'Yes We Can' - House GOP Moves to Punish State Dept. Over Benghazi Delays.

'Yes We Can' - House GOP Moves to Punish State Dept. Over Benghazi Delays.(theyeshivaworld).

Following through on a threat, House Republicans on Tuesday proposed cutting the State Department’s budget to protest its slow response in producing documents related to the investigation of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

The House Appropriations Committee said a budget plan for the State Department withholds nearly $700 million — or 15 percent of the agency’s operational funds — until “requirements related to proper management of Freedom of Information Act and electronic communications are met.”

The chairman of the Benghazi panel, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, and other Republicans have complained that the State Department has delayed providing emails and other documents involving former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and some of her top staffers.

A spokeswoman for the Appropriations panel said the budget plan withholds funds until State develops and implements a plan to reduce a backlog of FOIA and congressional requests.Read the full story here.

Video - Judicial Watch President Says, The Question Is Whether or Not Hillary Clinton Stays Out of Jail

Video - Judicial Watch President Says, The Question Is Whether or Not Hillary Clinton Stays Out of Jail.HT: InfidelBloggers.

Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch:

“The ironic thing is she has all these records. And, if they are quote, “State Department records,” then why did she keep them in her home or wherever she was keeping them until someone asked them for them and sort of forced her response.

The fact is that she deleted records. And she turned over records with no oversight that supposedly are government records. And now she says she wants them released as soon as possible.

You know, for instance, on her Clinton Foundation records, we asked for those records in 2011. We waited two years and had to sue in 2013 and only got the records last year.

So the idea that she wants these records out as soon as possible is belied by the facts and it shows you that politicians like Hillary Clinton who are corrupt depend on making, or saying big lies and just powering through the oversight and accountability the rest of Americans face when they violate the law.

You know, my view the discussion about Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be about whether or not she wins the primary but whether or not she stays out of jail.“

Defense, State Dep Docs Reveal Obama 'Admin' Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance.

Judicial Watch: Defense, State Dep Docs Reveal Obama 'Admin' Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance. HT: JudicialWatch.

Administration knew three months before the November 2012 presidential election of ISIS plans to establish a caliphate in Iraq 

Administration knew of arms being shipped from Benghazi to Syria

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts.  The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria.  The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders “on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.”

Spelling and punctuation is duplicated in this release without corrections.

A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group “to kill as many Americans as possible.”  The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council.  The heavily redacted Defense Department “information report” says that the attack on the Benghazi facility “was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).”  The group subscribes to “AQ ideologies:”

The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

“A violent radical,” the DIA report says, is “the leader of BCOAR is Abdul Baset ((AZUZ)), AZUZ was sent by ((ZAWARI)) to set up Al Qaeda (AQ) bases in Libya.” 

The group’s headquarters was set up with the approval of a “member of the Muslim brother hood movement…where they have large caches of weapons.  Some of these caches are disguised by feeding troughs for livestock.  They have SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS…they train almost every day focusing on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihadist ideology.”

The Defense Department reported the group maintained written documents, in “a small rectangular room, approximately 12 meters by 6 meters…that contain information on all of the AQ activity in Libya.”

(Azuz is again blamed for the Benghazi attack in an October 2012 DIA document.)


The DOD documents also contain the first official documentation that the Obama administration knew that weapons were being shipped from the Port of Benghazi to rebel troops in Syria. Hmmmm......What difference does it make? Mitt Romney could have been President and the Iranian deal could be a 'glazed parking spot in the Iranian desert'. Read the full story here.

Video - Docs Show Weapons Going From Benghazi To Syria - Benghazi Gate.....'What difference does it make?'

Read the full story here

Related:

Turkish Envoy Playing Role of Middle Man in Arms Trafficking to Yemen.  

Well, well, well....weapons through Benghazi to Syria. The knowledge of ISIS before the election. Thanks Obama. Thanks Hillary. #LIARS

— lisa | buck (@largelatteplz) May 18, 2015

Obama Asked Erdogan to Help Calm Muslims And Curb Violence In Reaction To "Anti-Muhammad Video".

Obama Asked His BFF PM Erdogan For Help To Calm Muslims And Curb Violence In Reaction To "Anti-Muhammad Video".(Memri).

