Issa: Libyan Attack Probe To Focus On Obama – OpEd
By Jim Kouri
With Friday’s release of State Department documents regarding diplomats at the Benghazi, Libya, consulate telling officials in Washington, D.C., about the dangers of a growing Islamist population in that city and the need for more security personnel, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee announced his intention to investigate President Barack Obama and his minions regarding the disturbing facts of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack.
While the Law Enforcement Examiner hadn’t seen the documents prior to Friday, Jim Kouri quoted an anonymous national security source in an exclusive Oct. 4, 2012 Examiner news story: “Prior to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Ambassador Chris Stevens’ request for additional security officials was turned down by the Obama administration in order to project a friendly atmosphere to the distrusting Islamic population, an anonymous security official in Washington, D.C. told the Law Enforcement Examiner.”
According to the Californian Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the Oversight Committee will expand the focus of the investigation of the attack — that left four men dead, including Amb. Chris Stevens — to include officials in the Obama White House, as well as the Hillary Clinton-led U.S. State Department.
Following the testimony of State Department staffers about the lack of diplomatic security at the Benghazi consulate last week, Issa sent President Obama an official letter on Friday demanding to know why the administration reduced U.S. security in Libya while the country was still emerging from a civil war. The State Department contracted a small security firm to provide untrained and ill-prepared guards recruited from the Libyan population.
Issa said a witness at last week’s hearing said the decision not to call back a 16-person security team over the embassy’s objection was made as part of efforts to normalize relations with Libya, despite Democrats’ denials. “Americans … deserve a complete explanation about your administration’s decision to accelerate a normalized presence in Libya at what now appears to be at the cost of endangering lives,” Issa wrote. “These critical foreign policy decisions are not made by low- or mid-level career officials — they are typically made through a structured and well-reasoned process that includes the National Security Council at the White House. The ultimate responsibility rests with you as the president of the United States.”
According to current reports, there were no protests in front of the consulate regarding an anti-Islam video when heavily armed Islamic terrorists stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. A law enforcement official in Washington told the Law Enforcement Examiner that major suspects in the deadly attack are members of the al-Qaeda affiliate, Saif al-Islam.
The letter to Obama was accompanied by the release of 116 pages of documents detailing the embassy’s requests for more security.
In his letter, Issa respectfully requested that President Obama provide answers to questions about the decision to remove security personnel from Libya, and how deeply the National Security Council was involved. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon is being touted as a possible Secretary of State in a second Obama administration, but Republicans have alleged that Donilon is the official who leaked classified information regarding a cyberattack on Iran and a foiled plot by al Qaeda’s wing in Yemen to blow up a U.S.-bound flight.
Issa’s committee letter to Obama also stated that the White House “has not been straightforward with the American people in the aftermath of the attack. The issue of whom knew what and when about the details of the attack has become a central source of partisan sparring on Libya, with the administration saying it simply made intelligence public as it became available.”
What has angered many of Obama’s critics was his campaign trip to Las Vegas in the middle of the Libyan violence against America. But Obama supporters claim he was always in touch with his security team.
However, former police chief Ronald Miller said, “Whether Obama thought it was a protest, a terrorist attack or didn’t know which, he should have called every intelligence and state department official involved into the oval office and stayed until he learned the facts and had taken action to protect all foreign personnel.”
“As usual, Obama’s first instinct was to protect his political career,” Miller added.
