The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.
Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups in and around the city.
“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,” said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. “We got our eyes poked out.”
Shockingly enough, that story appeared in the New York Times.
Our intel in Libya has never been all that good. We didn’t even know who was who when we were leading that war from behind.
As a national security matter, that attack on the consulate was and still is a disaster for the US. But a CBS political director admitted Sunday that it won’t be used by the media against President Obama. Romney will have to find a way to use the issue in the campaign.
JOHN DICKERSON: Governor Romney jumped in the middle of the violence in the Middle East and he broke a little bit of a tradition by inserting himself. They he disappeared on the issue. We’ve since learned that this administration first thought this uprising in Libya was just a kind of– something that bubbled up from the ground. Well, now they are calling it a terrorist attack. What went wrong there? What did you get wrong in the first place? Why weren’t you securing the embassy the way you should have been? These are points that a Republican could make that Mitt Romney need to make because he knows the press isn’t necessarily going to make that case for him.He can’t make it because he was the one who jumped in and said hey this is a very serious issue. But instead he hasn’t really come back to it.
– in Benghazi…willfully.
“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,”
How? Whatever information they were gathering was useless. At best, they infiltrated gangs that had no influence; at worst, they were feed disinformation. It’s really no different than the Soviet Union collapsing while the analysts were predicting our doom.
Who has HUMA been talking to lately (besides pillow talk with Hillary)…like just prior to 9/11 2012?
The CIA has never been very good in the ME. On a positive note, it doesn’t need to be. Muslims have a plan. It’s in the Koran and they have been following it for 1400+ years.
Read the Koran and you will know what they are up to. Muslims don’t really care if we know what they are up to. To them Allah decides if something works or doesn’t. It’s all the will of Allah.
Well, what do you want Romney the Weathervane to say? He made his statement. I guess he could go after Obama for being “a nice guy, but in over his head”, but it would come out as just too bloodless. It is a situation that requires passion. So, he is trapped by his own meme. He cannot take the gloves off, now that he has them on.
Besides, Romney is fine just mailing it in and not making mistakes. It leaves the Dems with nothing to propagandize. It might be a good strategy for him, but it kinda stinks for the down-ballot races. Romney will not have coattails. The Dems might just hold the Senate. Ugh. And the Repubs might lose some ground in the House. In a Red year. Double ugh. Yeah, not much will change, will it?