On February 9, 2015, the Turkish daily Today's Zaman reported that the SEA hackers had posted on their website (leaks.sea.sy) a private letter from President Obama to then-prime minister Erdogan on September 14, 2012, noting:[3]

 "In the letter, which begins 'Dear Tayyip,' Obama voices his concerns about a possible attack on U.S. diplomats following the release of a short video titled 'Innocence of Muslims' [which was being blamed for the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi three days earlier]. The video has anti-Islamic undertones and it is perceived as denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.

"When the 14-minute video was uploaded to the Internet on Sept. 11, 2012 in Egypt, it led to large-scale protests that were also replicated around the world. As a result of clashes with police, about 100 people were injured and 50 died.

"Obama asked Erdoğan to 'speak out immediately and forcefully before people go to Friday prayers': 'I believe that you are one of the most credible voices in the Islamic world today, and that if people hear you calling for calm and condemning violence it will have a real impact,' stated Obama in his letter to Erdoğan, adding: 'It will be important to emphasize that diplomatic personnel and facilities must be respected and that the way to defend religion is through peace rather than violence.

As people of faith, we have an obligation to prevent the people who did this video provoking a cycle of violence that violates the values that undergird our faith.'

"The letter seems to have been sent via e-mail early on a Friday morning in Turkey, just in time for Friday prayers.

"In his letter, Obama also said: 'I understand you are traveling between Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is just after midnight in Washington. I am writing to you because given what has happened in the last two days, there is a very real danger that there could be an escalation of violence on Friday that would be very damaging to our shared interests.'

"Obama then mentioned the video, saying: 'Let me be clear that the U.S. government had nothing to do with it. We reject its message, which entirely contradicts my personal views and the values that America stands for.' Obama then underscored that the U.S. respects Islam and that it is opposed to efforts that offend Muslims by defaming the Prophet Muhammad.

"He added that they could do nothing to block the video, saying that this was not possible 'in this age of technology,' and noted that they are bound by the commitment to free expression.

'Nevertheless, our embassies across the Middle East are at risk and we are deeply concerned that after Friday prayers our people and installations in the region could be vulnerable to attack. We must not let extremists use this video as a pretext to attack America, or our other allies and partners,' Obama wrote.


"Obama ended his letter by thanking Erdoğan and calling him 'my friend,' adding that he looks forward to 'talking again' in a few days' time – when Erdoğan would return to Turkey from abroad." Read the full story here.

Al-Qaeda leader in Libya detained in Turkey and transferred to US authorities

Al-Qaeda leader in Libya detained in Turkey suspected of involvement in Amb.Chris Stevens murder in Benghazi.(HD).

Abd al-Baset Azzouz, the leader of al-Qaeda in Libya, was reportedly detained last month in western Turkey after he entered with a fake passport. Azzouz has been renditioned to the US on suspicion of involvement in the murder of US Ambassador Chris Stevens in 2012.

Azzouz, 48, was named as an “al-Qaeda operative and trainer skilled in bomb-making” by the U.S. State Department and listed on the U.S. list of 10 most dangerous global terrorists.Read the full story here.

Video - Appears to show Islamists roaming US Tripoli embassy annex - "I Have No Strategy"

Obama White House Suggests it Won’t Cooperate with Benghazi Panel.

Obama White House Suggests it Won’t Cooperate with Benghazi Panel.HT: WhitehouseDossier.By KeithKoffler.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today indicated the White House will refuse to cooperate with a new House committee tasked with investigating Benghazi.

“We have always cooperated with legitimate oversight,” Carney said this afternoon during the daily White House briefing. Asked whether the panel qualified as “legitimate,” he said: “I think if you look at what even some Republicans have said, it certainly casts doubt on the legitimacy of an effort that is so partisan in nature.”

“You know, at some point, you just have to assume that Republicans will continue this because it feeds a political objective of some sort,” he added. “At the same time you have to ask, ‘What about the American people who want to see Congress work for them?’”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Boehner today announced that Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) will chair the Benghazi committee.


