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Subscribe to RSSPresident Barack Obama calls the attacks on U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice "politically motivated" and says they are unacceptable.
President Barack Obama on Sunday called security issues that led to the deaths of four Americans in the Benghazi consulate attack "a huge problem," although he continued to defend U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as a victim of political scapegoating by Republicans who have suggested an administration coverup of the situation.
"We're not going to be defensive about it," Obama said of the State Department review of the attacks during an exclusive interview on NBC's Meet the Press. "We're not going to pretend that this was not a problem. This was a huge problem. And we're going to implement every single recommendation that's been put forward."
Saying that some State Department officials "have been held accountable," Obama said that the review of the September 11 attack showed there was "sloppiness" in terms of security measures but that mistakes were not intentional.
In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, President Barack Obama tells David Gregory he's optimistic the fiscal cliff can be averted, lays out the goals for his second term, and also discusses the Benghazi attack and how it was handled by the administration and those on Capitol Hill.
But he defended U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who withdrew from consideration to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after Republicans vigorously opposed her for her role in discussing the attacks after the raid.
"She appeared on a number of television shows reporting what she and we understood to be the best information at the time," Obama said. "This was a politically motivated attack on her. I mean, of all the people in my national security team, she probably had the least to do with anything that happened in Benghazi."
Obama indicated that intelligence officials have "good leads" as to who carried out the attack.
"With respect to who carried it out, that's an ongoing investigation," he said. "The F.B.I. has sent individuals to Libya repeatedly. We have some very good leads, but this is not something that I'm going to be at liberty to talk about right now."
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What are the greatest dangers that the American people
face today and impede the goal of a free society? There are five.
II
1. The continuous attack on our civil liberties which
threatens
the rule of law and our ability to resist the onrush of
tyranny.
2. Violent anti-Americanism that has engulfed the world.
Because the phenomenon of “blow-back” is not understood or denied, our foreign
policy is destined to keep us involved in many wars that we have no business
being in. National bankruptcy and a greater threat to our national security
will result.
3. The ease in which we go to war, without a declaration
by Congress, but accepting international authority from the UN or NATO even for
preemptive wars, otherwise known as aggression.
4. A financial political crisis as a consequence of
excessive debt, unfunded liabilities, spending, bailouts, and gross discrepancy
in wealth distribution going from the middle class to the rich. The danger of
central economic planning, by the Federal Reserve must be understood.
5. World government taking over local and US sovereignty
by getting involved in the issues of war, welfare, trade, banking, a world
currency, taxes, property ownership, and private ownership of guns.
Happily, there is an answer for these very dangerous trends.
III
What are the greatest dangers that the American people
face today and impede the goal of a free society? There are five.
1. The continuous attack on our civil liberties which
threatens
the rule of law and our ability to resist the onrush of
tyranny.
2. Violent anti-Americanism that has engulfed the world.
Because the phenomenon of “blow-back” is not understood or denied, our foreign
policy is destined to keep us involved in many wars that we have no business
being in. National bankruptcy and a greater threat to our national security
will result.
3. The ease in which we go to war, without a declaration
by Congress, but accepting international authority from the UN or NATO even for
preemptive wars, otherwise known as aggression.
4. A financial political crisis as a consequence of
excessive debt, unfunded liabilities, spending, bailouts, and gross discrepancy
in wealth distribution going from the middle class to the rich. The danger of
central economic planning, by the Federal Reserve must be understood.
5. World government taking over local and US sovereignty
by getting involved in the issues of war, welfare, trade, banking, a world
currency, taxes, property ownership, and private ownership of guns.
Happily, there is an answer for these very dangerous trends.
What a wonderful world it would be if everyone accepted
the simple moral premise of rejecting all acts of aggression. The retort to
such a suggestion is always: it’s too simplistic, too idealistic, impractical,
naïve, utopian, dangerous, and unrealistic to strive for such an ideal.
The answer to that is that for thousands of years the
acceptance of government force, to rule over the people, at the sacrifice of
liberty, was considered moral and the only available option for achieving peace
and prosperity.
What could be more utopian than that myth—considering the
results especially looking at the state sponsored killing, by nearly every
government during the 20th Century, estimated to be in the hundreds
of millions. It’s time to reconsider this grant of authority to the state.
