HERE IS THE BENGHAZI CONSPIRACY THAT THE DEMS NEED TO TAKE UP IN THE SENATE…..and that all who want the truth told should spread far and wide.
There IS a Benghazi Conspiracy and Lindsey Graham is at the Center of it.
Laura Logan of CBS’s 60 minutes took part in an information laundering conspiracy with Sen Lindsey Graham creating a story for which there was no authoritative source. Graham PLANTED information with Logan for which he had no proof to put it on the most respected and most watched TV news magazine AND THEN that Senator used that TV story to as HIS source for his attacks on the Obama administration. Impeachable?
To be more specific:
1) The Right wants to trace the Benghazi attack to Al Qaeda.There is no evidence that this is so (despite 7 Congressional reviews, DoD and State Reviews, DOJ Reviews and two external auditors).
2) In October 2013 on 60 Minutes Logan reported on the leadnstory that it was “now well established” that the assault had been planned and executed by an Al Qaeda operational unit. The report went on to lay out how this likely happened spelling out how AQ operates, how the attack was probably organized and then how it was carried out. It is a clever report but it all hinges on proof of the AQ connection.
3) The next morning Lindsey Graham appeared on Fox News to say that he saw Logan’s report, was shocked and declared that it was the smoking gun proving that the administration was covering up “the well established fact” that AQ was the mastermind and the agent of the attack.
4) But Logan had provided NO source for that claim. None. So what was the foundation of her claim? She wouldn’t say but NY Mag has gotten to the bottom of the mystery.
5) HER SOURCE WAS SC SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM. The two met two or three times to talk about the Libya attack, with Graham telling Logan that from his point of view, it was “a fair thing to say” that there was a “build-up of Al Qaeda types” in the area—a major talking point for the right in arguments that the Obama White House tried covering up alleged terrorist links. Graham alluded to privileged information he had from the CIA, FBI, State Department and Department of Defense BUT said he could not be quoted as the source since this information was confidential.
6) Graham, citing his concern about the coverup, after his appearance on Fox, put a hold on all Obama Senate nominees.
7) He had to fold when Logan story was shot full of holes. But why did he fold so quickly? Now we know?
Graham told Logan that AQ did it.
Logan reported it on 60 Minutes.
Graham then used the 60 Minutes report as the platform from which to launch a major assault on the administration.
HAS GRAHAM OFFERED HIS APOLOGY FOR TRYING TO MISLEAD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.? NOT ON HIS LIFE!
Read the full story here: http://nymag.com/news/features/lara-logan-cbs-news…
Benghazi is the new “where’s Obama’s birth certificate.” They lie to keep it bubbling in the same way they kept the birth certificate conspiracy bubbling. What it really means is that they’ve got nothing against the president, despite what must be desperate and rigorous efforts to find something of real substance against him.
Yes….keep trotting out Benghazi, IRS and Fast and Furious with Bengazhi having the most punch because it has a lot of exciting angles and it can be oversimplified to fit into people’s worst fears.
So the GOP Committee will exist to provide a platform to inflame the base, drive out their vote, raise money, provide an alibi for not getting anything done, and present an opportunity for sound bite harvesting and in the hope that a witness will slip up in a big way.
I think the House Dems should put some of their best and brightest on this committee for the purpose of calling out the GOP for the process they will put in place, for the statements they will make and to provide duck and cover assistance to their witnesses.
I heard on NPR this morning that there’s a committee investigating the Benghazi thing and it’s predominantly republican (lowercase Dad, out of disrespect) – yet the republican quoted on the news clip said that it’s about finding the truth and not about politics. Yeah…who, aside from rush limbaugh and his nutty friends believes that? It’s laughable, and yet they keep trying to make this a ‘scandal’.
NJ, you make me proud.
😉 🙂
NirekJunior???? We have not met but Senior and I are part of a mutual admiration society. I assume you are related.
Your comment- it is about distracting the country since the evil ACA is proving to be a good thing; it’s about getting their base really riled up and keeping them at fever pitch; it’s about raising money; it’s about redoing all of the previous hearings because the sound bites are worth their weight in gold.
