NYT  Benghazi Probe: NO Evidence of Al Qaeda Involvement

The New York Times has just posted a major investigative article on the September 11, 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. It will have Neocon, conspiracy loon, and (especially) Rep. Darrell Issa’s heads exploding:

Months of investigation by The New York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.

One of my favorite bloggers, BooMan, points readers to this exchange between then-National Security Advisor Susan Rice and NBC’s David Gregory on the action-packed September 16, 2012 edition of Meet the Press for which she took heaps of abuse that turn out to be unfounded:

DAVID GREGORY: The images as you well know are jarring to Americans watching all of this play out this week, and we’ll share the map of all of this turmoil with our viewers to show the scale of it across not just the Arab world, but the entire Islamic world and flashpoints as well. In Egypt, of course, the protests outside the U.S. embassy there that Egyptian officials were slow to put down. This weekend in Pakistan, protests as well there. More anti-American rage. Also protests against the drone strikes. In Yemen, you also had arrests and some deaths outside of our U.S. embassy there. How much longer can Americans expect to see these troubling images and these protests go forward?

MS. RICE: Well, David, we can’t predict with any certainty. But let’s remember what has transpired over the last several days. This is a response to a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Obviously, our view is that there is absolutely no excuse for violence and that– what has happened is condemnable, but this is a– a spontaneous reaction to a video, and it’s not dissimilar but, perhaps, on a slightly larger scale than what we have seen in the past with The Satanic Verses with the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Now, the United States has made very clear and the president has been very plain that our top priority is the protection of American personnel in our facilities and bringing to justice those who…

GREGORY: All right.

MS. RICE: …attacked our facility in Benghazi.

It seems to me unfortunate that the Times would publish the report during the de facto year-end vacation period, during which it is more likely to “slip through the cracks” of the media filter. I’m wagering on liberal talkers and bloggers to make hay of this all the way through New Year’s Eve – and beyond. And make no mistake: right wingers will look for every opportunity to denigrate this Times report. Time for liberals to tur4n the 50,000 watt Roland synth up to 11 before they can find the on-off switch on their “Mighty Wurlitzer”. Now go read the Times piece.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.