Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed Thursday that, on the night of September 11, 2012, Obama had no interested in the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi. Panetta informed Obama, at a regularly scheduled meeting, that an armed assault on the consulate, an act of war, had commenced just before their meeting.
Astonishingly, the Commander-in-Chief was not interested in this news. Panetta testified that Obama had no further contact with him that evening. Obama did not even contact him to see how things were going. There is testimony that Hillary Clinton was similarly uninvolved. Even for someone like me, who does not have a high opinion of Obama or Clinton, this callous incompetence is almost unbelievable.
As far as we know, the first serious involvement of Obama and Clinton in Benghazi was to concoct lies and alibis the next day, something they both do well. Their adoring press was ready, as always, to help them with the cover-up. A scandal that is 1000 times worse than Watergate was swept under the rug. And Republicans, including Romney, were herded into submission.
The President knows that September 11 is a date when Osama’s Islamic warriors are especially likely to attack. He knows that an armed attack on a diplomatic post is an act of war. He knows that any response to the attack that involves U.S. forces crossing a country’s border requires Presidential approval. And he could have known, if he cared, that brave Navy Seals were on the rooftop of the compound in Benghazi, fighting for their lives and begging for help. The Seals were in radio contact with their superiors for most of the 7 hour ordeal.
But he didn’t care. He did nothing. He went to bed. He went to a fundraiser in Vegas the next day. This is stunning. And the fact that both Obama and Hillary knew that the media would cover for them is equally stunning and disturbing.
Obama and Clinton both lied repeatedly about their actions and about the cause of the attack. David Axelrod, the minister of propaganda, said, “when word of the attack came, the president was meeting with his top national security folks. He was talking to them well into the night. He was in touch with them during the day, as – during the next day as well. So, there is no question about the fact that he was focused on this.”
All B.S.. The President was focused on how to lie about this disaster and protect his chance for re-election. The things that were truly important to him were how to hide the real unemployment figures, how to misrepresent the growth in the economy, how to sell the stories that Al Qaeda was dead and the Arab Spring was a good thing, how to destroy the character of the good man who was challenging his power.
Obama said Benghazi was “a bump in the road” and that voters would not pay much attention to it. He was right. We are still on his road, going downhill fast.