Averted Vision
The recent post A-Haunting We Will Go described the reported “revolt of the spooks” against the public line on Benghazi being pushed by the Obama administration. It followed an earlier post which speculated that the attack on the Benghazi consulate was actually an operation directed on US intelligence.
That speculation had been given further impetus by Bill Gertz’s report that al-Qaeda was rising in the North Africa and the Middle East and the Obama administration was reluctant to admit it.
Officials said that the administration appeared to engage in a disinformation campaign aimed at distancing the president personally during the peak of the presidential election campaign from the disaster in Benghazi, where numerous warning of an attack were ignored, resulting in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other officials. …
The administration, in particular, wants to keep hidden solid intelligence showing that the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans is now flourishing under the Muslim Brotherhood regime of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Ironically Washington Post’s Dana Milbank gave further support to this thesis ironically while denouncing the congressional hearings into Benghazi. He says the hearings are exposing secret CIA facilities. Milbank wrote:
Through their outbursts, cryptic language and boneheaded questioning of State Department officials, the committee members left little doubt that one of the two compounds at which the Americans were killed, described by the administration as a “consulate” and a nearby “annex,” was a CIA base. They did this, helpfully, in a televised public hearing.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was the first to unmask the spooks. “Point of order! Point of order!” he called out as a State Department security official, seated in front of an aerial photo of the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, described the chaotic night of the attack. “We’re getting into classified issues that deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in an open forum such as this.”
A State Department official assured him that the material was “entirely unclassified” and that the photo was from a commercial satellite. “I totally object to the use of that photo,” Chaffetz continued. He went on to say that “I was told specifically while I was in Libya I could not and should not ever talk about what you’re showing here today.”
Now that Chaffetz had alerted potential bad guys that something valuable was in the photo, the chairman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), attempted to lock the barn door through which the horse had just bolted. “I would direct that that chart be taken down,” he said, although it already had been on C-SPAN. “In this hearing room, we’re not going to point out details of what may still in fact be a facility of the United States government or more facilities.”
Without realizing he had underscored that Al-Qaeda had been “poking out the eyes” of US intelligence in Benghazi. They were not reacting to a video rental which did not meet their expectations. They did not simply pick a random facility out of the Bengazi directory to attack, they planned to hit American intelligence purposely, intentionally an alas, successfully.
Just today Reuters reports that masked gunmen in Yemen have just assassinated the head of the Yemeni team in charge of security at the US embassy in Sanaa.
SANAA (Reuters) – Masked gunmen shot dead a Yemeni man on his way to work at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday, a security source said, the latest in a wave of assassinations in the Arab state where Washington is battling al Qaeda militants.
The attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Qassem Aqlan – who headed an embassy security team – in the center of Yemen’s capital, the source told Reuters.
What does that suggest? Why it proves that people in Yemen watch videos doesn’t it? But to others the danger is now manifest. Al-Qaeda like groups are now positioning themselves to drive US facilities out of the Middle East. They are taking down American eyes, ears and allies.
And in the meantime the Administration is talking about a video, Big Bird and criticizing Romney for not appearing on Nickelodeon. Well they are the ‘adults in the room’ after all. Just ask Andrew Sullivan.
The likelihood is that no matter who wins the November Presidential elections there will be a crisis in the Middle East early next year. As Spengler put it at the Asian Times ‘the horizon in the middle east is collapsing’.
The bad news is that none of the major countries in the region can be kept from falling, and once fallen, they cannot be put back together again. The good news is that the bad news is not so bad. As long as the calamity is restricted to the region, and prospective malefactors are prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons, the impact on the rest of the world will be surprisingly small.
Only if it is managed successfully. For good or ill, Obama has “lost” the Middle East or a large part of it, though as perhaps as Spengler points out it would have been lost in any case. In the coming years the rest of the world will have to deal with the sputtering sparks and explosions from that flaming wreck of the region. At best with wise American leadership, but at worst case in the care of Mister Leading From Behind.
Modern Leadershp
But there’s another image from Milton, less comic perhaps a truer one.