It has nothing to do with the truth. Nothing. It is true- they cannot handle the truth.
Thanks for your comment.
Graham is bipolar with the “plus” of not being courageous enough to come out …..Excellent as usual,MTS.
13 Benghazis That Occurred on Bush’s Watch Without a Peep from Fox News
January 22, 2002. Calcutta, India. Gunmen associated with Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami attack the U.S. Consulate. Five people are killed.
June 14, 2002. Karachi, Pakistan. Suicide bomber connected with al-Qaida attacks the U.S. Consulate, killing 12 and injuring 51.
October 12, 2002. Denpasar, Indonesia. U.S. diplomatic offices bombed as part of a string of “Bali Bombings.” No fatalities.
February 28, 2003. Islamabad, Pakistan. Several gunmen fire upon the U.S. Embassy. Two people are killed.
May 12, 2003. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Armed al-Qaida terrorists storm the diplomatic compound killing 36 people including nine Americans. The assailants committed suicide by detonating a truck bomb.
July 30, 2004. Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A suicide bomber from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan attacks the U.S. Embassy, killing two people.
December 6, 2004. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaida terrorists storm the U.S. Consulate and occupy the perimeter wall. Nine people are killed.
March 2, 2006. Karachi, Pakistan again. Suicide bomber attacks the U.S. Consulate killing four people, including U.S. diplomat David Foy who was directly targeted by the attackers. (I wonder if Lindsey Graham or Fox News would even recognize the name “David Foy.” This is the third Karachi terrorist attack in four years on what’s considered American soil.)
September 12, 2006. Damascus, Syria. Four armed gunmen shouting “Allahu akbar” storm the U.S. Embassy using grenades, automatic weapons, a car bomb and a truck bomb. Four people are killed, 13 are wounded.
January 12, 2007. Athens, Greece. Members of a Greek terrorist group called the Revolutionary Struggle fire a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. Embassy. No fatalities.
March 18, 2008. Sana’a, Yemen. Members of the al-Qaida-linked Islamic Jihad of Yemen fire a mortar at the U.S. Embassy. The shot misses the embassy, but hits nearby school killing two.
July 9, 2008. Istanbul, Turkey. Four armed terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate. Six people are killed.
September 17, 2008. Sana’a, Yemen. Terrorists dressed as military officials attack the U.S. Embassy with an arsenal of weapons including RPGs and detonate two car bombs. Sixteen people are killed, including an American student and her husband (they had been married for three weeks when the attack occurred). This is the second attack on this embassy in seven months.
A few observations about this timeline. My initial list was quoted from an article on the Daily Kos which actually contained several errors and only 11 attacks (the above timeline contains all 13 attacks). Also, my list above doesn’t include the numerous and fatal attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the Iraq war — a war that was vocally supported by Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Fox News Channel.
Speaking of Graham, I ran a search on each attack along with the name “Lindsey Graham” in the hopes of discovering that Graham had perhaps commented about the attacks or raised some questions about why the administration didn’t prevent the attacks or respond accordingly to prevent additional embassy attacks. No results. Of course. Now, this could mean the search wasn’t exhaustive enough. But one thing’s for sure: neither Graham nor any of his cohorts launched a crusade against the Bush administration and the State Department in any of those cases — no one did, including the congressional Democrats, by the way.
This leads us to the ultimate point here. Not only have numerous sources previously debunked the Benghazi information being peddled by the Republicans and Fox News (for example, contrary to what the Republicans are saying, yes, reinforcements did in fact arrive before the attack on the CIA compound), but none of these people raised a single word of protest when, for example, American embassies in Yemen and Pakistan were attacked numerous times. Why didn’t the Bush administration do something to secure the compounds after the first attacks? Why didn’t he provide additional security?
Where was your inquest after the Karachi attacks, Mr. Graham? Where were you after the Sana’a attacks, Mr. Hannity? What about all of the embassy attacks in Iraq that I didn’t even list here, Mr. McCain? Do you realize how many people died in attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates when Bush was supposedly keeping us safe, Mr. Ailes? Just once I’d like to hear David Gregory or George Stephanopoulos or Wolf Blitzer ask a Republican member of Congress about the above timeline and why they said nothing at the time of each attack. Just once.
