Benghazi ad Nauseam

by Tom Kando

They are at it again. This being an election year, the Republicans have to invent new fabrications. They are now resuscitating “Benghazi”. It’s the same old gang doing it: Fox News, Congressman Darrell Issa (a.k.a. Joe McCarthy), now joined by House Speaker John Boner himself, who is forming a “select committee” to investigate. These lunatics claim to have found the “smoking gun.”

I pretty much said all that needs to be said about this pseudo-issue over a year and a half ago. See my October 20, 2012 post, The Benghazi Pseudo-Issue.  But since they are doing mischief again, I have to come to the rescue once more:

Do you, dear reader, even KNOW what “Benghazi” is about? I bet you don’t. I bet you that nine out of ten Americans don’t. Nine out of ten Obama-haters will probably just say something like, “well, the President lied about Benghazi,” not even knowing what he allegedly lied about...

So let me give you the FACTS:
On or about 9/11/12, three things happened:
#1. A blasphemous anti-Muslim video came out. (The Innocence of Muslims).
#2. In response to that, anti-American riots broke out in Cairo and elsewhere in the Middle East.
#3. There was a terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate which killed four Americans, including the ambassador.


Ever since then, the rabid Republican Right has been accusing the President of “lying about something.” Lying about what?

The absurdly contorted argument at Fox News and within the GOP is that the President deliberately opted for the “spontaneous riot” explanation in order to maintain the impression that he was doing a good job protecting America against terrorism. To this, they add that he and his administration then conspired to cover up the initial “lie.”

It is true that at first, the Obama administration attributed the quadruple murder to one of the violent demonstrations triggered by the anti-Muslim movie. A few days later it turned out that the murders were committed by a terrorist group. This trivial error is the sum total of the administration’s transgression.

But the Republicans are trying to turn it into a capital crime, alleging that the error was a deliberate lie. This is utter hogwash, for the following reasons:

1) First of all, as soon as it became known that the murderers were an organized cell, the Obama administration corrected itself. Even before that, the President already described the murders as an act of TERRORISM. His own words, during the presidential campaign against Mitt Romney.

2) And this brings up a second and even more important point (already made by Hillary Clinton during her congressional testimony in 2012): In the end, what the f.....ing difference does it make whether Americans are murdered by a terrorist cell or by a rampaging terrorist mob?

I know something about terrorism: I taught the subject at the University for over ten years (along with teaching criminology for twenty-five years and teaching inmates at the California State Prison in Vacaville). Terrorism is terrorism, whatever form it takes.

And now, the conspiracy theory is being revived because someone discovered ONE relevant e-mail which the White House failed to turn over to the investigating congressional committee a year and a half ago.

This is like arguing over angels on pinheads. Wow! One e-mail message was not handed over! BFD. As soon as the murders occurred, the President called them an act of “Terrorism.” And as soon as the facts were known (in less than two weeks), the administration corrected itself. What more does Fox want?

Shame on you for politicizing this tragedy. In 1983, during Ronald Reagan’s watch, almost 250 US Marines were killed in the Beirut barracks bombing. In 2000, 17 American sailors were murdered in the USS Cole bombing. Back then, instead of shamelessly using these tragedies for political gain, Americans rallied together (as George W. Bush urged them to do).

As Hillary Clinton noted right away, shit happens; there is the fog of war; there is confusion; four Americans were murdered. Does it matter what kind of terrorism it was?

So give it up, you rabid Republicans. Your bs won’t fly. Most Americans have the common-sense to see through your hypocrisy and your double standard. Your obvious target is Hillary Clinton, the next presidential candidate.

People need to get it through their thick skulls that there is no Benghazi conspiracy. There is no scandal. It’s all nonsense.
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© Tom Kando 2014