Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

A Deadly Mix in Benghazi
December 28, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/ [ http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0 ]


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Libya Fighters, Not al-Qaeda, Behind Benghazi, NYT Says
Dec 28, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-28/libya-fighters-not-al-qaeda-behind-benghazi-nyt-says.html [with comments] [also at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-12-28/libya-fighters-not-al-qaeda-behind-benghazi-attack-nyt-says (with comments)]


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New York Times: No Al-Qaida Role in 2012 Benghazi Killings

December 28, 2013
http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-times-benghazi-attack-fueled-by-antiislam-video/1819401.html [with comments]


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New York Times Deals Another Blow to Benghazi Truthers
December 28, 2013
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/12/times-deals-another-blow-to-benghazi-truthers.html


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NYTimes Investigation Brings Bad News For Benghazi Hoaxers



ARI RABIN-HAVT & HILARY TONE
December 28, 2013 6:30 PM EST

A six-part series [ http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0 ] by New York Times reporter David Kirkpatrick destroyed several myths about the September 11, 2012, attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, myths often propagated by conservative media and their allies in Congress to politicize the attack against the Obama administration.

Since the September 2012 attacks, right-wing media have seized upon [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/11/explainer-a-year-of-benghazi-myths/195821 ] various inaccurate, misleading, or just plain wrong talking points about Benghazi. Some of those talking points made their way into the mainstream [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/11/18/the-faulty-premise-behind-cnns-benghazi-questio/196943 ], most notably onto CBS' 60 Minutes [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/28/the-latest-benghazi-hoax/196627 ], earning the network the Media Matters' 2013 "Misinformer of the Year [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/26/misinformer-of-the-year-cbs-news/197323 ]" title for its botched report.

Kirkpatrick's series, titled "A Deadly Mix In Benghazi [ http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0 ]," debunks a number of these right-wing talking points based on "months of investigation" and "extensive interviews" with those who had "direct knowledge of the attack." Among other points, Kirkpatrick deflates the claims that an anti-Islamic YouTube video played no role in motivating the attacks and that Al Qaeda was involved in the attack:

Months of investigation by The New York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO's extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.

Fox News, scores of Republican pundits, and Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), among others, dragged then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice through the mud [ http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/11/30/myths-and-facts-about-the-conservative-medias-w/191597 ] for citing talking points that mentioned an anti-Islamic YouTube video on Sunday morning news programs following the attacks. Despite right-wing media claims [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/05/07/fox-news-falsely-suggests-cia-never-linked-beng/193953 ] to the contrary, however, Kirkpatrick stated that the attack on the Benghazi compound was in "large part" "fueled" by the anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube [below]. He wrote (emphasis added):

The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO's extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.

[...]

There is no doubt that anger over the video motivated many attackers. A Libyan journalist working for The New York Times was blocked from entering by the sentries outside, and he learned of the film from the fighters who stopped him. Other Libyan witnesses, too, said they received lectures from the attackers about the evil of the film and the virtue of defending the prophet.

Another talking point that right-wing media used [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/17/fox-ignores-its-own-reporting-to-sow-confusion/191445 ] to accuse the Obama administration of a political cover-up [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/11/explainer-a-year-of-benghazi-myths/195821#terror3 ] was the removal of Al Qaeda from Rice's morning show talking points. Kirkpatrick, however, affirmed in his NYTimes report that Al Qaeda was not involved in the attack in Benghazi (emphasis added):

But the Republican arguments appear to conflate purely local extremist organizations like Ansar al-Shariah with Al Qaeda's international terrorist network. The only intelligence connecting Al Qaeda to the attack was an intercepted phone call that night from a participant in the first wave of the attack to a friend in another African country who had ties to members of Al Qaeda, according to several officials briefed on the call. But when the friend heard the attacker's boasts, he sounded astonished, the officials said, suggesting he had no prior knowledge of the assault.

Kirkpatrick also dispelled the notion [ http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/11/explainer-a-year-of-benghazi-myths/195821#terror1 ] that the attack on the compound was carefully planned, writing that "the attack does not appear to have been meticulously planned, but neither was it spontaneous or without warning signs."

This NYTimes report should lay to rest these long-debunked yet oft-repeated talking points on the part of both right-wing media and their conservative allies.

For more on conservative media myths about the September 2012 attack, read The Benghazi Hoax [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Benghazi-Hoax-David-Brock-ebook/dp/B00FZ6HWPA ], the e-book by Media Matters' David Brock and Ari Rabin-Havt.

© 2013 Media Matters for America (emphasis in original)

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/28/nytimes-investigation-brings-bad-news-for-bengh/197381 [with comments]


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GOP congressman [Peter King] blasts NY Times Benghazi claims as ‘misleading’

December 28, 2013
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/28/gop-congressman-blasts-ny-times-benghazi-claims-as-misleading/ [with embedded video report, and comments]


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House Intelligence chair [Mike Rogers]: Benghazi attack 'Al Qaeda-led event'

December 29, 2013
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/29/house-intelligence-chair-benghazi-attack-al-qaeda-led-event/ with embedded video report; no comments yet]


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Innocence of Muslims movie trailer

Published on Sep 12, 2012 by StandUpAmericaNow [ http://www.youtube.com/user/StandUpAmericaNow/videos ]

Innocence of Muslims movie trailer

[note: this trailer was in circulation, in Libya and elsewhere, prior to this upload's date of September 12, 2012; have not seen any dispute about that]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjoa3QazVy8 ["comments currently unavailable"] [at http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79606705 ]


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Complete Second Presidential Town Hall Debate 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney - Oct 16, 2012

Streamed live on Oct 16, 2012 by The New York Times

The second presidential town hall debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in the run up to the general election in November.

[the Benghazi exchange begins shortly after 1:06:00 (Romney's "binders" begins shortly after 37:30)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEpCrcMF5Ps [with (over 56,000) comments] [at http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81265294 ]


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http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79593248 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79606705 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=80628895 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81113779 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81265294 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94153649 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94277414 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94660180 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94902643 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95146096 and following