Rep. Issa Can't Hear Enough About Benghazi Decision-Making, Demands More

Following the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., falling in the midst of a host of political scandals, parody newspaper The Onion offered its usual pointed take, "'Our Thoughts Go Out To Oklahoma,' Says Congressman Mentally Calculating When He Can Bring Up Benghazi Again.'" The "story" was in reference to Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, noted pursuer of "Fast and Furious" details. His aim is now focused on the Department of State.

And the answer to the Onion's questioning headline comes today. Issa wants everything he can get his hands on. Via The Hill:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has subpoenaed State Department documents related to the Benghazi talking points, according to a letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry obtained by The Hill.

In the letter, Issa states that the department's release of 100 emails earlier this month was "incomplete." Issa demands that Kerry produce "relevant documents through subpoena. The enclosed subpoena covers documents and the communications related to talking points prepared for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and used by Ambassador Susan Rice during her September 16th, 2012, appearances on CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CNN."

Issa said that the documents released on May 20 did not answer "critical" questions posed by the committee as it investigates what happened during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the aftermath of that terror attack that killed former U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stephens and three other Americans.

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Comments

[Palin's Buttplug]

Almost forgot Fast & Furious. Among fake scandals that ranks right up there with Travelgate.

[Cytotoxic]

Sorry can't hear you over the sound you make when you suck Obama's dick.

[Fatty Bolger]

Deliberately allowing automatic weapons to be smuggled to Mexican drug cartels where they were later used to murder people, including an American border agent, for gun control propaganda purposes. Yeah, that's surely equal to (legally) firing some people so you can give jobs to your cronies.

[Hyperion]

It's just an Obamabot troll, ignore it. It only seeks a reaction, don't give it the pleasure.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The clowns at ATF were operating gunrunning programs for years before Obama but suddenly the last one is a "sekret plan to grab guns" in the states?

Pure horseshit.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

How does that diminish BO's culpability?

If you want to rail against W for gunrunning schemes during his administration I'll cheer you on.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Because of the venal practice of burrowing - these assholes at ATF get to keep their jobs short of an actual crime from one administration to another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrowing_(politics)

This is not a Bush or Obama thing - it is an evil government thing.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Might want to see a physical therapist for the whiplash from going from "fake scandal" to "epitome of evil of govt" in 40 minutes.

[juris imprudent]

Oh, you mean you aren't impressed by the troll's ability to swap bait?

[lap83]

The operation under Bush was controlled delivery, although it still failed and was abandoned. The operation under Obama was different, there was no "controlled" delivery...it was just gunwalking; which, along with the fact that they pursued the operation despite it being abandoned under Bush, indicates that there was a different motive with Fast and Furious. They WANTED the guns to go to criminals.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Perhaps "they" did (the ATF).

The ATF cooks this shit up on its own --- according to even the last Bush AG.

[wareagle]

comparing the gun running under Bush to that under Obama is only a comparison in that Mexico was involved. One effort was scrapped; the other has been secretive, deadly to lots of Mexicans and at least one American, and designed to do a lot more than trace guns to criminals over the border.

[Cytotoxic]

The program was terminated under Bush and brought back under Obama sans safeguards. Then Obama tried to use the people killed to advance gun control you fucktwat.

[SweatingGin]

What gets me on fast and furious is the scope of it.

Imagine you're a midle manager at ATF, and some underling comes to you and says, "I want to run some guns in the southwest, see if they end up with Mexican gangs."

You probably say, "okay, how many?"

If the answer is,say, "half dozen", you say, "okay, let's get a team together."

Say the answer is "50". Maybe it's more "okay, we need to run this up the chain a bit, get a big team, you might not be in charge of it, but I'll make sure you get credit."

How about when they say, "a few thousand."?

I can't think of much beyond: "what, are you trying to arm an army?!?"

[Almanian!]

Whether from the right or left, the Washington pols can be relied upon to stand on the dead bodies of any old tragedy that will help them score points with the base.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Following the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla.

There was a tornado there? Obama made a big deal about a tornado in Monroe, OK too. Those things get around. Maybe an Executive Order is in order to get these twisters under control.

[lap83]

Yeah, how did he even find out about the tornado? I thought he was always the last to find out about everything in the news.

[Austrian Anarchy]

He was, but he finally started getting the wiretap reports from the Weather Channel and now he is up to speed.

Oddly, http://www.wunderground.com/ was never under suspicion.

