by Tom Kando
As I have been saying for three years (See my The Benghazi Pseudo-Issue; Benghazi Ad Nauseam), the so-called “Benghazi affair/scandal” is nothing. It is a puff of hot air aimed to undermine Hillary Clinton and her quest for the White House.
I watched parts of the October 22 congressional hearings of the Select Committee on Benghazi chaired by Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy. This is the umpteenth committee created by the enemies of President Obama and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to “investigate Benghazi.”
I feel obligated to educate the public about Benghazi once again. Hopefully this will be a POST-MORTEM of this stupid and useless three-year-long scandal-mongering campaign aimed purely at undermining the Obama-Clinton administration, not to uncover any nefarious lies by them.
If you read the remainder of this short article, you will NOT see a repetition of what the media - at least the non-reactionary media - have already been saying for the past few days - namely that “Hillary Clinton did very well,” that she “won the exchange between her and her accusers,” that “the Benghazi hearings are useless,” etc.)
While these truisms are all true, let me point out a couple of additional and somewhat overlooked aspects:
1. The Republican accusations have totally changed over the past three years:
As everyone should know by now, on or about 9/11/12, four Americans were murdered in Benghazi, including our ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. The GOP and their henchmen at Fox News then began to accuse the Obama administration of using fraudulent ‘talking points” to explain the murders. They accused the Obama administration of falsely attributing the attack to a spontaneous riot in response to a blasphemous Islamophobic video, instead of acknowledging that it was a well-planned terrorist attack. Big f...ing deal. Hillary Clinton, being the secretary of state, had to testify extensively about this. As she said at that time a couple of years ago, angrily pummeling her desk, in what I still consider one of her finest moments (paraphrased): “what difference does it make, whether Americans are murdered by a terrorist cell or by a rampaging terrorist mob? The tragedy is that they were all murdered!”
By the way, some people on Fox News had the audacity to use a truncated part of Clinton’s statement (the words “what difference does it make?”) as proof of her cruelty, insinuating that she didn’t care about the murder of the four Americans.
After a while, the country came to its senses and agreed with Clinton that quibbling about the “talking points” was meaningless. So this accusation fizzled out.
But the “investigation” did not go away, because, as Republican congressman McCarthy finally confessed recently, it was an instrument to undermine Clinton, nothing more. So now the Republicans are trying another tack:
Today, three years later, the accusation is that Clinton, the State Department and the Obama government failed to adequately PROTECT ambassador Stevens and the other three victims of the Libyan rampage. That is what most of the grueling 11-hour inquisition on Oct. 22 was basically about.
2. The proper label for this “investigation” - now entering its fourth year - is WITCH HUNT. Shame on the GOP 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 exploiting these tragedies for political gain, Americans rallied together (as George W. Bush urged them to do). In fact, if Benghazi justifies such a congressional inquest, would the September 11 attacks not justify one a thousand-fold? Thank God, that didn’t happen. The country closed ranks.
3. I see here a clear similarity with Senator Joe McCarthy’s 1953 investigation of communist subversion in all branches of government, even allegedly in the Army. That ill-fated expedition came to an ignominious end, because the American people, the media, President Eisenhower and all other relevant parties realized that Joe McCarthy’s charges were bogus.
4. However, there is also a disturbing difference between these two investigations: Today, the media have become more cautious (cowardly?), and the American people are more disoriented. The media are hedging their bets, and many people don’t know what to think about Benghazi. As a matter of fact, a majority of Americans don’t know what Benghazi is about.
On October 22, the Sacramento Bee urged in an editorial to “Disband the Benghazi Committee, Now.” Right on. Nearly five million dollars of taxpayer’s money have been wasted on this witch hunt. That’s more than enough. The farce has lasted long enough. By 1954, it had become clear that Joe McCarthy was a lying buffoon, and the country put a stop to his circus show. The Benghazi saga has been a similar scenario. Why, then, is the country unable to come to its senses?
P.S. And one more thing:
I already told you that the October 22 inquisition of Hillary Clinton reminded me of Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt in the 1950s.
Today, I had another déja vu (I often get good insights while I am on a long bike ride and an endorphin high):
It took a woman to save France in the fifteenth century. Her name was Joan of Arc. Most of us can remember this from history class and from Hollywood. Oh how I loved Ingrid Bergman in that role, and how my heart ached when I saw her burned at the stake - her reward for saving her country! And how I laughed when I heard that the evil bishop who led Joan’s inquisition was named Cauchon
(means “pig,” differently spelled). And how happy I was when I learned that Joan was later canonized and became Saint Joan.
Seeing Hillary Clinton being battered and vilified for eleven hours by a committee of mostly middle-aged men and republicans, I was reminded of the inquisition of Ingrid Bergman by the Church and bishop Pig. Clinton’s valiant and righteous answers were similarly worthy of historical analogy.
The difference: Hillary Clinton will neither be burned at the stake, nor will she be sanctified by the Pope posthumously.
The similarity: It took a woman to save France during the Hundred Years War. It may take a woman to save America from the clutches of what the Republican Party has become.
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