It seems like only yesterday when President Obama stood in front of
an electrified audience at the 2012 Democratic National Convention just
days before the deadly September 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate
in Benghazi, Libya, reminding supporters, "al Qaeda is on the path to
defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead."
Days later, on September 14, a somber-faced Obama and his
sullen-faced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood in front of four
flag draped coffins at Andrews Air Force
Base, assuring the small group of grieving family members their loved
ones did not die in vain. Their ill-informed message suggested these
patriots weren't killed by terrorists; they died because of protests
about a YouTube video.
Since then, the administration has done its best to dodge questions
and distance itself from the events of September 11, and acquired a
convenient case of amnesia along the way. Nine months-in and Americans
still have no clue why initial talking points from top officials'
claiming the attacks were most likely executed by al Qaeda-linked
terrorists were reduced to "a YouTube video." Did they fear
acknowledging such a claim so close to the 2012 presidential election? Or did they actually believe the video story?
Hopefully, some of these questions were answered by way of three
courageous State Department whistle-blowers scheduled to testify before
the House Oversight Committee May 8. Pre-hearing interviews from one of
the whistleblowers, Gregory Hicks, the second highest diplomat in Libya
at the time of the attacks, were released to the press. Hicks claimed a
Special Forces team, which could have saved lives and protected
evidence, was ordered to "stand down" despite multiple pleas for help.
Contrary to the administration's claims, Hicks also said, "...everybody
in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack" from the beginning.
Hicks' statements seem to fit in with the timeline obtained by the
Weekly Standard from the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence. The Weekly Standard article "The Benghazi Talking Points,"
describes how "senior Obama administration officials knowingly misled
the country about what had happened" and made "substantive revisions" to
the "CIA's talking points" six weeks outside the 2012 presidential
election.
So where's your thirst for truth, America? Why aren't we outraged?
Maybe because, as White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "Benghazi
happened a long time ago." Maybe Carney should ask grieving family
members wanting answers and longing for closure how long it's been since
their loved ones lost their lives in Benghazi. Or maybe we are at a
point in this country where a politician's political aspirations trump
everything else.
The last time something of this magnitude happened, a U.S. president
stepped down. But that was during a time when good men who made bad
choices still had the intestinal fortitude to accept personal
responsibility for their actions. It was also a time when journalists
were principled enough to set aside politics to do their job and make politicians accountable.
Some in the mainstream media are reluctantly pulling their heads out
of the ground. On May 5, CBS news anchor Bob Schieffer acknowledged the
possibility the administration might have been involved in a "cover-up."
Others are unenthusiastically following suit because they have no
choice. Of course, the illegitimate diehards will remain with their
heads in the sand until the storm passes.
As the pieces of this puzzle come together, one thing is certain:
Full and honest disclosure is always the best policy. Regardless of how
Benghazi pans out, we will discover that either the Obama administration
was involved in a cover-up and played us as fools, or our government is
run by fools who actually believed the Benghazi attacks were in
response to an uprising over an amateurish anti-Islam video by a man now
serving jail time for a separate issue. Either way, we lose.
Susan Stamper Brown's weekly column is nationally syndicated. She can be
reached at writestamper@gmail.com or via her website at
susan@susanstamperbrown.com. Her Facebook page can be found here.
Not even Barack Obama can defy the laws of physics.
Certain things are absolute. As Newton said, what goes up must come down. The wrinkles
you see staring back at you in the mirror validate the second law of
thermodynamics: eventually things fall apart. And, as any farmer will
tell you, if you plant cucumbers in the spring, no matter how hard you
try, you will never reap watermelons in the summer.
It’s the same with deeds; good and bad, we reap what we sow. From the
onset, the Obama administration has woven a web of fabrications so
thick it is hard to see where reality ends and make-believe begins. Over
time, Obama has woven that web tighter by installing a gang of Chicago
allies, confidants, tongue-biters and tale-tellers as a “shadow
government” answerable only to him. There was safety in this tight-knit
crew of like-minded associates, or so they thought, until recently when
parts of Obama’s web began to unravel.
As the old time pastor R.G. Lee once said, “Nature keeps books
pitilessly. Man’s credit with her is good. But Nature collects.” And
now it seems Nature has come knocking on the front door of 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
It all began with Benghazi. We now know celebrating in the end zone
about bin Laden’s death made for good re-election bumper stickers and
water cooler conversation but had little impact on America’s security
or the security of the grossly under protected consulate in Benghazi,
Libya. Farfetched stories about a video spun by a circle of close
confidants desperately desiring four more years of power fell apart
during recent testimonies. We reap what we sow.
Now we hear the IRS was party to Soviet-style scare tactics in the
inappropriate targeting of conservative groups prior to the 2012
election. The Washington Post reports the tentacles of this
scandal reach beyond the supposed few rogue agents in Cincinnati to
Washington. Doing what they do best, Progressives deflected the blame to
the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision – purporting had it
not been for it, there would be no need for the IRS’s intrusion into
the private lives of conservatives. Had the IRS targeted liberal groups,
Democrats would have blamed it on a Republican plot to steal the
election. And of course, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney remains
steadfast: the administration is beyond reproach. Sure.
So, how about a sprinkle of invasion of privacy to go with that
healthy those of scare tactics? The Associated Press (AP) discovered
Attorney General Holder’s Department of Justice secretly seized two
months of reporters’ phone
records, including both work and personal numbers; something the AP
called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into newsgathering. While
the jury’s still out regarding motives, it should be noted this was not
the first time for this administration. As originally reported by
Breitbart.com, former Holder spokesperson Tracy Schmaler colluded with
the far-left group Media Matters for America to “smear media figures,
whistleblowers, and members of Congress.” Transparency? Not.
Scandal by scandal, the president remains resolute and does his
sanctimonious best to remain blameless. The dominoes are dropping it is
harvest time for this corrupt administration which believes justice is
due for everyone but itself and will do everything in its power to avoid reaping the consequences for which it has sown.
Susan Stamper Brown's weekly column is nationally syndicated. She can be
reached at writestamper@gmail.com or via her website at
susan@susanstamperbrown.com. Her Facebook page can be found here
