As Jonn at This Ain't Hell notes, Hillary has claimed all blame in turning down requests for more security ahead of the Benghazi attacks. As Jonn also points out, the world has recently learned that Obama can rarely be bothered with actually being briefed on National Security threats.
“I take responsibility” for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN’s Elise Labott. Clinton insisted President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not involved in security decisions, Clinton said. “I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha,” she added, noting that it is close to the election.
Ignorance is not an excuse. It is particularly not an excuse when it is the willful ignorance of not taking the time to listen to the reports especially prepared for the guy that won the 2008 election, and NO ONE else. It's one thing that Jimmy Carter did not understand the monster that Iran would become in 1978 when he ordered the Shah to let the Ayatollah return from exile. It's completely different to ignore your daily intelligence briefings, and ignore the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, while we continue the Global War on Terrorism.
That's a far cry from his 2010 speech, when the panty bomber was "caught:"
Obama wants to claim that Foreign Policy and National Security are his strong suit. He wants to hide behind a claim to being a "war-time President." Yet, his decision to ignore the daily intelligence brief led to his claim that he didn't know there was any threat in Benghazi, or Cairo.
We learned in "No Easy Day" by "Mark Owen", that there was a lot of hemming and hawwing in the White House, before it "accepted the political risk" to kill OBL. In the Vice-Presidential debate, we heard Joe Biden outright lie to the American people in stating that categorically there would be "No Troops in Afghanistan after 2014," when Download 2012 Afghan Obama Agreement Obama signed an agreement keeping Troops (in a training status) in Afghanistan through at least 2024. In fact, he signed the letter of intent on his Victory lap over OBL's death. He signed it on May 1st, 2012, in a "surprise visit" to Kabul, and then signed the formal agreement later.
The chief politician wants to have it both ways. He wants to claim the hard fought Victories of Troops who put their lives in harm's way. And then he wants to disown the failures brought on by his own decisions. He has sent Hillary out to fall on her sword for him, because he claims ignorance of the threat. And since he isn't paying attention to the National Security briefings, he may well be ignorant of the emerging threats in the world, as well as the old ones.
But it was also his decisions that prevented a Marine FASTeam from responding when the Islamist terrorists breached the walls, when they opened fire with machine guns and RPG's on the Consulate in Benghazi. It may not be his fault that there was no fire department to respond to the flaming embassy, but he made the decision to position Marines in the vast Pacific, instead of in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. He could send Panetta out to fall on that sword, but it's not Panetta's decision to send Marines to save Diplomats from terrorists shooting RPG's and Mortars at the Consulate. Instead, Obama called a Transitional government (Libya) and asked them to send re-inforcements.
Marines have the FIRST Mission in protecting Our Embassies abroad. There are other security forces, including Diplomatic Security Forces, local security, and contractors, but the Marines have the primary mission. They are first on the list of response teams. There are others, including Special Forces and SeALs, but the Marines are FIRST on the list when the Sovereign grounds of a US Embassy are breached.
Those decisions rest in the Oval Office, and whether he or his supporters will publicly admit it or not, the blame lies on the guy behind the desk in it. Or using his golf clubs, as the case may be.
Stumble It!
