Media Enacts Benghazi Blackout
The biggest foreign policy disaster in years is being downplayed by the media just days before Americans make a critical decision about who will be leading this country for the next four years:
The mainstream media’s silence on the Benghazi disaster reached deafening levels on Sunday, as hosts of four out of the five major news shows–with the exception of Fox News Sunday–failed to raise the issue. Only Bob Schieffer of CBS gave it serious consideration, and only after it was raised by Sen. John McCain.
When the Benghazi issue did surface, other than on Fox, it was invariably brought up by Republican guests, and then deflected by the hosts, who largely ignored new stories this week that implicated the White House in the decision not to intervene to save the life of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and other American staff.
Remember that the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was on the front page of the New York Times 47 times, including for 32 consecutive days, back when George W. Bush was president.
An ambassador is a very important US asset. An ambassador at risk would be that proverbial “3 am phone call” that was talked about so much during the 2008 election. In Benghazi our ambassador was taken and murdered, and the President claims he wasn’t aware of what was going on.
Despite the official word from the White House we’re starting to get word that Obama was in the White House situation room and likely watching the attack live. We also know that one of the CIA agents killed in the attack had been “painting” attackers with laser targeting, suggesting there was some sort of aerial force available for a strike that was never approved.
We also know that, throughout the attack, CIA agents were in touch with leadership asking for permission to help other embassy staff and requesting rescue/backup. The CIA brass has categorically denied disapproving, without saying it wasn’t disapproved, a rescue/backup mission. We also know that a commando team was available in Sicily and could have been on-scene in Benghazi in time to make a difference.
It’s becoming more and more clear that the disaster in Benghazi could have been afforded, that some or all of the personnel killed there up to and including Ambassador Stevens could have been saved. It’s also becoming clear that the reason that didn’t happen is because someone in the Obama administration, up to and including the president himself, wouldn’t let it happen.
This is an issue the public deserves to be educated about, but the media isn’t doing its job.
Tags: Barack Obama, benghazi, hillary clinton, libya
