New CVA Video: Benghazi Jay, U.S. Minister of Information

October 17, 2012 by • Blog Posts • Tags: , , , , • 3 Comments

Check out the latest Concerned Veterans for America web video. It pokes fun at White House spokesman Jay Carney, whose verbal acrobatics in trying to deflect responsibility for the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, remind us of another government spokesman of recent years.

Of course, there’s nothing funny about the reality of the Benghazi debacle, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. The Obama administration’s response has hardly inspired confidence. They’ve denied responsibility, obfuscated the facts and peddled some highly questionable assertions that were later proved false.

In this video, for instance, Carney says the riots in the Middle East and the consulate attack were a response to a YouTube video criticizing Islam. In the days that followed, the U.S. media duly carried the administration’s water, blaming the video producer for the chaos that followed; the president even asked YouTube to suppress the video. Five weeks later, it’s clear that the video was never the real issue—it was simply a convenient ex post facto justification for what was a pre-planned attack on Americans.

The bottom line: While the perpetrators of heinous crimes against American citizens have been allowed to slip free, the administration has been more interested in protecting its flanks during an election season.

When will we get the full story? As our policy analyst Talmadge Coley wrote last week, it’s time for the Obama administration to come clean about what happened in Libya on September 11—so that the appropriate individuals can be held accountable and so we can prevent future Benghazis.

Equally troubling is the  slow response and lack of a visible strategy before or since that raises a whole host of questions on other issues that veterans care about—reducing debt, getting the economy moving and creating value and opportunity, and some sort of plan for dealing with the “fiscal cliff” at the end of this year.

Kate Pomeroy is the Communications Director and a member of the Concerned Veterans for America team.