On September 11, 2012, there was an attack on the U S Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi, Libya. Four U S persons were killed, including U S Ambassador Stevens. There was much scrambling to unwind the why, wherefore , the responsibility and though little about what should have been done to prevent this mess. There was little or no talk about what wasn’t done that could have lessened the impact of the attack. Republicans were quick to blame the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failure to take adequate measures to insure the safety of members of the diplomatic service. It didn’t help that then U N Ambassador Susan Rice went on national television and, working with the information sheets she was given by the CIA – an important point here – made several statements which were not exactly accurate. As usual, there are key pieces which have been left out of the common exchanges on this matter. One is that the Annex post in question was in fact a CIA outpost in the region and whose activities in the region are still classified, even from Congress. Secondly, there is the matter of the State Department on several occasions had asked for additional funds for security at these missions but were summarily denied by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. Nonetheless, the Tea Party Republicans are making this their new cause celebre for the mid term elections and especially in anticipation of Secretary Clinton’s possible run for the White House in 2016. The main mantra is that because of the State Department’s failure, this incident cost four American lives. Yes, all this about four lives and Oversight Committee Chairman Daryl Issa is looking for someone’s head to chop off – preferably Hillary’s. Makes one continually wonder about the whole motivation thing and again, the blatant hypocrisy of the GOP. Congressman Issa wants to know who was responsible for this attack on the U S Diplomatic Mission and , as others in the party are, is demanding accountability. According to the GOP, we must learn the truth about all this and someone needs to be accountable for these four deaths. On a recent CNN program State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann was insistent that Congress, and Daryl Issa specifically, is only seeking the truth in demanding to know who was responsible for these four deaths. Time and time again she asserted there is no political agenda here ! Her seeming dedication to finding the truth and holding persons accountable is laudable. OR IS IT ?? Perhaps it is really laughable !!!!!!

In the Spring of 2003, the United States invaded the nation of Iraq. There was no provocation nor was there any legal justification. All the so called reasons, including those forever elusive WMDs about which the entire leadership of the Bush Administration continually lied. Even then Secretary of State General Colin Powell knowingly lied to the U N Security Council regarding the so called presence of a threat to the region’s security.The team of President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld cooked up this scheme for one and only one purpose – to gain control of the Iraqi oil fields and to position the US to eventually control the oil fields in Iran. Many were suspicious from the beginning but as more and more documents were declassified, the truth was revealed. When Senator Rand Paul ( R – KY ) made the comment that the Iraq war was all about profits for Haliburton and Dick Cheney, he was, in fact correct. The information, which is still flowing about those years, will reveal even more I suspect but that is not the issue here.

The point here is , simply put, the out front hypocrisy of the GOP as it demands accountable for the four deaths in Benghazi.
Let’s look at the record. My sources ** delineate some horrifying facts. From the Spring of 2003 until the Fall of 2010, the war in Iraq accounted for 5,400 U S military deaths accompanied by over 320,000 severe injuries. There were, by best estimates, over 1.4 million civilian deaths, including 348 journalists. All this, and yet there is no outcry from any direction. NONE. Least of all, there has been and I submit there never will be a demand for accountability for this huge atrocity. How four people, including the President of the United States, orchestrated this attack on a sovereign nation with no justification – either legal or political ( aka national security ) and have not been called to task as war criminals in beyond rational thinking. Can one even approach thinking this invasion was about anything other than enriching oil companies, both now and in the future, as well as those who continue to profit from this nation’s wage war anywhere we can make money at it mentality. I clearly understand this premise will be hard to take for many but, in addition to the sources cited below, I also have a primary source which corroborates this position. What makes me ill is that the orchestra leaders of this folly are now basking in retirement with no hint of ever being held accountable. The complete and total lack of conscience aside, why are they not worried ? Because too many poor lemmings bought in to the propaganda that Iraq was responsible for the attacks on 911 and were getting prepared for yet another of even greater proportions. Mired in fabricated stories of potential Muslim world domination ( sounds like the ol domino theory of the sixties ) and pointing to 911 as proof, the nation did not ask why so much preparation for war with Iraq was indeed happening long before that September.
The proverbial bottom line – the party line is the rule, no matter what the cost. Congresswoman Bachmann and dozens like her care naught for facts, let alone the truth and for her to say that these Select Committee hearings held to once again investigate the incident of September 11, 2012 are to seek the truth is pure crap, plain and simple. What about getting to the bottom of the War that was allegedly waged in response to September 11, 2001. Why are we not investigating that one ??????? Why are there not hearings and, indeed, trials for these true war criminals ???

** In addition to my listed sources, for this article I also used BBC, the New York Times, AP, DOD and a web site called AntiWar.com which cited numerous of its sources including DOD, WikiLeaks and declassified documents from the Central Comand. Also, information contained in the publication “Hubris – the Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff and David Corn and well and information revealed in Why We Did It, a documentary produced by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC