While Fox News and other right wing sources have immediately jumped on Hillary Clinton after the partial release of e-mails by the New York Times dealing with the Benghazi consulate attack, one source believes the e-mails vindicate Clinton.
Taylor Marsh starts a piece examining the Times’ comments on the released e-mails by saying, “The correspondence reveals that not only did Clinton share evidence of terrorist involvement in the 9/11/11 Libya attack with the Obama administration, but that long before the fatal tragedy Ambassador Christopher Stevens was thinking of leaving Benghazi…” [Author’s note: the latter part is somewhat confusing]
Commenting on the Times’ “Nearly a year and a half before the attacks in Benghazi, Mr. Stevens, then an American envoy to the rebels, considered leaving Benghazi citing deteriorating security, according to an email to Mrs. Clinton marked ‘SBU.’”[Sensitive but Unclassified], Marsh says:
From the moment FNC [Fox News Channel] began hurling unproven factoids after the Benghazi attack, I’ve constantly stressed that Ambassador Stevens knew the dangers and was so committed to helping the Libyan people, who adored him, that he chose to stay against great odds and danger. Danger is often the nature of diplomatic postings.
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Ask former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose own tenure in Iraq had him at one point putting a noose around his own neck to prove his commitment, saying, “If the choice is to allow American citizens to be taken hostage or to be executed, I will bring my own fucking rope.”
On the claim that the “Second Memo Provides Detailed Account of Benghazi,” i.e. that the next day Blumenthal sent Clinton “extensive detail about the episode, saying that the siege had been set off by members of Ansar al-Shariah, the Libyan terrorist group…[who] had ties to Al Qaeda, had planned the attacks for a month…” Marsh says:
The email descriptions in the Times also point to a forwarded “left-leaning” site article about the political perils of Libya to President Obama. It’s possible that Blumenthal was citing a Salon piece, “GOP’s October Surprise,” which details a “Jimmy Carter Strategy,” to which Blumenthal refers.
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Forwarding articles important to read that either reveal a GOP strategy or a hit piece on Clinton is something that Sidney Blumenthal has done regularly. I’ve received innumerable links to articles since 2007, trading emails back and for with Blumenthal many times, though this practice diminished during Clinton’s State tenure. The little I know of Blumenthal has no resemblance to the “grassy knoll” character depicted in the media.
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It’s been reported by Michael Schmidt that Sidney Blumenthal was in the throes of making business arrangements in Libya, none of which came to fruition. I don’t see any difference in this strategy than what usually goes on when the U.S. becomes involved in military intervention, hoping to put in place a more stable country, which begins with American investments. You may not like this economic aspect of our foreign policy, but it’s done by both Republicans and Democrats, as we’ve seen over decades, so it’s hardly unique.
She emphasizes:
What’s clear is that Secretary Clinton quickly informed the Obama administration of everything she was receiving and knew as to the developments inside Libya as soon as she received updates from Blumenthal, who cited “sensitive sources” inside Libya.
She concludes with another excerpt from the New York Times, without commenting:
The emails also show that Mrs. Clinton was circulating information about the attacks in Benghazi that contradicted the Obama administration’s initial narrative of what occurred, and that she was concerned about how Republicans could use the incidents to undermine President Obama. [New York Times]
“Taylor Marsh is an author and speaker, political writer, and relationship expert. Marsh was profiled in the Washington Post and the New Republic, which led to her second book, The Hillary Effect, that chronicles Clinton’s rise and the sexism she faced during the 2008 campaign. Her latest book, The Sexual Education of a Beauty Queen – Relationship Secrets from the Trenches chronicles over ten years inside the dating, sex and relationship worlds, where Marsh demystifies the challenges women face, from career and relationship demands, to finding personal fulfillment, offering solutions, as well as finally answering whether women can ‘have it all.’”
Note:
Marsh is also known as a “die hard Clintonite.”
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