[Hyperion]

There wouldn't have been a 2nd tornado, but sequester...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He could....by putting an end to global warming for good. Now if only the GOP would get outta day way.

[ant1sthenes]

That isn't enough anymore. He would have to end all climate change.

[Tman]

I honestly don't give a rats ass about the emails, what I want to know is this-

Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya in 2012 testified two weeks ago that he spoke to both Obama and Hillary WHILE THE ATTACK WAS STILL ONGOING that it was indeed a coordinated terrorist attack involving members of the local al-qaeda affiliate, and he knew this because he was in contact with the Libyan officials who were giving him on the ground updates. He never mentioned ANYTHING AT ALL to Hillary or Obama about a video or a protest. He testified to this under oath.

Yet the administration spent the next several weeks claiming itwas a spontaneous protest resulting from the Youtube video (not to mention Hillary directly telling the parents of the slain Seal members that "they would get the guy who made that video").

So anytime you hear the excuse that "there was still confusion about the events on the ground/haze of war/difficult to determine the approximate cause" you know they are full of shit because Hicks (and several others) have testified that they notified their superiors WHILE THE ATTACK WAS STILL HAPPENING that this was indeed a terrorist attack involving members of the local al-qaeda affiliate.

Yet for some reason people are whining about emails and whatever. Hillary should be held in contempt along with anyone else who released information to the public that the attack was the result of a protest over a video.

[Almanian!]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Tman, it's a fake scandal. PBP said so.

[Tman]

I'm not feeding the feces hurling monkey anymore.

It has to be Weigel, since you can almost smell the cheeto stains on his shirt from each post.

What a pathetic, sad little man.

[PapayaSF]

Good point, but the emails may provide details of the cover-up. AFAIK we still don't know who first suggested the YouTube video lie, and who approved using it.

[Tman]

Hillary, whether she came up with it or not (and no fucking way she thought of it herself), used it the parents of the Seal victims.

I mean she took this so far that she lied directly to the faces of grieving parents as they were pulling the caskets off the plane. That's just terrible.

I think for all Bill's faults, and hoo boy Bill's list is plentiful, he's nowhere near as much of a deceitful psychopath as Hillary.

She's in her own class.

[wareagle]

I think we can be relatively clear on the second part, who approved using it. The UN Ambassador doesn't make the Sunday rounds on some low- or mid-level story. It was signed off at an elected or Senate-approved appointed level.

[Cytotoxic]

Those emails are important to corroborate or falsify the administration's claims.

[Tman]

Yeah, but we already know they were lying, no matter what the emails say.

There is no WAY we will see an email showing that Hillary agreed to lie about it. That's not happening.

I doubt Obumbles even knew what the talking points plan was until he was told what to say at the press conference.

Hillary needs to testify whether or not she believes Hicks is lying by saying he told her it was an attack while it was happening.

Doubt that will happen either though.

[SweatingGin]

What are the chances she would just lie? If there isn't an email trail...

"Did you speak to Hicks on the night of the attack?"

"I don't recall"

[juris imprudent]

I'll admit to being just the tiniest bit curious what all our govt was doing in Benghazi, let alone why State Dept officials were there essentially without protection.

[grrizzly]

Why should we care about Benghazi? All the cool kids know it's a silly scandal. Barack Obama said so himself.

[johnl]

It's insane for Congress to concern itself with the operation of the government, when there is the weather to worry about.

[sarcasmic]

Hey now! These weather events are directly caused by the original sin of carbon! Only by repenting our carbon burning ways can we stop these events from happening!
It has nothing to do with there being more geographical area inhabited by humans, and thus increasing the probability that storms will affect inhabited areas.
Nope! It's all caused by Big Oil and their obscene profits!

[Hyperion]

nothing to do with there being more geographical area inhabited by humans, and thus increasing the probability that storms will affect inhabited areas

Oh, stop that! Global warming caused that tornado to directly seek out those poor folks. Now if we can just tax the living shit out of em, they won't be able to build any more damn houses. Problem solved!

[sarcasmic]

I heard NPR crowing about using building codes to force all new construction to have underground storm shelters.
There is nothing that can't be fixed with coercion and threat of violence.

[Hyperion]

If I lived in OK, there's no way I would not have an underground shelter. In a lot of the country, you don't need one, but I be there is someone who knows someone, who knows someone in congress, who knows someone who specializes in building underground storm shelters.

