General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn case you haven't seen this. Regarding Republican politicization of Benghazi...
Republicans are still trying to pretend that Benghazi is a big issue and indicates negligence or even worse wrongdoing on the part of the administration.
Once again, facts and history do not bear this out. Attacks on US Consulates and Embassies has been an ongoing problem for the past 10-15 years spanning several administrations. The only thing new is the Republican politicization of it.
byeya
(2,842 posts)hypocrisy and maybe offering a "sense of the Senate" resolution honoring the 60 dead killed in these attacks. Then we'll see which RepubliKKKans vote 'yea' and which vote'nay on this memorialization.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)We should start a call in campaign to ask for it.
LeftInTX
(25,720 posts)A group of three would be great!
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)to me, this looks like a winner. Positive media time for the Dems while making the Repugs squirm uncomfortably. Doesn't cost anything either.
Thanks!
DCBob
(24,689 posts)and nobody cared except the Faux newz crowd.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)cascadiance
(19,537 posts)Some mentioned here occurred in other parts of the world besides the middle east. One during Clinton's time in office. And another in Pakistan in 2010.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/09/13/us.embassy.attacks/index.html
I would add the recent bomb blast near the American Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, which is kind of personal for me... I lived through some harrowing times in Ankara, Turkey as a kid when there was a lot of terrorist attacks and bombings against American targets then by leftist groups that were likely aligned with the Red Brigades of the time, much like the one that recently bombed the American Embassy in Ankara.
Read this Rand Report that talks about what went on around 1971 which even featured a Turkish military coup and martial law then... If you read the part on page 28 and further, it describes in detail the events around four American airmen that were kidnapped and very luckily escaped their captors. This part reads like a spy novel. One of those airmen was my 7th grade teacher's boyfriend at the time. I still wonder what might have happened in my life had they not escaped, and she'd perhaps left teaching then, and not have been the inspiration for much of what I've done with my life today. We tend to forget a lot of things that don't serve certain well funded groups' politics these days.
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2007/R2105.pdf
Scuba
(53,475 posts)lpbk2713
(42,772 posts)They killed that poor Benghazi horse long ago.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)ziffelzoom
(13 posts)By the way always love you on TV Steven...
1/22/2002 Kolkata, India
Pakistani militants attack American cultural center killing 5 Indians.
6/14/2002 Karachi, Pakistan
Pakistani militants attack US Consulate killing 12 Pakistanis.
2/28/2003 Islamabad, Pakistan
Unknown attackers kill 2 Pakistanis.
6/30/2004 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Uzbek militants kill 2 Uzbek guards.
12/6/2004 Jiddah, Saudi Arabia
AQ militants kill 5 Saudi residents from Arab nations (not 9 as in the meme)
3/2/2006 Karachi, Pakistan
Pakistani militants kill 1 American diplomat at the Marriott hotel along with 3 Pakistanis
9/12/2006 Damascus, Syria
AQ militants attack US Embassy, Syrian forces repel attack killing 4 militants
3/18/2008 Sanaa, Yemen
Militants attack girls school in vicinity of US Embassy killing 2 Yemeni nationals.
7/9/2008 Istanbul, Turkey
AQ militants kill 3 Turkish police officers and are killed themselves
9/17/2008 Sanaa, Yemen
Islamic Jihad Yemen militants kill 18 non-Americans in attacking the US Embassy
_______________________________________
So in total this meme represents ONE US DIPLOMAT being killed away from a US facility.
Since 1958 there have been 44 attacks on US Diplomatic Missions.
The attack at Benghazi was the most serious, killing 4 Americans since the Beirut Embassy bombing in 1983.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)RudynJack
(1,044 posts)for the facts posted in the graphic? Or is it just your say-so?
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)RudynJack
(1,044 posts)Try as I might, I don't see a URL anywhere in there. Unless you're talking about the reference to a facebook page.
Is that what you're talking about?
I was talking about real links to news stories documenting the facts listed. I googled a couple of them, and the poster above is right - the graphic is very misleading, and in some cases, just outright lying.
Why so defensive?
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)RudynJack
(1,044 posts)I don't see any sources for the "facts" presented.
I can google the facts posted above by the poster you disparaged, and not find any falsehoods.
You said it was just his "say-so" because he had no links, yet you provide no links at all. THAT is the definition of intellectual dishonesty, not to mention hypocrisy.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)... pretty tricky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist_attacks_on_U.S._diplomatic_facilities
Geez, sorry, forgot the link. You could google the issue yourself you know if you are so skeptical.
Double
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)that your post has no link?
If you use a graphic that includes embassy attackers among the dead, you're misleading. If you're calling hotel bombings attacks on a consulate, you're not being honest.
If you have to lie, you should find a better way to make your point. The Benghazi stuff is utter bullshit - but lying and misleading to further your point doesn't help.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)RudynJack
(1,044 posts)I maintain that the graphic in question is dishonest and misleading.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)ziffelzoom
(13 posts)Benghazi was the worst SINCE Beirut 1983.
17 Americans died in 1983 in Beirut.
4 died last year in Benghazi.
