Transcripts tell story of White House and Benghazi

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

CHULA VISTA, California — It’s a pity that gentiles don’t study Talmud. While there are a number of arguments in the Talmud that are pedantic and unexciting, the study of this ancient rabbinic work teaches people how to critically examine a text.

During the second debate, President Obama called the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi an “act of terror”, which turns out to be accurate. Cindy Crowley leaped into foray and abandoned her role as a moderator and vehemently confirmed the President’s claim.

However, the full transcript supports Gov. Romney’s position. Here is the text that speaks for itself. For purposes of clarity, I am bold-facing the important and relevant words for our discussion:

• I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in   Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom,   justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.

• I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to   support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally  oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants. [1]

I don’t know about you, but I would not call the 9/11 attack an act of “senseless violence,” I would call it an act of purposeful violence.

Note the difference.

Let us not forget that the White House’s surrogates Jay Carney, the UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and Hillary Clinton, repeatedly insisted the attack was a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video. [2]

Then there was the President’s UN Speech.

• And that is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, where a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.   It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as  well.

Dear readers, pay attention to what the President says. According to him, it was the video that sparked the violence in Benghazi—and not the terrorist attack.

• For as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and every faith. We are home to Muslims who worship across our country. We not only respect the freedom of religion, we   have laws that protect individuals from being harmed because of how they look  or what they believe.We understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them. I know there are some who ask why don’t we just ban such a video. The answer is enshrined in our laws.   Our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech. [3]

On September 14th alone, White House press secretary mentioned the video more than a dozen times. He was pointedly asked three times if he meant to connect the video to the Benghazi attack and said (the third time): “We have no evidence at this time to suggest otherwise, that there was a pre-planned or ulterior instigation behind that unrest.”

But the White House did have information, almost immediately, to suggest a militia aligned with al Qaeda might be responsible for the attack. The question is why wasn’t that particular scenario considered  during the first week?! Instead, all of his were deliberately misled into believing that the cause of the Benghazi attack was because of The Innocence of Muslims video.

The answer is obvious to anyone who has a brain. The President could not admit that his war against al Qaeda was incomplete and that the leadership of al Qaeda was reeling from a string of defeats.

A surging al Qaeda proves that the war against them is far from over; if anything, they have grown in well over a dozen countries or more. Their leadership is far more resilient than Obama anticipated or wanted to admit.

In news reports heard all over the country on every major news station, the latest revelation of the Benghazi disaster is the news that the State Department was e-mailing about the attack on the consulate and the terrorists who they thought were behind it within two hours, and the e-mails went to the Situation Room of the White House. Obama knew.

Amazingly, Obama chose not to send in U.S. military to help the Americans at the consulate—despite the fact the al Qaeda attack became known within two hours, and the siege of the embassy lasted seven hours. The ambassador was raped and killed only in the last hour or so.

Had this happened to the Israeli embassy, the IDF planes would have scorched the invaders within minutes of the attack. Obama chose to do nothing. The death of these brave Americans are on his hands and he is answerable to the American people—and to God for his supine reaction. Personally, I think he thought he could surrogate the matter to his underlings while he continued his fundraising plans with the Hollywood elite.

In the second debate, the President announced that he bears complete responsibility for everything that happened. Actually, this was the only comment he made that made logical sense.

However, if he is indeed responsible because the buck stops with him, then he needs to come out with the truth. If he refuses, then we may be looking at a new Benghazi Gate. The Watergate scandals of the Nixon era are nothing compared to the peccadilloes committed by Obama and his legion of incompetents.

Notes:

[1] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/12/remarks-president-deaths-us-embassy-staff-libya

[2] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM24Joj01pE

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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista.  He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com