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A Further Perspective
Shouting Louder
What difference did Hillary make at the time of the Benghazi attack?
An old-time trial lawyer once said, “When your case is weak, shout louder!”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shouted louder when asked about the Obama administration’s story last fall that the September 11th attack on the U.S. ambassador’s quarters in Benghazi was due to an anti-Islamic video that someone in the United States had put on the Internet, and thereby provoked a protest that escalated into violence.
She shouted: “We had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
Students of propaganda may admire the skill with which she misdirected people’s attention. But those of us who are still old-fashioned enough to think that the truth matters cannot applaud her success.
Let’s go back to square one.
After the attack on the American ambassador’s quarters in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, the Obama administration immediately blamed it on the anti-Islamic video.
Moreover, this version of what happened was not just a passing remark. It was a story that the administration kept repeating insistently. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice repeated that story on five different television talk shows on the same Sunday. President Obama himself repeated the same story at the United Nations. The man who put the anti-Islamic video on the Internet was arrested for a parole violation, creating more media coverage to keep attention on this theme.
“What difference, at this point, does it make?” Secretary Clinton now asks. What difference did it make at the time?
Obviously the Obama administration thought it made a difference, with an election coming up. Prior to the attack, the administration’s political theme was that Barack Obama had killed Osama bin Laden (with an assist from the Navy SEALs), vanquished Al Qaeda and was now in the process of putting the terrorist threat behind us.
To have the attack in Benghazi be seen as a terrorist attack — and a devastating one — would have ruined this picture, with an election coming up.
The key question that remains unanswered to this day is: What speck of evidence is there that the attack in Benghazi was due to the much-discussed video or that there was ever any protest demonstration outside the ambassador’s quarters?
If there is no evidence whatever, then the whole attempt to say that a protest over a video escalated into an attack was a deliberate hoax by people who knew better.
There is no point in the administration saying that they did not have all the facts about the attack immediately. All the facts may never be known. But the real question is: Did you have even a single fact that would substantiate your repeated claims that some video led to a protest in Benghazi that got out of hand and led to the attack?
Interestingly, Hillary Clinton herself was not featured in this campaign, even though as Secretary of State she was a key figure. Hillary was not about to create video footage that could come back to haunt her if she runs for President of the United States in 2016.
In a larger context, the Benghazi attack showed that you cannot unilaterally end the “war on terror” or the terrorists’ war on us, by declaring victory.
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Robbins Mitchell| 1.29.13 @ 6:05AM
Rodham made no difference at all as the fiasco unfolded in real time over 6 to 7 hours....what to do or what not to do was never her call to begin with....that all came from the WH.....Valerie Jarret probably had the final word on it for my money
drudge ette obama| 1.29.13 @ 6:46AM
This entire scandal deomstrates what you can accomplish when you hold most of the marbles, which Obama and his crew hold. Too bad that Mr. Sowell and others have in their pockets a couple of cat-eyes that won't let Benghazi slip into the deep.
jothepro| 1.29.13 @ 9:44AM
Too bad?
JmsA| 1.29.13 @ 1:37PM
Too bad, for it appears the Secretary failed to bring forth half, if not less the ire she unveiled at the hearings, to protect those who worked under her.
What difference does it make? Indeed.
Brother John| 1.29.13 @ 6:07AM
What difference does the difference she thought it made at the time make?
It all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is.
Von Mises Jr| 1.29.13 @ 11:39AM
The differences are several.
First and foremost, Dr. Sowell is completely correct that when a government concocts a lie, promulgates it profusely and obfuscates for three months, you do not live in a free Constitutional Republic.
Second is with regards to the fine author's books including "The Vision of the Anointed," "The Quest for Cosmic Justice" and "Intellectuals and Society." Who the hell do these arrogant, pompous liberal elites think that they are, and why does anyone believe they know the posterior from a hole in the ground based on their repeated results.