“With four of our countrymen killed at the hands of terrorists, the American people want answers, accountability, and justice,” Boehner said. “Trey Gowdy is as dogged, focused, and serious-minded as they come.” 

Muslim Brotherhood leaders deported from Qatar arrive Libya.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders deported from Qatar arrive Libya.(GulfNews).

Dubai: Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood leaders reportedly deported by Qatar have arrived in Libya, a London-based daily said.

The leaders have landed at Maeetiqiya international airport in the Libyan capital over three days, Libyan political, military and security sources told Al Arab newspaper.

They were ferried away to unidentified places in cars waiting at the airport located around 11km west of Tripoli and dominated by an armed Islamist group, the sources added.

According to the daily, Qatar has been looking for a country that would host the senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood following intense pressure by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — to change its policy of supporting the movement.

The three countries on March 5 pulled out their ambassadors from Doha to protest against what was seen as Qatar’s meddling in their domestic affairs and its backing of the Islamist movement rejected by some GCC countries as an illegal organisation.

The three countries insisted their ambassadors would not be reinstated until Qatar complied fully with an agreement it signed on April 17 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Although the details of the accord have not been made public, reports citing “well-informed sources” said that the three countries wanted Qatar’s alignment with GCC common policies and the deportation of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders from Qatar who should be denied access to all Qatari or Qatar-supported media.

Other conditions included deporting around Qatar-based 15 Gulf nationals whose activities have been considered suspicious.

The agreement was signed in Riyadh following an intense mediation by the Emir of Kuwait that has been richly acknowledged. Kuwait and Oman, the other two GCC members, did not recall their ambassadors from Doha.

In separate statements, the foreign ministers of Oman and Qatar have said that the divergences between Qatar and the three other GCC countries that constituted the most serious political crisis within the alliance since it was founded in 1981 were over.

Khalid Al Atiyyah, the Qatari minister, said last week that the “divergences in opinions are over and it is up to the countries to decide on sending their ambassadors back to Doha.”

However, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, on Wednesday said that the reinstatement of the ambassadors was linked to Qatar’s commitment to the implementation of the Riyadh agreement.

The committee would then monitor the application process with a three-month deadline, it added.

Some of the points include deportation of Muslim Brotherhood leading figures to their home countries and reviewing the policies of the Doha-based pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera.

The three countries also want Qatar not to allow religious preachers to use mosques or media to attack other GCC countries and to cancel all forums by organisations seen by the GCC as having links with terrorism.

They also insist that Qatar must shut down research centres directed by Saudi nationals who had been given the Qatari citizenship. Read the full story here.

Related:

Eight killed as suspected Islamist militants attack security HQ in Libya 

Judicial Watch: "Obama Administration Withholds Key Benghazi Emails."

Judicial Watch: "Obama Administration Withholds Key Benghazi Emails."HT: JudicialWatch.

Judicial Watch announced today that the Obama administration was seeking to withhold key emails about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, indicating what it terms “a continued cover-up of the deadly scandal.” 

The documents, released in December, include multiple emails, which are heavily redacted, about the controversial Benghazi talking points that falsely portray the attack as being the result of a spontaneous protest.

On October 18, 2012, JW filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request with the Department of State seeking information about talking points used to discuss the Benghazi attack that were given  then UN Ambassador Rice and others in the Obama administration.  After waiting months for a response, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the State Department on June 21, 2013, captioned (Judicial Watch, Inc., v. U.S. Department of State, (Civil Action No. 13-cv-00951 (EGS)) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and requested that the State Department be compelled to produce all non-exempt responsive documents.
To date, the State Department has produced two sets of documents, each containing little or no information not previously available to the public. The first set of documents consisted of 1192 pages of daily press clips from the United States Mission to the United Nations, dated September 12-28.  The documents contained nothing beyond published news stories.  The second set of documents, provided to Judicial Watch on December 13, 2013 consists of 67 pages of emails.  The majority of the content is redacted, aside from three prepared talking points sent to members of Congress on September 15, 2012, the first containing the administration’s false claim that the attack was “spontaneously inspired:”

• “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex.  There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”

• “This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.”

• “The investigation is on-going, and the US Government is working with Libyan authorities to bring justice to those responsible for the deaths of US citizens.”

