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Don’t Buy Hillary Clinton’s Mea Culpa on Benghazi

Oct. 16, 2012 9:28am

Before joining the Blaze, Buck served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, assigned to the Counterterrorism Center and Office of Iraq Analysis. He […]

Before joining the Blaze, Buck served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, assigned to the Counterterrorism Center and Office of Iraq Analysis. He also served as an analyst for the NYPD Intelligence Division. He has field experience in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Buck has a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College. He is a native of New York City, where he currently resides.

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buck@theblaze.com

We have known from the first hours after the Benghazi assault that the Obama administration misled Americans. It was obvious in the initial press accounts, and information released during the Congressional hearing last week only further highlighted the administration’s brazen falsehoods.

But now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has openly claimed responsibility for the debacle in Libya—a month after the fact and just in time to run interference for Obama’s critical second debate performance.

Don’t buy this mea culpa for a second.

Hillary Clinton (AFP/Getty Images)

Clinton’s admission, while technically true (she is in fact responsible for the security of U.S. Diplomats) smacks of the same craven political manipulations and obfuscations that plagued Obama’s handling of the Benghazi tragedy from day one.

That Secretary Clinton would emerge with this now tells us a lot about just how deeply Benghazi cuts at the Obama administration’s foreign policy, and the lengths to which they will go to delay, defer, and deflect this issue.

Why would Clinton wait until now? Then again, why was Ambassador Rice on television weeks ago, spouting nonsense to the American people? Why did Obama blame a YouTube video for a complex terrorist assault?

These are questions for which “politics” offer the only logical explanations.

Of course, Clinton knows she won’t be held to account in any real way for her latest admission, but her partisan purpose is clear. Benghazi was certain to be the tip-of-the-spear for Romney’s foreign policy criticism against Obama today, and this is an obvious effort to blunt that attack.

While Romney has correctly hammered at the gross negligence of the Obama administration in protecting our consulate in Benghazi, there is a much broader point Romney can hit—one that goes to the heart of Obama’s national security record.

Romney can explain to the American people that the Benghazi debacle displays Obama’s naive, politically driven approach to foreign policy that underestimated the resolve of our jihadist enemies and put political optics above security.

Killing Bin Laden and “liberating” Libya were supposed to be Obama’s one-two punch, his commander in chief high points. To achieve the second goal, it appears the Obama administration wanted to portray normalcy in the post-Qaddafi state, and limit the presence of U.S. security personnel there. Why else would our diplomats’ calls for additional security on the ground in Libya go unheeded?

As a result, a U.S. facility in a war zone was not just attacked—it was overrun– and American diplomatic officers were killed. This is a stark repudiation of Team Obama’s signature “leading from behind” strategy. They thought they could achieve democratization of an Arab autocracy on the cheap, and they were wrong.

Benghazi also forced the recognition of what Libya has become: A failed state in the making.

The photos of our burned-out consulate and murdered ambassador exposed the underlying anarchy in Libya for all to see. Our security posture there was a terrible miscalculation, one that disregarded the hard lessons of U.S. policy in the Middle East over the past 10 years.

Yes, humanitarian intervention in Libya toppled Qaddafi and almost certainly prevented a massive bloodletting in Benghazi in 2011. But today Islamist militias roam free in a region with deep terrorist roots. Huge quantities of arms and explosives were pilfered. Eliminating a dictator was just the beginning. And Libya has a rough future ahead.

Compare it to other U.S. interventions. The Taliban was routed. Saddam was hanged. But a stable, sovereign democracy in either Iraq or Afghanistan remains a precarious proposition, despite the heroic efforts of over 2 million U.S. military personnel over the course of a decade. Today, Libya bears eerie similarities to the disorder in Iraq circa 2003—but we don’t have 150,000 U.S. troops on the ground to pull it back from the abyss should things go terribly wrong.

Americans should consider all of this as President Obama tries to hold up his national security decision-making as a key reason for his reelection.

And if all else fails for President Obama as we head into the second presidential debate, he has one more excuse to pile on. Instead of “blame Bush,” he offers an even less gallant variation: blame Hillary.

