Good morning. Pat. I don't know if every President engages in gun running, but the Executive branch will use end runs around laws that constrain its actions with or without the knowledge of Congress.
In the case of Benghazi, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that at least the top four ranking members of Congress--Reid, McDonnell, Boehner, and Pelosi--knew what was happening in Benghazi. I suspect one reason Boehner dragged his feet on a Select Committee was to hide their participation in and knowledge of what was going on there.
The fact that the Turkish Consul met with Stevens indicates to me that the Turks were assisting in the movement of weapons to the Syrian resistance--weapons we must have been harvesting in Benghazi, which is a seaport and close to Turkey and Syria.
We used the Saudis as a conduit to send weapons via Pakistan to the the Afghan resistance that was fighting the Soviets. Something similar appears to be going on Benghazi. And no doubt, there were also concerns about rounding up Stinger missiles from the Libyan rebels.
Given the highly classified nature of the operations, I wonder if we will ever find out what was going on. Gowdy won't be able to reveal it or he may feel bound to gloss it over. If Congress had not been informed, then it is a different ballgame. I found it interesting that Mike Morrell, the former Deputy CIA Director, said during the Congressional hearings that he had edited some of the talking points so as not to make the State Department look bad. Strange remark.
I strongly suspect McCain (and Lady Linda) is up to his fat neck in it, as well.
It’s interesting you name Mumbles McConnell as probably knowing about this gun running operation. If indeed there was such a thing.
But hey, Fast and Furious had us shipping guns to drug cartels in Mexico so it’s very believable.
I believe the Blue Blood GOP Ruling class knows about a lot but says nothing....even the VA....you know they knew.
Why didn’t MCCAIN use this as a campaign item? McCain, the great American military hero, could have gotten whistle blowers out there.
Instead he went on and on about campaign finance reform, something that worried so many Americans that they lost sleep.
Or Romney, even better....he was running against Obama after a term served. They could have made this VA thing into a winner.
They’re NOT on our side, folks, they’re on THEIR side.