White House Misinformation about Terrorist Attacks

At the direction of the White House and the Secretary of State, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on five Sunday talk shows on September 16. A “hateful video” triggered a “spontaneous protest .  .  . outside of our consulate in Benghazi” that “spun from there into something much, much more violent,” she said on Face the Nation. “We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.” “The security personnel that the State Department thought were required were in place,” she said, adding: “We had substantial presence with our personnel and the consulate in Benghazi. Tragically two of the four Americans who were killed were there providing security. That was their function, and indeed there were many other colleagues who were doing the same with them.”

Even the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, denied that the attacks had anything to do with the anniversary of 9/11 and went so far as to scold reporters who, citing the administration’s own pre-9/11 boasts about its security preparations for the anniversary, made the connection. “I think that you’re conveniently conflating two things,” Carney snapped, “which is the anniversary of 9/11 and the incidents that took place, which are under investigation.”

The problem with what they were trying to claim is that is isn't true. It's just plain wrong, exasperatingly wrong. And they had to know better all along. Intelligence officials understood immediately that the attacks took place on 9/11 for a reason. The ambassador, in a country that faces a growing al Qaeda threat, had virtually no security. The two contractors killed in the attacks were not part of the ambassador’s security detail, and there were not, in fact, “many other colleagues” working security with them.

The nature of the attack itself, a four-hour battle that took place in two waves, indicated some level of planning. “The idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous,” Libyan president Mohammad el-Megarif told National Public Radio.

The simple truth about all this is: Four Americans were killed in a premeditated terrorist attack on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, and for more than a week the Obama administration misled the country about what happened.

And, so far, they seem to be getting away with it. Oh sure, the public and the media both know they were giving us false information. And, yes, they are now backing away from what they tried to feed us originally. But, where is the public outrage that our own President and Administration would think we are so stupid that they could tell us, repeatedly and forcefully, such blatantly untrue and misleading information?

Why do we not hold them responsible? That we suffered a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11 is bad enough, especially when you add the fact that we were sorely unprepared for it even tough it was such an obvious danger. But, even those facts, as terrible and upsetting as they are, are not why there should be public outrage. We should be mad, real mad, because we were lied to. Totalitarian governments lie to their people because they know they can get away with it -democracies do not because they know they can't get away with it.
So, which is it Mr. President? Is it incompetence or over-confidence? Stupidity or conceit? I don't think you are stupid -but I do think you have way too much ego and are far too over confident when it comes to a foreign policy that, as far as the Middle East is concerned, has not delivered much on your big promises.

There is an election in just over a month. I wonder how this will effect the outcome. Will people vote for a man who purposefully misleads them and whose policies, which he brags about so often, result in more, not fewer, terrorist attacks and in massive anti-American protests, across 3 continents....?  Will your opponent and the voters hold you accountable or let you get away with it, again?

I don't know the answer to that. But if they do, well, they say you deserve what you get...

Live Long and Prosper....