Betray’d, Captiv’d, and both my Eyes put out,
Made of my Enemies the scorn and gaze;
To grind in Brazen Fetters under task
With this Heav’n-gifted strength? O glorious strength
Put to the labour of a Beast, debas’t
Lower then bondslave! Promise was that I
Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver;
Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves,
Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke.
Belmont Commenters
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The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99
Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99
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Some foresight into consequences of a collapsed ME might have been nice: increased oil and natural gas in US; more robust military capability, to focus on sea, long range air power and mobility; an increase in HUMINT capability; to name a few.
There was speculation that an Israeli strike on the mullahs would most likely happen during the dark of the moon (first of next week). Its like that damned phone just wont stop ringing.
I thought it was simply assumed that any US embassy or consulate hosted CIA activities, and what’s more “central intelligence” involves a lot of mundane, unclassified data (though it then may get put to classified uses, making even its gathering a secret), and for that matter, much of the purpose of *having* an embassy or consulate is to gather local information in an absolutely open manner, the morning newspaper is valid intelligence-gathering.
So what’s the big deal?
From an article on Breitbart: on May 3, use of a DC-3 in Libya for security and other purposes was denied….four days later, the State Dept ok’d purchase of a $108,000 vehicle recharging station for the embassy in Austria for the embassy’s fleet of Chevy Volts….additionally, rules of engagement for Libya, (signed by Hillary) prohibits the stationing of Marines in that country – Austria??? A full complement. Yet her Nanciness says the dastardly republicans are to blame for denying funding….wow.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/10/11/Austrian-Embassy-Kept-Marines-and-Got-More-Budget-for-Chevy-Volts-While-State-Dept-Cut-Libyan-Security
Also, a person in the State Dept (?Lamb??) was on the phone for six hours (SIX hours!!!) with someone at the consulate in Benghazi during the attack receiving a blow by blow description of the attack – (this (I think) came out in the congressional testimony.)
….terrible, terrible, terrible.
stephen b @ 1
“Some foresight into consequences of a collapsed ME might have been nice: increased oil and natural gas in US; more robust military capability, to focus on sea, long range air power and mobility; an increase in HUMINT capability; to name a few.”
Many of us here would contend there was foresight into the consequences. Hence, Obama invests billions in failed green energy, but blocks development of US oil and natural gas capacity. He defacto un-wins Iraq and Afghanistan, withdraws from the ME, strips Defense funding, awards contracts to foreign companies, etc., etc. Meanwhile, he and the Obots simultaneously deny and enable what appears to be a full-on ME assault on our HUMINT capability.
Foresight, yes. Unfortunately, America and Americans appear to be the primary targets, and now we – and the world – will suffer the consequences.
The Philistines enjoyed their triumph over Samson…for a while. If America’s fate is to be Samson’s, then we might rewrite Winston Churchill’s advise to his countrymen when their backs were to the wall; if you have to go down, “You can always take 100 million with you.”
Josh @ 3:
You’re not far off the mark. Most nations that send embassies to other countries do so in order to better understand the other country. So our embassies spend a lot of time trying to decipher the host country’s capabilities and intentions. The intelligence effort of our Benghazi consulate was presumably tasked with doing more than that — possibly tracing weapons that had been delivered to Libyan rebels to be used against Qadhaffi. The real loss is not a satellite photo of our compound there: it was apparently rented from a Libyan owner, so lots of people would have known what buildings were there and how they were located and protected. The real loss is lists of Libyans who were cooperating with our intelligence efforts. Each of them now has a target on his/her back. Destroying such files when I was in the service was a matter of splashing a liquid onto them, and I should think the technology has improved since then. I cannot understand why this was not the case in Benghazi unless the operation was run by someone other than our main intelligence services.
As stephen b (#1) noted, increased US oil and gas production (and the XL pipeline from Canada) would do much to blunt the economic impact of a Middle East in chaos. Not to mention helping our non-existent, always a “summer of recovery” unemployment problem. Once we get a leader who does not lead with his behind… or from behind, same difference.
Why are you slaves to the empire still obsessing about the massive failure in the foreign policy of the ultra-corrupted US government instead of lamenting the suffering that this US government has bestowed upon not only the entire MENA region but also upon US personnel foolish enough to believe in said corrupt government?
