I am about to compliment Fox News. And just to set the
record straight before someone feels compelled to distort it, I should mention
that “Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes From A Blue State” carries all the
blogs and columns I have written in the
course of 18 years, some 1,947 separate entrees. Many of the columns have appeared
in various Connecticut newspapers. A search for “Fox News” on that site
produces a scant 11 hits. So then, this writer has not been much in the habit of
citing Fox. That said, the Fox News reports on the destruction of the U.S. Consulate
in Benghazi, Libya by Salafist terrorists has been more than exemplary. These
are the kinds of reports that occasionally are noticed by the Pulitzer board.
And that is especially the case when good reporting is not picked up by other
media outlets.
Several observations may reasonably be drawn from the
information provided by the Fox news reports: 1) that the Obama administration
knew or should have known on the second day following the attack that the
attack was orchestrated by terrorists. Ambassador Chris Stevens and two other
Americans were murdered in the well-coordinated assault on the consulate; 2)
that, despite data available to the White House, officials of the Obama
administration declared unambiguously in several news venues that the attack on
the consulate was precipitated by an amateur film that defamed the prophet Mohammed,
peace be upon him; 3) that for several days following the attack, the Obama administration,
including the president, continued to cling feverishly to the fiction that a
non-existent spontaneous demonstration outside the embassy provided cover for
attackers the Obama administration repeatedly declined to identify as
terrorists.
All these evasive statements issuing from the White House
were preposterous, even laughable, attempts to prevent a slumberous media from
charging in the midst of a national campaign that the terrorist attack on the embassy
was preplanned to coincide with the September 11th attack on the
Twin Towers in New York City.
A congressional investigation following the attack indicates
that there had been numerous attacks on the destroyed embassy and that security
at the embassy was not increased following the attacks, most likely because the
Obama administration did not wish to suggest to terrorists that the United
States was overly concerned with their efforts to strike back at the Great
Satan, the United States in collusion with Israel.
Here is an accurate chronology of key events following theattack on the embassy supplied by the Heritage Foundation,
a conservative think tank NEVER cited by Connecticut Commentary:
The grueling reportorial work has been done for any and every news reporter or political commentator in Connecticut who, unlike reporters and commentators at the New York Times, might want to question present members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, Democrats all, concerning what promises to be a scandal of major proportions.
“April 6: IED thrown over the fence of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
“April 11: Gun battle erupts between armed groups two-and-a-half miles from the U.S. Consulate, including rocket-propelled grenades.
“April 27: Two South African contractors are kidnapped by armed men, released unharmed.
“May 1: Deputy Commander of U.S. Embassy Tripoli’s Local Guard Force is carjacked, beaten, and detained by armed youth.
“May 1: British Embassy in Tripoli is attacked by a violent mob and set on fire. Other NATO embassies attacked as well.
“May 3: The State Department declines a request from personnel concerned about security at the U.S. Embassy in Libya for a DC-3 plane to take them around the country.
“May 22: Two rocket-propelled grenades are fired at the Benghazi office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, less than 1 mile from the U.S. Consulate.
“June 6: A large IED destroys part of the security perimeter of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Creates hole “big enough for 40 men to go through.”
“June 10: A car carrying the British ambassador is attacked in Tripoli. Two bodyguards injured.
“Late June: The building of the International Red Cross attacked again and closed down, leaving the U.S. flag as the only international one still flying in Benghazi, an obvious target.
“August 6: Armed assailants carjack a vehicle with diplomatic plates operated by U.S. personnel.
“September 8: A local security officer in Benghazi warns American officials about deteriorating security.
“September 11: Protesters attack the U.S. Cairo embassy. U.S. Embassy releases statement and tweets sympathizing with Muslim protesters/attackers.
“September 11: U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya is attacked, Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans are killed.
“September 12: Secretary Clinton and President Obama issue statements condemning both the video and the attacks.
“September 12: U.S. intelligence agencies have enough evidence to conclude a terrorist attack was involved.
“September 14: Carney denies Administration had “actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”
“September 14: The bodies of slain Americans return to Andrews Air Force Base. President Obama again blames the YouTube video.
“September 16: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appears on Sunday talk shows and says the attacks were provoked by the video, exclusively.
“September 16: Libyan President Mohamed Magarief says, “no doubt that this [attack] was preplanned, predetermined.”
“September 17: State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refuses to call attacks an act of terror.
“September 19: CNN reports having found Ambassador Stevens’s diary, which indicates concern about security threats in Benghazi.
“September 19: Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matthew Olsen tells Congress the attack in Libya was “terrorism.”
“September 20: Carney tries to back up Olsen, says it was “self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”
“September 21: Secretary of State Clinton, at meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister, says, “What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”
“September 25: On ABC’s “The View,” Obama says, “we don’t have all of the information yet so we are still gathering.”
“September 25: To the U.N. assembly, Obama blames “A crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world.”
“September 26: Libya’s Magarief on the “Today” show says, “It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens.”
“September 26: Published reports show U.S. Intel agencies and the Obama Administration knew within 24 hours that al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist were involved.
“September 27: Innocence of Muslims filmmaker Mark Basseley Youseff (aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula) is arrested and denied bail on the charges of “probation violation.”
“September 28: Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr., issues a statement backing the Obama Administration’s changing story about the Libyan attack. Says facts are evolving.
“October 2: Carney declines to comment on reported requests from diplomats in Libya for additional security, citing the State Department’s internal investigation.”
And the Fox News reporters who uncovered the ongoing scandal
should be up for a Pulitzer.
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