Thursday, May 9, 2013

Democrats In Benghazi Hearings: Protect Obama And Hillary At Any Cost


During the Congressional hearings on the Benghazi attack yesterday it became clear to anyone who watched with an open mind that the goal of the Democrats was not to uncover the truth about what happened.  Their goal appeared to be protecting Hillary Clinton and President Obama at any cost – even at the risk of sounding absurd.

Rep. Darrell Issa, (R), opened the hearing noting the many ways in which the Obama administration has stonewalled Benghazi investigations, and how the Democratic minority in the House has aided the stonewalling.  The President has yet to explain what he did once he was notified of the attack.  All we really know is that no one seems to have spoken with him about it during the night and the next day he flew to Las Vegas for a fund raiser.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, (D), used his opening statement to attack Issa and assail the whistleblowers’ testimony (that he hadn’t even heard yet.)  Cummings basically filibustered their testimony by wasting time, while he claimed to be a champion of whistleblowers.

During the testimony, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), questioned why they (Democrats) had not had access to witness Mark Thompson and why they didn’t know what he was going to say except to read about it in the press (which just happens to be their best friend.) 

“I agree with Mr. [Jason] Chaffetz complete that there should be equal exchange of information – that we should have access to all information – but the Democratic minority was denied access to a witness,” asserted Maloney. “The only way we knew anything about what Mr. [Mark I.] Thompson was going to say was what we read in the press.”

She then went on to say she was appalled that when Americans get attacked in another country what happens is that Americans here at home (i.e., the President, Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, etc.) get attacked for it.  She apparently sees no good reason for this quest for truth other than to politicize the event and damage the President and Hillary.  And she’s not the only Democrat who feels that way.

Cummings told the witnesses that “Death is a part of life”, then went on to say “We feel your pain.”  Congressman, with all due respect, if you really felt their pain you’d be trying hard to find the answers along with Congressman Issa, not criticizing the hearings and the witnesses.

In a statement the other day, our illustrious new Secretary of State, John Kerry, said every question had been asked and every question had been answered concerning Benghazi and that it was time for the State Department to “move on” and stop being slowed down by continuous questions.  Really?  Four Americans died, including an American ambassador.  We, the American public, as well as the victims’ families have gotten no answers about what actually happened and why, and you’re tired of endless questions?  What are you going to tell the families of those victims – that you got the guy who made the video?  At least Hillary made good on that rather flippant and ridiculous promise. 

Last, but not least, the ever clever White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, said it is the opinion of the White House that the Republicans are merely trying to politicize the Benghazi incident.  It’s apparent that President Obama, Carney, Hillary, et al, don’t want the truth uncovered because the deeper this probe goes the worse it looks for Obama and Hillary.  From all evidence that’s been presented so far, it is obvious that everyone involved knew the attack on the US consulate in Libya was a deliberate terrorist attack from the beginning.  The President was informed and disappeared.  The Secretary of State (Clinton) and Defense Secretary Panetta did nothing and Panetta told the military to stand down.  CIA agents were also told to stand down.  Four Americans died, including two CIA agents who disobeyed that stand down order and went to help anyway. 

The administration tried, unsuccessfully, to sweep the incident under the rug because of the upcoming election.  After all – President Obama had already informed the American people that Bin Laden was dead and Al Qaeda was mostly disbanded and ineffective.  Then, in the weeks leading up to the election, they stalled and avoided questions and kept people from testifying before Congress which, sadly, did lead to Obama being re-elected by an uninformed public. 

In previous testimony weeks before, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he did not send in a rapid response team because he “wasn’t going to send a team into harm’s way without knowing what’s actually going on.”  Mr. Secretary – my question to you would be “Why do we have rapid response teams if not for situations like this?  Would this not be similar to one of the situations they train for?”

It disgusts me that Democrats are more interested in partisan politics than in finding the truth in this incident.  Sure, there are Republicans who are using it for political purposes.  That’s the life of a politician.  But finding the truth should be first and foremost for both sides, regardless of the outcome.   The American people deserve honest answers.  The victims’ families deserve honest answers.  And the victims themselves deserve the respect and honor of a government that owes them for their service and sacrifice to tell the truth about what happened to them and to hold people accountable if they did the wrong thing.

No comments:

Post a Comment