Vice President Joseph Biden speaks only for himself and President Barack Obama, and neither man was aware that U.S. officials in Libya had asked the State Department for more security before the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, a top White House official told The Cable.
Perhaps this information was in those pesky Daily Intelligence Briefings?
Isn’t the president responsible for the administrative branch of the US government? If the state department refused the requests for increased security, the buck stops at the oval office.
I understand the Sec of State was aware of requests for more security, and she, Clinton, is part of the inner circle of the POTUS and should have at least briefed the president.
The executive dropped the ball, plain and simple, and the ambassador and others died, when they should have had more protection or at the very least been told to stay in Tripoli.
No word games are going to change this reality, no matter how many times Biden grins and smirks.
Of course Obama was unaware of this.
Why the President would involve himself in such micromanagement is beyond me.
Hillary was aware tho.
Of course their going to say this.
gotta protect the zero.
it took them how long to admit it was a terrorist attack……can’t believe a word this administration says.
we better pray the obomination is turfed in novermber or we are all in big trouble.
This coverup makes Watergate look like a high school prank.
I call bs.
If Zero and Biden ‘were not informed’ they are more useless than we have already determined.
Were they also ‘not informed’ that there was a so-called protest over over a so-called ‘terrible’ American film?
Spin spin spin.
C’mon Romney…call them on this!
Here’s the thing: when a leader creates a ‘Chicago’ environment then all their underlings are unable to interpret the rules for fear doing something wrong. So they ‘applies the rules’ as literally directed from above. If something doesn’t fit the rules then they go back to their leaders for a decision.
Problem is that most things don’t fit within the rules and thus:
a) so much information comes back up the chain that the leaders are overwhelmed with information and can’t respond, or
b) the chain simply gets clogged with noise and they never know,or
c) the information exposes the error of a higher-up who then suppresses it before they are exposed.
Now, this all assumes that the leaders at the very top are corrupt but still actually care even a little about knowing what is going on.
O really doesn’t give a damn if the chinese invade, libya goes nuts, texas starts on fire etc. So him not knowing all this sh#t backing up the pipe to him is perfectly fine, just don’t harsh his buzz and all is well.
If something does happen well then he can claim plausible deniability and sack an underling (preferably white male) – 2 birds meet one stone.
That’s the problem when a you elect a gangsta president.
So then if Hilary withheld this info from the pres., the next logical question is why?
Unless Biden is lying, and he’s never done that before right?
With the days till election day grow fewer, I can surmise that there are less and less supporters in the current administration as it’s apparent any of them could be sacrificed to protect the one and his comic relief.
You can bet he was Golfing while missing another defense briefing. After all the Muslims are our friends. What could go wrong?
Joseph your correct, I missed :
d) an even more ruthless underling wants your job and will expose/kill you to get it
The funny thing about that debate– on the one hand, Biden blamed intel for the Libya murders–the intel was “bad” and he’s going to “get to the bottom of it.” In the next moment, he’s explaining that our excellent intel will tell us when Iran is about to assemble their nuclear weapons so we can swoop in and do something about it. Which is it Joe, perfect intel or imperfect intel ? You can’t have it both ways.
neither man was aware that U.S. officials in Libya had asked the State Department for more security before the Sept. 11 attack
So, right before the election, the mitigating circumstance the 2 top executives of the United States argue is that they were unaware.
Good luck with that line, I’m thinking that citizens want their top executives to be aware.
Remember these are the 2 top executives who, without consulting the U.S. Congress, ordered a several month long aerial bombing campaign in this same country just last year.
This makes it a clear choice
1) State Department knew and someone needs to be held accountable for not informing (Hillary)
2) WH knew said not to increase security and is lying about it
Clear questions to be asked as the investigative committee asks increasingly higher levels of participants about what they knew and when. They need to do this quickly.
If Obama is going to throw HC under the bus he can kiss election good bye. If he says he covered it up he can kiss it goodbye
His only hope is to say that it made it to the WH and find some functionary within the WH to take the blame.
Problem is it likely was STate Dept that said no, and did so because it was carrying out the logical implementation of the policy that was set at the White House. So, in that mess Obama is responsible but for not understanding the implications of his policy, Hillary is responsible for not raising those implications with the President (assuming she didnt)
I think Hillary is the responsible party here, and they are going to play this one out till after election and then she resigns as part of the shuffle. I can’t see her wanting to carry the can on this one though, why, why why would she unless it really is her fault?
But the GOP has to drive that wedge before the election to force the answer, Hillary or Obama.
Or is there a way for the GOP to offer Hillary a way out of this for the price of getting Bill and the CLinton machine to undermine Obama in the last couple of weeks….a leak, information, something out of their oppo research from 4 years ago.
Drive the wedge, force the choice and watch the Clinton wing fight with the Obama wing. But tick tock, time is awasting.
Rush today explains Obama Conflict Resolution 101:
• If you don’t act in a threatening way then people will be nice to you.
• If you don’t arm your Embassies then violent people will leave you alone.
