Benghazi attacks definitely don't pass the smell test

[Cain]

If you're anything like me, you've probably noted how Obama's valiant defenders in the press have been keeping really, really quiet about the Benghazi attacks and subsequent questions that have arisen about the conduct of the State Department and the White House on the day of the attack.

Even people somewhat critical of the administration have been reluctant to look at Benghazi too closely, probably on the basis that the Republicans have been attempting to hammer Obama (and Clinton) over various aspects of that, and the Republicans are always wrong.

Well, things just got interesting:

While US diplomats were pulling bodies from a burning Libyan consulate and frantically smashing up hard drives last 11 September, their superiors blocked rescue efforts and later attempted to cover up security failings, according to damaging new evidence that may yet hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.

In vivid testimony to Congress on Wednesday, Gregory Hicks, deputy to murdered US ambassador Christopher Stevens, revealed for the first time in public a detailed account of the desperate few hours after the terrorist attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi.

Hicks claimed Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, telephoned him to complain that he had given critical evidence to congressional investigators without the presence of a "minder" from the state department. "A phone call from that senior a person is generally considered not to be good news," said Hicks, who said he had since been demoted. "She was upset. She was very upset."

The career diplomat also alleged he was actively discouraged by officials from asking awkward questions about why other top Clinton aides, including the UN ambassador Susan Rice, initially blamed the attack on a spontaneous protest that got out of control. He described that briefing he described as "jaw-dropping, embarrassing and stunning". It is now thought the attacks, involving up to 60 heavily armed militia, were co-ordinated by Ansar al-Sharia, a group affiliated to al-Qaida, and timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

The allegations of a state department cover-up follow equally embarrassing claims that military leaders blocked efforts to dispatch special forces troops to the Benghazi consulate.

Of course the Republicans are doing this as a roundabout way of attacking Obama and smearing Clinton, hoping to poison the well before a possible future Presidential bid.  I mean, duh.

But that doesn't mean there are some legitimate questions as to what exactly went down that day.  And what precisely the CIA were doing in Benghazi, which seems to be perhaps part of the reason for the White House's sudden drive towards damage control.  Saint Brennan of the Drones must be protected at all costs, especially if he was running some kind of covert op in Benghazi and missed out on the fact his people had been made, or had them too busy collecting Stingers to focus on their own safety.

[Junkenstein]

Hicks claimed Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, telephoned him to complain that he had given critical evidence to congressional investigators without the presence of a "minder" from the state department. "A phone call from that senior a person is generally considered not to be good news,"

Well that probably deserves an award for "Most suspicious sentence today"

Is "Minder" an official position in the Government?

[East Coast Hustle]

Yes, it is. In North Korea.

[Telarus]

Cain,

A co-worker just passed these along to me. This seems big, any input?

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/

Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.

CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency's Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.
...
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings.

The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.

It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.
...
In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well. Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation."

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/previewing-how-the-media-will-defuse-cnns-bombshell-benghazi-revelations/

The silence that followed CNN's bombshell report, in which they revealed that one of their reporters was able to sit down for two hours with a suspect in the deadly 2012 attack on an American diplomatic consulate in Benghazi, was deafening. A portion of the interview, airing on CNN's The Situation Room on Wednesday, revealed that the suspect is not in hiding, has no fear for his personal safety, and has never been contacted by either Libyan or American investigators. In prime time, Fox News Channel scrambled their programming lineup to dig into the implications of the CNN interview, but neither MSNBC nor even CNN's highest profile personalities touched the bombshell. Why? Perhaps the revelations were too fresh for those concerned over how the scandalous revelations may adversely impact the White House's political standing. It was on Fox, in fact, where a budding counter narrative — one that protects both the FBI and the White House — was hatched.

[Cain]

Not much to say, except this is just confirming the suspicion that the CIA was up to something in Benghazi that they don't want anyone - including Congress - to know about.

[Telarus]

Cool, thanks. I'm going to keep an eye out for any more buzz around this.

[LMNO]

Ok, Cain, I agree that SOMETHING was going on in Bengazi with the CIA. What I'm dealing with among my friends who are paying attention is that the embassy attack was the reason the CIA was there.

I'm thinking they were doing something, or somethings, and Bengazi was a hub. That hub is what they're attempting to protect. What do you think?

[Cain]

Well, that is the question, isn't it?  Searching for Stinger missiles is one theory I've heard....coordinating CIA activity in Mali is another.  Rep. Frank Wolf has alleged the CIA were moving guns, providing them to Syrian rebels, which is certainly a possibility.

[LMNO]

But do we agree that the CIA wasn't there to facilitate the embassy attack, yeah?

[Cain]

I doubt it, although their operational sloppiness may have helped the attackers.

[Left]

Hicks claimed Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, telephoned him to complain that he had given critical evidence to congressional investigators without the presence of a "minder" from the state department. "A phone call from that senior a person is generally considered not to be good news,"

Well that probably deserves an award for "Most suspicious sentence today"

Is "Minder" an official position in the Government?

Guess so now...

...Will keep eye peeled for stuff regarding this...Thanks, Cain.

[LMNO]

I doubt it, although their operational sloppiness may have helped the attackers.

Ah. Got it. Thanks.

[Junkenstein]

Well, that is the question, isn't it?  Searching for Stinger missiles is one theory I've heard....coordinating CIA activity in Mali is another.  Rep. Frank Wolf has alleged the CIA were moving guns, providing them to Syrian rebels, which is certainly a possibility.

On a scale of 1-10, where would you place good old fashioned drug running? Just seems worth adding to the speculation and would be a very simple explanation. I always assumed the CIA were still shifting smack, pretty much regardless of where they're operating.

[Junkenstein]

Seems related:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23544515

The US will close a number of embassies and consulates, mostly in the Middle East, on Sunday in response to an unspecified threat, officials say.

A state department spokeswoman said the order applied to any embassy or consulate normally open on Sunday.

In the Muslim world, Sunday is a work day. In other parts of the world US diplomatic offices are shut on Sunday.

Last year on 11 September, the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked, leaving four Americans dead.

Other embassies are routinely targets of protesters.

"We have instructed all US embassies and consulates that would have normally been open on Sunday to suspend operations, specifically on August 4th," a senior state department official told the BBC.

"It is possible we may have additional days of closing as well."

The official said the state department had "been apprised of information" leading it to these "precautionary steps... out of an abundance of caution".

CBS News reported that among those affected by closure would be the embassies or consulates in Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The bold - I'd guess the thing to look at here would be which countries are not in the list. Not to say that they won't be affected, just that it seems odd to publicise any locations in particular. I would have thought the way to do something like this would be to shut them all down as quietly as possible. Unless you're trying to draw attention away from somewhere.

Also, those bold are prime candidates for CIA chicanery. Probably worth watching.

[Cain]

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