Washington Rules

In the wake of the brutal killing of our Libyan ambassador and three other Americans, questions are stirring about what the administration knew and when. Are we witnessing the unfolding of a cover-up with broader consequences?

The event timeline of these fatalities shows U.S. intelligence knew of terrorism ties within 24 hours of the attack.[1] The White House response? Carefully worded condemnations linking the attacks to an anti-Muslim video. U.N. Ambassador Rice spoke on the Sunday morning shows five days later saying the attacks, “…began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where…there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video.” [2]

The administration’s story began to unravel eight days after the killings with answers to Congress by Mathew Olson, National Counterterrorism Center Director, saying the Americans “…were killed in the course of a terrorist attack…” Secretary Clinton later agreed. In his speech to the U.N., Obama continued to blame the video. Fifteen days after the attack, Press Secretary Carney was forced to switch his tune, saying Obama’s view was that this was a terrorist attack.[3]

Obama’s absence of forceful condemnation of the terrorist attack is an attempt to appease his voting base and radical Middle East leadership. Instead we are forced to endure statements like “bumps in the road.” Judgment and decisiveness are the first casualties of a weak leader.

Focus by mainstream news media was initially aimed at Romney’s response and the video. The toughest questioning of Obama came from Hispanic-oriented Univision.[4] Charles Krauthammer rightly points out the administration’s willingness to deceive after gloating over the killing of bin Laden, and the mainstream media not headlining the real story.[5]

Washington cover-ups should remind us of the 1970s Watergate era. Mainstream media’s tough questions compelled Congress to act, and a bad president was removed. There is nothing new about politicians playing by their own Washington Rules: Democrats and Republicans have done it for years. Why is today’s mainstream news media playing by Washington Rules to support another bad president? It is time for the new Woodwards and Bernsteins to challenge the rules again.

Paul Quanrud is a writer and blogger with American Citizens for Economic Freedom (http://truecapitalism.org/).