Nearly every accusation being issued about Benghazi could’ve been raised about the Bush era attacks, and yet these self-proclaimed truth-seekers refused to, in their words, undermine the commander-in-chief while troops were in harm’s way (a line they repeated over and over again during those years).
So we’re only left to conclude the obvious. The investigations and accusations and conspiracy theories are entirely motivated by politics and a strategy to escalate this to an impeachment trial. In doing so, the Republicans have the opportunity not only to crush the president’s second term, but also to sabotage the potential for a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Even if they never arrive at that goal, they have in their possession a cudgel formed of horseshit — a means of flogging the current administration with the singularly effective Republican marketing/noise machine, including the conservative entertainment complex. Very seldom does this machine fail to revise history and distort the truth. Ultimately, they don’t even need a full-blown impeachment proceeding when they have a population of way too many truthers and automatons who take all of these lies at face value — not to mention dubiously sourced chunks of “truth” proffered by radio and cable news conspiracy theorists who, if nothing else, are masters at telling angry conservatives precisely what they want to hear: that the probably-Muslim president is weak on terrorism. And so they’ll keep repeating “Benghazi-Gate, Benghazi-Gate, Benghazi-Gate!” without any regard for history or reality. Like always.
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/05/13-benghazis-that-occurred-on-bushs-watch-without-a-peep-from-fox-news/
I read this four times….
So rich, so full, so powerful.
I am going to copy and archive it. With your permission and citing you I want to shape this into a shorter article at HP and two other sites. I will have a link to your long article here.
You make a compelling case.
We don’t “fan” here but you deserve a loud HUZZAH!
Don’t credit me, my dear friend, credit the one who deserves it.http://thedailybanter.com/2013/05/13-benghazis-that-occurred-on-bushs-watch-without-a-peep-from-fox-news/
I am OUT of HP but always followed you and your brilliant posts.I CHERISH EVERY ARTICLE YOU’VE POSTED THERE AND ANYWHERE ELSE. A strong hug to you and..keep doing a wonderful job.As I have a rather abstracted mind – former ballerina and a classical pianist, just today did I notice we can donate to this site.First thing in the afternoon, after I transfer some saving to my checking account.
THANK YOU!Tatiana
Ah…I misread your post. I thought you had taken the daily banter article and adapted it. I shall take note.
I am so pleased that you have found a home here. Have you come to one of the Friday Vox Populi chat rooms? They’re not everyone’s cup of tea but the are fun. Some folks just hang out and watch the dialogue.
ah well.
Your contribution remains an important one and I will be using it to take down right wingers wherever I can.
AND, I thank you so much for your kind words of appreciation for my humble efforts.
P.S. Contributing to the site is something we all need to do more often. Without the volunteer time given by our administrators there would be no Planet so I do feel obliged to them.
The best to you….
Transfer the money to checking now…hence I will be more than happy to donate monthly to support you guys.Been working overtime. My boss is THE ABSOLUTE best I’ve had and he needs my help now for his wife was taken very ill – with a brilliant health insurance (guess WHY they are keeping her at the ICU for 4 weeks, even after 16 doctors have seen and detected streptococcus A on her system…STILL CANNOT FIND WHY…. Yeah right. So I am averaging about 14 hours/day work.But he is a progressive guy and a fighter for our cause.Big hug……Tatiana
How generous. Tell Ad Lib what you plan on doing as he basically is the coordinator man….love the fact that you find HP of such value. How about my invite to join us on friday evenings for Vox Populi?
Thank YOU, Murph. This is the slime story of the decade. I cannot believe no one is ripping strips off Graham over his perfidy. Despicable, and thank you for doing all you can to make him pay for his lies.
Where are the media piranha? What is holding them back? At moments like this I really believe that the media, right or left, is bottom line about the bottom line. It is more important to keep the pot boiling and diffusing the energy around the Benghazi Select Committee is probably not in their best business interests. So WE shall have to spread the word.