The Obama administration has withheld the name of the CIA official who distributed these inaccurate talking points, which seemed to have been used to brief Congress.
“Even after a year and a federal lawsuit, the Obama administration is still in full stonewall mode on Benghazi.  Why else would they produce dozens of blanked out emails?” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Our lawyers are considering challenges to latest Obama secrecy gambit.”

In June, 2013, Judicial Watch obtained the first seven photos from the Department of State depicting the aftermath of the September 11 Benghazi attacks, including: a burned and ransacked building, burned vehicles, and Arabic graffiti with militant Islamist slogans. In November, it obtained additional previously withheld photos, depicting: a car on fire; what appears to be the exterior of a burned out building; ransacked rooms within the building with files and office supplies strewn across the floor; and additional militant Islamist slogans.


Judicial Watch currently has four pending FOIA lawsuits against the Obama administration for documents about the attack, 14 FOIA requests and one Mandatory Declassification Review Request. It has published two in-depth special reports on Benghazi, the last one on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. [The first Special Report can be accessed here , the second here.]

New Proof emerges Obama and Clinton Lied About Benghazi.

New Proof emerges Obama and Clinton Lied About Benghazi.(Fox).

Minutes after the American consulate in Benghazi came under assault on Sept. 11, 2012, the nation’s top civilian and uniformed defense officials — headed for a previously scheduled Oval Office session with President Obama — were informed that the event was a “terrorist attack,” declassified documents show. 

The new evidence raises the question of why the top military men, one of whom was a member of the president’s Cabinet, allowed him and other senior Obama administration officials to press a false narrative of the Benghazi attacks for two weeks afterward.

Gen. Carter Ham, who at the time was head of AFRICOM, the Defense Department combatant command with jurisdiction over Libya, told the House in classified testimony last year that it was him who broke the news about the unfolding situation in Benghazi to then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The tense briefing — in which it was already known that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens had been targeted and had gone missing — occurred just before the two senior officials departed the Pentagon for their session with the commander in chief.

According to declassified testimony obtained by Fox News, Ham — who was working out of his Pentagon office on the afternoon of Sept. 11 — said he learned about the assault on the consulate compound within 15 minutes of its commencement, at 9:42 p.m. Libya time, through a call he received from the AFRICOM Command Center.

“My first call was to General Dempsey, General Dempsey’s office, to say, ‘Hey, I am headed down the hall. I need to see him right away,’” Ham told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation on June 26 of last year. “I told him what I knew. We immediately walked upstairs to meet with Secretary Panetta.”

Ham’s account of that fateful day was included in some 450 pages of testimony given by senior Pentagon officials in classified, closed-door hearings conducted last year by the Armed Services subcommittee. The testimony, given under “Top Secret” clearance and only declassified this month, presents a rare glimpse into how information during a crisis travels at the top echelons of America’s national security apparatus, all the way up to the president.

Also among those whose secret testimony was declassified was Dempsey, the first person Ham briefed about Benghazi. Ham told lawmakers he considered it a fortuitous “happenstance” that he was able to rope Dempsey and Panetta into one meeting, so that, as Ham put it, “they had the basic information as they headed across for the meeting at the White House.” Ham also told lawmakers he met with Panetta and Dempsey when they returned from their 30-minute session with President Obama on Sept. 11.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, a first-term lawmaker with experience as an Iraq war veteran and Army reserve officer, pressed Ham on "the nature of the conversation" he had with Panetta and Dempsey was that "this was a terrorist attack." 

WENSTRUP: "As a military person, I am concerned that someone in the military would be advising that this was a demonstration. I would hope that our military leadership would be advising that this was a terrorist attack."

HAM: "Again, sir, I think, you know, there was some preliminary discussion about, you know, maybe there was a demonstration. But I think at the command, I personally and I think the command very quickly got to the point that this was not a demonstration, this was a terrorist attack."

WENSTRUP: "And you would have advised as such if asked. Would that be correct?"

HAM: "Well, and with General Dempsey and Secretary Panetta, that is the nature of the conversation we had, yes, sir."

Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February of last year that it was him who informed the president that "there was an apparent attack going on in Benghazi." "Secretary Panetta, do you believe that unequivocally at that time we knew that this was a terrorist attack?" asked Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. "There was no question in my mind that this was a terrorist attack," Panetta replied.

In a classified session on July 31 of last year, Westrup raised the question with Marine Corps Col. George Bristol, commander of AFRICOM's Joint Special Operations Task Force for the Trans Sahara region.

Bristol, who was traveling in Dakar, Senegal when the attack occurred, said he received a call from the Joint Operations Center alerting him to "a considerable event unfolding in Libya." Bristol's next call was to Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson, an Army commander stationed in Tripoli. Gibson informed Bristol that Stevens was missing, and that "there was a fight going on" at the consulate compound.

WESTRUP: "So no one from the military was ever advising, that you are aware of, that this was a demonstration gone out of control, it was always considered an attack"

BRISTOL: "Yes, sir."

WENSTRUP: "-- on the United States?"

BRISTOL: "Yes, sir. ... We referred to it as the attack."

According to these senior military leaders, from the very beginning the American people were lied to about this attack by the President of the United States and the Secretary of State among others. 

If we were lied to about the nature of the attack being terrorism rather than the product of a demonstration, what else did they lie about?

In the end, that is "what difference at this point" it makes.

Arab League: each Arab state to decide if Muslim Brotherhood are terrorists.

Arab League: each Arab state to decide if Muslim Brotherhood are terrorists.(IMRA).

Arab League: Application of Brotherhood terrorist classification subject to the evaluation of each Arab state

Sun, 29/12/2013 - 20:30 Al-Masry Al-Youm http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/arab-league-application-brotherhood-terrorist-classification-subject-evaluation-each-arab-state

Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby said that application of the classification of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group is subject to the evaluation of each state due to the large rift between the international law and its application.

“But we will notify all Arab states,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.

In response to a question about the impact of this matter on relations between the Arab countries, al-Araby said that each country has its own policy. “We cannot dictate to them what to do,” he said, adding that 17 Arab countries have signed the binding Arab Convention Against Terrorism.

The Egyptian government last week said it had labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization following a bombing in Mansoura, that killed 16 people. Though a known terrorist group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes, claimed responsibility for the attack, the government has placed blame on the Brotherhood. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Video : BENGHAZI GATE - “Don’t shoot them. They were sent by Dr. Morsi.”

Fast forward to the 1:15 mark in this video (if you don’t understand Arabic). Watch as the raw footage of a firefight in Benghazi is taking place. The news report loops the relevant portion of an exchange between gunmen, in which one can be heard, saying, ‘Don’t Shoot us! We were sent by Mursi’!

Ashraf Ramaleh advised of a translation correction: The person is speaking in Arabic (Libyan dialect) and saying the following, “Don’t shoot them. They were sent by Dr. Morsi.”

Hmmm....The reason for the the New York Times’ bombshell report on Benghazi Saturday, contending that it was a “politicized article” aimed at harming the GOP.

THE OBAMA ADMIN WANTS NOBODY TO ASSOCIATE EX PRESIDENT MORSI and THE MUSLIM BROTHER HOOD TO BENGHAZI!

The Blaze:
A former analyst for the CIA skewered the New York Times’ bombshell report on Benghazi Saturday, contending that it was a “politicized article” aimed at harming the GOP.

I Read This Report and I Was Really Incredulous: Ex CIA Analyst Rips NYT Benghazi Report Fred Fleitz skewered the New York Times’ Saturday report on Benghazi. (Image source: Screen grab via Fox News) “I thought it was a politicized article,” Fred Fleitz told Fox News. “It tries to say that Anwar al-Sharia — that the Republican attempts to tie that to terrorism is a stretch, when even CNN says they’re at least sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Fleitz, who worked as a senior analyst at the CIA for nearly two decades before serving in the State Department, added that he thought the article was simply “an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind” the deadly attacks.

“I read this report and I was really incredulous,” he said. “It seems to be an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind it. But when you read behind the article closely, there’s various statements where the author seems to downplay the links to terrorist groups.”

“It seems to be an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind it.”

Judicial watch : "NEW Benghazi aftermath photos."