And the third is that they are not only propagandist of the first order, but hypocrites. They spared the rich white Clinton and threw the black gal under the bus. I am in no way defending the welfare Queen, communist Susan Rice, but is it not odd that they find a minority woman to be the fall guy while calling conservatives "racist" and misogynist?"
The duplicity is so think you can cut it with a knife, which by the way is what Obama will allow you to take to his gun fight.
arlo price| 1.29.13 @ 6:24AM
Forget what the key question may or may not be; the only relevant answer is that the administration, Clinton and Obama in particular, were derelict in their duty and should be punished.
Appleby| 1.29.13 @ 6:49AM
Clinton is a homely woman at the best of times, and the panoply of photos of her face distorted with the mother of all temper tantrums will come back during the next election cycle to stare at us from billboards and teevee sets all across America. In the old days my Dad called women like her "Hatchet Faced Blondes." Think of that face staring at you from every street corner. Send her to North Korea.
Alan| 1.29.13 @ 7:51AM
She could look like Sid Haig and the ignorati would vote for the hag. Then again if she looked like Sid Haig that would be an improvement.
benny havens| 1.29.13 @ 8:05AM
Tammy Bruce recently stated that by the time 2016 rolls around “Hillary will look like Uncle Jack”.
chuck| 1.29.13 @ 9:26PM
I'm hoping she's worm droppings by 2016.
SUBVET| 1.29.13 @ 11:10AM
You know what my dad called a women like her a "PUTANA"..........
Bandido| 1.29.13 @ 1:25PM
And she will be overwhelmingly elected, with her face of a gorgon.
Nancy in NC| 1.29.13 @ 8:03AM
And the coverup continues on CBS. Steve Kroft refused to even discuss it. What a missed opportunity, but what can we expect from the left.
Those who care about truth would like answers. Some of the questions are really basic.
What was the ambassador doing in Benghazi on 9/11?
Why were the requests for additional security denied?
What happened to the autopsy done on the ambassador and what did it reveal?
Why is the guy who made the video still in jail?
Those questions are just starters.
SUBVET| 1.29.13 @ 11:12AM
Ya..........sure Nancy in your dreams.
Anthony| 1.29.13 @ 12:11PM
There's a vacancy over at CBS's 60 Minutes, as Mr. Kroft is temporarily sidelined until he can extract his forked head out of Obozo's and Hillary's butt.
The corruption of the MSM is total and complete. Kroft puts Dan Rather to shame. Quite an accomplishment.
JimH| 1.29.13 @ 8:07AM
She has also learned from the master (Slick Willie) how to have tear filled eyes on demand.
Hardcard| 1.29.13 @ 8:07AM
What was the mission of Amb. Stevens and the 3 Americans that were murdered in Bengahzi. Were the 2 ex-Seals CIA operatives. The other murdered man what was his background. It's over 4 months since the attack, nothing to report from the regime, only lies and deception, and to cloud the issue. The media is not interested in the incident. The DCIA Patraeus is disgraced (outed) and removed and now john brennan is officially running CIA where is NSA mr. clapper, hillary is the focus of the regime story line, does it really matter, poor hillary she got a bump on her noggin and she's got double vision to match her double talking tongue. obama and clinton go on 60 minutes TV program as part of the deception, why both at the same time, obama wanted to make sure hillary stayed on message. An act of war is committed in a foreign country against the USA but what difference does it make at this point ?
SUBVET| 1.29.13 @ 11:14AM
I say.......tap..tap
spike59| 1.29.13 @ 8:10AM
just the fact that she could ask such an asinine question tells me that she could really give a ratzass WHY it happened, as long as she didn't get blamed...a Secretary of State who doesn't care why one of our Ambassadors, and 4 others in her employ, were killed, needs to be frog-marched to the banks of the Potomac and tossed in
Steve_in_Fla| 1.29.13 @ 11:08AM
Her question is as asinine as Pelosi's "Are you serious?" reponse to whether O-care is constitutional. Both of them tried to deflect the issues by asking rhetorical qustions but unfortunetly for Pelosi ("Yes, we're serious") and Clinton ("Yes, it matters"). Nice try bimbos.
