What awful people these Republicans are, to misuse the best memories of an old couple who have already lost their son, in a display of partisan pique.

  56. 56.

    mai naem mobile

    October 24, 2015 at 6:58 pm

    @mclaren: Bill Gates is one of the problems with schools but not in the way people think. Microsoft is a big outsourcer because they don’t want to provide benefits to employees. Also too, H1Bs. MS also hides money offshore. Oops, states.don’t have big $$$ to attract and keep the best. Less if any money for after school programs and small class sizes. Outsourced and independent contractors are left scrambling to make more $$$ but its all teachers’ fault dontcha know.

  57. 57.

    gelfling545

    October 24, 2015 at 7:03 pm

    @Bobby Thomson: Yes, testing “prep” is a big problem. My classes (French) were routinely canceled for a month+ at a time a couple of times a year & I was stuck drilling my homeroom for whatever test was coming next. Still, it’s a start of sorts.

  58. 58.

    Bobby Thomson

    October 24, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    @gelfling545: not if all existing tests can be given while complying, and I’d be shocked if they can’t.

  59. 59.

    Ken

    October 24, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    @efgoldman: I’m sure the campaign will soon ramp up, with heavy use of mime generators and LOLcats in blog markets serving Iowa and New Hampshire.

  60. 60.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    @Derelict: speaking of goals: “We came, we saw, he died, (sorry, we lied)”

  61. 61.

    Peale

    October 24, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    @RIDDELL: and it wasn’t like there was no security in Benghazi. Unless the body count was much higher than has been reported.

  62. 62.

    Peale

    October 24, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    @Ken: mime generators? So they’re planning on a silent attack ads. Very stealthy…

  63. 63.

    Randy P

    October 24, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    I must admit I’m still a little confused at the outcome of the hearings. Since they were a sham from the start, and never at any point succeeded in or pretended to be interested in uncovering any facts, what was different about this 13,498th hearing? Why haven’t we been hearing any of this same reaction after any of the previous 13,497?

  64. 64.

    jl

    October 24, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    OK, I’ve seen more than enough. dammit. Sanders really needs to insist he gets equal time in front of some dumb ass GOP Congressional witch hunt. This is really unfair for the Dem primary.

  65. 65.

    sharl

    October 24, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    @PhoenixRising: This is an informative, clearly from-the-heart, and IMO rather awesome testimonial to Chris Stevens (the Person and the Professional). Thanks very much for posting it.

  66. 66.

    Debbie

    October 24, 2015 at 7:32 pm

    @mai naem mobile:

    I’ve heard RWNJs claim Stevens was gun running for Obama.

  67. 67.

    Debbie

    October 24, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Heh.

    Will this ever end?

  68. 68.

    jl

    October 24, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    @mai naem mobile: My understanding from reading summaries of the hearings is that Stevens thought he should be at Benghazi around that time to check on how things were going, so he went. As HRC explained, she cannot schedule the calendars for over 200 ambassadors, and they have to decide for themselves what they need to pay attention to personally.

    If that is correct, I am sure it is a disappointment to the GOPers, since in their fever dreams, they would break HRC and she would confess on the stand that, YES! she ordered Stevens to Benghazi so she could deny him proper security and watch him die die die!! But looks like that is not how the tragedy happened.

    @Debbie: WTF kind of nonsense is that? Whatever it happened to the worldwide Clinton drug, gun and murder ring? It shut down, or what?

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 24, 2015 at 7:48 pm

    @Debbie: wasn’t that what Rand SonOfRon was babbling about when Hillary gave him that deadpan stare and just said, “Turkey?” in a WTF tone that made me like her more than I had in a long time.

  70. 70.

    henqiguai

    October 24, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    Interestingly, I’ve heard nothing (okay, a single throwaway line) about the Republican Congress cutting State Department funding for facilities’ security; but the media can’t seem to recall that –

    Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect U.S. personnel at an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate.

  71. 71.

    Doug R

    October 24, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    @mclaren: AUMF

  72. 72.

    Aketa

    October 24, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    @efgoldman:

    The Baud 2016 campaign is the first to be entirely blog-comment-based.

    No photo ops, no whistle stops. Historic in every dimension.

  73. 73.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 8:03 pm

    @Debbie: Like RWNJ Seymour Hersh.

  74. 74.

    Fair Economist

    October 24, 2015 at 8:09 pm

    @Derelict: Worse for the Republicans, they’ve made Hillary basically a legend for behavior in difficult circumstances. My husband, as a manager, has various difficult situations come up at work and discusses them with me sometimes. Previously he’s been very negative about Hillary (too weak, etc.) Yesterday I suggested, mostly jokingly, that he should think “What Would Hillary Do?” the next time one of these situations comes up. His reply?

    “I’ve already started.”

  75. 75.

    Napoleon

    October 24, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    you idiot this came out before HRC’s testimony

  76. 76.

    SoupCatcher

    October 24, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    I’m reading through the article, and finding it informative. It’s a solid documentation of the atrocities. Not sure if it will change any minds, but it’s important to document the crazy for the kids.

