Posted on 11/16/2012 10:00:59 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
It seems interesting this CBS scoop comes shortly before both the current and former directors of the CIA will testify as to what they know about the terrorist attack on our consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi. Why, it’s almost as if someone at the White House or State Department wanted to follow up on Barack Obama’s defense of Susan Rice during yesterday’s press conference and pre-empt any potential fallout from whatever Mike Morell and David Petraeus have to say today and tomorrow.
Naah. I’m sure this is just another in the series of amazing coincidences regarding timing of revelations over the last nine weeks in the Benghazi story.
CBS News has obtained the CIA talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on Sept. 15 regarding the fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, four days earlier. CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan says the talking points, which were also given to members of the House intelligence committee, make no reference to terrorism being a likely factor in the assault, which left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.
Rice, who was considered a likely nominee to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, has been attacked by Republican lawmakers for saying on “Face the Nation” (video) on Sept. 16 that all indications were the attack “began spontaneously” – suggesting it likely sprang from a protest against an anti-Muslim video found on the Internet. Protests of that nature had been seen in other Muslim nations in the days and weeks before the Benghazi attack.
“Available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault… There are indications that extremists participated,” read the CIA’s talking points.
This probably works better as a defense for Rice than claiming she never said that the attack sprang from a spontaneous demonstration, which CBS rebuts tacitly while Sean Higgins demolishes it in detail for the Washington Examiner. If that’s what the CIA told her, and she had no access to any other information, then it does explain why Rice told a false story about what turned out to be a terrorist attack from the very beginning … on the anniversary of 9/11, no less.
Why wouldn’t she have had access to other information? Because Rice had no operational responsibility for anything other than relations with the United Nations. So why did the “White House,” as Obama put it yesterday, ask her to go on five talk shows on Sunday to impart this story to the media and the public? That request had to come from Obama himself, and it bypassed other more likely candidates for that assignment such as Tom Donilon, James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, or David Petraeus, all of whom had some responsibility for the incident. And here’s a related question — why didn’t those five media outlets raise that very question when the “White House” offered Rice as a spokesperson for that explanation? Didn’t that seem even a little curious – especially when the Libyan President was saying exactly the opposite?
So the prez doesn't do most intel briefings or talk to his CIA chief? How negligent can a manget? Why would a prez whose press sec claims didn't know about Broadwell and Petraeus until November 8 or so, avoid talking with his CIA chief during and after an attack on a US mission and CIA annex? What was he avoiding?
Does the US really want someone with so little critical thinking skills as Secretary of State?
What a laughingstock this country is.
General Betray Us must have been busy thinking of his mistress when the talking points were changed to reflect that a dubbed video caused some angry Muslims in Libya to murder a US Ambassador and to launch an attack on Petraeus’ guys and to kill some of them. Did he watch them die on Live feed from Benghazi?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!&#%*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Added a monosyllable expletive in there.
If the prez wasn’t talking with him or the white house he would have no way of knowing what had been edited out of the cia report until the version the white house is using gets released or leaked.
Right after Petraeus’ testimony:
Peter King (committee chair) would not comment on the aspect of who called for back-up and who denied cross-border support for the 41 Americans in Benghazi.
It seems to me that if Petraeus exonerated Obama, that King would come forward with that story, or the dems in the room would.
Now, if Petraeus said Obama left those Americans to die at the hands of terrorists, then that information would be handled in a very special way. It would not be leaked by the Dems, and the republicans would have to have several meetings on what to do with it.
THIS IS A CASE OF THE DOG (DEMS) NOT BARKING!
terrorism, is in the Obama Admins book of , “ Words We can’t Say “ , so it had to go , I never heard her say , Man Made Disaster
The law now requires the CIA Director to report his agency's activities to the DNI.
Man...tslk sbout an active CIC.
I don't think this so-called president does much of anything at all (especially in the foreign policy and national security realm) other than bloviate in front of a teleprompter on occasion.
It's well-known in Washington circles that Valerie Jarrett is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting on this guy's behalf.
Maybe they knew an out of the loop black spokesperson would get better treatment when lying than a white.
The pres said to blame him not Rice. I’m down for that. A confession is a confession. He not only set her up to lie, but he himself lied for 14 days afterwards, blaming the video.
What does the general have to say about this, since he testified that he knew it was a terrorist attack?
Perhaps we will find the general putting a lot of hours in at the Congress in the days to come.
I’ll bet the filmmaker knows who started this cover story. That’s probably why he’s jailed for a year. So he doesn’t talk.
That was clear as soon as the cops carted him away. With his head covered, no less.
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