BENGHAZI WILL NOT GO AWAY!

BENGHAZI WILL NOT GO AWAY!

(Al Jazeera America, Associated Press)

(Liberty News, Trevor Aaronson, Frazer Chronicle)

I was flabbergasted when I read that the United States State Department was (quietly) offering a $10 million bounty on those responsible for the attackers on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya in September of 2012. Not only was I knocked over, I was kind of embarrassed to think that our government, my government, would think that it is okay to entice people to arbitrarily seek out people who are suspected only of committing a crime, I’m just not comfortable with the entire scene.

I don’t have a strong feeling, just kind of an unsettling feeling, to me it puts us in the same position as terrorists from other countries…..but I suppose that Americans are already viewed in that light anyways, so what the hell, the State Department figures that offering money would cover up any injustices that might happen during a search.

The United States Department of State (DoS,) often referred to as the State Department has a staff of 49,900 employees, an annual budget of $57.533 billion dollars, with John Kerry serving as the Secretary of State. It is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, and is equivalent to the foreign ministry in some other countries. It was established as the first executive department way back in 1789.

The Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress have constitutional responsibility for U.S. foreign policy, and is the Presidents principle foreign policy advisor, though other officials or individuals may have more influence on foreign policy decisions.

The mission of the department is to “advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system”.

The core activities of the DoS promotes and protects the interests of American citizens by (1) Promoting peace and stability in regions of vital interests; (2) Creating jobs at home by opening markets abroad; (3) Helping developing nations establish investment and export opportunities; (4) (Bring nations together and forging partnerships to address global problems, such as terrorism, the spread of communicable diseases, cross-border pollution, humanitarian crises, nuclear smuggling, and narcotics trafficking.

ON CONDITION OF ANONYMITY…..THAT SAID

Okay I understand the feel-good, fuzzy-wuzzy statement(s) of the DoS but you can’t be serious…..can you. The mission and core activities that are promoted by the State Department do not fall in line with offering a reward for the capture and prosecution of what actually are war criminals. Wow, it’s not even a stretch, offering millions in rewards in one breath, and in the previous breath talking about advancing freedom, spreading democracies, and help to create prosperous nations.

Maybe now you are beginning to see, and understand why I have trouble with our State Department offering up blood money for foreigners to track down perceived killers or criminals. And for that same State Department to cavalierly say that the “rewards weren’t publicized because of security issues around the ongoing investigation”.

I have a bit of a different take on the issue of paying somebody a reward for an incident like this…..approval, yea, I wonder how many other people might have a bit of a problem with the government offering rewards and such, doesn’t it kind of make the situation unmanageable?

Get this, “Due to security issues and sensitivities surrounding the investigation, the event-specific reward offer has not been publicly advertised on the Rewards For Justice (RFJ) website.” RFJ tools can be utilized in a variety of ways, without publicizing them on the website…..and divulging them to the public!

Public officials talk all the time under the old condition of anonymity deal…..divulging all sorts of circumstances and information about what government is doing. In this case, some lawmakers had complained the department, DoS was not using everything at its disposal to catch the perpetrators.

It seems to me as if some governmental officials approach the Benghazi murders…..and let’s face the facts, the four who lost their lives were murdered, like they were fans at a football game. There are all kinds of reasons for losses. Inadequate talent, poor coaching, superior opponent, bad karma, lousy field conditions…..and the list goes on.

THERE’S BEEN A PROBLEM WITH SECURITY FOR DECADES

Security is a funny animal, it’s a critter that you can’t trust…..and when you need it…..there’s never enough. It puts me in mind of health or life insurance; you pay premiums that seem to go into a dark hole….however when you need the damn stuff, you never have enough.

Al Jazeera America obtained documents detailing a security report detailing the investigation of the incident from September 2012 showing that the DoS knew about security problems and failed to fix them. It wasn’t only at the Benghazi consulate, but it was a world-wide problem, where inadequate security could lead to tragic circumstances…..and it finally did.

The report by an independent panel of five security and intelligence experts described how the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead, exploited the State Department’s failure to address serious security at diplomatic facilities in high-risk areas.

Key failures by the DoS were the fact that worsening conditions in Libya and exemptions from security regulations at the U.S. Special Mission contributed to the tragedy in Benghazi. An undersecretary approved using Benghazi as a temporary post despite its significant vulnerabilities, according to an internal State Department document included with the report.

BENGHAZI…..THE BIGGEST COVER-UP SCANDAL IN U.S. HISTORY

I’m not making this up, it’s part of a headline in an edition of the LIBERTY NEWS, they report that Benghazi might have been a CIA gun-running operation for the Muslim Brotherhood and other insurgents fighting in Syria.

Okay…..okay, I understand that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a multitude of dirty secrets, both big and small, and maybe they were running guns through the Benghazi mission, but I gotta hear a hell-of-a lot more than an isolated acquisition by a kind of rouge publication.

To me, a Benghazi was an accident simply waiting to happen, there are only so many security practices that can be implemented and used. If you drive half a million miles a year, your pushing the envelope, and will have an accident. If you eat candy bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sooner or later your gonna experience dental problems. Benghazi represents (at least to me) a tooth ache, or worse…..an auto accident.

With little exception I don’t think that there was a cover-up, oh for sure there was some ass covering, but that happens all the time, in all sorts of situations. Hillary Rodham Clinton simply can’t be blamed for a security blunder…..a security problem that has been in place for years. Give me a break…..and I don’t even like the women…..and won’t vote for her is she ran for Brown County dog catcher.

The core issue here is what the Department of State really stands for…..international relations with the United States. The DoS has some really deep dark issues, and a mission statement that really needs to be examined. To hold only the Department of State liable for the deaths of four Americans is ridiculous; without almost any exception, America’s departments and agencies can be counted as suspect with regards to security…..we’re simply way too big to control.

HAVE A NICE DAY!