And Steven, my "links" are called google.
Google each of the attacks listed in the meme. The information in the meme is bullshit. The numbers are misleading, you're listing militants killed and foreign nationals killed.
The average person will look at the meme and believe that 60 Americans died at diplomatic attacks from 2002-2008. So yeah, that's misleading bullshit.
It's easy to win the argument without resorting to lying. We don't need a bunch of half-cocked people running around telling all their friends that 60 Americans died while Shrub was President and the Republicans ignore it and blame PBO for 4 deaths.
I'm new here but I notice a whole LOT of posters posting complete bullshit like they're trying to spread a false narrative. I refuse to believe that Steven Leser thinks 60 Americans died from 2002-2008 in diplomatic attacks. Steven is intelligent and a great spokesman for the progressive cause.
It's easy enough to win arguments on facts... lets leave the lying propaganda bullshit to the R's.
Bolo Boffin
(23,796 posts)Their deaths aren't worth as much as an American death?
What a fascinating idea! Do enjoy your visit here at DU.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)All humans are created equal.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)Americans died.
On 9/11/2001, close to 3000 Americans were killed, about 2800 of which were in the World Trade Center.
Where was the GOP outrage?
There was a PDB more than a month before 9/11/2001 describing almost the exact kind of attack that occurred. The administration took ZERO steps as a result of that DIRECT warning ... a warning that reached the level of the President.
Again, where was the GOP outrage? Where was their demand for INVESTIGATIONS?
The GOP, rather than seek an investigation, took the position that to even think about an investigation was tantamount to TREASON.
Bottom line: The GOP sees dead Americans as nothing more than political props. Americans killed on their watch are used to demand support for the GOP leader. Americans killed on a Democrat's watch apparently require impeachment.
Just one more reason they can't be trusted with the reins of power.
Response to JoePhilly (Reply #24)
Post removed
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)That PDB that you cited, along with all of the other warning info including what the CIA had is more than enough to know that you need to put extra security in the airports, etc. That wasn't done.
That is very different from the daily threats and warnings that are given regarding our embassies and consulates in Asia minor and north Africa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000282.html
Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice
In 2001, then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, President Bush and then-CIA Director George J. Tenet ................ (By Eric Draper -- White House Via Associated Press)
Sunday, October 1, 2006
On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.
Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director.
.
.
.
Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. She was polite, but they felt the brush-off. President Bush had said he didn't want to swat at flies.
.
.
.
Besides, Rice seemed focused on other administration priorities, especially the ballistic missile defense system that Bush had campaigned on. She was in a different place.
Tenet left the meeting feeling frustrated. Though Rice had given them a fair hearing, no immediate action meant great risk. Black felt the decision to just keep planning was a sustained policy failure. Rice and the Bush team had been in hibernation too long. "Adults should not have a system like this," he said later.
NCarolinawoman
(2,825 posts)There was a special ceremony and a time of mourning. The country came together.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)People apparently prefer flag-waving jingoism than mourning and accountability.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,352 posts)SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)with Iran Contra.. They learned with Watergate how "scandals" should be hand;ed.. We forgot...They have fine-tuned the process.
They will ride the Benghazi express all the way thorough '16..
We all were annoyed at the Rose Law office stuff and the Whitewater stuff and the Monica stuff, and the swiftboat stuff, and the birth certificate stuff, but there is no denying that those things are now enshrined into the collective memories. Over time these things remain as vestiges, and after enough time has passed, they even gain a credibility that they never deserved.
They are time-bandits..taking time and interest away from really important things.
Republicans are masters of the art..
The ONLY way things move forward is to deny them a majority. If they are not in a position to call hearings, these things fade away.....where they belong..
DCBob
(24,689 posts)The key people in question, Hillary and Petraeus, are not in the Govt anymore and I doubt they will say anymore than they have already said. The story dies there.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)For this reason alone, I compare this to the planes flying into the twin towers. We had some pretty serious knowledge and Bush was on deck at that time. 3000+ lives and no serious investigation by the Right into that lapse of judgement?
In addtion, I must add that fore knowledge of NO WMD in Iraq and all those military deaths are ignored by RW talking heads.
The RW hypocricy is disgusting.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)of Africa. Culling through all of that noise and figuring out what is a real threat of an impending attack is extremely difficult.
patrice
(47,992 posts)that 9/11 too about too much military in their developing government, then they all went home to dinner.
Libya timing is so co-incidental, especially since SOMEONE was trying to make a BIG DEAL out of that Innocence of Muslims video, right then too, which video had been available on the internet for about a year. Like Libya was supposed to be somekind of fatwah (sp?) and then don't forget our dead Americans in service to American diplomacy - AND - the CIA was compromised, someone, who should NOT have, knew where the safe house was located. The safe house was assaulted and isn't that where the ambassador was shot?
The Libyans tried to communicate with the World that 9/11 day too, so SW Asian media pics of about 300 Libyans in their streets with signs in several North African, Muslim, and other languaged street signs. I saw them when they were posted here. There were 3 or 4 English signs expressing sorrow about Ambassador Stevens and the others who died.