Republicans Try to Politicize Libya Embassy Attack - Accidentally Disclose Intelligence Sources

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The Republicans have been very concerned about a growing confidence by the American people in President Obama’s leadership relative to foreign policy issues; for the first time in decades – a Democrat is more trusted on foreign policy issues and national security than are the Republican. The Republican party has been working overtime to undercut Americans’ confidence in President Obama by exploiting any loss of American life overseas etc.

In a rush to politicize the deaths of 4 Americans at the Libyan embassy – Darrell Issa (R-CA) – the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee has released 166 “sensitive but unclassified” State Department communications on the committee’s website. Make no mistake – Chairman Issa is not only one man … he works as an extension on behalf of the Republican party to achieve their political ends. His actions have been fully sanctioned and approved of by the Republican party. In doing so – Republicans f-cked up really, really bad.

#1 – Republicans failed to redact the names of valuable intelligence sources in Libya when they published them online.

As Foreign Policy explains HERE:

But Issa didn’t bother to redact the names of Libyan civilians and local leaders mentioned in the cables, and just as with the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables last year, the administration says that Issa has done damage to U.S. efforts to work with those Libyans and exposed them to physical danger from the very groups that had an interest in attacking the U.S. consulate.

One of the cables released by Issa names a woman human rights activist who was leading a campaign against violence and was detained in Benghazi. She expressed fear for her safety to U.S. officials and criticized the Libyan government.

Another cable names a Benghazi port manager who is working with the United States on an infrastructure project.
One cable names a local militia commander dishing dirt on the inner workings of the Libyan Interior Ministry. Another cable names a militia commander who claims to control a senior official of the Libyan armed forces. Other cables contain details of conversations between third-party governments, such as the British and the Danes, and their private interactions with the U.S., the U.N., and the Libyan governments over security issues.

Releasing these State Department documents without has endangered important intelligence sources and the potential for future sources to work with American intelligence services. If individuals in foreign countries are going to have to worry about their names popping up in public because of some political payback … the next potential valuable source simply won’t assist American intelligence services. It’s embarrassing.

#2 – Not only did Republicans disclose important Libyan intelligence sources – he exposed how many CIA agents were in Libya. BRILLIANT.

Empty Wheel did a fantastic analysis of the full 166 page document dump and writes this HERE:

In December, Jeffrey Feltman asked Patrick Kennedy to approve “a combined footprint of 35 U.S. government personnel in Benghazi.” That would include 10 people identified as State: 8 State Department and USAID, and 2 temporary duty personnel.

Which leaves 25 people unaccounted for.

As it happens, the Libyans say there were 29 people they hadn’t expected when they came to evacuate the Americans. They complained afterwards that the Americans hadn’t told them about all the spooks they’d have onsite. Well, now, Issa just confirmed they were not State or even USAID personnel. He has confirmed the Libyans’ claims–that they were spooks.

And then there’s this:

Because of budget considerations and the reduced footprint, Diplomatic Security’s current presence consists of two Special Agents…

That last cable reflects the nearly $400 million in cuts to embassy security that the Republican party passed through in the House; more on that HERE.

#3 - CIA documents have now been released that support Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks

The Republican party has been attacking President Obama and calling for the resignation of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for having called the attack on Benghazi a spontaneous reaction to anger over the anti-Mohammed documentary that was purported to cause all of this fervor. They continued to call this a terrorist attack or “attack of terror” as President Obama referred to it the day after it occurred. But – any potential confusion about the cause of this attack can be directly attributed to the CIA’s own talking points for Ambassador Rice.

The Washington Post explains these documents HERE:

“Talking points” prepared by the CIA on Sept. 15, the same day that Rice taped three television appearances, support her description of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate as a reaction to Arab anger about an anti-Muslim video prepared in the United States. According to the CIA account, “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”

The CIA document went on: “This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.” This may sound like self-protective boilerplate, but it reflects the analysts’ genuine problem interpreting fragments of intercepted conversation, video surveillance and source reports.