Judicial watch : "NEW Benghazi aftermath photos." HT: JudicialWatch.

 Obama State Department Withholds Videos of Attack

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on November 12, 2013, it obtained 30 pages of records from the Department of State, including 13 previously withheld photos depicting the devastating aftermath of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic and CIA facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department on February 25, 2013 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1-13-cv-00242)). In June, Judicial Watch released the first seven photos of the carnage obtained in response to its February FOIA lawsuit.

The new photos obtained by Judicial Watch seem to depict portions of the so-called “Special Mission Compound” in Benghazi, including: a car on fire; what appears to be the exterior of a burned out building; ransacked rooms within the building with files and office supplies strewn across the floor; and Arabic graffiti with militant Islamist slogans.

Judicial Watch filed its FOIA request with the Department of State on December 19, 2012, seeking:

Any and all videos and photographs depicting U.S. Consulate facilities in Benghazi, Libya (including the Special Mission Compound and the Annex) between September 10, 2012, and September 13, 2012, that were provided to the Accountability Review Board (ARB) for Benghazi and/or to any individual member of the ARB.

Judicial Watch became aware that the documents existed when they were referenced by the ARB in issuing its final report on December 31, 2012. According to ARB Chairman Ambassador Tom Pickering the Board “reviewed thousands of documents and watched hours of video” during the course of its investigation.

The Obama administration also reportedly shared Benghazi video with certain members of Congress. Until the State Department released the first seven Benghazi photos to Judicial Watch, however, the State Department had withheld all videos and photos from the American people.

Despite being forced to release the 30 new Benghazi pages of records to Judicial Watch, the State Department continued to withhold the videos reviewed by the ARB.  A Justice Department attorney informed Judicial Watch last week that the State Department is withholding all videos in full, citing privacy and law enforcement exemptions.

“The new photos reveal a level of total devastation thoroughly belying Obama’s original cover story that the carnage was perpetrated by a bunch of random malcontents upset over an unpleasant video,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. 

“The fact that we’ve had to wait nearly a year and file a federal lawsuit for basic documentary material of the attack shows that this administration is still in cover-up mode. And now the Obama administration brings the Benghazi stonewall to a whole new level by withholding video of the attack using frivolous arguments such as ‘privacy.’”

Document Archive Benghazi aftermath here.

At least 13 killed, 130 wounded in Libyan capital as militia opens fire with heavy weapons at protesters.

At least 13 killed, 130 wounded in Libyan capital as militia opens fire with heavy weapons at protesters.(RT).

Libyan Defense Minister Abdullah Al-Thani cut short his visit to Jordan and is returning to his home country, LANA reported. Libya’s prime minister, Ali Zeidan, is expected to make a statement in the next few hours.

The Misrata militia reportedly opened fire with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at protesters as they approached its headquarters in the Gharghour district.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the Libyan capital, calling to intensify the security presence and end the militias’ rule established in 2011, after the uprising that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The protesters marched from a downtown mosque to the headquarters of the militia waving Libyan flags and chanting slogans such as "We want an army, we want police." 

According to a Reuter’s report, the militia fired an anti-aircraft cannon into the crowd, after which the protesters first fled but then returned heavily armed. The report added that the demonstrators stormed the gated building, and kept the militiamen there until nightfall. 
According to reports, the HQ was torched and other buildings in the district belonging to the Misrata militia were raided by demonstrators.
The Libyan Defense Ministry has ordered the country's armed forces and the police to intervene immediately to restore order. Dozens of trucks reportedly arrived with backup, sealing off roads in an attempt to end the clashes.
The rally was sparked by a string of recent street clashes in which the militia from the city of Misrata, which has a heavy presence in the capital, also played a central role. The violence was also triggered by the killing of one of the Misrata group's commanders.

Part of the militia was formed from local brigades of rebels including Islamic militants who fought against Gaddafi’s government. After the fall of the leader, the government tasked the former rebel forces with maintaining security. However, the militia has not been put under state control, prompting the armed groups to act on their own agenda. Hmmm.....Lybia another 'Obamination'.

Obama 'admin' knew about June '12 Benghazi al-Qaeda rally, call to kill U.S. diplomats.