Its just like the Fed and the wall street banks. The narrative is so corrupt that no one in the media dares ask how bailing out the wall street banks by buying mortgage CDOs will help economic growth and unemployment. Or how producing electric cars will miraculously cause the electric generation backbone of the US to be able to support these massive additional demands.
The federal government is ungovernable. More empire and more military spending (Romney) will not solve this problem, it will worsen it. Wretchard is not being completely honest here. Just like Europe, Australia needs the US empire for protection but they refuse to recognize what their dependency is doing to the US.
If the US is to protect the ROW from islamic extremism, remnants of communism, the bilderbergs, or anything else, THE US MUST FIRST SAVE ITSELF FROM ENEMIES WITHIN. The front lines are too sparse and the defensive positions are indefensible. The only reason an orderly retreat has not been called is because that would be the death of the dollar.
The Democrats have been attacking everyone as liars. Here in Ohio Sherrod Brown — the Democrat Senator — has called his opponent (Josh Mandel) a liar in dozens of ads I’ve seen. It is quite over the top. Not much about the issues (the truth component of these ads would be nil in any case). Of course on the internet they can target Democrat dominated areas. But as a result of these ads I now think of him as the Vile Sherrod Brown. He’s no longer a Senator, he’s Vile. That’s what I call him when I mention him. Sherrod Brown, he’s vile. He don’t have many defenders.
I began wondering if this tatctic has something to do with the “stories” unwinding. The Democrats are attacking their opponents as liars to cheapen the charge and despress the voters. Obama lied about Libya. Cheez, I wish they’d stop calling each other liars. It’s the only way I see it working.
“But there’s another image from Milton, less comic perhaps a truer one.”
There was a previous image from Milton?
Egypt is effectivelly at war with the United States. Obama has declined to so inform Congress. Channeling Woody Wilson we see an Obama “to proud to fight.” That actually does Wilson a disservice. Idiot though he was, when push came to shove Wilson was not supporting Kaiser Bill.
How funny it all is. In a very real sense the MSM’s protection of Obama has doomed him in the end. No matter what came out of his or his acolytes mouths, whether lies, stupidity, or ignorance (or combinations thereof) it was nevertheless the Gospel according to the Obamessiah and was not, and could not, be questioned.
But like those special breeds of rats that live in bubbles that are totally germ free, their immune systems grow soft.
Why bother to craft good lies when any lie will do? When you are caught with your hand in the cookie jar only a fool says “No its not!” A good liar says something like “I thought I saw a roach in the cookie jar out of the corner of my eye so I went to see if there really was.”
But Obama has never been called on his lies or stupid statements, and he has grown soft. He has forgotten the craft of the politician from lack of practice.
And now the rather nasty state of the country in conjunction with election year has focused the population’s attention on what is, and contrary to what many political and journalistic hacks think, no amount of PR will convince most Americans that 2+2 equals five. If the press had just called him out on anything he might have had practice for dealing with substantive criticism, but they never did. And now the bubble rat is introduced to a nasty strain of bacteria and its immune system doesn’t have a clue as to how to fight it.
The Benghazi incident is just another example of it. In their sociopathic style, the President and his Acolytes just assumed that it would just be SOP. You can toss out any lie at all and it would be believed. It always worked in the past so it should work now.
They seem to be astonished that somehow, the old magic seems to have died. They don’t know how to take it.
That amuses me to no end.
Regarding ‘Modern Leadership’ above….
It is, sans irony, originally an advert for gay travel.
Brand name: Overtherainbow Gbr
Product: Queer-travel.de Gay & Lesbian Online Travel Agency
Agency: Scholz & Friends Hamburg
Country: Germany
Category: Transport, travel & tourism, Travel Agencies, Tour Operators
Released: March 2008
But you knew that. Right?
Then again it may just be Arab dreaming when they gaze on the Obama.
We’re not closing the barn door after the horses are gone; that would be dumb.
We’re refusing to show a photo of the barn door on TV so the thieves won’t see where they took the horses from. That’s even dumber.
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