Hey, Murph
I just posted a response to Ex’s post. In it, I posed a series of questions I would ask if I were a Dem on that “select” committee. After thinking about it, I think these are the questions that the media should be asking Graham and Gowdy. Especially the ones about how President Obama’s response to the attacks is similar or different to gwb’s. I thought of one other question the media should be asking, and that is, how many congressional hearings were held after each one of those attacks? I’m sure we’ll be discussing this tonight on VOX, but wanted to get this out there while I thought of it.
Will go back up the thread and give it a read. Thanks. See you tonight?
Ex, you deserve an A+ for that post! You aught to make an article out of all the information in it. Great facts! Unlike the Benghazi misinformation spread like so much fertilizer.
I ask why so much concern for four people who knew their job was dangerous when there was zero concern for the thousands of lives lost and destroyed in the ill conceived WARS under bush?
The major difference between the Bush era attacks and Benghazi is that Bush never offered an explanation. Never.
This sitting president cares that people know what is happening and why. Bush could not have cared less that we understood anything, and death and destruction were just business as usual. So he can’t be held to account because he gave NO account.
Must be nice to be so indifferent, Mr. Bush. Must be nice.
AND his party covered for him while the Dems went about being “bipartisan” (a word that has begun triggering waves of nausea in me).
Obama’s sense of his contract with the American People is far different than that of Bush who clearly wanted to rule and not lead (the neocon way).
Ex–we haven’t “met” before, so nice to meet you. Great post.
If I were a Dem on that “select” committee, here are the questions I would be asking:
After the embassy attacks on March 2, 2006, when the ambassador David Foy was killed, after three previous attacks on that same embassy, what did gwb, who was president at that time, do and say regarding the attacks? How was his response similar or different to what President Obama did? Was military assistance called for? Did it respond in time to stop the attack?
Then, of course, I would ask the same question about all of those attacks you cited in your post. In this way, all of those attacks, and gwb’s response, could be put in the Congressional record.
Next: Given that Congress reduced funds to the State Department prior to this attack, and given that this consulate “shared space” with the CIA, do you think that the CIA should be tasked to use some of its funds to help support the consulates in which they “share space”?
Next: Do you think that Senator Graham’s collusion with Lara Logan is the same or different from VP cheney’s and SOS (condoleeza)rice’s collusion with the Washington Times when they “leaked” the “yellow cake” story and then quoted that same story? (Note: I think it was the WT; please, Planeteers, correct me if I’m wrong.)
I’m sure some of the people here at the Planet can come up with some other questions.
I am really getting tired of republicans being allowed to frame the conversation constantly, without Dems using some of their own tactics against them. There is no need to ask any of these questions in a rude or belligerent manner, but there is a need to get them out there. Perhaps in this way, we can get some historical context on these attacks, instead of the hysterical rhetoric of the republicans.
Glenn, I would suggest sending the questions to your Rep. .
If you don’t mind I will copy and paste them in an email to mine. Rep. Welch of Vermont. He could get them to whoever is going to be on the committee.
I’ll wait to hear from you before sending them. They are excellent questions and need to be asked.
Thanks Glenn.
Nirek, great suggestion–although my rep is a republican, I think I’ll still send them.
Of course, I don’t mind if you send them to your rep. My intention in posting them in a public forum was to get the word out, so I appreciate you getting the word out.
Glenn, my Rep is a Democrat and he can get the questions to the right people. I hope.
Thanks, Nirek.
All I would like to see is some Democrats framing the conversation with some facts for a change.
Glenn, I sent the questions to Rep. Peter Welch , VT and Senator Bernie Sanders , VT. Asking them to get them to the people on the committee.
Both of them respond to me pretty well.
Here’s hoping we hear them on C-Span or better yet, the MSM!
You go, Nirek!
Nirek, I still am going to send my questions to my representatives in Congress–two republican representatives, and two republican senators. However, I am going to wait until the names of the people on the committee are announced, and then I will write to each of them.
