The Benghazi Lie in Black and White

[Machismo]

I have no aversion to the word "lie" when it's appropriately used. Clinton lied about the Bosnian Sniper Fire incident, for example.

I'd say that the administration in general misled the public. I'd say Clinton made true statements that people misinterpreted in the larger context of the administration's talking points (taken from the intelligence community). I'd say there's no actual evidence that Clinton herself was deliberately misleading.

If she had no desire to mislead, she wouldn't have brought those things up at all. Instead of talking about what she knew led to the attacks, she chose to speak about the dangers of a video.

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Yeah, they coulda just sent a check for that money to the families or even just threw it up in the air in some random city and it would have done more good.

Then again, the administration could have been honest from the beginning.

[Reeve]

If she had no desire to mislead, she wouldn't have brought those things up at all. Instead of talking about what she knew led to the attacks, she chose to speak about the dangers of a video.

You can discuss related events to push an agenda without being intentionally misleading.

[Machismo]

You can discuss related events to push an agenda without being intentionally misleading.

But that's not what she was doing. That's clear because the administration took the same stance as she did. Instead of being honest how they died, she talked about the uproar over a video, and vowed to arrest the maker of the video. That is being misleading.

Otherwise, the very same argument could be made about the Bush Administration and their desire to push us into a war in Iraq. Do you have such a strong desire to rationalize her, that you are willing to absolve the Bush administration for the same thing?

[Merkava]

Jay Carney and Susan Rice very clearly made some false statements. Clinton did not.

Hillary Clinton told a Senate Committee that she knew of nothing that contradicted the IC talking points. The truth is that she herself originated reports that contradicted the IC talking points.

[Deleted]

One of the standard ways to confuse the enemy is to misdirect too. And damage control often involves spinning temporary stories.

None of those things are a cover up.

But the lies that Hillary and Obama told the world WERE a cover up - to cover the feckless and weak piece of shit named Barack Hussein Obama to enhance his chances of being reelected.

[Merkava]

Oh sure, because we all know that political figures are always reasonable and never waste taxpayer dollars on partisan witch hunts, right?

Lets be honest here, people. The same "Birther Logic" applies here: If there really were all this evidence of an intentional "lie" or "cover-up", her enemies would have already taken her down over it. (Just like if there really were proof that Obama wasn't a citizen, he never would have even made the general election, much less the White House, yet people still talk about it.)

Her enemies have taken her down. For whatever that's worth. But her supporters still stand by her regardless. To be sure, it's not just FoxNews and Republicans accusing her and the administration of a cover up. There are voices in the mainstream media that acknowledge that. Here's some quotes from an editorial in the Chicago Tribune;

On the question of how Clinton and the Obama administration reacted, we see more than enough evidence to reaffirm our opinion that the secretary of state failed a crucial chance to show decisive, principled leadership.

The crux of it is that during and well after the chaos of the attacks on the State Department's outpost and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi, Clinton and the Obama administration promoted a false narrative for public consumption: that the violence came from a spontaneous outburst of mob anger. Although Clinton confided to her daughter, Chelsea, in an email that night that an al-Qaida faction was responsible, for two weeks she let fester the story that mob action, not a planned assault her department might have anticipated, killed her employees.

The supposition Clinton and others held to was that the attacks were related in nature to political protests the same day outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Those demonstrators were angry about an anti-Islam video. With the Benghazi attacks still unfolding, Clinton released the administration's only statement on the evening of Sept. 11, and she focused on the video. But the next day, Clinton told Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil, "We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack — not a protest."

As hours and days passed, the report shows, inaccurate accounts of the Benghazi timeline inexplicably endured. On Sept. 14, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We have no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack. The unrest we've seen around the region has been in reaction to a video that Muslims, many Muslims find offensive."

The Benghazi report offers evidence of Clinton's lapses, but not a lot of pathbreaking information. That's good in a way. We never thought there would be some smoking gun proving that four brave Americans might have been saved. Instead, we looked for evidence that Clinton managed a terrible ordeal and its fallout with exemplary skill and integrity. Unfortunately, we didn't find that either. It will be up to American voters to make the final judgment on her performance.

So there's the moderate voice, the middle ground so to speak. People on the far right will still maintain that the administration let people die for political gain, the sort of "Hillary lied, people died," crowd, setting up the people on the left for the obvious response, that there's no proof of any wrongdoing or anything else illegal done by her. The truth of course, is in the middle. Hillary was the head of a department who's own internal review found

systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department (the “Department”) resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.

and she was part of an administration that misled, I would say lied, to the American people for political gain. That's the middle ground. That's what I'm hearing reasonable, non partisan people say.

[Deleted]

people seriously need to drop this, 9 investigations and no fault, even from incredibly partisan investigation committees against Clinton.

