http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/10/we-just-got-played-shep-smiths-brutal-summary-of-what-just-happened-in-the-syria-conflict/
I do not agree that the US was cheated, fooled, or "played". What I think happened may have happened was that Russia had been prepared to offer a solution (Surrendering chemical weapons). Whether John Kerry actually made a diplomatic tactical error by his "offer" for Syria to do the same with the Russians grabbing the chance to take him up on it, or if the entire move had been orchestrated by Putin and Obama earlier at the G20 Summit, we will probably never know. According to a good friend who commented on yesterday's post on this subject, Obama claims that he came up with the idea with Putin at the summit. Either way, we have a chance to avoid committing forces in a campaign that would have one goal - to topple the Syrian government and create a vacuum that would be filled by the same scum (Moderates almost always lose once the autocrat is gone) that have murdered, raped, bombed, and burned their way through non-Sunni (and especially non-Muslim in general) regions that had at least been stable and free of war and terror prior to the conflict. Obama gets to save face (crucial for a narcissist) and maybe Assad can focus on driving the rebels out.
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Main post:
The White House is still determined to bury the Benghazi scandal. Although some survivors/witnesses have spoken publicly, testifying on record before Congress leaves the administration and State department open for trouble:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/10/cbs-reporter-kerry-tells-congress-he-wont-make-benghazi-survivors-available-for-questioning-subpoenas-could-be-coming/
"Secretary of State John Kerry has informed Congress he “will not honor the request to make Benghazi survivors available for questioning,” CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson reports.
Republicans in the House Oversight Committee reportedly plan to issue subpoenas if Kerry does not reverse his decision and provide congressional investigators access to Benghazi survivors.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday sent Kerry a formal letter demanding access to the survivors of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“I must receive confirmation that the [State] Department will makes these witnesses available to Committee investigators by September 24, 2013,” the letter reads.
“Otherwise, I will have no alternative but to consider the use of compulsory process,” the letter adds.
The congressman points out that this is not the first time that the Committee has demanded access to the Benghazi survivors. In fact, he notes, the State Department has dutifully ignored or denied earlier requests for access.
The State Department told the Committee on Aug. 23, 2013, that it was not “prepared to support the [Committee’s] request for transcribed interviews.”........"
The suppressing of witnessing from Benghazi, along with with the use of Executive Privilege by the White House in the "Fast and Furious scandal, leaves us with situations that can only be successful picked apart by the appointment of Special Prosecutors. Not all elected officials are lawyers, and those Congressmen who do hold law degrees do not necessarily have trial experience and thus are unable to engage in the right lines of questioning.
True and tested trial lawyers have the knowledge and "feel" that can be gained only by years of schooling and experience, both of which are needed to draw out the information that is necessary to prevent an investigation from being stymied by recalcitrant and uncooperative witnesses. Many Police detectives have, through training and experience, developed their abilities and intuition in the same manner.
A good interrogator can make a witness (Not talking about a victim/witness) feel that he needs to provide enough information to protect himself. In short, the one asking the questions knows how to give the witness "enough rope to hang himself" or will allow him a means of providing sufficient information - with the intention of making himself appear innocent, that will be used in later examinations before the same body. Often the witness, in an effort to avoid being the scapegoat, provides information that will enable to question another witness further, which can create an "every man for himself" environment in which every witness tries to redirect the focus of the interrogator to another.
We are faced with a Presidential administration that has all the earmarks of a criminal enterprise. Clinton had his numerous scandals and possible targeted witnesses*, G.W. Bush had his VP's cronies making money hand over fist with lucrative post-war Iraq contracts and attempts to suppress hunting accidents, but this current administration makes the former two look like also-rans. The medical industry -wrecking Obamacare disaster, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the IRS and NSA scandals barely scratch the surface; what is being done to our nation is an act of destruction. Our own laws and machinery of government are being used to destroy both our own society and those of others. They do what they want, suppress evidence and witnesses, ignore Congressional orders and, what is worse, they have been getting away with it.
When the administration was ready to accept monies from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to attack Syria, we became an image of post-Peloponnesian War Sparta. Having finally disposed of a longtime opponent (Athens, for us the USSR) Sparta ran about the Greece (for us, the world insisting that things be done their (our) way. Sparta, with her primitive economy no longer able to keep up with a developing Greece and the small land holders liquidated, was left with little choice but to allow her citizens to be hired out as mercenaries. Sparta, like the US, made a lot of enemies. What is even worse for us, as I have noted on numerous occasions, was that we made no effort to befriended and make a business partner of Russia. In time, Sparta succumbed to the rising power of Thebes. While she was not destroyed, she never recovered her old power and influence. She eventually lost her freedom to the Kingdom of Macedon and later to Rome. We are moving in a very similar direction.
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