I don’t know, but I’m pretty certain, that if I wrote to my reps now, I’d either get no response, or a dismissive one. So, I think I’ll wait until the committee members are announced.
Great idea Nirek.
Glenn, I admire your writing ability. I also agree with the use of lower case letters for “gwb” I don’t use caps when writing the
“w” or “gwb” or “bush” out of disrespect for the guy. I do the same for “dick” and “cheney”. Same reason.
That said I respect you for your wonderful comments.
Thank you, Nirek, for the kind words. The respect is mutual.
I also thought of more questions for each of the attacks under gwb. What was the SOS’s response at the time? How was that SOS’s response similar or different to SOS Clinton’s? How many times was the SOS hauled before Congress to answer questions regarding those 13 attacks?
I truly don’t understand why Dems aren’t asking these questions, instead of reacting to the repubs lies. As they say in football, the best defense is a great offense. I say it’s time for the Dems to go on the offense! And, just as the repubs keep asking the same questions, even though they’ve been answered, if I were a Dem member of Congress, I would be asking “my” questions over and over. And repeating them on every news/opinion show on which I appeared.
Me too. Why are the dems not doing that?
Glenn. I like your questions very much. I want to work them into a HP post. May I? Let’s add those that relate to the cuts in security funding requests made by Clinton. GOP have largely skated on this one.
The GOP loves to yell about “always blaming Bush” but I want to look at the issue back into the Reagan years when we lost several hundred Marines in Beirut. How different our response was then- really non-partisan and the results were good.
The GOP has lost any claim of legitimacy long ago. All they do now is provide additional examples of their disregard for their duty.
Murph
Of course you can use my questions in an HP post. I would like to see them get out there. The more places we post them, the more chance we have of the MSM picking them up and running with them, IMO.
Yes, I love the “always blame bush” response when the rwnjs have blamed President Obama for everything from the sky rising in the east to…Benghazi. While they, of course, conveniently forget why we even have a “9/11 anniversary” in the first place–because gwb ignored/downplayed all the warnings he had about an attack on American soil. On American soil, no less. Christ, if that had been a Democratic president, we’d STILL be holding friggin’ hearings!
And, yes, I’ll “chat” with you later tonight.
I shall craft them into a Glenn Drone and strike when the time was right.
Compare Benghazi’s lapses to those related to 9/11 and one’s bones chill.
But Americans are by and large unaware and ignorant.
LOL
Can we please look into this?
Time for an investigation… into Darrell Issa.
Benghazi Summary:
Basically what we have here is the administration trying
very hard to not say the CIA was up to something – trying to protect sources and assets overseas in a very volatile area… and on the other hand, we have Darrell Issa, spilling state secrets on CSPAN, outing our assets in country and putting their lives in danger. Issa gets away with it… because??? Democrats are still trying to protect the ‘cover story/CIA Op’ or just have no balls?
Why isn’t there an investigation into why Issa is breaking the law vis a vis divulging national security secrets (not the first time) – and placing our agents and contacts in grave danger.
h ttp://ww w.washingtonpost.com/…
http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2…
http://www.unitedliberty.org/a…
http://www.humanevents.com/201…
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/…
OUTRAGE is way over due from the left.
Hugs. Tati
Great lead. Let me see what I can find. Probably little. I wonder if Issa has been chained in. He is not on the Select Committee. In fact, there are no all stars there. I wonder if this is Boehner fielding a light weight team that will regurgitate the work of the prior committees without the CIA give-aways.
Hmmmm.
From the moment they have batshit crazy Michelle on the “intelligence” committee – pardon I have to puke now – anything goes……:)
I am half Italian and half French. With a Proficiency grad from Cambridge/UK…but my boiling Italian = OR, if you are a repig, you will pronounce it EYE-TALIAN, sorry about written mistakes….:)
Murph, this is a very revealing story about the fraud of the GOP and their cynical manufacturing of “scandals”.
What comes to mind is the Dick Cheney/Judith Miller scam at the NYT to spread lies and propaganda about Iraq building nuclear weapons.