The senior intelligence official said the analysts’ judgment was based in part on monitoring of some of the Benghazi attackers, which showed they had been watching the Cairo protests live on television and talking about them before they assaulted the consulate.

What we do know is the Republican party has been trying very, very hard to politicize the deaths of 4 Americans civil servants who died during this attack on the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Not only have they endangered American lives and intelligence sources with this politicization … they have endangered America’s ability to deal with future intelligence sources as there could be an erosion of trust in America’s ability to maintain confidentiality at all times.

Darrell Issa should resign from his position as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee; he has shown that he is not interested in doing anything more than using his position of power as a cudgel to browbeat his political opponents. He is not worthy of serving in elected office.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) has released a statement regarding Darrell Issa’s major screwup HERE; an excerpt:

The wholesale release of State Department documents by the House Oversight Committee has exposed Libyan nationals working with the United States to possible danger. This is irresponsible and inexcusable, and perhaps worst of all it was entirely avoidable. It is profoundly against America’s interests in a difficult region.

[Vegas_Bronco]

They have endangered future abilities to deal with these intelligence sources....pretty much the jest of the article. Happens all the time when the WH isnt upfront and honest.

[Rohirrim]

Issa is a convicted car thief and fraud, and a suspected arsonist. How he ever got into that position is a complete mystery to me.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

Issa ia a convicted car thief and fraud, and a suspected arsonist. How he ever got into that position is a complete mystery to me.

MONEY!

[Irish Stout]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Bronco

They have endangered future abilities to deal with these intelligence sources....pretty much the jest of the article. Happens all the time when the WH isnt upfront and honest.

Except that the more details come out the more it appears the white house was up front and honest. And now American assets are in jeopardy. Good work everyone on zealously trying to create a BS "coverup" when none existed.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Despite a carefully narrated version of events rolled out late this week by the CIA claiming agents jumped into action as soon as they were notified of calls for help in Benghazi, security officials on the ground say calls for help went out considerably earlier -- and signs of an attack were mounting even before that.
The accounts, from foreign and American security officials in and around Benghazi at the time of the attack, indicate there was in fact a significant lag between when the threat started to show itself and help started to arrive.
According to the CIA, the first calls for assistance came at 9:40 p.m. local time from a senior State Department official at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, to the CIA annex about a mile away.
But according to multiple people on the ground that night, the Blue Mountain Security manager, who was in charge of the local force hired to guard the consulate perimeter, made calls on both two-way radios and cell phones to colleagues in Benghazi warning of problems at least an hour earlier. Those calls allegedly went to local security contractors who say that the CIA annex was also notified much earlier than 9:40 p.m. U.S. military intelligence also told Fox News that armed militia was gathering up to three hours before the attack began.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz2BH8C4u00

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

OH WAIT WAIT ITS fox news close your eyes plug your ears
However, George Little, a spokesman from the Pentagon, denied their presence in the area.
"On the night of the attack on American personnel and facilities in Benghazi, there were no armed unmanned aerial vehicles over Libya, and there were no AC-130s anywhere close," he said.
British intelligence sources said that unarmed drones routinely flew over Benghazi every night in flight patterns and that armed drones which fly over chemical sites, some a short flight from Benghazi, "were always said to be on call." American sources confirmed this and questioned "why was a drone armed only with a camera dispatched?"

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz2BH8hqrO0

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Irish Stout

Except that the more details come out the more it appears the white house was up front and honest. And now American assets are in jeopardy. Good work everyone on zealously trying to create a BS "coverup" when none existed.

These traitorous GOP jackals have once again shown their willingness to politicize American deaths and expose intelligence assets when they think it will somehow benefit their party.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Bronco

They have endangered future abilities to deal with these intelligence sources....pretty much the jest(sic) of the article. Happens all the time when the WH isnt upfront and honest.

If this is what you got out of the article, then your reading comprehension really sucks!