Follow Buck on Twitter: @Bucksexton

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Comments (123)

kfogs1957
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:10am
If nothing else, the timing of this, (the day before the debate) is extremely suspicious. Come on, this has gone on for weeks and all the denials, explenations etc., even if they are now being on the up and up it’s hard to believe with the timing.

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- BCanook
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:30pm
  Political or not, self-serving or not – the Secretary of State claimed responsibility where President Obama would not. Leader of the Free World – I think not.
  
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- FstEti
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:50pm
  Agreed, although she IS responsible in that she is the Secretary of State. What was glaringly missing, however, is her taking responsibility and RESIGNING! As for the “fog of war” statement to explain away the Administrations’ mantra regarding a spontaneous non-existent demonstration on 9/11 over outrage of a video that had been on You Tube for three months, I again ask the question: since we now know that the State Department in Washington, and perhaps Clinton herself, watched in the attack in real time via Consulate video cameras and the woman in charge testified before Congress that there was NO “demonstration”, and everyone who escaped INCLUDING EXPERIENCED CIA AGENTS were debriefed within 36 hours, WHO continued to be confused by “the fogs of war”? The only plausible explanation is a White House staff INCLUDING our President were too focused on the next fund raiser to keep in constant communication with State and the CIA, or they chose to ignore the updates because of political expediency. That, or the State Department AND the CIA deliberately kept this information from our President and as Biden said in last week’s debate, the Vice President. It’s too bad that the White House apparently doesn’t have any cable television because all of the news channels had their doubts about the non-existent demonstration prior to U.N. Secretary Rice making the rounds five days after the tragedy.
  Nope, not buying it, Hillary.
  
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- Taquoshi
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:55pm
  Don’t be fooled. Every time you see that “O” flag with the five ragged red stripes that look like blood smears, remember Ambassador Christopher Stevens and his embassy staff. Ambassador Stevens’ name should be joined with B.O.’s just like Mary Jo’s was to Ted’s; Tawana’s is to Big Al and Bonnie’s is to Clyde.
  
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- rose-ellen
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 8:39pm
  The truth be told howeve;,a,the state department was subject to budget cuts by congress[the right wing ers don't like the state department as they tend to NOT be war mongers -especially in the mid east.In other words they tend to be pro arab/palestinian].And b,a consulate is not an embassy-it’s an out post of an out post[the embassy].The reality is -that the noble ambassador was told by the state department that he should not go to bengazi because it was a dangerous place.The response of the state dept. to the info that they got saying that bengasi was dangerous for the ambassador -was to tell him he should remain in tripoli. That is a legitimate way to respond to the threat present in bengazi. The ambassaddor disobeyed. Out of his own sense of mission-to help the libyans in their transition from dictatorhsip to democracy-he went anyway.he knew he was beloved by the revolutionaries in libya and wanted to have influence with their new government. He in effect went rogue after being told to stay in the embassy in tripoli. That is not to blame the victim but it is a fact. Unfortunately if obama or hillary says it-they will be seen as blaming the murdered victim. So neither of them will. The truth though is that unfortunately -by disobeying his superiors-he got himself killed. May God be with him of course and his fallen comrades. But politically that’s what happened!
  
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- tripl-e
  Posted on October 17, 2012 at 1:58pm
  @BCANOOK
  
  Yes, exactly! Hillary waits a week or two while Barry twists in the wind and then she ‘mans’ up and takes responsibility. Who looks like the leader here? And who looks weak and indecisive? Slick Willie was always the master of political timing and I sense his hand in this sequence. Hillary will emerge from this stronger than ever. And Barry?, well he just looks more and more like the empty suit he’s always been.
  
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antann
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:06am
This Administration has no excuse for this. If this doesn’t rise to the president’s pay grade then what does?

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/10/198791.htm#.UHmUMQQjpX0.twitter

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- backoffmonkey
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:21am
  Hillie has approximately the same amount of creditability as her look-a-like, Roseanne Barr.
  
  (But twice as funny!)
  