No good has ever come from granting monopoly power to the
state to use aggression against the people to arbitrarily mold human behavior.
Such power, when left unchecked, becomes the seed of an ugly tyranny. This
method of governance has been adequately tested, and the results are in:
reality dictates we try liberty.
The idealism of non-aggression and rejecting all
offensive use of force should be tried. The idealism of government sanctioned
violence has been abused throughout history and is the primary source of
poverty and war. The theory of a society being based on individual freedom has
been around for a long time. It’s time to take a bold step and actually permit
it by advancing this cause, rather than taking a step backwards as some would
like us to do.
Today the principle of habeas corpus, established when
King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, is under attack. There’s every reason
to believe that a renewed effort with the use of the internet that we can
instead advance the cause of liberty by spreading an uncensored message that
will serve to rein in government authority and challenge the obsession with war
and welfare.
What I’m talking about is a system of government guided
by the moral principles of peace and tolerance.
The Founders were convinced that a free society could not
exist without a moral people. Just writing rules won’t work if the people
choose to ignore them. Today the rule of law written in the Constitution has
little meaning for most Americans, especially those who work in Washington DC.
Benjamin Franklin claimed “only a virtuous people are
capable of freedom.” John Adams concurred: “Our Constitution was made for a
moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.”
A moral people must reject all violence in an effort to
mold people’s beliefs or habits.
A society that boos or ridicules the Golden Rule is not a
moral society. All great religions endorse the Golden Rule. The same moral
standards that individuals are required to follow should apply to all
government officials. They cannot be exempt.
The ultimate solution is not in the hands of the
government.
The solution falls on each and every individual, with
guidance from family, friends and community.
Why did Obama deny security in the months before the attack and continue to withhold security during the attack? That, to me, is the biggest question.
But Obama also refuses to answer even the smallest questions regarding the affair. That is the clearest possible admission that he is engaging in a criminal coverup.
The #1 responsibility for each of us is to change
ourselves with hope that others will follow. This is of greater importance than
working on changing the government; that is secondary to promoting a virtuous
society. If we can achieve this, then the government will change.
It doesn’t mean that political action or holding office
has no value. At times it does nudge policy in the right direction. But what is
true is that when seeking office is done for personal aggrandizement, money or
power, it becomes useless if not harmful. When political action is taken for
the right reasons it’s easy to understand why compromise should be avoided. It
also becomes clear why progress is best achieved by working with coalitions,
which bring people together, without anyone sacrificing his principles.
Political action, to be truly beneficial, must be
directed toward changing the hearts and minds of the people, recognizing that
it’s the virtue and morality of the people that allow liberty to flourish.
The Constitution or more laws per se, have no value if the
people’s attitudes aren’t changed.
To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions
have to be overcome. Number one is “envy” which leads to hate and class
warfare. Number two is “intolerance” which leads to bigoted and judgmental
policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of
love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom, when
understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.
The problem we have faced over the years has been that
economic interventionists are swayed by envy, whereas social interventionists
are swayed by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The misunderstanding that
tolerance is an endorsement of certain activities, motivates many to legislate
moral standards which should only be set by individuals making their own
choices. Both sides use force to deal with these misplaced emotions. Both are
authoritarians. Neither endorses voluntarism. Both views ought to be rejected.
DR RON PAUL
I have come to one firm conviction after these many years
of trying to figure out “the plain truth of things.” The best chance for
achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people world-wide, is
to pursue the cause of LIBERTY.
If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout
the land.
You sure do love to see your words on the page!
Do you talk to yourself like this too? Do you have statues of yourself erected around the house? Posters of yourself on the walls? Your portrait carved into a shrub?
Obama immediately knew it was a terrorist attack on our consulate. Had he told the truth at the time, he would have been admitting that he had committed a huge error in judgment not to grant the consulate's security request on the anniversary of 9/11. To prevent that, Obama deliberately mischaracterized the attack as a “spontaneous demonstration.” And now his lie and his incompetence are exposed!
It was a cover up by the Obama administration and the President lied to the public and to the United Nations. The man is a disgrace.
