“Bengay …Stronger than Pain.” The White House is desperately trying to reduce the pain from the Benghazi fiasco. They just released a letter to congress in the latest attempt to explain how our Commander in Chief handled this crisis.
The following link from ABC News provides a copy of that letter:
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/2013.2.14_Letter%20from%20the%20White%20House%20Counsel.pdf
What a valentine! The White House is trying to pretend that the Accountability Review Board (“ARB”) was convened by Hillary Clinton “immediately” after the attack. The panel was not convened until September 20th, 2012, so the definition of immediately apparently meant within 9 days.
The White House asserts that an “intense response” was directed by the President, but then they describe this as 13 meetings of interagency Principals and Deputies within a week of the attack. But there is no record of President Obama contacting anyone, including Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, Martin E. Dempsey or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at any time during the night of September 11th, 2012. Both Panetta and Dempsey testified that they had no contact with anyone from the White House during this time period.
The letter, written by Kathryn R. Ruemmler, Counsel to the President, has some obvious word parsing. She says that “Secretary Clinton called Libyan President Magariaf on behalf of the President on the evening of September 11, 2012.” Note that she does not say that President Obama asked her to make that call. Actually, he could not possibly have asked her to do make that call or do anything else because he didn’t even talk to her on that night.
Hillary Clinton released the following statement on the night of September 11, 2012:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/09/197628.htm
I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today. As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack.
This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government’s full cooperation.
Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.
In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide.
At least SHE was paying attention.
It is significant that the White House felt enough political pressure that they needed to release this letter. It is incredible that more than 5 months after the incident this is the best answer they can provide. If they had a better answer, we would have heard it long ago. I am sure the White House is desperately hoping this Benghazi Bengay will cover up the pain, but I wouldn’t bet on it. It is increasingly obvious that President Obama was missing in action and the White House is working overtime to try and prevent anyone from disclosing where he was and what he was doing.
On the evening of September 11, 2012 the rest of us were watching our television screens in horror, as our embassies were under siege all over the Middle East. This was before we even knew that a U.S. Ambassador had been killed. At a minimum this was a situation that had enormous political implications for the President of the United States who was running for re-election. Yet, no one in the White House is willing to tell us where Obama was during this time. Perhaps the real question is not: “what did the President know and when did he know it,” but rather, “where was the President and why was he there?”
The answer must be pretty important because the White House is moving heaven and earth to try and prevent anyone from answering.
TDM