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PaulreveresDarknight
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:06am
She save yet another traitor. Her track record.. Michelle must Hate her.;)

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drrgb
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:00am
If she really took responsibility, she would resign or Obama would ask her to go. The real blame can be shared by many in this administration but the bulk falls on the president and his out of touch pro Muslim policies. He sent the message to his cabinet and underlings that he didn’t have time for the details, briefings, or engaged discussions. He already considered himself to be the smartest man in the room so they needn’t bother him with details.

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- fatsomann
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:18pm
  Eric Holder is still employed.
  
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mutt
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:59am
Complete *********- Barry and the re-election campaign have coerced Hilary to take one for the team. At what price? She’s being used like a $3.00 whore and is willingly going along with it. Does this Imposter/Occupier of the White House take responsibility for anything? Nobody is getting answers if Obama -bin-allah-liar attended any security briefings after the first bombings before Sept. 11th or since. I guess going to Vegas for a fundraiser or meeting Pimp with a limp or smoozin it up with woopi takes precedence over terrorism. It’s much worse than Clint’s empty chair, it’s an empty Oval Office.

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- Cardilover
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:39am
  I think Axelrod whispered “Vince Foster” in her ear! Ah, the Chicago way!
  
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- DIR
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:14pm
  Shrillery and Barry can say what they want. They all knew what was going on. They were using the ‘Movie’ excuse to blow Mitt out of the water, when suddenly they found they had stepped in it big time. Nevertheless they continued to track it all around. What a stinking mess. Now they are just trying to clean it up and doing a real crummy job of it. They are coming up with one lame excuse after another hoping one will stick with the public. This may be it. Hillary has fallen on the douche bag syringe for Barry while it’s still hung up Barry’s rear. It doens’t change the fact that it’s just a bunch of BS.. We all know she could have called Barry at any time to tell him the ‘Movie’ excuse was wrong? Was she to busy picking her seat? She didn’t have to call though. They knew what was going on all along. They just didn’t think the Media was going to challenge their lie. They are a bunch of liers and their’s no getting around it. They should all go to jail just like ‘Scooter’ Libby, except he didn’t lie and if he did, it doesn’t come clese to ‘Moviegate’.
  
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PaulreveresDarknight
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:56am
The Media Should be drawn&quartered for treason. This whole group of Aclown’s cannot get away with this. Countrymen shine a light on these cockaroaches!!!!!!!

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- mikkime
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:07am
  The media are criminal. Who can not see the blatant agenda-driven left wing media for what they are? It’s beyond willing accomplice. It is criminal. As Krauthammer noted, for three days the story was about Romney’s comments regarding Libya, and not the fact that an American Ambassador was murdered for the first time in 30 years! At the very LEAST that should have been the story. AND the blatant cover-up by BO. Who did not know that was a terrorist attack? I mean, really. It is the anniversary of 9/11. And some stupid video that few had seen was so obviously NOT the culprit – nor could it ever be! I am so utterly disgusted. Chomping at the bit to go vote that inept empty chair of a man OUT OF OFFICE!
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on October 17, 2012 at 5:56pm
  Criminals…YES…..and that is why they CAN”T lose….Why they will stop at nothing, including more crime, to keep the white house.
  
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BlackCrow
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:55am
No Hillary, Barack hired you, he is responsible.

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- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:59am
  Not for one minute do I believe that Hillary Clinton would take “blame” for anything on God’s green earth unless she is responsible. Indeed, she asked for and received the head of the Dept. of State which has more responsibility than any other dept. beside working for her boss BHO. She has her feet planted both in Congress and the UN. dispensing monies and power with impunity to anyone or anywhere she wants. In other words I am woman, hear me roar and aside from and on the same coin as the president, she is one powerful lady. I believe she is the most despicable of women and should be awarded the dirt bag old hag award of this century. We are all responsible ultimately. They work for us. Time to FIRE them.
  
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boos-boer
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:55am
I found this article insightful and logical. The points made and supported with common sense makes it easy for me to share with friends on both sides of the aisle. Thank you Buck

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usaywhat
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:54am
This ol’ farm girl’s perspective is that he is hiding behind yet another skirt. Or in Hill’s case, another set of pant suits. And they all need to scrape their shoes before coming in from the cold.

