What was happening in Benghazi while Obama was hanging with Beyoncé

Finally, there is a detailed, official account of the events in the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi, provided by two high-ranking State Department officials to reporters. Powerline has an extensive portion of the transcript. It makes chilling and disturbing reading. It was a full-blown military assault. The personnel in the compound, including Ambassador Stevens, were facing a horrifying situation before which they were almost helpless to defend themselves. Stevens with two companions were trying to survive in a building that had been set on fire by the enemy and that was filling with thick smoke. They retreated to a bathroom with a grilled window, but still could not get enough air. One man, a security agent, escaped through the window, under fire from the enemy.

Okay. We’ve got the agent. He’s opening the—he is suffering severely from smoke inhalation at this point. He can barely breathe. He can barely see. He’s got the grill open and he flops out of the window onto a little patio that’s been enclosed by sandbags. He determines that he’s under fire, but he also looks back and sees he doesn’t have his two companions. He goes back in to get them. He can’t find them. He goes in and out several times before smoke overcomes him completely, and he has to stagger up a small ladder to the roof of the building and collapse. He collapses….

As John Hinderacker makes clear from the question-and-answer part of the transcript, the U.S. government knew from the very start of the attack that this was an organized military assault. Thus Vice President Biden’s claim that “the intelligence community” had told the White House that the attack was a spontaneous response to the anti-Muhammad YouTube is exposed as a total lie. And the politely smiling and programatically inoffensive Paul Ryan let Biden get away with that lie—and with many others. Where would Democrats be without Republicans?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 14, 2012 08:51 AM | Send