“Arrest” of Benghazi terrorist after twenty months of sun and fun in and around Libya is hailed as “Victory” for Obama by his cheering section in the media
Successful search and snatch operation by U.S. special services forces seemed well timed to divert from the current spate of scandals engulfing Obama and his administration
Earlier today at an event in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama smugly said the capture of the top Benghazi terrorist is a "message to the world" about what happens when Americans are attacked. "No matter how long it takes, we will find those responsible and we will bring them to justice.... Since the deadly attacks on our facilities in Benghazi, I have made it a priority to find and bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of four brave Americans,” Obama continued. Also, in a written statement, President Obama thanked the "painstaking efforts of our military, law enforcement and intelligence personnel," and said the suspect would "now face the full weight of the American justice system." (See “Obama on message of Benghazi arrest: 'We will find you'” Fox News, 6/17/14 [http://video.foxnews.com/v/3627638375001/obama-on-message-of-benghazi-arrest-we-will-find-you/#sp=show-clips]; see also “Benghazi attack suspect captured by American team, en route to US” by Justin Fishel, 6/17/14, Fox News [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/17/sources-benghazi-attack-suspect-captured-en-route-to-us/]; and “U.S. Captures Top Suspect in Benghazi Siege, Pentagon Says” by David Kirkpatrick and David Schmitt, 6/18/14, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/middleeast/us-captures-benghazi-suspect.html?_r=0]). The president was speaking about this weekend’s capture of Ahmed Abu Khattala, describing it as a partial step in fulfilling his pledge to find those responsible for the lethal attack on the American special mission in Benghazi, Libya. During that attack Ambassador Chris Stevens was the first American diplomat to die in a violent attack since 1979.
To be expected Obama’s “Amen Corner” in the main stream media are at a near crescendo of awe and admiration over Obama’s “VICTORY.” According to the Washington Post, “U.S. Special Operations forces captured one of the suspected ringleaders of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi in a secret raid in Libya over the weekend, the first time one of the accused perpetrators of the 2012 assaults has been apprehended, according to U.S. officials. *** The officials said Ahmed Abu Khattala was captured Sunday near Benghazi by American troops, working alongside the FBI, following months of planning, and was now in U.S. custody “in a secure location outside Libya.” The officials said there were no casualties in the operation and that all U.S. personnel involved have safely left Libya. *** Abu Khattala’s apprehension is a major victory for the Obama administration, which has been criticized for having failed so far to bring those responsible for the Benghazi attacks to justice....” (See “U.S. captures Benghazi suspect in secret raid” by Karen DeYoung, Adam Goldman & Julie Tate, 6/17/14, Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-captured-benghazi-suspect-in-secret-raid/2014/06/17/7ef8746e-f5cf-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html]).
Unfortunately, this view by the WP writers eats up the same erroneous pre-9/11/01 “criminal justice model” of fighting against the jihadist world terrorists that had been pursued by the Clinton Administration, and which led directly to the 9/11/01 World Trade Center Attack – or as some Obamatistas prefer to call it, the “man made disaster” that happened at the WTC on 9/11. In fact, bringing this 9/11/12 terrorist back for a criminal trial is about as much of a “victory” as the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the “Blind Sheik” for the first WTC attack earlier in the Clinton Administration. Interestingly, earlier this evening during questioning by Bret Baer and Greta Van Susteren, Hillary Clinton indicated that she would agree that the President and his team are right to follow the investigation-arrest-prosecution path; and that she would follow the criminal justice-prosecution model and “Mirandize” a “suspect” like Ahmed Abu Khattala if the case against him were strong enough to be sure of a conviction.
On a completely different tangent, but related to all of that, is the Obama team’s obvious sensitivity to any suggestion that the special operation to capture Ahmed Abu Khattala might have been politically motivated by ulterior White House politics. While on the Fox News’ “Outnumbered” program just moments after news broke that the United States had captured the Benghazi terrorist, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery quipped that “you have a former Secretary of State who is in the middle of a high profile book tour, I think this is convenient for her to shift the talking points to some of the things she has been discussing.” That perhaps thoughtless stretch for a bit of irony by Ms. Kennedy Montgomery (perhaps specifically referring to Mrs Clinton’s appearance on Fox that night) prompted a feverish response by Jed Levison at the Daily Kos ( See “Fox: Political genius Obama gives Hillary book tour huge boost with obviously staged Benghazi arrest” by Jed Levison, 6/17/14, Daily Kos [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/17/1307645/-Fox-Political-genius-Obama-gives-Hillary-book-tour-huge-boost-with-obviously-staged-Benghazi-arrest#]). However, at the risk of setting off the rabid extreme leftist supporters of the Obama regime, one has to wonder why it took twenty months for POTUS Obama to authorize this operation to apprehend this Khattala character when he was running around open and notorious all around Benghazi and all over the Libyan countryside, wide-open for a snatch for well over a year.
Nonetheless, some of the Obama-style PR may be playing itself out. In spite of today’s well-timed victory lap by Obama, in many ways akin to his politically-exploitative use of the Osama Bin Laden operation, the capture and/or arrest of this single terrorist will not quell all of the questions and very bad PR naturally arising out of and surrounding the Benghazi attack of 9/11/12, the questionable exchange of five key terrorists for a problematic military wanderer, the complete meltdown of U.S. foreign policy, including but not limited to the collapse of Iraq, and news of years-worth of lost Lois Lerner and other E-mails subpoenaed in the IRS scandal.
UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “TRYING TO GET THE SPIN RIGHT” EDITION
ReplyDeleteTO COVER ALL BASES, NEW YORK TIMES GIVES THE LONG VERSION OF THE STORY OF CAPTURE OF BENGHAZI TERRORISTS — RESULT IS GIBBERISH
THE TIMES ALSO PUSHES BACK ON CRITICS OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S “LAW ENFORCEMENT” MODEL OF ANTI-TERRORIST POLICY
The capture and/or arrest of 9/11 Benghazi terrorist Ahmed Abu Khattala is still a work in progress; at least getting the story straight about all or even part of it needs a little more tweaking. As a result, Obama’s reliable mouthpiece organ, the New York Times is having a difficult time getting it’s cues straight; and the NYT’s reporters are stuck trying to be light on their feet and ready to move in any direction, as the Obama Administration cover story continues to develop ( See, e.g., “U.S. Seizure of Suspect in 2012 Benghazi Assault Ends Long Manhunt” by Michael S. Schmidt, Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt, 6/17/14, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/middleeast/us-captures-benghazi-suspect.html?_r=0]). Interestingly, even though that article says many different things, it certainly doesn’t tell the story of any long manhunt. Taken as a whole, it is nearly contradictory gibberish; and it couldn’t truly be less informative unless it were put out there in completely pied type.
On the simplistic-legalistic front in the debate over the “handling” of the “suspect” Ahmed Abu Khattala, the NY Times has signed off on the Obama supporters’ spin that any criticism of the administration’s approach to handling Khattala as a “suspect” in a criminal investigation is just partisan politics [the defense of choice to any criticism of this president or his administration] (See “U.S. Defends Prosecuting Benghazi Suspect in Civilian Rather Than Military Court” by Jennifer Steinhauer & Charlie Savage, 6/17/14, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/middleeast/us-defends-prosecuting-benghazi-suspect-in-civilian-rather-than-military-court.html]). Part and parcel of the argument in favor of Obama’s approach to this terrorist is that he is not formally a member of Al Qaeda — although, even this article demonstrates that any such analysis by Obama and his advisers, and then the investigators and the prosecutors requires making convoluted legalistic distinctions without meaningful factual differences.