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BODYBAG
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:54am
“This is a stark repudiation of Team Obama’s signature “leading from behind” strategy. ”

Did anyone ever stop and really think about how F’ing stupid “leading from behind” sounds?
The phrase is nonsensical just like the administration that it came from.
This phrase in itself encapsulates the entire Barry The Boy-King reign.
It would be interesting to know who exactly it was inside Barry’s entourage that
coined that phrase. It sounds like something that was arrived at in a strategy
session of 20-30 something academic brainiacs who’ve never lived or worked
in the real world. And they probably patted themselves on the back after formulating
the phrase.

Come to think of it, I bet it was the same people who formulated “Change We Can Believe In”,
“Yes, We Can” and “Hope & Change”

“Leading From Behind”

Lead:
[1] The initiative in an action; an example for others to follow.
[2] To show the way to by going in advance.

Only a progressive academic could come up with that.

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AxelPhantom
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:53am
Hillary seems to have a bigger pair than Obama who doesn’t take responsibility for anything even though he is the Chief EXECUTIVE officer. She is setting herself up for 2016.

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- landman1
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:17am
  Axle, You, sir, have nailed it! The Clintons are the shrewdest politicians of this era. They have decided to fall on the sword as a trap for Obama. It shows that she is the only one in the government that gets it and is also the only one willing to take responsibility for an albeit failed chapter. It shows a surrogate of Obama’s as the only one in the whole administration that has a set of nuggets. That translates into strength for her and weakness on his part. He has no where to go now. He can’t come out and take the blame now, she beat him to it. The American people can only sympathize with her now. He has lost the opportunity for that. But the “Buck” can only make one stop. Where’ it gonna be? With him of her? The Clinton’s are betting on her!
  
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- FstEti
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:50pm
  I disagree, AXELPHANTOM. As I don’t believe that our economy will get any better in the next four years, regardless of who our president is, she would actually have a better opportunity if Romney wins as the Republicans would then be blamed in 2016 as opposed to eight years of Obama. There are a multitude of reasons to vote for Romney, not the least of which are Supreme Court Justice appointments, but unfortunately since no no president controls spending by the career politicians in Congress or the cycles of world economies, I fear the next four years will be an economic disaster. That said, Obama at the helm, legislating through “regulation” or presidential decree could enhance the free fall.
  
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StandingOnMyHead
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:51am
barack keeps pointing the finger to deflect blame. Eventually, in the blame game, there is no one around left to blame and all that remains are his three fingers pointing back at him. Americans are very clearly seeing those three fingers pointing in his direction. To use his own words against him, yes Mr. o. “the buck [does] stop with you!” Time to stand up and be a man if you know how, otherwise you are nothing more than a complete disgrace!

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- fatsomann
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:19pm
  Obama is “present” once again. Teflon Barry.
  
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BrutalTruth
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:49am
Hillary can’t “take” responsibility, it’s already her’s. It’s also Obama’s. What she won’t take is the consequences. Her political move here, is to try to buy time and divert attention off of the presidency election. It is so lame and without a shred of decency, that she even does it outside the country.

These people have no Honor. Even Nixon had the Honor to resign over something comparatively minor. Clinton was even impeached and couldn’t find the honor to resign, nor did Congress have the honor to remove him. Feminism and Political Correctness has been a very effective tool of the left to castrate the American Male.

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Small World
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:47am
So when does she get arrested for murder? Oh what a tangled web we weave…

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Sam Salmon
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:43am
The Benghazi terrorist attack is a direct result of Obama’s illegal capture and help of assassinating Gaddafi who was the stabilizing force, and leader in Libya for decades. Yeah Gaddafi was a dictator and not very nice but that is the only kind of ruler Islamic law generates…no other! Now the Muslim Brotherhood gang is reaping an endless streak of utter terrorism, destruction, and has had the support both of financial and military from Obama. What a schmuck sitting in the white house. This is a clear cut case of an unsanctioned act of war for no good reason. This man is destroying our country from inside and out and I pray he will be stopped!

