The congressional hearings into Benghazi may not start until Wednesday but leaked emails and information provided by three witnesses slated to testify is already unraveling the entire fairy tale that has been told by the Obama administration. about the 9-11 attack against the U.S. consulate in Beghazi,, Libya that resulted in the death of four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
Last week The Weekly Standard obtained and published the initial "Benghazi Talking Points" highlighting that the administration knew immediately that "Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaeda participated in the attack."
Even as the White House strove last week to move beyond questions about the Benghazi attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2012, fresh evidence emerged that senior Obama administration officials knowingly misled the country about what had happened in the days following the assaults. The Weekly Standard has obtained a timeline briefed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing the heavy substantive revisions made to the CIA’s talking points, just six weeks before the 2012 presidential election, and additional information about why the changes were made and by whom.
As intelligence officials pieced together the puzzle of events unfolding in Libya, they concluded even before the assaults had ended that al Qaeda-linked terrorists were involved. Senior administration officials, however, sought to obscure the emerging picture and downplay the significance of attacks that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The frantic process that produced the changes to the talking points took place over a 24-hour period just one day before Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made her now-famous appearances on the Sunday television talk shows. The discussions involved senior officials from the State Department, the National Security Council, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the White House.
You can see the three versions of the "talking points," on page two of the TWS article. The original version was dated September 14, 2012 and the final version September 15, 2012.
On Sunday morning, Democratic congressman Stephen Lynch discusses those scrubbed talking points after being asked about Steve Hayes's report on "The Benghazi Talking Points."
Lynch: “They certainly weren’t accurate. I don’t know what the process was there. But, absolutely, they were false. They were wrong. There were no protests outside of the Benghazi compound there. This was a deliberate and strategic attack on the consulate there. So any statements that this was sort of like the other protests that we saw in Cairo and other embassies- this was not that type of case. This was a concerted effort. ”
Video below:
One of three witnesses slated to testify in the hearings beginning on Wednesday, Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks, says his "jaw hit the floor" as he watched the official, scrubbed talking points being spouted on five different news shows on September 16, 2012, by UN Ambassador Susan Rice.
Hicks, who did not appear on the show but whose reactions were featured based on transcripts of interviews with Issa's committee, said he was stunned by what UN Ambassador Susan Rice claimed on five different news shows on Sep. 16. When she appeared on Face the Nation, she followed an interview with the President of Libya who claimed he had "no doubt" it was a terror attack. Moments later, Amb. Rice contradicted him and claimed a spontaneous protest was more likely.Below is a video clip of Representative Darrell Issa on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning, revealing several new pieces of information that will be provided by Hicks in his testimony:
Acting Ambassador Hicks watched the Sunday shows and said he found this contradiction shocking. "The net impact of what has transpired is the spokesperson of the most powerful country in the world has basically said that the President of Libya is either a liar or doesn't know what he's talking about," he accused. Hicks added, "My jaw hit the floor as I watched this...I've never been as embarrassed in my life, in my career as on that day."
Related:
CNN- Benghazi whistle-blower Hicks: Internal review 'let people off the hook'
Fox News- Clinton sought end-run around counterterrorism bureau on night of Benghazi attack, witness will say