    As an aside, the following sentence stuck in my craw:

    Finally, in a statement that outraged conservatives—and was in fact inappropriate—the debate moderator, Candy Crowley of CNN, told Romney he was wrong.

    I find the fact that this behavior is considered by the author to be inappropriate to be one of my main complaints with the fourth estate.

  77. 77.

    sharl

    October 24, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Unfortuntately I can’t access the Newsweek article, since the response I get for clicking on any online Newsweek article link – going on for several months now – is that I’ve reached my five complimentary monthly online articles at their site. Apparently their ‘month’ is based on the solar revolutions of one of the outer planets of our solar sphere.

    Anyhoo, one thing I’ve noticed about Eichenwald after seeing him post several articles like this, is that he takes on many of his critics at his Twitter site. That’s probably a useful thing, not so much because he’s going to change the minds of (m)any of those critics, but he probably reaches a fair number of silent readers who might be otherwise swayed by the wingnut propaganda so many of those critics churn out.

    I’ve seen arguments in blog comments as to whether to engage with trolls – not so much the silly goofballs like R2R here, but those who seem to be rather skilled at slinging the bullshit and moving the goalposts. It’s probably worthwhile to challenge them for the same reason that Eichenwald challenges his critics on Twitter.

    It must be quite the time-suck though; although I recall having some issues with Eichenwald in the past [damned if I can remember over what issue(s) now], big props to him for this service-after-the-posting.

  78. 78.

    NorthLeft12

    October 24, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    This rabid partisanship or unmitigated deception or utter incompetence conflicts with everything this country stands for.

    <

    As a Canadian, I think I can say with 100% confidence that the above statement is completely wrong. The US Congress, as currently operated, stands for exactly those three qualities. And unlike most people who wonder how this sorry situation came to be, I know that this Congress was legally elected to office by the American voters.

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    October 24, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    @Gimlet:

    Those are plain old facts, no conspiracy thought needed when thinking about plain old facts.

    Bush stole the 2000 election, plainly. I believe they stole Ohio with fraudulent voting machines manufactured by a Republican businessman who long before election day guaranteed that the R’s would win Ohio.

    It’s obvious that Bush never fulfilled his military obligations, all the noise to the contraty doesn’t show that he showed up when required, as required.

    The Iraq war stands by itself as the most incompetent occupation this nation has ever conducted. I have recently seen speculation the pure libertarians took advantage of this war to create a nation with no government whatsoever, to prove that this would produce a great opportunity for business to flourish in Iraq without government interference. If true, a terrible fraud upon the Iraqi people.

    But in any case, totally incompetent in all respects of the Iraq war and occupation. Including the plain lies told to create an opportunity to commit war crimes.

    Where’s the conspiracy theory there? Just plain facts you can look up anywhere.

  80. 80.

    jl

    October 24, 2015 at 8:56 pm

    @Napoleon: BJ is a top ten blog because it came in tenth in clicks out of ten more or less arbitrarily chosen blogs some time ago.

    Who the hell are you to criticize a top ten blog, or for that matter call it an idiot?

    The link is comprehensive guide to the lies and distortions of the GOP Benghazi scandal machine, and how the media have allowed themselves to be used by that scandal machine. I’ve seen many links to it around the internet.

    I suppose BJ blog should have put up a post linking to it sooner, but better late than never. I don’t see were AL says it was written after the Thursday hearing.

  81. 81.

    Vhh

    October 24, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    @mai naem mobile: Do some background reading and you will find that Benghazi was a CIA op carried out under State Dept cover. Risky ops sometimes go bad, and the CIA muscle onsite was not enough. Stevens, an Arabic speaker and area expert, was part of the team. CIA did not (and does not) want all the details in the open for understandable reasons, and the time varying talking points were meant to keep the cover on. I conclude that Hillary and State have been carrying water for CIA and national security, and for that they deserve respect and thanks. As for the GOP, they are traitorous skunks. Country before party, my ass.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    October 24, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    @Randy P:

    Why haven’t we been hearing any of this same reaction after any of the previous 13,497?

    Got some very slow learners.

  83. 83.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    And when is the next hearing on Ballghazi?!?!

  84. 84.

    catclub

    October 24, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    @Vhh: Links? hints?

  85. 85.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 10:23 pm

    @Vhh: You’re most likely correct that Benghazi was a CIA op (with White House & State Dept complicity) gone bad, but it had nothing to do with the national security of the US, nor does anyone involved (from Obama on down) deserve “respect and thanks”.

  86. 86.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    @BobS: Obama doesn’t deserve respect, Bob?

  87. 87.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 10:27 pm

    @catclub: See the Seymour Hersh article linked to @BobS:

  88. 88.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 10:29 pm

    @redshirt: You think he deserves respect for the clusterfuck in Libya and Syria, redshirt? Please explain why?

  89. 89.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    @BobS: What does Obama have to do with either clusterfuck?

  90. 90.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    @redshirt: Nothing, redshirt, nothing at all.

  91. 91.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    @BobS: Meh. Let me guess. Horrible Obama’s drone war is just the worst thing ever too, right?