• We Democrats are not Bush therefore you can trust us, let’s be nice to each other.
Given the above theory, Obama tried to create the illusion that the ME chaos was about the video.
But the Benghazigate event blows that theory and this Kumbayah 101 course apart.
what you people don’t understand is that the GOP was demanding spending cuts, and Ozero could not cut the “volts” and charging station for said volts because it was for a left wing Euro sh1t hole embassy and we know they demand GREEN, so the GOP, and especially Mitt and Ryan are to blame,
/sarc
ot sort of
Can someone with more skill than I please post a side by side photo of biden and The Joker with the caption ” separated at birth”?
I guess the Ambassador in France needs to run to the document room to be safe and the embassy in Banghazi did not have any important documents, so the Ambassador is on his/her own. Cheers;
B. Hussien, Biden, and Hillary, are guilty of gross incompetence of this file.
This stink will follow them for years. They own it. There is no one else to blame.
The interesting dynamic in this is whether or not Bill will allow Hillary to be thrown under the bus to protect Obozo. It may become interesting to see if Bill drops something to tank Obozo’s reelection bid!
Of course they were unaware. They’re too busy campaiging to be bothered with governing. I mean O has to go see David Letterman, stop by the View, head off to a fundraiser when an ambassador has been assassinated for the first time since 1979, go see some teeny boppers in Las Vegas (you know, that place nobody should visit), have another fundraiser with the 1% in Hollywood, all aboad Air Force One. Much too busy for paying attention to whats actually going on around the world. Nearly 40,000 Syrians are dead and ONero is fiddling. But Biden let something slip last night when he said the US is “training” the Syrian opposition. Ooops. Under whose authority?
Let’s see, the US bombed the daylights out of Gaddafi & Co. and he expired Oct. 20, 2011. Here we are not 12 months later and Lt Col Andrew Wood testified that the security situation was weak for about 11 months.
Moreover, Lt Col Andrew Wood testified to the oversight committee that the British Ambassador had been attacked previously. Further, there were 230 violent incidents in Libya in the past year with about 40 in the area of Benghazi. In fact the British had memorandum of understanding that they could leave all their vehicles at the US compound as Benghazi was too unstable. Lastly, the uncontested evidence as Lt. Col Wood stated was “We were the last western flag standing, we almost expected an attack. It was only a matter of time.” (paraphrase)
http://radio.foxnews.com/2012/10/11/securing-america-libya-hearing-gets-testy-video/#.UHhQN8XA98E
The proposition that the event was precipitated by some useless youtube video is farcical in the extreme.
Somebody clearly dropped the ball in approving extra security, and that looks to be the State Dept. at the very least.
I think Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, coined the phrase “the buck stops here.” So it well and truly should.
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Goof: See Biden, Joseph
Of course Obama was unaware of this.
Why the President would involve himself in such micromanagement is beyond me.
~Quebecois NDP separatiste
Beyond you? No doubt.
Let me walk you through it.
a) The President of the United States of America is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.
b) We are currently involved in “the War on Terror”.
c) this was a Terrorist Threat against an American consul.(consuls and embassies are the sovereign territory of the nation whose flag they fly)
d) security of the United States and it’s citizens is one of the few actual constitutional duties of the Executive Office of which Obama is the Chief Executive
You’re welcome.
*note*(Obama was fundraising in Las Vegas the day after the Benghazi Terrorist Attack)
It’s catching up with them.
Do not worry.
It is plausible that BO and JB did not know. If state did not come forward with the request at the WH daily briefings.
But that means that HRC would be 100% to blame for not providing more security. Either she is and now has destroyed her career OR the WH is lying and is trying to throw HRC under the bus.
And if it is the latter I doubt very much that HRC will take that lying down. If it is the former HRC won’t go down alone and likely will take Obama with her.
Can someone with more skill than I please post a side by side photo of biden and The Joker with the caption ” separated at birth”?
Posted by: MARgaret berger at October 12, 2012 1:15 PM
=================
http://2-ps.googleusercontent.com/h/www.powerlineblog.com/admin/ed-assets/2012/10/417x330xBidenJoker2-copy.jpg.pagespeed.ic.3_ht3ckADw.jpg
I would have thought it was a no brainer: ALL western nations should have increased security at their embassy’s or consulates.
The sign on the Resolute Desk reads…
“Keep that buck the f@ck away from here”
Who says VP debates aren’t important?
This is on the front page of the New York times right now.
Game changer..
It’s funny, the rightwing.
They are currently pooping their collective pants over this embassy bombing, calling it a failure on Obama’s part, and maybe it was.
But that attack pales by many thousands of degrees against the one on September 11, 2001. By your standards, Bush should have been ridden out of town on a rail for that failure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/16/us/bush-was-warned-bin-laden-wanted-to-hijack-planes.html
Cue the Bush apologists desperate to find fault with Obama, but willing to overlook some of the most spectacular failures in American history.