U.S. gov knew about June 2012 al-Qaeda ‘pep rally for jihad’ in Benghazi, including calls for the murder of American diplomats.(DM).By DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR.

• A report prepared for the government in August 2012 described a massive military presence of Ansar al-Sharia, the group behind the Benghazi attack
• It warned ‘assassinations’ would follow, and said the first attack on the U.S. diplomatic station quickly followed the two-day June rally in Benghazi
• U.S. State Department intelligence undoubtedly saw the report, yet the agency denied frequent requests for extra security in the city
• The Sept. 11, 2012 attack left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead, and razed the facility

Al-Qaeda terrorists held a massive military rally just a few miles from the U.S. State Department compound in Benghazi, Libya during the summer of 2012 and called for the murder of U.S. diplomats, it was revealed today. 

And the U.S. government knew about it by August, a full month before the attack that left the American ambassador and three others dead, official papers state.

Black al-Qaeda flags were out in full force at the June 7-8 event, a two-day rally including 300 armed men gathered in Benghazi’s Al-Tahrir Square.

Just days later on June 11, bombers targeted the Benghazi U.S. mission, blowing 40-foot hole in the installation’s perimeter wall. The larger attack came three months later.

The U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi erupted in flames during a terror attack by armed militants on September 11, 2012, just months after al-Qaeda-linked groups rallied in the city with dozens of military vehicles

Ansar al-Sharia, the group behind the Benghazi attack, frequently holds rallies in Northern Africa like this one in Tunisia. The U.S. government knew a similar event happened in Benghazi in June 2012, yet did nothing to shore up security.

The Library of Congress report, prepared for a Defense Department intelligence subagency, described the June Benghazi rally in detail, saying it involved ‘battalions’ of jihadis from several Libyan cities.Read the full story here.

Benghazi Gate: Can Survivors Answer the Growing List of Questions?

Benghazi Gate: Can Survivors Answer the Growing List of Questions?HT: Heritage.

Next week’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee by three survivors of the Benghazi terrorist attack is spurring an intense new round of questions and media interest.

One year after the attack that killed four Americans, books by survivors of the attack are starting to come out. Their stories challenge the narrative presented by the White House and the CIA. The three witnesses lined up for next week are reportedly working on their own book about the events. Their testimony before the committee will be classified.
As reported by CNN, questions are becoming very pointed. This week, committee member Devin Nunes (R–CA) sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) asking for the appointment of a special independent investigator for Benghazi if the testimony heard by the committee differs significantly from the Obama Administration’s account. Last week, Representative Frank Wolf (R–VA) spoke at length on the House floor of the need to create a House select committee on Benghazi.
Among questions Nunes wants answered:

• Who at the White House signed off on the decision not to dispatch a Foreign Emergency Support Team to Benghazi when the attack occurred?
• Was there any undisclosed communication between the Benghazi diplomatic mission, where Ambassador Chris Stevens and communications expert Sean Smith were killed, and the CIA annex as the attack was taking place? Or was there communication with other U.S. agencies?
• Which terrorist groups had the capacity to identify, in the dark of night, the coordinates of the roof of the CIA annex? The terrorists scored three direct hits on the roof, killing former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
• What purchases were made in Benghazi by the State Department and other U.S. agencies prior to the attack? This information could either substantiate or debunk speculation that the U.S. government was buying up Libyan arms to send to the Syrian rebels.
• Who did the State Department and other U.S. officials meet with in Benghazi in the week before the attack?
• Were there attempts made by the State Department and other U.S. agencies to silence eyewitnesses by demanding that they sign nondisclosure agreements and take polygraph tests? Such demands would amount to witness intimidation.

The calamity that President Obama and his spokesmen had the gall to call a “phony scandal” is clearly not going away. Quite the opposite.

Three more Benghazi Eyewitnesses to 'finally' Testify on Capitol Hill.

Three more Benghazi Eyewitnesses to 'finally' Testify on Capitol Hill.HT: Heritage.

Three more eyewitnesses to the Benghazi terrorist attack on September 11, 2012, will finally have the opportunity to speak to Members of Congress next week.

