While my fellow Liberals are either in full denial or full cover-up mode, the truth about the disaster in Benghazi continues to leak out, exactly as I said it would last November, before the election. It's a painful, slow dripping process that now, obviously, involves a huge CIA cover-up.
Thankfully Jake Tapper, now a headline star at CNN is leading the charge and doing the heavy investigative lifting. Formerly with ABC News, Tapper is a journalist without a blemish on his record. And he has been both honest and objective about Benghazi since the very beginning.
Until this point the leadership in uncovering this scandal has fallen on Fox News and they've also done a superb job. But my fellow Liberals always doubt the veracity of Fox and don't trust the network. Having CNN at the lead adds much needed credibility for the left.
Whatever happened on the ground in Libya the night of September 11, 2012, it was either extremely illegal or would embarrass the USA in the middle east or world community. The CIA is attempting to cover this up using extreme measures. Eventually this will emerge as a scandal of monumental proportions.
President Obama could have avoided this entire mess if he had been both candid and honest in the first few days after the murder of our Ambassador and three other Americans. Certainly he did not have to release any confidential or restricted information. But instead he told a number stupid, bold faced lies and tried to misdirect the public and the press. He nearly destroyed Susan Rice's career in the process and Hillary Clinton is damaged, too. In fact, in my opinion, Clinton deserves even more blame the Obama for her part in the bizarre "video" lie and cover-up.
Readers of this blog know I have been a many year Hillary Clinton supporter, but I assure you I will never support or vote for her again. Her betrayal is unforgivable.
We can only guess at the truth right now and I'm not going to speculate. But the truth is coming. And Liberals and Progressives who have all claimed Benghazi is a "phony scandal" deserve the egg that is now all over their faces.
This is a moment we, as a nation, will long regret. My prayers are with Leon Panetta, who was thrust into this leadership position unprepared for the weight of the mission that has fallen upon him. And my prayers are with the agents and employees of the CIA who have served this country faithfully, with courage and loyalty, often in the most dangerous of assignments.
Eric Holder, our nations Attorney General did not reach the decision to prosecute agents of the CIA for their allegedly torturous activities in the pursuit of al Qaeda terrorists, lightly. I know he agonized long and hard. Still, the decision reeks of political decision making.Most importantly the decision puts our country at great risk. Holder and President Obama will deal a death blow to our intelligence gathering efforts. It is a poor decision and one that should have been handled differently.
This does not mean I advocate torture. This does not mean we should accept torture. This simply needed to be handled within the agency, by Mr. Panetta, in an appropriate manner consistent with the mission of the agency.As qualified and talented HONORABLE agents flee the agency, as agents hold back in the performance of their duties in fear of political retribution, the nation will be vulnerable. Agents cannot be put into the position of having to second guess their orders, let alone disobey them. Would Barack Obama want agents to second guess his decisions? They will. And we will all pay the price.
President elect Barack Obama, soon to be President Obama, will get his choice for CIA Director, Leon Panetta, confirmed. This is certainly as it should be, A President, especially a first term newly elected President, gets to chose his own team.
It is rare for an appointment to be denied unless the appointee has a genuinely fatal flaw. This, most assuredly, is not the case with Panetta, who I have previously said is very bright, honest, an excellent manager and totally loyal, not to mention a great Democrat Party cheerleader.
The only way for Panetta to not get the job is for Obama himself to arrange a face saving withdrawal. I do not expect that to happen.
In spite of all of the above, I strongly feel Panetta is a disastrous choice to lead the CIA, one that will ultimately leave the agency in ruins and one that will leave the United States deaf and blind in the face of an unprecedented terrorist threat.
I strongly urge readers here to link over to the National Public Radio (NPR) website and listen to the excellent and very balanced report by NPR Reporter Tom Gielten. Unfortunately a transcript of the report is not currently available. The report is fair and balanced and terribly frightening.
This is a decision that was made out of weakness and Obama's own unwillingness to confront very bizarre ultra left wing of his party. In spite of Obama's protestations, Panetta will have neither the ear nor the confidence of the President, who nominated his own real choice for CIA Director, John Brennan, to the position of "Counter-terrorism Advisor," which will not require any hearings or Congressional approval. It has been Brennan who has advised Obama every day. Brennan will continue to have Obama's ear and confidence.
This is a decision that will come back to haunt President Obama and the nation.
I strongly urge you to listen to the report.