What angers me is that Obama has not been held accountable by the mainstream media for what happened DURING the attack in Benghazi! He was well aware of what was occurring but did NOTHING to help our poor citizens who were under attack!!! What a complete monster to allow these people to be his sacrificial lambs. Not only is this guy dangerously arrogant and inexperienced, but he has no conscience and willingly threw our citizens under the bus to maintain the facade of a safe Middle East (an area he has royally screwed up with his policies). I am sick of the media covering for this ignorant, inept and conceited moron! Call him out on his fatal mistakes and hold him accountable. Remember? He said he takes full responsibility for what happened. Now hold his feet to the fire (as well as that of "sickly" Hillary)!!!
hockeymom55
He has not been held accountable for ANYTHING by the MSM
What angers me is that Obama has not been held accountable by the mainstream media for what happened DURING the attack in Benghazi! He was well aware of what was occurring but did NOTHING to help our poor citizens who were under attack!!! What a complete monster to allow these people to be his sacrificial lambs. Not only is this guy dangerously arrogant and inexperienced, but he has no conscience and willingly threw our citizens under the bus to maintain the facade of a safe Middle East (an area he has royally screwed up with his policies). I am sick of the media covering for this ignorant, inept and conceited moron! Call him out on his fatal mistakes and hold him accountable. Remember? He said he takes full responsibility for what happened. Now hold his feet to the fire (as well as that of "sickly" Hillary)!!!
What angers me is that there was an investigation, and those people made it sound as though the ambassador was at fault. Then to add insult, not one finger pointed to Obama, or Hillary.
Any persons who deny that the Obama administration is responsible for the deaths of the Americans who were murdered in the Benghazi fiasco are just ignoring the facts, Suzan Rice was told what to say when she appeared 5 times on national TV the following Sunday and the white house knew within minutes that it was a organized attack way before they told her to purger herself, Obama has hid from the truth and still is covering up the facts with his co-harts. It (Benghazi) will not go away as Obama hopes it will as will not the fast & furious cover-up. This is a perfect example of a corrupt administration, and any way that you left wing nuts want to spin it, Obama is a liar along with his Marxist co-harts. Obama will go down as the one president who was not what he said he was and indeed was a disaster in the white house. End of statement ,,,
If President Obama is personally responsible for 4 American lives in Libya, than George W. Bush is reponsible for 3000 American lives in New York City.
Old dumb lady: You have to be an idiot? right. If you are looking for blame on 9/11 look no further than Clinton. He is the one that let BinLaden go.
Obama did kill the four americans, he might just as well pulled the trigger. He is the most worthless person living in this country period.
Bush never denied first responders permission to rescue the victims. He never told them to "Stand Down!" Obama did. Big difference!
obama is such a lousy liar, he knows they lied and covered up this story with a lame video, that only less than 300 people viewed, the ones that did view it probably didn't even watch the whole video...
Rice knows she lied bold face to the American people about Benghazi being a reaction to this stupid video...
Why anyone in their right mind believes anything obama says is beyond me....
Jump up and down while you type. It will make you sound even more pissed-off. LOL!!!
I cannot believe that after this investigation not one person was singled out as being wrong. The generalizations about The State Department being at fault just does not work, this was Hillary's house, yet she supposedly knew nothing about the request for more security.
Better yet we know that drones were sending real time footage of this assassination to the white house, state dept., pentagon, and other places where adequate security clearance was applicable, so who watched this footage.
E-mails were being transmitted, however not one name has been attached to the people who conversated and did nothing to help those Americans. SOMETHING IS ROTTEN FOLKS, I'M JUST SAYIN
Big Dave: Well, a few midlevel State Dept. types got @!$%#canned. In any event, ducking culpability for screw-ups is a time-honored tradition in Washington; the Obama-ites hardly invented the practice.
No Cagey-B, no one was canned. They were reassigned to new jobs within the federal govt. That was word play doublespeak in an attempt to dupe the public yet again.
Ah, republicans...
If we could only harness your hate, bitterness and bile to create energy, we might be able to power some public toilets with it.
No matter... the fact that you're so miserably angry is reward enough. Better you than me ;-)
This worthless piece of dog dung, killed four americans, and you dumbass accept that? Your just as big a piece sheet as he is.
You're insane, so there's no point arguing with you.
In the meantime, the thought of your hatred is a happy thought! ;-)