Wehrwolfen
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Stevens warned State Dept on day he died about deterioriating security in Benghazi
Stevens warned State Dep
Allahpundit @ Hot Air:
Not just on the day he died, mind you. Multiple times before, too. Im near the point now where I want to abandon the whole pre-planned attack versus spontaneous protest line of inquiry just because its steering us away from the more important topic of States negligence on his security. Besides, we already know, more or less,why Carney and Rice pushed the spontaneous protest theory. Ask Saxby Chambliss:
Talking points distributed by the administration [in the immediate aftermath] are nearly identical to intelligence assessments within hours of the attack, except in one important way: the intelligence judgment that the attackers had ties to al-Qaida was excluded from the public points, [Saxby] Chambliss said in a statement on Friday.
The administration omitted the known links to al-Qaida at almost every opportunity Whether this was an intentional effort by the administration to downplay the role of terrorist groups, especially al-Qaida, is one of the many issues the Senate Intelligence Committee must examine, Chambliss said.
The guy who got Bin Laden and knocked out Qaddafi didnt need a storyline in the middle of a campaign about AQ affiliates killing the American ambassador in the heart of the new Libya. Thats straightforward, and thats almost certainly why the spontaneous protest theory got traction initially. (Al Qaeda is on the run used to be part of Obamas standard stump speech, in fact. That line has been quietly dropped lately.) Whats not straightforward is why State refused to boost Stevenss security despite countless warnings about the danger, some from the man himself. Its inexplicable. Its not a budget issue, either: Charlene Lamb testified to thatbefore the House. She also testified that State had the correct number of assets in Benghazi, which literally no one but her seems to believe is true. So, once again: Why didnt Stevens have more security? What were they waiting for before making a decision to either send him a more professional force or end the American presence in Benghazi? Was that politicized too, i.e. State didnt want abandon the consulate over security fears because that would have made for some bad headlines about conditions inside the new Libya?
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