Now, while we’re on the topic of embassy security, how exactly can Ryan claim that security would be tighter under his administration when in fact he’s looking to slash non-defense budgets right left and centre? Me thinks the young twerp is looking to pretend this could never have happened under his watch.
I should add… of course radical Islam wants Republicans back in the White House… that’s when they get away with the most stuff, and win the most support. Obama has been a disaster for them. It only makes sense that they want to do whatever they can to get the GOP back in the hotseat.
Thank goodness for them they have the rightwing to work with.
John,
“…calling it a failure on Obama’s part, and maybe it was.”
Did Joe and Hussein know? Time to come clean.
Also, are you saying this is somehow Bush’s fault? Is there any way you can also blame PM Harper and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for this?
Biden has terrible math – graduating 76 out 0f 85 he thinks he was in top half of the class.
Last night was not the first time Biden told lies with a smile on his face – it has been a pattern of his life as we learn from this excerpt.
He then went on to say that he “went to law school on a full academic scholarship – the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship,” Mr. Biden said. He also said that he “ended up in the top half” of his class and won a prize in an international moot court competition. In college, Mr. Biden said in the appearance, he was “the outstanding student in the political science department” and “graduated with three degrees from college.”
In his statement today, Mr. Biden, who attended the Syracuse College of Law and graduated 76th in a class of 85, acknowledged: “I did not graduate in the top half of my class at law school and my recollection of this was inacurate.”
As for receiving three degrees, Mr. Biden said: “I graduated from the University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science. My reference to degrees at the Claremont event was intended to refer to these majors – I said ‘three’ and should have said ‘two.’ ” Mr. Biden received a single B.A. in history and political science…
“With regard to my being the outstanding student in the political science department,” the statement went on. “My name was put up for that award by David Ingersoll, who is still at the University of Delaware.”
In the Sunday interview, Mr. Biden said of his claim that he went to school on full academic scholarship: “My recollection is – and I’d have to confirm this – but I don’t recall paying any money to go to law school.” Newsweek said Mr. Biden had gone to Syracuse “on half scholarship based on financial need.” …
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/biden-accused-of-plagiarism-in-law-school
john, don’t blame Bush, that is so two months ago. You know it was the video.
john, thanks for the NYT link. The warnings to Bush were very vague. Interesting to read that back then the president had daily security briefings, even when on holidays.
JeffK got it in one. Even if, and I say if they didn’t get a heads up on any impending attack on the 9/11, anyone with half a clue would prepare for something as a preventive measure. Especially in the frikkin middle east.
calling it a failure on Obama’s part, and maybe it was.
~John
No maybe about it.
Even the embassies and consuls in civilized countries have at least a Marine guard detachment.
The consul in Benghazi didn’t even have fire extinguishers let alone a guard detachment.
But that attack pales by many thousands of degrees against the one on September 11, 2001.
~John
The difference is only in degree, not in kind.
That said, 9-11 was BJ Clinton’s failure.
a) it was Clinton who rearranged the CIA/FBI protocol that would have prevented the hijackers from boarding the planes
b) Clinton had the chance to assassinate Bin Laden earlier in his Presidency and told the Navy Seals to stand down.
c) One of the points during the House investigation into 9-11 was that Clinton did not brief W.Bush on the importance of Al Qaeda.
Bush was less than 8 months into his first term when America was hit with a surprise attack; contrast that with Obama having less than 2 months left in his 1st term, already knowing the significance of the 9-11 date to Al Qaeda, knowing that Benghazi was a major recruitment center for Al Qaeda to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and knowing that attacks against western targets had caused other western intelligence services to warn about a looming attack on 9-11 in Libya.
From John’s link:
The White House said tonight that President Bush had been warned by American intelligence agencies in early August that Osama bin Laden was seeking to hijack aircraft.
Not a useful warning.
Ponder for one minute how many commercial passenger aircraft were in the sky on any given day prior to 9-11 in the year 2001.
Obama has been a disaster for them. It only makes sense that they want to do whatever they can to get the GOP back in the hotseat.
~John
Do tell!
Except for the Muslim Brotherhood deposing Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the MB/AL Qaeda deposing Moammor Qaddafi in Libya…and Obama trying to hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban/Al Qaeda you’re pretty much,well, WRONG.
Are You Better Off After 4 Years?!
You know who’s better off after 4 years of Obama?
The Muslim Brotherhood IS.
You do know that Zawahiri, the leader/creator of Al Qaeda, started out as a member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood don’t you?
Hosni Mubarak had the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood under control until Obama told him to “Get Out”.
OZ
DO NOT confuse a left-tard with facts and reason!!!!
Biden damn well knew it was not a video but a planned attack and the government was certainly aware of the embassy’s concerns WELL ahead of the attack.
I hope Romney hammers the hell out them over this and I hope those under the bus know where they can go once the tread marks disappear.
John the difference here is that the US embassy staff specifically requested more security and that request was DENIED. Was Bush ever asked by the pilots of American or United Airlines for better security because they felt their was an imminent threat? Think long and hard about that.
Biden debates Biden.