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Benghazi is Not Watergate, Part Whatever
May. 7th, 2014 08:58 amWhen saying “Benghazi is not Watergate,” it helps to remember what Watergate was. It was commission of felonies (breaking and entering, wiretapping) in an attempt to throw an election done at the behest of the sitting President. Saying that “the cover-up was worse than the crime” is not accurate. However, that cover-up was ordered by the President and designed to protect him.
Benghazi is (at worst) a series of bad judgment calls about the security posture of a remote diplomatic outpost. The “cover-up” is at worst an attempt to spin the attack into a spontaneous demonstration. Since there were several spontaneous demonstrations at the same time in the Arab world, saying “video caused attack” was at least plausible. Actually, if the video didn’t cause the attack, it was one hell of a coincidence.
In no event was the attack ordered by the President, nor was the response delayed by him. Simply put, we did not have any useful military assets at hand to respond faster than they did. Neither Obama nor Hilary Clinton personally managed the consulate’s security, and Ambassador Chris Stevens was apparently unconcerned enough to drive there and spend the night. Nakoula, the video-maker, was sentenced, not by Obama, but a Federal judge, to one year in jail on parole violations. He was released in 2013.
In short, there’s not much there. Most people, other than rabid partisans, understand that.
Benghazi is (at worst) a series of bad judgment calls about the security posture of a remote diplomatic outpost. The “cover-up” is at worst an attempt to spin the attack into a spontaneous demonstration. Since there were several spontaneous demonstrations at the same time in the Arab world, saying “video caused attack” was at least plausible. Actually, if the video didn’t cause the attack, it was one hell of a coincidence.
In no event was the attack ordered by the President, nor was the response delayed by him. Simply put, we did not have any useful military assets at hand to respond faster than they did. Neither Obama nor Hilary Clinton personally managed the consulate’s security, and Ambassador Chris Stevens was apparently unconcerned enough to drive there and spend the night. Nakoula, the video-maker, was sentenced, not by Obama, but a Federal judge, to one year in jail on parole violations. He was released in 2013.
In short, there’s not much there. Most people, other than rabid partisans, understand that.