Hardcard| 1.29.13 @ 8:15AM
Did the regime ship those F-16's to the moslem brothers in Egypt yet ? I wonder why this payoff is being made ? At this point what difference does it make?
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:30PM
Those FREE F16's, as well as 200 FREE Abrams Tanks.
Revelation.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 8:22AM
Let us answer her this way. In 1918 when, during the Russian revolution, the Bolsheviks killed the British military attache' at the Embassy in (then) Petrograd Winston Churchill the minister of munitions urged action. He stated, "The exertions which a nation is prepared to make to protect its individual representatives is one of the truest measures of its greatness as an organized state."
It makes all the difference in the world how this nation responds. Are we a wee timorous land afraid of thugs and bullies around the world or are we a people who protect our own and defend our rights when the need arises. Other nations will see either weakness and vulnerability or strength of character. We will be either a victim or a leader. There are no other options.
Frank Drackman| 1.29.13 @ 8:35AM
Does Urkel know Hilary stole his glasses....
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.29.13 @ 1:59PM
Urkel would have had the humility to ask “Did I do that?”.
While claiming responsibility, in reality, Hillary’s response was what she said to Ron Johnson.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:31PM
And his Pants.
Marc Jeric| 1.29.13 @ 8:43AM
Hillary Clinton gave her “testimony” on the Benghazi murder cover-up. It was on a par with her grand jury testimony in connection with “the lost paperwork” showing her criminal acts while in a Little Rock law office. She then declared 145 times “I don’t recall” and “I don’t remember” in the course of that 2-hour “testimony” – that’s more than once every minute. When some mildly disapproving Republicans asked her why the administration found it necessary to lie about that Benghazi affair for several weeks she answered: “Why does it matter now?” Well – of all those limp-fisted RINO’s there was not a single one with courage to say: “It matters because you, Madam Secretary, lied to the American people while knowing full well the truth”!
CJW| 1.29.13 @ 8:47AM
It seems we have gotten used to Bubba and Mrs Bubba lying so we are not outraged. We just marvel and shake our heads at each new lie. This is the legacy of the egomaniac Ross Perot who ran in 1992, split the vote, and elected Bubba.
SUBVET| 1.29.13 @ 11:18AM
Marc.....that would take some ball$ but all we have are spinless examples of polititions.
Marc Jeric| 1.29.13 @ 8:44AM
Also, she had embraced the grieving family members of those dead Americans – what do you want her to do more? Otherwise the Democrats in that committee gushed repeatedly about “our best Secretary of State ever”. After all, she took the responsibility for those 4 murdered Americans – didn’t she? However, she did not find it necessary to resign her position; in other words it was just empty posturing. That Benghazi murder by some out-of-control members of the Obama-installed Libyan jihadist government has now been whitewashed forever. The purpose of that Benghazi outpost was to channel American arms for the Syrian rebels via Turkey. But the fact remains that the Arab Spring program designed by Obama to bring jihadist governments to Muslim countries was delayed there for a while.
JP| 1.29.13 @ 8:53AM
"What difference did Hillary make at the time of the Benghazi attack?"
Hard to tell. It was probably Happy Hour. But seriously, the White House has yet to give an official chain of events to Congress exactly where the President was during the period 4PM-10PM EST on the night of the assault. All we do know is that he had a scheduled meeting with General Dempsey and Sec Panetta. Niether he nor Panetta will say what they were doing during the attack; what orders they gave (if any); whether they viewed real time footage (either form intel sats or drones); whether the President gave the order to stand-down.
Ergo, it is immaterial what Hillary did, or what orders she gave to Ambassador Stevens. We do know that African Command CIC was re-called; the Stennis Task Force CIC was re-called; Petraeous resigned. But, not a word about the CIC, himself. And the GOP is as mum as the Dems. WTF is going on?
