Benghazi Primer: ‘Long Ago,’ but transparency due on Big Oil and Libya war

Benghazi is back in the news again as the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform After President Obama's reelection, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton asked what difference it made when it came to disclosures about Benghazi. (Screen snip; C-SPAN)prepares for a hearing on Wednesday. Three witnesses are named in an announcement at the committee website.

Benghazi happened ‘a long time ago’

President Barack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney took a dim view on Benghazi when asked about the new hearing—“It happened a long time ago.”

Carney’s view is fairly typical among others like him who have worked in media like ABC, Time magazine and CNN in various capacities.

That view, however, is not shared by many everyday Americans who have received incomplete information about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, a time period when Obama was conducting what must have been an exhausting campaign for reelection. Legacy media weren’t very eager to report in depth about Benghazi, and that reluctance drew charges of political pandering from many independent media including The US Report.

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Jail for one filmmaker, zero bureaucrats—no justice for Americans killed in Benghazi

(Left to Right) LTC Andrew Wood, Eric Nordstrom, Charlene Lamb and Patrick Kennedy testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in October. U.S. media downplayed the hearing, part of a mobilization of bias to help Democrats get reelected. [Photo from C-SPAN screen; The US Report]Four brave Americans deserve better. The American people deserve better. The Accountability Review Board has issued a report about the Benghazi scandal and just as in many other U.S. government reports, accountability and transparency are missing.

Thus far, former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, Air Force veteran Sean Smith and Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ deaths have produced no justice.

The only party doing jail time is an indie filmmaker with mediocre skills who was displayed in a perp walk for the benefit of Islamists.

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Former Dem congresswoman: Tunisia elections better than U.S.

Skilled merchants and mariners, the ancient Phoenicians founded Carthage probably sometime between 817 and 748 BC. [Image: NASA/US Government]Obviously the Middle East has come unglued. As governments have been toppled with help from Western governments including the U.S., people in Libya are celebrating and Tunisians have just elected new leadership dominated by Al-Nahda.

Al-Nahda describes its ideology as “moderate Islamist.”

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‘Fast and Furious’: Muted scandal of gun smuggling and political hit jobs

CBP Agent Brian Terry was murdered shortly before Christmas near Rio Rico, Ariz. Guns from Operation Fast and Furious are implicated in his murder. (Photo from Officer Down Memorial Page)News cycles in US media are unpredictable and erratic, subject to knee jerk responses to celebrity stories or natural disasters. A scandal that deserves more attention is Operation Gun Walker, also called ‘Fast and Furious.’

The operation conducted by the US government, presumably to track weapons in the hands of drug cartel members, reads like pulp fiction.

Under the table money for weapons purchases, bad guys who serve as government informants,  and recorded conversations between government agents and gun dealers—these incidents surfaced in the months following the death of Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry. The US Report was a lonely voice in calling attention to Agent Terry’s death, but that was before so many dark secrets in Fast and Furious began to emerge.

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Back burner diplomacy: Clinton talks about Israeli-Palestinian peace

The Israel Project said US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton will present a new strategy to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in a speech on Friday. TIP said the Obama administration gave up attempts to revive direct negotiations by persuading Israel to freeze construction on the West Bank for another 90 days. Clinton will speak at a forum organized by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Several senior Israeli and Palestinian officials are expected to attend.

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