by Dan Andros
President Obama’s biggest weakness heading into the 2008 election was his lack of foreign policy experience. Many questioned the wisdom in electing a community organizer with a naïve foreign policy to be the leader of the free world. Even Hillary Clinton raised doubts with her infamous ‘3:00am’ commercial.
The administration’s dishonest & disorganized handling of the Benghazi attack confirms the validity of those concerns and leaves Americans with the impression that their President is inept, indifferent or both. Ironically, Hillary Clinton was the first Obama administration official who correctly identified Benghazi as a terrorist attack, although two days she later followed marching orders and blamed the anti-Islamic YouTube video.
The administration immediately sought to blame the video because it fits neatly into Obama’s worldview. He doesn’t believe terrorists are created by zealots who pervert Islam, he believes terrorists are born out of oppression from colonialist powers such as the United States. That’s why ‘radical Islam’ has been removed from counter terrorism training manuals. That’s why his first reaction when terrorists killed 2 U.S. soldiers over a Quran burning incident was to sympathize with the killers for burning the Quran, not condemn them.
Obama’s foreign policy was ill-fated from the moment it set sail. Many knew it, and now we’re tragically witnessing the proof.
The latest updates on the Benghazi attacks are devastating to the Obama administration. If there is a shred of journalistic integrity left in the media, the Benghazi debacle will bring Obama’s presidency to an end.
UPDATE #1: Benghazi was bombed twice in the run-up to 9/11 anniversary
This puts quite a severe hole in the administration’s claim (made by Jay Carney) that:
“We were not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent. That report is false.”
In the report from the Daily Beast a senior State Department official acknowledged there were five serious attacks on Western targets since the spring in the lead up to the 9/11 anniversary.
“Security deteriorated significantly in June. On June 10, a man fired a rocket-propelled grenade in broad daylight into a convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya. Later that month, the Red Cross was attacked again. By the end of June, the British Consulate and the Red Cross closed their facilities in Benghazi.”
In all there were at least 13 incidents leading up to the attack – including specific threats made against Ambassador Stevens with Jihadists posting his regular jogging route seemingly to encourage an attack.
Also note: the attacks and warnings were occurring long prior to July, the month the YouTube video cited by Obama was uploaded to the internet. So – what were they angry about? Something on Twitter? MySpace?
UPDATE #2: House Oversight says requests for increased security in Benghazi before 9/11 denied by Washington
Why would those requests be denied? That is a really good question. Jake Tapper asked Jay Carney, here’s the response: “I’m not going to get into a situation under review by the State Department and the FBI”
UPDATE #3: Benghazi suspect freed from Egyptian prison after Mubarak fall
As the President cheered on the Arab Spring and praised all those young folk setting themselves on fire, he ignored the obvious danger signs. Like the hundreds of radical jihadists being released from prison. At least one of those freed prisoners then goes and helps murder Ambassador Stevens.
Each new update is another harsh indictment on Obama. Here’s the story being told by the facts:
>The administration had prior knowledge of increased violence in Benghazi
>The administration knew of specific threats against the Ambassador
>The administration denied multiple requests from Benghazi for increased security, leaving them vulnerable to attack
>The administration knowingly misled Americans on the cause of the Benghazi attack in order to conceal the fact that America had just suffered a terrorist attack under his watch – on the anniversary of 9/11.
>Attacks and threats on Benghazi were happening even before the video Obama blamed was posted on the internet, meaning he lied to the American people in order to save his own arse.
Also worth noting: the administration is not bending over backwards to investigate prior to Nov 6th. The mother of Tyrone Woods (one of the SEALS killed in the attack) has spoken out against the administration for the slow pace of the investigation.
The story being fed to the media is that they aren’t sending agents in due to security fears. So they ignored multiple requests before the attack but now that agents are about to investigate and uncover possibly damaging information to Obama they won’t allow anyone in the area? The sudden concern doesn’t seem all that sincere.
President Obama has confirmed many, including Hillary Clinton’s worst fears: he has no clue what he’s doing in regards to foreign policy. He’s in over his head and flailing about at a time when the world needs decisive leadership. But what else should we expect from a President who thinks giving the OBL raid a green light is a ‘gutsy call’? That was a no brainer – and he needed a night to sleep on the decision.
It’s 3:00am and Barack Obama has proved Hillary Clinton right – well, sort of. We don’t want her on the other end of the line either.