It’s like watching two prostitutes service each other. Graham exploited Logan to spread lies and propaganda and Logan exploited Graham to promote her career and agenda. And both violated the trust and duty they have to their professions.
Bingo….Cheney and Miller….the foul roots of the Iraq War…
Yes the symbiotic relationship between Graham and Logan is a big story and yet it remains below the radar. Why?
Ad…my dear…MTS is asking me to tell you I plan to donate 25 bucks/week to the blog…..:) Starting tomorrow because I’ve found I can only do online transfer from my saving account 5 times/month…LOLOLOL, It;s MY MONEY and since when do I have to submit to the FEDS to transfer TO saving -UNLIMITED – BUT NOT TO MY CHECKING??? Ill try again tomorrow…Wells Fargo can be a major PAIN…..BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL.BTW PROGRESSIVES SHOULD BE PITCHING IN……..I’ve come to HATE HP…she was just another W****, obviously she “founded” the paper with Andrew LIE-HARD Brait….whatever…..Hugs.
Hello ExFan, that is very kind of you as this site runs only on donations.
If you check out our donation widget on the right hand side of the page you will see underneath the Donate Button is the Subscribe Button where you can subscribe any amount, starting with $5, on a monthly basis.
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Again, a big thank you, it is very much appreciated.
Just did it….Thanks all for this wonderful blog!Hugs
exfanofariana, big thanks back at ya!
Benghazi Shouldn’t Worry Democrats
MAY 7, 2014 3:27 PM EDT
By Jonathan Bernstein
“Democrats seem to be hotly debating whether to boycott the House select committee that Republicans have said will investigate the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
The Democrats’ response one way or the other doesn’t matter for electoral politics. Barring any extraordinary revelations — and none is even hinted at in the public record so far — voters aren’t going to care about Benghazi in 2014 or in 2016. Scandals can hurt presidential approval (which in turn can hurt the president’s party in elections), but it’s hard to imagine a less promising “scandal” than this one.
Even as Democrats ponder whether participation would legitimize the committee and a boycott would discredit it, the evidence suggests that Republicans aren’t particularly interested in winning any arguments. In other words, the select committee is less about establishing wrongdoing than it is about creating a venue for saying “Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!” on Fox News. Oh, and to raise money.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-07/benghazi-shouldn-t-worry-democrats?cmpid=yhoo
KT, I agree that the Dems should boycott the committee, best to let it be seen as a Republican propaganda tool which is all it is. Why should Dems participate? All questions have already been answered, nothing to be gained.
Oh, I agree. The dems not showing up really would make the Gopers look foolish and petty. Of course the right would immediately say, or shout from the air waves, that the dems are trying to hide something. I can see it now. But that shouldn’t stop the dems from boycotting. In the end, it will be the right that ends up with Bengahzi on their faces.
I just left KT a note as to why I think the Dems should load up the panel….
unanswered fire is not a good thing….
Thanks for the article. The Committee will exist to provide a platform to inflame the base, drive out their vote, raise money, provide an alibi for not getting anything done, and present an opportunity for sound bite harvesting and in the hope that a witness will slip up in a big way.
I think the House Dems should put some of their best and brightest on this committee for the purpose of calling out the GOP for the process they will put in place, for the statements they will make and to provide duck and cover assistance to their witnesses.
Hey Murph, thanks for bringing this to light. I knew he was shady but to manufacture his own set of “facts” (false facts at that) is colluding with himself to mislead the American people.
Good post Murph. It speaks to the misinformation machine that the GOP has built. They like to misinform, mislead, and outright lie to make their case that the black man in the White House is bad.
And yet this story is still not getting any traction out there. I am so puzzled by this. So it looks like it’s up to us.
On the contrary my dear MTS…..Damn USAToday’s issue this morning is all about firing up at the democrats and spreading more lies…I had to stop reading because I felt vomit building up my stomach….
The republicans have to make up their ‘facts’ because they have no legs to stand on – anti-black, anti-women, anti-veteran, anti-middle class, anti-poor – republicans are a sad lot and it’s baffling how any of them manage to get elected in the first place.