by Allan J. Favish
On October 23, 2012, I wrote here that the Wall Street Journal reported on October 22, 2012, that the Central Intelligence Agency had provided inaccurate intelligence to the Obama Administration that the attack on our people in Libya was preceded by a protest over a YouTube video that got out of control.
According to the WSJ, the CIA corrected its error on September 20, 2012, when it told "top national security officials at the White House" that there was no such protest. The WSJ reported that on September 22, 2012, this correction was put in the daily intelligence brief to President Obama.
I wrote that the WSJ article failed to state that on September 24 & 25, 2012, President Obama went on "The View" television show and addressed the United Nations, and linked the YouTube video to the Libya attack, contradicting what the CIA reportedly told President Obama and his top national security officials at the White House a few days earlier.
This has received far too little attention.
On October 23, 2012, several news organizations, including Fox News, CBS News and Reuters reported that leaked emails from the State Department showed that within two hours of the beginning of the Libya attack, the State Department had notified the White House and numerous other U.S. Government Agencies that a terrorist organization had claimed credit for the attack on its Facebook and Twitter pages.
On October 24, 2012, ABC News reported that the Obama Administration responded to news of the emails: "The views of the intelligence community are valued far more than Facebook and twitter claims, officials said, describing that email as an unclassified ops alert email, not a vetted intelligence assessment."
If the WSJ is correct about the CIA report to "top national security officials at the White House" on September 20, 2012 that was put into President Obama's daily intelligence brief on September 22, 2012, then President Obama will not be able to use the same excuse his Administration is giving to dismiss the significance of the emails. What the WSJ reported are the "views of the intelligence community" and "a vetted intelligence assessment."
If only the press and Congress would follow-up on what the WSJ reported and demand answers from President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Allan J. Favish is an attorney in Los Angeles. His website is allanfavish.com. He has co-authored with James Fernald a new book about what might happen if the government ran Disneyland entitled Fireworks! If the Government Ran the Fairest Kingdom of Them All (A Very Unauthorized Fantasy).
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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