Report: Benghazi 'Talking Points' Watered Down By CIA, Not White House

[DonViejo]

Source: NPR


by MARK MEMMOTT
December 04, 2012 8:00 AM

"A highly cautious, bureaucratic process that had the effect of watering down the U.S.'s own intelligence" led to the controversial "talking points" that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used when she spoke about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning.

In a story based on interviews of "officials from a cross-section of agencies who had direct knowledge of the deliberations," the Journal adds more reporting to the picture of why Rice on Sept. 16 said on Sunday talk shows that "extremist elements" may have been involved in the attack — but did not refer to them as terrorists or say they were connected to al-Qaida.

Rice's words have led several prominent Republican senators to say they would oppose her nomination to be secretary of state if President Obama puts her name forward for that post. They question whether the Obama administration deliberately tried to downplay the role of terrorists in the attack because of the rapidly approaching presidential election.

According to the Journal:

"The officials said the first draft of the talking points had a reference to al Qaeda but it was removed by the Central Intelligence Agency, to protect sources and protect investigations, before the talking points were shared with the White House. No evidence has so far emerged that the White House interfered to tone down the public intelligence assessment, despite the attention the charge has received."





Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/12/04/166467881/report-benghazi-talking-points-watered-down-by-cia-not-white-house

[marble falls]

1. You guys are just ruining McCain and Graham's narrative! What's facts got to with it?

[liberal N proud]

2. Strike two for Graham and McCain

Two grumpy old men.

[Berlum]

3. "We don't care about no steenkin facts." - Republican Demagogues

"We are Repubbies, and we don't want to hear about no steenkin facts."

- RepubliWanking Propaganda Pimps (R)

[Enrique]

4. the story keeps changing

I can't read the whole WSJ because it's for subscribers only, but it hardly matters because next week there will be another story that completely contradicts this one. It is clear that this is all none of our business and the only things they will tell us will be politically-motivated leaks, and disinformation.

[cheapdate]

7. "The story keeps changing...."

If you want to parse every single word spoken by any and all public officials at any time since the incident, and tease out every nuance that would indicate "...the story keeps changing" then John McCain, Rupert Murdoch, et. al. have achieved their goal.

There was a firefight. Stevens was killed. The CIA evacuated the consulate. Public statements by the government regarding who carried out the attack have been guarded while law enforcement and national security officials do their job.

[Enrique]

8. we are in a tough spot

we need to have Congressional oversight over the administration, but the GOP congress seems incapable of doing it responsibly. I'm not saying this because the GOP is the other side, but because of the way they have acted. e.g. Fast and Furious.

So we might have no choice but to take the attitude in your second paragraph: trust the government implicitly.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. It's tough to have Congressional oversight...

when the Intelligence Community strongly suspects that people in Congress will leak the information whenever it seems politically expedient. If lawmakers are kept in the dark, it because they've proved than they can't be trusted with sensitive information.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. This seems important.

[patrice]

6. Interesting that the CIA'd decide "to protect sources and protect investigations" from the President

[DallasNE]

13. That Is Not It At All

This was to keep al Qaeda from knowing the sources and protect the investigations, not the Whitehouse. The Whitehouse knew because they put it in the original talking points only to have the CIA pull it back out. Big difference.

[patrice]

14. Thanks for the clarification.

[elleng]

9. No sh*t, Sherlock!

[FreeBC]

10. Yeah, we knew this weeks ago...

I guess the Wall Street Journal is finally catching up.

[DallasNE]

12. Remember McCain Was Holding A Press Conference At

The exact same time as a Committee that McCain sits on was meeting with CIA over the Benghazi attack. In that meeting the Committee was told the exact same thing as is being reported here. Obviously, this report will have no bearing on the smear attacks on Susan Rice.