Ralphie| 1.29.13 @ 9:07AM
In watching the Senate testimony, it was mostly a testimony to Hillary's greatness which she seemed to enjoy, that must be why she got mad about Johnson's questioning her credibility. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul had enough sense to use their time well and come right to the point. Notice she didn't get as mad at Paul, maybe because he accepted the fact "at this point" it doesn't make a difference, but that she needed to be fired. Paul jumped over the story to the conclusion, he did not flatter her at all. There it is, you need to be fired, what do you say to that?
Kwan| 1.29.13 @ 10:32AM
Due to the fact that leftist ideology is out-of-sync with reality the Fabricators of Deception must be ever ready to produce a cover story as to why some dumb leftist screw-up occurred. Usually the MSM handles that sort of business but in this case it was probably some White House stooge that produced the anti-islam video idea as an excuse for the 4 American deaths in Benghazi. The truth was that to continue to promote the fallacy that Obama had Al-Qaeda on the run and that the so-called "Arab Spring" had converted Libya into a democracy a land of law and order, the Benghazi compound had less than minimal protection so as not to offend the sensibilities of Obama's fellow Muslims.
ata777| 1.29.13 @ 10:33AM
there were approximately 35 survivors of the Benghazi attack, many of whom were subsequently hospitalized. how come we haven't heard a word about them--or from them?
Anthony| 1.29.13 @ 10:45AM
Actually, the old legal maxim, Dr. Sowell, goes as follows: when you have the facts on your side, argue the facts, when you have the law on your side, argue the law.
When you have neither, just argue.
Hillary's admonishment to the Senate that "We had four Americans dead" was as brazen a deflection as her husband's famous finger wagging on national TV that he "never had sex, not one time with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky".
Obozo and Hillary watched in real time as four Americans died. They are guilty of criminal neglect. In a just America, they would be under arrest for their criminal neglect.
Nothing will come of it, in today's leftist hegemony, but like Lady Macbeth, Obozo and Hillary will never wash the blood off their hands. They will go to their graves with this blood on their hands, and there's nothing the leftist media can do to wash it away.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.29.13 @ 1:52PM
I had previously learned the maxim as:
When you have the facts on your side, pound on the facts, when you have the law on your side, pound on the law.
When you have neither, pound on the table.
Jim Adcox| 1.29.13 @ 12:10PM
"What difference does it make?" = Radical politespeak for "Who gives a f*ck?" = "You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
RJ| 1.29.13 @ 12:12PM
Mrs. Clinton was testifying with part three of the old Clinton play-book (Part 1 = deny; Part 2 = everyone does it; Part 3 = Its old news). Bill Clinton realized that left of center politicians don't need to lie well - the media will defend them and too much of the American public isn't paying much attention. Weave a phony story today. If you are called out tomorrow, "what difference does it make?"
Bandido| 1.29.13 @ 1:22PM
An Orwellian administration. Every word means its opposite. Hillary is the best Sec of State? She is the worst. The Mideast gained freedom? Tyranny is what it has. Equality is overlordship. Community is atomization. Peace is war. Fairness is injustice. Defeat is victory. The first step in the corruption of a people or a regime is the corruption of language.
JD| 1.29.13 @ 2:29PM
It's been at least 100 years since they started corrupting the language. Aren't they done yet?
Bill8472| 1.29.13 @ 1:58PM
What difference did it make whether the demonstrators were spontaneous demonstrators or jihadist attackers?
It certainly makes a difference when deciding how to conduct the investigation.
Oh yeah, I haven't heard much about the investigation; is there one going on?