  92. 92.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    @redshirt: Drone war? You wouldn’t have to guess so much if you put a little more effort into learning. Just try it in 4 or 5 minute increments if it makes your brain hurt too much.

  93. 93.

    karen marie

    October 24, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @BGinCHI: I will volunteer. It will not hurt me the least little bit.

  94. 94.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @BobS: Don’t worry Bob, once Bernie’s elected, all war will end and we shall know everlasting peace and harmony. It’ll be groovy.

  95. 95.

    KS in MA

    October 24, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Truly.

  96. 96.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 10:57 pm

    @BobS: Or Jill Stein, if Bernie’s too mainstream for you.

  97. 97.

    seaboogie

    October 24, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    @David Koch: I love KP’s politically themed wardrobe choices – one of the few people around who can do that and totally nail it – she looks awesome instead of ridiculous.

    Also, “Roar” is the perfect song for HRC, especially right now. As good or better than Jay-Z’s “I Got 99 Problems But a Mitt Ain’t One” during Obama’s rally leading up to voting day.

  98. 98.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 11:02 pm

    @redshirt: I’m not sure what that has to do with your developmental delay, but sure, okay — I mean, groovy (and thanks alot for disproving my contention that Axel Foley is the dumbest motherfucker that comments here).

  99. 99.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    @efgoldman: No, I’m the guy that had to explain to the longtime Bruins fan that Cam Neely wasn’t injured in 1979.

  100. 100.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    @BobS: Sweet! Glad to top the charts.

    Why don’t you give me a summary how either Syria or Libya is Obama’s clusterfuck – choose one or the other, or both if they’re nefariously combined.

    In your words, if you would.

  101. 101.

    David Koch

    October 24, 2015 at 11:09 pm

    Griftwald/Rand Paul/Hersch and their devotees are idiots and tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorists who blame America/Obama first. No better than Fox News.

    The CIA wasn’t in Ben Gazzara to run guns. They could do that easily through Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They were there to monitor al-Qaeda affiliate groups Shura Council and Ansar al-Sharia and to track down dangerous weapons looted from Khaddaffyi’s weapons depot.

    The CIA station wasn’t even near the State dept compound, it was located a mile away.

    When the mastermind of the attack, Ahmed Abu Khatallah was captured he confessed that it was revenge for the anti-islamic American film “Innocence of Muslims” that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a homosexual, wife beater, and sex fiend. This caused riots around the world, including neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, where the US Embassy was also attacked. As you saw with Charlie Hebdo this year some Muslims react violently when Muhammad is smeared.

    But the paranoid mind with latent daddy issues can’t accept occam’s razor and must find a way to blame daddy Obummer.

    bunch of sick losers.

  102. 102.

    BobS

    October 24, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    @redshirt: You know, you’re probably right redshirt. The US president probably did protest the US airwar in Libya, and he’s most certainly trying to put an end to US support for (al qaeda linked) anti-Assad rebels in Syria, but the bullies in the CIA, the Pentagon, etc. are just ignoring him. Thanks for setting me straight.

  103. 103.

    redshirt

    October 24, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    @BobS:

    You know, you’re probably right redshirt. The US president probably did protest the US airwar in Libya, and he’s most certainly trying to put an end to US support for (al qaeda linked) anti-Assad rebels in Syria, but the bullies in the CIA, the Pentagon, etc. are just ignoring him. Thanks for setting me straight.

    Gosh, that’s some terrible stuff! What a clusterfuck! I’m sure Obama caused it all now. Thanks for the cogent summary.

  104. 104.

    joel hanes

    October 25, 2015 at 12:09 am

    @mai naem mobile:

    why was Ambassador Stevens hanging out in Benghazi on a 9/11?

    Completely without evidence, I suggest that he was probably trying his best to honorably carry out the duties of an impossible and not-always-honorable office, juggling conflicting goals under trying circumstances.

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 25, 2015 at 12:16 am

    @joel hanes: So you are saying he was just doing his job which turned out to be dangerous?

  106. 106.

    Anne Laurie

    October 25, 2015 at 12:32 am

    @Napoleon:

    you idiot this came out before HRC’s testimony

    And now that the shouting’s died down, people have time to read long fact-based reports.

  107. 107.

    pluky

    October 25, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    @mclaren: Well, back in the day, folks in Arkansas did refer to him as “Slick Willie” in every sense of the phrase one can imagine.

  108. 108.

    Fr33d0m

    October 26, 2015 at 11:27 am

    The attack was almost certainly preventable. Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect U.S. personnel at an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate.

    This reads like a lame attempt to rescue some Clinton hate from the failed political experiment that is the SSC. So the attacks were “almost” certainly preventable? I guess that means 9/11 was almost definitely preventable? And HRC was in charge so its a legitimate talking point? Unlike Congress not freeing up some of the money that was asked for to address the security needs?

    Look, if it wasn’t glaringly obvious to the casual observer that this was a political exercise–in fact we’ve become a bit use to it all–then it certainly is now. And yes the press is as much in the tank as the Repugnicons. But expecting anyone to pay a price–even be forced to stop the charade–is laughable. Kind of like the thought that playing nice with Repugnicons will cause them to play nice with you–call it the lunatic theory.

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