[Hyperion]

bet

[Almanian!]

Shit - I live in Michigan and I refuse to have a house without a basement. Same when we were in Ohio.

Lived through a couple tornados - those motherfuckers are fierce. I want at LEAST a basement.

You wanna live in a trailer in Tornado Alley?? Hey - it's a free country, and I wish you good luck. And I'll send money to both the Red Cross AND United Way.

[Hyperion]

I lived in OH and IN. I always had a basement.

[sarcasmic]

Personally, being a homebrewer, a basement is a must. Where else can I maintain lager temperatures?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Germany?

Wait, I read the question wrong.

[juris imprudent]

You wanna live in a trailer in Tornado Alley??

Unbelievable - I was going to link to Martin Mull's Trailer Waltz and damn if the entire Internet does NOT have it somewhere.

[sarcasmic]

Part of the commentary was that in OK, or that area anyway, the soil is wet clay. So if your home is fifty years old with a basement, it's likely wet and moldy. The perception that there is no such thing as a dry basement in OK is so prevalent that basements actually lower real estate values. Then again if they're made with the proper building codes in place, they'll be dry, mold free, and increase the value of the home.

There is nothing that can't be fixed with coercion and threat of violence.

[Tony]

The soil type makes it very difficult to build stable homes with basements underneath them. Basements are indeed rare in OK, though many people in the central area have invested in underground storm shelters; I personally know three people who were saved by them recently.

I choose to live in the city where an ancient Indian curse protects us from direct impact.

[PapayaSF]

There is nothing that can't be fixed with coercion and threat of violence.

Not true. Leftists don't believe those things will work against AIDS or single motherhood or poverty or in national defense, among others.

[Almanian!]

But - FREE HEALTH CARE!

So it's all good.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They need to focus on the events of the night, and not the talking points afterward. While I was disgusted by the obvious seeds they were planting to curb speech with that youtube nonsense (and yeah, isn't that dude still in jail?) and the misdirection they were trying in order to save an election, the response or lack thereof to the actual attack is where the problem is.

[PapayaSF]

I get a bit angry when I hear the "Oh, we couldn't have gotten people there in time" line. I shouldn't have to explain this, but when Americans are under attack, you immediately send help and hope they get there in time. You don't look at the clock and say "Well, they'll all probably be dead by the time help arrives."

And, of course, we now know that help was prevented from going, and that they would have arrived before everyone was dead.

[Killazontherun]

Two of the dead disobeyed orders to stand down. How many more would have died if they obeyed orders and not have manned guns? And ids that why the staffers have not been allowed to speak on what occurred?

[Killazontherun]

Also, the State department team did get there before the final attack. If a state department team can get there using conventional helicopters, are they seriously claiming military jets and copters can't?

[Tony]

If they could, why wouldn't they? Because Obama wanted to knock off Chris Stevens?

Why not listen to military people on this question? The ones who would describe your view of military capability as "cartoonish"?

[PapayaSF]

I think they didn't because: 1) They cynically decided to cut their losses, to let the Americans die rather than risk more and end up with another Desert One fiasco. 2) Too much effort would contradict the official narrative that Obama had defeated Al Qaeda with the death of bin Laden. 3) Something secret was going on in Libya that they wanted hushed up, perhaps buying arms to send to Syria. Note that dozens of survivors have been kept away from the media.

Military people serving under the president say what the president wants them to say. But if that's your position, Tony, I guess you believed them about Iraq in 2003, right?

[Tony]

Until we have the facts, the conspiracy theories must be true.

[PapayaSF]

We have enough facts to know that some of the conspiracy theories were true, and the administration is hiding the rest of the facts.

[Mock-star]

"If they could, why wouldn't they?"

How exactly did they know how long it would be until it was too late?

[Almanian!]

I thought I heard a Shriek coming from somewhere, but I'm ignoring it like it's Kitty Genovese herself.

[juris imprudent]

But unlike poor Kitty the troll just won't die.

[Hyperion]

There's a troll like smell coming from upthread.

[Almanian!]

JINX!

[Hyperion]

At least no one pantsed a link, yet...

[Almanian!]

The night is young.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

what a relief.

[Almanian!]

I don't know why, but whenever Shackford posts something, I always want to read his name as Shackleton - like Earnest Shackleton, the guy who led the ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. BUT - got everyone out alive. Quite a story.

Shackford - Shackleton - not even close. My brain is weird.