At this point (actually about 8 investigations ago) people just look idiotic and childish to keep this up

[Merkava]

people seriously need to drop this, 9 investigations and no fault, even from incredibly partisan investigation committees against Clinton.

At this point (actually about 8 investigations ago) people just look idiotic and childish to keep this up

There's plenty of fault. Her own State Dept Review Board found fault. I quoted it about 2 inches above your post.

[Lenonis]

There's plenty of fault. Her own State Dept Review Board found fault. I quoted it about 2 inches above your post.

Unfortunately the reality is that Benghazi has been overplayed, people have made up their minds on what happened and no one cares anymore.

It's a good lesson in politics about how and when to play your hand on issues like this -- the GOP botched this opportunity.

[Merkava]

Unfortunately the reality is that Benghazi has been overplayed, people have made up their minds on what happened and no one cares anymore.

It's a good lesson in politics about how and when to play your hand on issues like this -- the GOP botched this opportunity.

I agree with that as well.

[Deleted]

There's plenty of fault. Her own State Dept Review Board found fault. I quoted it about 2 inches above your post.

drop it, you lost, get over it.

[Masoner]

Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq which has cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers, adversely affected the lives of tens of thousands more, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the region and opened the door for the rise of ISIS.

But please, tell us how "lying" about how a riot started in Benghazi changes the course of human history.

Justifying one lie cause of another lie is simply laughable as an excuse.

[Merkava]

drop it, you lost, get over it.

Is that really your best reply?

[Masoner]

drop it, you lost, get over it.

are you seriously saying that you think a video on youtube caused the deaths of those Americans? arrest the film makers and blame them not the religion behind it?

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Oh sure, because we all know that political figures are always reasonable and never waste taxpayer dollars on partisan witch hunts, right?

Lets be honest here, people. The same "Birther Logic" applies here: If there really were all this evidence of an intentional "lie" or "cover-up", her enemies would have already taken her down over it. (Just like if there really were proof that Obama wasn't a citizen, he never would have even made the general election, much less the White House, yet people still talk about it.)

It's not a witch hunt... she lied and the Government lied then covered it up. It's right there in front of you.

[Machismo]

Oh sure, because we all know that political figures are always reasonable and never waste taxpayer dollars on partisan witch hunts, right?

Lets be honest here, people. The same "Birther Logic" applies here: If there really were all this evidence of an intentional "lie" or "cover-up", her enemies would have already taken her down over it. (Just like if there really were proof that Obama wasn't a citizen, he never would have even made the general election, much less the White House, yet people still talk about it.)

There's plenty of evidence of a lie, as well as a cover up. It's not a huge deal, but it is ridiculous to deny that it wasn't done. We have plenty of video evidence of them pushing a narrative they knew to be false.

Unlike the birther issue (to which their is zero evidence), there's evidence of a cover up involving the incompetence of Benghazi.

[Deleted]

Is that really your best reply?

9 fucking investigations, 9......

Just give it up, its ridiculous now, you just look petty and petulant, you know why? because its petty and petulant.

[Merkava]

9 fucking investigations, 9......

Just give it up, its ridiculous now, you just look petty and petulant, you know why? because its petty and petulant.

Wow, that actually was your best response, lol!

[Templar 331]

to enhance his chances of being reelected.

I have yet to see a coherent explanation on how an attack on one of our embassy's by terrorists would have hurt Obama's reelection chances or how blaming it on a video would increase his chances of being reelected.

People were either going to vote for him or not. People who believe this is a coverup were never going to vote for him in the first place. People who saw this as an "act of terror" and were going to vote for Obama anyway weren't swayed in the least.

[Machismo]

I have yet to see a coherent explanation on how an attack on one of our embassy's by terrorists would have hurt Obama's reelection chances or how blaming it on a video would increase his chances of being reelected.

People were either going to vote for him or not. People who believe this is a coverup were never going to vote for him in the first place. People who saw this as an "act of terror" and were going to vote for Obama anyway weren't swayed in the least.

But there's actually verifiable evidence that it was a cover up. Just because people don't want to believe it, doesn't make it any less true.

[Merkava]

I have yet to see a coherent explanation on how an attack on one of our embassy's by terrorists would have hurt Obama's reelection chances or how blaming it on a video would increase his chances of being reelected.

People were either going to vote for him or not. People who believe this is a coverup were never going to vote for him in the first place. People who saw this as an "act of terror" and were going to vote for Obama anyway weren't swayed in the least.

You had a a diplomatic outpost being overrun and an Ambassador being killed on Sept 11 by an Al Qqueda affiliated group that was allowed to rise to prominence in Libya in the vacum of the United States overthrowing that country's leader. Simultaneously, Obama was campaigning as being strong on terrorism by going around the country saying "Bin Laden's dead GM is alive." You don't see how those two things wouldn't coexist?