Without increasing insistence from the Hill, it is highly unlikely that their accounts would ever be heard. From day one, the Obama White House has been presenting misleading narratives about the events that night, and gag orders have aimed to keep survivors silent. Kudos to Senator Lindsey Graham (R–SC) and others in Congress for keeping the pressure up.

Three CIA employees who were eyewitnesses to the attack are expected to testify in a closed-door session before the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. They will add to the previously deposed firsthand accounts of the two security agents to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

The Obama Administration does not want this to happen. In a letter to Senator Graham, the State Department cited Justice Department advice that the eyewitnesses could be needed for a criminal trial, which could be jeopardized by their congressional testimony. Ironically for an Administration that failed to provide adequate security in Benghazi, concern for the eyewitnesses’ safety was also given as a reason.

Both excuses are pretty flimsy, particularly since not a single one of the Benghazi attackers has been apprehended more than a year after the event. And the State Department has not even posted a reward for any information leading to their capture.

Having finally gotten some of the eyewitnesses to come forward, Members of Congress will have to be prepared to help shield them from the potential reprisals from the Obama Administration.

The deputy chief of mission in Tripoli, Gregory Hicks, was punished for testifying before Congress by having his career sidelined at the State Department. He is currently on leave from State, having landed as a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

And a key witness in the compelling 60 Minutes segment on Benghazi that aired on October 27, Dylan Davies, a British defense contractor, who appeared under the pseudonym Morgan Jones, has found himself in a firestorm of allegations that he changed his narrative to sell his new book.

Davies, meanwhile, has challenged the FBI to release his original post-Benghazi deposition to show that it was consistent with his on-air account. The FBI has refused.

Congressional oversight should not let up. As the Obama Administration has clammed up, and most of the media has been whistling past the graveyard, it is the only way the truth will come out.

The Muslim Brotherhood Benghazi Connection.

The Muslim Brotherhood Benghazi Connection.HT: BarrackNow.

This week, the U.S. State Department gave an official terrorist designation to an Egyptian network and its leader. What State didn’t do was identify this network as having been involved in the Benghazi attack, even though it’s been widely acknowledged as a suspect network. Even NBC news has reported on this network’s alleged role in the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi.

Making this State Department designation even more explosive is how and when it came to be. The group’s leader was reportedly released by the Muslim Brotherhood government under Mohammed Mursi in the weeks before his ouster on July 3rd. In fact, the Arab Spring is responsible for freeing from jail of the founder of this network, which was formed after his release. Mohammed Mursi is then reportedly responsible for releasing him after Benghazi. Could this be a primary reason why the Obama administration doesn’t want the truth about Benghazi known?

Also, what will the Obama administration’s withholding of aid to Egypt mean for the case against Malik Obama in Egypt. Is Egypt’s new government going to take increased interest in the case – which has been filed with the country’s Attorney General – or will it take less interest? The answer may surprise you.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee exposed Sarah Hall Ingram of the IRS in a major way. In fact, over a five minute span, Jordan seemed to implicate Ingram in the commission of a felony that would constituted five years in prison.

Democrats slam Chairman Issa for upcoming 'partisan' trip to Libya.

Democrats slam Chairman Issa for upcoming 'partisan' trip to Libya.(Thehill).

Democrats on the House oversight panel slammed chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for planning to visit Libya without informing Democrats.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member on the panel, called on Issa to postpone next week's trip, saying it violates Issa's own rules that congressional delegations must be bipartisan. Issa has been leading the investigation into the Benghazi terror attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans last year.

“I am writing to request that you immediately postpone your upcoming delegation to Libya and several other countries until you come into compliance with your own Committee directives, stop your partisan efforts to deliberately exclude Democrats from this trip, and provide adequate notice to allow Democratic Members to join this delegation at a later date,” Cummings wrote.

Cummings said he obtained a copy of Issa's itinerary on Friday.
“The only congressional travelers on this itinerary are you and your Republican staffer,” Cummings wrote. “No Democratic Members are listed on the itinerary, and you have not contacted me or my staff about this trip. According to this itinerary, you are planning to leave this Sunday, which means Democratic participation at this late date is impossible.”Issa's office did not respond to a request for comment.