Back on topic, but not forgetting similarities to BenGhazi that happened under Bush.....
Let's not forget that Fast and Furious was started by Bush.
Originally Posted by flghtr65
Republicans are politicizing the country's international relations and diplomacy for short term political gain. Period. If Dems did this, conservatives would be screaming to high heaven about it. If and when Dems do it, there is almost always a core in the Democratic Party that calls it out as deplorable. Republicans these days rarely if ever call even the most outrageous obviously false right wing claims out as bad anymore.
Let's not forget that there were 11 embassy attacks (and Benghazi was a mission, NOT the embassy which is in Tripoli and NOT even a consulate) under Bush. Who did he fire for those (or did he not know about them like he didn't know about Fast and Furious?)
- In 2002 the US Consulate in the Karachi, Pakistan, was attacked and 10 were killed?
- In 2004 the US embassy in Uzbekistan was attacked and two were killed and another nine injured?
- In 2004, the US Consulate in Saudi Arabia was stormed and 8 lost their lives?
- In 2006, armed men attacked the US Embassy in Syria and one was murdered.
- In 2007 a grenade was thrown at the US Embassy in Athens.
- In 2008, the US Embassy in Serbia was set on fire.
- In 2008, bombings in the US Embassy in Yemen killed 10.
How about the biggest, most catastrophic terrorist attack and murder of Americans in our history, 9/11? 3,000 perished and an entire section of NYC was devastated not to mention the Pentagon hit and four commercial aircraft taken down in a brutal act of terror - under a Republican administration. George W. Bush and his team had nine warnings that Al-Qaeda would attack within the United States, but they did absolutely nothing (talk about willful disregard, this is it, especially after the recent U.S.S. Cole bombing and the PDB). No one in that administration’s head rolled for that stunning incompetence. Now Republicans want Hillary Clinton's head and/or President Obama’s head for Benghazi?
An excerpt from the Ninth Public Hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, held Thursday April 8, 2004, where Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is testifying:
MS. RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.
“MR. BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the Aug. 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB.
MS. RICE:
I believe the title was "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Pure rank hypocrisy. Perhaps we should handle BenGhazi as we did the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000? Did heads role for that? No, because it is dangerous being a symbol of the U.S.A. overseas in many areas. Simple as that. We found the culprits and brought them to justice and instituted new procedures to keep it from happening again if at all possible.
President
Bill Clinton declared, "If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act. We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable".
An investigation was done, much like the Accountability Review Board and FBI investigation of the BenGhazi incident, and these were the main results:
On 29 September 2004, a Yemeni judge sentenced
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and
Jamal al-Badawi to death for their roles in the bombing. Four others were sentenced to prison terms of five to 10 years for their involvement, including one Yemeni who had videotaped the attack.
In June 2008 the United States charged
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri with planning and conducting the attack. Charges were reinstated in 2011 and he remains incarcerated in Guantanamo. In 2009 U.S. federal judge
Kimba Wood released $13.4 million in frozen assets belonging to
Sudan to be awarded to 33 spouses, parents, and children of the sailors killed in the attack. The money was awarded based on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002.
Let's all get a grip. The terrorists are responsible NOT Republicans or Democrats, politicians, diplomats or soldiers as much as some people would like them to be for political reasons. Was security perfect in any of these cases, no. Did anyone in authority want any of this to happen, no. Shit happens and unless there is solid evidence of negligence we need to focus on the terrorists not each other.