JD| 1.29.13 @ 2:37PM
"You had three thousand dead Americans. Was it because of al Queda or was it because of guys on a plane one day who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
JD| 1.29.13 @ 2:39PM
FDR, December 1941:
“We had thousands of dead Americans. Was it because of Japanese bombers or was it because of guys out for joyride one day who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
JD| 1.29.13 @ 2:40PM
Hermann Goring, at Nuremberg:
“We had six million dead Jews. Was it because of the Third Reich or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Jews? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
Anthony| 1.29.13 @ 3:33PM
Hillary Lied
Hillary lied, Four Americans died
at her hearing she sighed and cried
She claimed it was the video
but she was just shilling for Obozo
I can't read the memos in real time
But surely it was Bush who did the crime
Connecting the dots is hard work
but you get a pass if you're a lefty jerk
Hillary testified under oath
but her show was just a boast
Four Americans are dead
our courageous Secretary said
as my guilt remains unspoken
my mea culpa was just a token
No blood on my hands said she
since they are dead let them be
I've done no criminality
and I'm free of all responsibility
and 2016 yet awaits for me
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.29.13 @ 5:27PM
When asked about those points of talk
She cried “Just guys out for a walk
Decide some Yankee lives to take
Yet not a difference does it make”
Those ex-Seals don’t vote absentee
But in the end they’ll vote for me
Obama gave the names to Rahm-bo
They now vote Dem in his Chicago
cicero| 1.29.13 @ 4:28PM
I still want to know why, while those 2 Americans were fighting for their lives against a horde of Islamists, and while our Pres and his Secr. of St., and Secr. of Def. were watching it all on a satelite link, no rescue attempt was made?Who cares that Lady Mcclinton cried on the tarmac as the bodies were retrieved? Crying time was over when these three cretins gave stand down ordders, and abandonedd those guys.
I understand that the two ex-Seals were instrumental in the rescue of the 35 folks who escaped. Doesn't that make them heroes? Shouldn't we be hearing that storey? Or doesn't that matter now either?
Anthony| 1.29.13 @ 6:41PM
And you will never get explaination either cicero. Obozo and Hillary are without shame or remorse.
They are leftist sociopaths without conscience. They see nothing but what they wish to see.
If Obozo and Hillary had a ounce of integrity and human decency, they'd do what honorable folks did in ages past.
America is in mortal danger with these folks in power, and apparently Justice Scalia agrees, as he has declared the Constitution DEAD.
Not yet Justice Scalia, not yet it isn't.
Marc Jeric| 1.29.13 @ 11:32PM
Our socialists, communists, eco-Nazis and other Democrats praised that utter lying POS Hillary Clinton (or was it Rodham?) as “the greatest Secretary of State ever”. Our timid and gutless RINOS never asked that criminal to tell us the real purpose of that Benghazi outpost. When she declared: “What does it matter now?” – not a single RINO said “Because you lied to the American people!” No RINO asked the big question: “Who gave the order to our military to stand down when our ambassador asked for help?” Only one person could have issued that order – our Commander-in-Chief Obama.
Marc Jeric| 1.29.13 @ 11:33PM
In her view the Benghazi affair was just a small glitch in the Obama’s Arab Spring program designed to bring jihadist governments to Muslim countries and the consequent destruction of Israel. By the end of that congressional “investigation” Hillary’s nose was two feet long., comparable to Mullah Obama’s Pinocchio-like nose. I remember well the Hilary’s ingenuity while still in college, when she renamed Marxism by calling it “politics of meaning”.
And what about the role of our Main Stream Media which, in full service to Obama’s interests, failed to report the details of the Ambassador Stevens fate whereby he was captured alive, stripped naked, sodomized with a broom handle, paraded through the streets, and then finally executed by a bullet in the head, before his body was returned to that “consular” post for our contemplation. No attempt was made by the Libyan government to intervene in those celebrations. The 9/11 anniversary Al-Qaeda attack was fully supported through its failure to intervene by the Libyan jihadist government, installed in power by Obama’s active approval and by the US Air Force bombs.
spike59| 1.31.13 @ 5:55AM
they don't cal her "Shrillary" for nothing