So, Scott, at least you remind me of a man's man. Props.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Rusty Shackleford.

[Almanian!]

I had to Bing that.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[PapayaSF]

I had to Bing that.

Are you the first person outside of Microsoft to ever say that? Or do you work for them?

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

He doesn't want Google to track his celebrity gossip app purchases.

[Hyperion]

He's da luv Shack, baby!

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Wow, the Onion sucks these days. Not sure how that headline's supposed to be funny.

[johnl]

It's been a long time since The Onion was funny.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

It's only a scandal when the wrong party is in charge.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

LEAVE MY BACON ALONE!

[Hyperion]

Think twice before you dig into that processed meats platter

WTF? People can't be trusted to just think about something, and then not do it! We have to do something, now, and stop this evil bacon menace!

Time to the pass the UBFAPA (United Bacon Freedom and Protection Act).

[Tman]

I like that in the comments someone brought up the ridiculousness behind the "nitrates" in processed meats.

Fourthly, there is conflicting evidence on nitrates
Exceprt from another article: "On average, about 93% of nitrites we get from food come from vegetables. It may shock you to learn that one serving of arugula, two servings of butter lettuce, and four servings of celery or beets all have more nitrite than 467 hot dogs"

Michael Ruhlman elaborates further here-

The "No Nitrites Added" Hoax

[Archduke Pantsfan]

"Vegetables are what food eats"

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

I thought nitrates were the problem, not nitrites. That electron makes all the difference.

[Tman]

Actually that's just obfuscation. Almost all the nitrate and nitrite in your body comes from veggies.

[Warrren]

Here's another fun scandal. Obama administration allowing wind companies to get away with major felonies while prosecuting others for similar infractions.

http://www.masterresource.org/.....more-25672

[PapayaSF]

Jeebus, we need some sort of Obama scandal wiki to keep track of all these.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

If a bird is stupid enough to fly into a windmill it deserves to go extinct.

[Warrren]

It's hard to tell when you are being stupid or just sarcastic.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Ooooh, Fake Warren is upset.

Tell me, if there were giant slow-spinning fixed blades hovering just above the ground, would you walk through them?

[Warrren]

As I am a ninja I do it everyday. And if you read the article some animal hugger explains that they have not adapted to the blades. It's not that easy for a dumb animal to instantly change it's habits.

Also, how am I fake? That's really my name.

And thanks for clearing up my confusion. Shouldn't you be out haranguing food truck operators?

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

You have 3 r's in your name? There's another bloke who posts as Warren spelt aright.

[Warrren]

I know. He had the absolute gall to claim the name first. Just because he got around to doing it first. Is that fair?

I went with WarrenT for awhile but something happened to that account so here we are.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Sorry to hear that. My name was stolen by an earlier version of myself so I feel your pain. But your current choice of name makes you look a little heavy in the chromosome department.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

And you're way behind the times. My current consumer rights advocacy is against sweetener fraud, not parking space leaches.

[Warrren]

I don't read the comments on all these HnR stories. So I have no idea of what you are talking about. Can you catch me up?

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Long story short, I blew the whistle on a sucrose scandal at my local supermarket. They were passing off maple-syrup-flavored Coke, intended for persons descended from residents of a certain area of the eastern Mediterranean, as the real thing. I called the Coca Cola Company direct and they made sure the offending managers/stockers got what they deserved.

[Warrren]

How did you know? And where can I get such Coke? Nothing shows up on Goog.

[ant1sthenes]

I want to criticize that statement, but given how much I despise birds that are capable of flight but choose to waddle slowly across busy streets, it would be hypocritical of me.

[Warrren]

Entertainment industry want's to be able to create and distrubute viruses, trojans etc.

http://boingboing.net/2013/05/.....-to-c.html

[ant1sthenes]

They didn't already do this?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Is it time to panic?

[PapayaSF]

Earth Abides

[Generic Stranger]

The box Guide says No.

[Warrren]

Why would Blackpeoplemeet.com run an ad during a basketball game? Do black people like basketball?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Trick question!

Nobody likes basketball.

[WomSom]

Sometimes dude you jsut have to roll with it.

http://www.GetYourAnon.tk

[Knutsack]

"Our thoughts go out embassy employees", says President mentally calculating whether he can use Youtube video as blame for their deaths.

[Knutsack]

"Our thoughts go out *to* embassy employees"... Nice typo, douche!