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Al
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:39am
Don’t lie to the American people you are supposed to be working for and expect us to let it slide. Obama, Hillary and the democrats in general have been lying to America. The people of the world have heard and seen it repeatedly. As Donald Trump is known to say. You’re fired!

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Konserv
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:15am
It’s the cover up that is the problem, lying to the American people by Obama. We can forgive people for mistakes and errors but lying is not acceptable especially by our CC. See Watergate for reference.

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Citizenone
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:12am
Even when Obama gets thrown out of the White House in November he and Hillary will just get jobs with the UN and will still find ways to implement their agendas in our Country. I honestly thought that Bill Clinton would have found a way to sink Obama for this election in hopes of giving Hillary a chance in 2016.

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mikkime
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:05am
I think Hillary used the phrase “the buck stops here” intentionally. Sly, those Clintons. Ultimately she does not like taking the blame for the ‘anointed one.’ That phrase calls to mind the president, because the buck really does stop with the president. Not with her. She is culpable in her role, but it is the president’s administration and HIS policies.

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- mikkime
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:54am
  What does BO have on her??
  
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Citizenone
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:02am
When Obama is out of the White House he will just get a job with Hillary at the UN and still screw with this country. Neither of these two will just go away.

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StayAtHomeDad
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 9:58am
If any of this were true, why is no one calling for Hillary’s resignation?

Allowing so many lies in the past have put in place a climate where they can essentially lie about anything at all they see fit. The Obama administration is DEEPLY rooted in this Libya scandal and the sad part is, nothing will come of it. This is bigger than Watergate. It should be stopping the show. But it’s not. WHY??

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- Diego Roswell
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:06am
  Why? I’ll tell you why. First, the majority of Americans do not even know what Libya is let alone Benghazi. Of the Americans that even know who Hillary Clinton is, they only know her as Bill’s doting wife. You see, we are the tiniest minority of Americans that actually care about this country. Now take that with the fact that the media is a direct propaganda arm for the DNC and the Obama reelection machine, committed to lies, deceit, deflection, what ever it takes. This century’s communists are called liberals, the name has changed but the agenda remains the same.
  
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- Zipit
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:07pm
  DIEGO!!! You nailed it!
  
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lookes2003
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 9:53am
The obama lady may believe it. I don’t.

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- mikkime
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:01am
  Seriously, who can not see the blatant agenda-driven media for what it is? It’s criminal.
  
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- mikkime
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:03am
  I pray most of America can see through this. Unfortunately the MSM plays a much bigger role than any of us would like. They are the only reason BO gets away with all of this.
  
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sheik yermami
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 9:53am
Mrs Clitman is a sock puppet for Huma Abedin and the Muslim Brotherhood. So is Obama.

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uptickusa
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 9:51am
Add your comments

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- Tankertony
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 5:31pm
  Hillary’s ‘****-style’ makes her look like a washed up, drunk, trailer park w***. Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest .
  
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uptickusa
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 9:50am
Blame Obama period-The buck stops with him

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- rose-ellen
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 8:54pm
  There WERE demonstrations in front of embassies all over the mid east that day and for like 3 days following. So it was reasonable to believe that perhaps this murder was of the same cloth of what was going on at other embassies[and this was a consulate-more remote intelligence wise then a secured embassy].Why do the rightwing fox gulls fail to mention that there were demonstrations at other embassies ?There WAS the fog of war -since embassies were being targeted -so we were told in the right wing media-that day and for 3 days.And they were targeted by demonstrators who attempted to breach these embassies. The intelligence was good enough that these embassies were evacuated! Over a video![the video representing for the demonstrators the anti muslim policies of the US.]The ambassador had been told to stay in tripoli and not stay in bengazi because of the violent groups present there where a brit had been murdered before. He did not obey unfortunately.Was he murdered by alquada or a pro gadaffi group?Post revolutionary times -alot of factions still at work.he should have stayed at the embassy-the secure embassy in tripoli.?
  
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