re: Benghazi, Victoria Nuland of State really stepped in it

[geek tragedy]

According to e-mails, the original draft said the attacks were "spontaneously inspired" by protests at the American embassy in Cairo, but added that "Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa’ida participated in the attack" including Ansar al-Sharia.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called for the reference to be stripped because "we don't want to prejudice the investigation."

Nuland also asked to remove another paragraph left out of the final version detailing past warnings by the CIA that al-Qa'ida afilliated groups were an active threat in the region and had previously attacked foreign interests. In an e-mail, she wrote the paragraph “could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned …”

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/abc-state-department-requested-changes-to-benghazi-talking

The last part is a classic example of something that should be phrased "let's discuss in person" or "please call me."

A very small policy offense, but an egregious political mistake.

Our best friend in this was Mitt Romney and the rightwing noise machine--they were so incoherent it was easy to dismiss.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Republicans knew something about the attack before it happened.

They seized on it before it had even been concluded. Sounds tinfoily, but I will believe it until proven otherwise.

[geek tragedy]

2. They saw a crisis, and they went with their instinct to exploit rather than behaving

like public servants. It blew up in their face.

Was pretty obvious that a spontaneous demonstration doesn't involve RPGs.

[TwilightGardener]

3. No, I said the day after on DU that they knew something in advance. I still believe that.

I figured it was a planned attack and not a mob, but there were mobs in other cities due to that video. Romney condemned Obama for "apologizing" to the mobs for the anti-Muslim video, remember--the day of the attacks, in fact. The whole thing stinks, and someone needs to figure out what involvement the Republican party had in the attack on the consulate.

[geek tragedy]

7. Romney's actions are the clearest possible indication that there was no Republican plot.

Every time he opened his mouth on Benghazi, he wound up getting sucker punched by the actual facts of the case.

The entire Republican response was rooted not in the reality of what happened, but their pathological need to demonize the President.

[TwilightGardener]

9. Their response began before anyone even knew what happened to Stevens.

That struck me as exceptionally weird, because you'd want the whole story so as to make your political attacks maximally effective, ESPECIALLY since this was an international attack on Americans (usually not political fodder in the past). The Republicans seemed to have a great deal of confidence in their assertions that Obama did something wrong--why? Why did that video come out, who publicized it? Why did the attack happen on the extremely obvious date of Sept. 11th? (why would Libyan jihadis care about that date?) Sorry, it may be nutty, but my suspicions about Repub involvement in this whole thing have never gone away.

[geek tragedy]

12. Romney's stunt backfired because he himself was unaware of the deaths.

He accused Obama of sympahtizing with the demonstrators.

Romney was actually attacking Obama on the Cairo demonstrations.

[The Magistrate]

4. Where RPGs Were Passed Out Wholesale Months Before, Sir

It is not so immediately obvious their presence indicates lack of spontaneity....

[geek tragedy]

5. As were membership cards in jihadi militias.

The area was well known to be crawling with the types who would like to engage in such hostilities, even if the video they had mostly viewed was Citizen Kane.

Ms. Nuland's concern about State getting beaten up for ignoring CIA warnings is a tough one to explain away.

[The Magistrate]

8. The First Law Of Bureaucracy, Sir, Is CYA

And the first law of warnings is that they alert you to forty-three of last two incidents.

I expect things to be cocked up; it is better for the blood pressure....

[geek tragedy]

10. Second Law of Bureaucracy is to CYA when you CYA

Ms. Nuland forgot that part.

[The Magistrate]

11. She Screwed Up, Sir, No Question

But the thing has no real significance.

[geek tragedy]

13. Objectively of no real significance, no.

Just the same, the best that can be said about this email is that it wasn't released before November 2012.

[The Magistrate]

15. Which Is Why Issa And Co. Fizzle Off Once Again....

[geek tragedy]

16. They are winning a granule of traction in the crucial period 18 months

before the election . . .

[The Magistrate]

17. 2014 Will Not Turn On This, Sir

It will turn on whether Democrats show up or not, which will turn on how angry Democrats are at the treasonous behavior of Republicans in Congress.

[geek tragedy]

18. and whether the OFA machinery can prove useful. nt

[uponit7771]

6. It would be tin foilish if it could be put past them, base off their past actions one can't

[moondust]

20. October Surprise (in September)

McCain, Graham, Adelson, etc. have connections in the region. I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that they at least funded the Benghazi attack covertly to damage the President's reelection chances, similar to the Republicans' alleged October Surprise in 1980. Seizing on it "before it had even been concluded" suggests that they knew the narrative beforehand--because they sponsored it--and jumped the gun with their political attacks because, like small children on Christmas morning, they just couldn't wait!

[DCBob]

14. Yep.. this is where the invstigation is going and probably stopping.

Victoria may be the "fall girl".

[dkf]

19. You missed the most relevant part of the emails which weren't in this piece but is quoted by Karl...

"These changes don't resolve all of my issues or those of my buildings leadership"

http://abcnews.go.com/politics/t/blogEntry?id=19149119&ref=http%3A%2F%2Flivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com%2Fentry%2Fabc-state-department-requested-changes-to-benghazi-talking

It goes higher than Nuland.

My problem is it looks like someone at State left Obama flying in the wind and let Obama's spokesman tell us something that has now been disproven. Whose interests are being protected here?

[Comrade Grumpy]

21. It's the institutional imperative: Protect the department.

The larger embarrassment is how this glorious revolution we joined in ended up with a bunch of jihadi militias running around.

Oh, and they're still running around today. And holding the government (such as it is) hostage.

Next stop, Syria!

[dkf]

22. Sadly that's another truth.

Build them up then strike em down. Rinse repeat.