Careers have ended over less than the administration cover-up
Professor Hanson lays it out …
” We have had ambassadors murdered abroad before, but we have never seen anything quite like the tragic fate of Chris Stevens. Amid all the controversy over
Libya, we have lost sight of the human —and often horrific — story of Benghazi: a U.S. ambassador attacked, cut off and killed alone, after being abused by frenzied terrorists, and a second member of the embassy staff murdered, as two American
private citizens rushed to the rescue, heroically warding off Islamist hit teams, until they were overwhelmed and also killed.
Seven weeks after the tragedy in Benghazi, new government narratives just keep appearing, as various branches of government point the finger at one another. Now the president insists that “the
minute” he “found out what was going on” he gave “very clear directives” to “make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.” The
secretary of defense argues that he knew too little to send in military forces to save the post. Meanwhile, we are hearing from other sources that the beleaguered compound in extremis was denied help on three separate occasions, and there are still more contradictory accounts.
When the government systematically misleads and cannot establish a believable narrative, almost everyone involved is
eventually tarred. The final chart of those officials in the Nixon White House who were devoured by Watergate was vast — and so
it is becoming with the disaster in Libya. If we have learned anything from Watergate and Iran-Contra, it is that the longer officials deceive and obfuscate, the greater the number of wrecked careers and
reputations. “
