By Douglas J. Hagmann
Under cover of the Newtown school shooting, an “independent” five-member investigative panel quietly released an unclassified, 39-page report Tuesday night, detailing their findings of the attack that led to the murder of four Americans in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. The report cites five main reasons for the loss of life, all primarily related to inadequate security for U.S. personnel. However, the independent panel found that “no U.S. Government employee engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities, and, therefore, did not find reasonable cause to believe that an individual breached his or her duty so as to be the subject of a recommendation for disciplinary action.” Stated another way, no one is to blame nor will be held accountable for the murders of Americans Sean Smith, Glen Dougherty, Tyrone Woods, and Ambassador Chris Stevens, so just continue with your business.
The report was released in advance of closed-door congressional testimony scheduled for today by two senior panel members, retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also scheduled to testify this week but has declined to do so as a result of her recent fainting spell. Others are unavailable to testify or have not been asked, which is a common tactic when the outcome of an investigation is fixed from the beginning, and this, based on an extensive review of all available evidence, most certainly was.
It is an interesting bit of trivia, perhaps, that the popular television game show, To Tell the Truth, premiered exactly 56 years to the day that the Benghazi report was released. The objective of the 2012 real-world panel appears to be the antithesis of the former game show, as ferreting out the truth did not appear to be the panel’s objective.
The panel report offers nothing more than obligatory eye candy in the form of a stinging rebuke of State Department management and leadership failures that led to the murder of four Americans. The panel deliberately convolutes the pertinent issues with unrelated historical accounts of security issues in Libya dating back to 1967, giving the reader a sense of thoroughness while leaving the main issues untouched by design.
Ironically, the report opens with a 1905 quote from George Santayanna: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Included perhaps to add legitimacy and a veneer of integrity to an investigative report unworthy of such a definition, it is an insult to those aware of the actual events leading up to the murderous attacks of 9/11.
To understand how the truth behind the murders and the events of the attack is being buried amid familiar terms and talking points suitable for both political parties and their spokespeople, it is vital to understand the origin and makeup of the “independent” panel. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton convened the Accountability Review Board (ARB) in the wake of the attacks, quietly appointing retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering to chair and direct the panel. His appointment unceremoniously appeared in the October 4, 2012, edition of the Federal Register.
As noted in a previous report by this author, Thomas Pickering is an obvious choice to direct an investigation that could have any negative implications for Iran or this administration’s associations with the Muslim Brotherhood. Pickering is an advisory board member of the pro-Iranian organization known as the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and co-chairman of the board of directors of the International Crisis Group (ICG), whose executive committee includes the infamous George Soros. Pickering is also vice-chairman of Hills & Co., global consultants founded in 1993 by CFR and Trilateral Commission member Carla Anderson Hills.
The significance of Pickering’s appointment cannot be overstated or underestimated, considering that the trail of blood from four Americans leads directly to Ansar al Sharia, a terrorist group funded by Iran. Who better to redirect or cover up the operational conspiracy that exists between Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the Muslim Brotherhood that exists at the core of the 9/11 attack? Pickering is the obvious choice.
Left untouched by the Pickering panel are the intrinsically sinister machinations of Obama, Jarrett, and Clinton, as they are methodically taking us to the brink of a new war in Syria through their weapons-running operations in Benghazi. The report intentionally offered only a very narrow view of the events in Benghazi, limiting their scope to the already exposed security deficiencies that were secondary to the redefined Benghazi “consulate.” Using this tactic effectively diverts attention away from the real issue and, thus, the actual cause of the attack.
Beyond the narrow focus of the security issues and the subsequent inconsequential wrist slap, the investigative panel descends further into the abyss of absurdity and insult by incredibly asserting that everything possible had been done to rescue and save our Ambassador and Sean Smith, and further asserted that “the interagency response was timely and appropriate, but there was simply not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference.”
That finding alone should alarm every thinking American based on open-source intelligence and what is known, as well as what has yet to be disclosed. Only if this report was written with the blood of the dead Americans could it be more insulting to the families of the dead and the intelligence of the American public.
Perhaps Pickering and his cadre of co-conspirators would like to disclose to the American people the strange odyssey of a certain C-130 aircraft that left Croatia for Libya to assist the Americans under siege at the onset of the attack. The portal-to-portal flight time is about four hours, yet it did not officially “appear” on-site for 23 hours. Perhaps it’s time to address the fact that the lie is different at every level, and for Pickering to stop being a firewall between his bosses and the truth owed to every American, particularly to the families of those who were murdered.
It’s time to ask whether the crew of that C-130 was ever identified and interviewed. It’s time to locate and ask the personnel on board that aircraft how long it was, after they changed from their military uniforms into their street clothes to enact a rescue, were they forced to wait while the embattled Americans endured the attack and met their deaths. Oh yes, there is information known and crying out to be made public despite the contempt for the truth and, equally important, the contempt for the American people by Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Valerie Jarrett.
Four Americans were murdered in Benghazi. Over forty thousand are dead in Syria. Soon, it will be four million dead due to the hidden agenda of our elected leaders, the complicity of a corrupt media, and the complacency of a brainwashed public. Today we cry over the deaths in Newtown, but tomorrow, our sobs will be for the masses.
Added for clarification: The C-130 referenced in this article departed from Croatia but was officially reported to be present at Naval Air Station Sigonella 23 hours later, despite an average flight time for that trip of approximately four-(4) hours.
Additionally, it is reasonable to ask how the panel report could conclude that “there was simply not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference,” given what we know and the specific information that has been officially confirmed. The firefight lasted approximately nine hours. Nine hours. Also, notice that the report is very specific in specifying armed U.S. military assets. One must ask whether any other non-U.S. assets were in the area that offered to assist, waiting for the call that never came. Anyone?