Persistence Is Golden

I congratulate those people that have the power to make things happen who stayed the course on Benghazi. Many of us recognized the abject phoniness of the original story from day one. It also became obvious that this whole mess did not start with the attack. It started weeks before.

There was an operation being run out of Benghazi. We are not told what the operation was or who was in charge. The best guesses seem to be a transfer of arms run by the CIA. But there was something going on because Ambassador Stevens requested more security. His request was not fulfilled. That was blamed on a low level staff member who felt additional security was not needed. That is simply not believable. As I understand it, the only people than can refuse the request of an ambassador is the Secretary of State and the President.

At some point the property at Benghazi was designated an American Consulate. That made it American territory. Ambassador Stevens was either asked or told to go there. He, most certainly, was not on a sight seeing tour. There were and are two major Al Qaeda affiliates in the area. They are Ansar al Sharia and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. They are not a rag-tag bunch of neighborhood toughs. They are serious political jihadists. They knew what was going on at that consulate.

Even the video that was shown on TV gave lie to the administration's story. The people that attacked were organized and well armed. They even had RPGs. No rag-tag there. But the administration had been going with the story, "bin Laden is dead and GM is alive". "Al Qaeda is diminished and on the run."

Coming up to an election, putting more security in Benghazi and admitting an Al Qaeda based attack would have made Obama look weak and Hillary Clinton incompetent. They couldn't allow that. So good people were sacrificed on a political alter. And they didn't even try to save them.

Then came two years of deny, deny, deny. Blame it on the Republicans. Blame it on the Koch brothers. Redact any paper the must be sent to Congress. But ultimately, a spark. An unredacted email. An email from Ben Rhodes at the White House to Susan Rice instructed her in talking points that were patently untrue.

This is enough to prod Congress into convening a select committee. After two year of stonewalling and name calling, it is time for the truth. For the good of America, I hope the Democrats can come to the table and put politics aside for this one, very important, time.