The Obama administration’s Benghazi response continued to unravel at the House Oversight Committee hearing today, as State Department officials struggled unsuccessfully to get their stories straight.
Ambassador Patrick Kennedy defended UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s claim on September 16 that the attack was part of a spontaneous protest that erupted over an anti-Islam video, saying that anyone at the State Department would have said the same thing as Rice based on the intelligence available at the time. “If any administration official, including any career official, were on television on Sunday, September 16, they would have said what Ambassador Rice said. The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point,” said Kennedy.
But, as Republicans on the Oversight Committee pointed out, that appears to contradict Kennedy’s comments from a September 12 unclassified briefing, when he reportedly called it a terrorist attack.
Another State Department official, Charlene Lamb, wrote in her prepared testimony (but did not read aloud) that she was able to monitor the attack “in almost real-time” once a Diplomatic Security agent activated the imminent danger notification system. Yet she didn’t explain why the State Department and other administration officials initially said spontaneous protests were responsible for the attack, if there had been officials monitoring it in real-time.
Both Kennedy’s and Lamb’s comments also contradicted the State Department’s latest official position. In a conference call last night, senior State Department officials told reporters that the department had never believed the attack stemmed from a spontaneous protest:
Asked if the State Department agreed with the White House conclusion that the attack was sparked by the video instead of a planned terror attack on U.S. civilians, the official stated, “that is the question you’d have to ask others, that was not our conclusion.”
That statement contradicts what the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said on Sunday morning political talk shows on Sept. 16.
The officials also struggled to defend the security situation at the consulate. “We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi” at the time of the attack, Lamb told the committee. Kennedy seemed to dispute this later in the hearing, saying that State Department security is “never going to have enough guns” to prevent full-force military attacks like the one in Benghazi.
Meanwhile, Benghazi security official Lt. Col. Woods, a whistle-blower working with the Oversight Committee, said he “knew instantly” Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Woods added that he “almost expected the attack” because of the regular threats and security breaches in the area, and the fact that “we were the last flag flying” after the British ambassador had his convoy bombed and pulled out of Benghazi.
Is anyone calling for Rice's resignation? Or even better Hillary's? Let's hope Congress succeeds in torpedoing the mass media's protective cover given the White House's and State Department's deception about a major terrorist attack.
Ambassador Patrick Kennedy invoking his "honor" sounded like a truck stop hooker invoking her chastity. It is a real treat to see the State Department in the dock.
Great post, but hought you were a little hard on truck stop hookers. LOL!
There are positions even a truck whore won't stoop to. Not so our Wise Men at State. There is no bottom to Foggy bottom.
The fearless Peter King called for Rice's resignation early on.
Rice and Clinton are appointees. They will soon be gone with Obama and the rest of his pestilent hirelings. When the dust from this latest State Department fiasco settles and Congress and the press have moved on, Kennedy and Lamb will get promotions. n nA top to bottom cleanup ofthe State Department was never so urgent.
The State Department officials now claiming that State never believed in the demonstration fairy tales are doing their CYA best to survive if the day comes that Obama and his cronies get the bum's rush.
If they are career State Department employees, they have nothing to fear regardless of who gets elected. Recall that some of these lifers along with colleagues at CIA deliberately undermined Bush's policies with no repercussions. They are professionally invulnerable. Bulletproof federal government careerists. n nPity poor Hillary Clinton. When all this began she was busily keeping as far away from Obama and Washington as she could. While she far out of town and out of sight, hubby Bill was robustly stumping for Obama in order to pave the way for her in 2016. Alas, events can't be controlled and poor Hillary got sucked into Obama's Benghazi cockup. n nWill the nation's premier power couple survive Obama's latest bump in the road and succeed in attaining the White House again? Stay tuned. n n
"…they would have said what Ambassador Rice said. The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point…" nHmmmm, the information the rest of us had, from the, ahem, watching TV community, was that there was no demonstration prior to the attack, and that the attack was pre-planned, well coordinated, by insurgents armed with heavy weapons, and detailed information about the compound.
Who are you going to believe–The President of the United states and his ambassador or your lying eyes?
"“We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi” at the time of the attack, Lamb told the committee." nWell, they had the correct number of asses in Washington, anyway.
Kennedy’s assertion that State could never have enough guns to defend against a full force attack is nonsense, unless he’s expecting tanks or helicopter gunships. US Embassies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen could repel an attack like that in Beghazi even if local troops or police all walked away. His claim spotlights the fact that State did not take the threat in Libya seriously enough.
The key to Clinton is Elizabeth Warren. If she loses against Scott Brown, THEN Hillary will get kicked out in order to give the job to John Kerry so that Deval Patrick can appoint Elizabeth Warren to the now vacated seat. If Warren wins then they'll be no need to fire Clinton.