About 12 hours later -- before heading to Las Vegas for a campaign event -- Obama sits down for that "
60 Minutes" interview with
Steve Kroft.
And Sunday night, 54 days after the attack and almost two weeks after
putting out the first additional clip that appeared to back up the
president after the second debate, CBS without fanfare posted the rest
of the Benghazi question online -- the question before the question.
Remember this is from a president who has been saying he was calling
Benghazi a terrorist attack from the very first moment in the Rose
Garden. Also, remember what he said in the debate and notice the new
part -- underlined in bold.
Click here to see the "60 Minutes" interview.
KROFT: Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?
OBAMA: Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came
about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on
Americans. And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to
make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.
KROFT: It’s been described as a mob action, but there are reports
that they were very heavily armed with grenades, that doesn’t sound like
your normal demonstration.
OBAMA: As I said, we’re still investigating exactly what
happened, I don’t want to jump the gun on this. But your right that
this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in
Egypt. And my suspicion is there are folks involved in this. Who were
looking to target Americans from the start. So we’re gonna make sure
that our first priority is to get our folks out safe, make sure our
embassies are secured around the world and then we are going to go after
those folks who carried this out.
KROFT: There have been reports, obviously this isn’t the first
time…there have been attacks on the consulate before. There was an
attack against the British ambassador. Do you…this occurred on Sept. 11.
Can you tell me why the ambassador was in Benghazi yesterday? Was it to
evaluate security at the consulate?
OBAMA: Well keep in mind Chris Stevens is somebody that was one of
the first Americans on the ground when we were in the process of saving
Benghazi and providing the opportunity for Libyans to create their own
democracy. So this is somebody who had been courageous, had been on the
ground, had helped to advise me and Secretary Clinton when we were
taking our actions against Muammar Qaddafi. And is somebody who is very
familiar with the train. He was doing the work that he does as a
diplomat helping to shape our policies in the region at a time when
things are still fairly fragile. But I think it’s important to note that
we have a Libyan government in place that is fully cooperative, that
sees the United States as a friend that recognizes we played an
important role in liberating Libya and providing the Libyan people an
opportunity to forge their own destiny. And in fact we had Libyans who
helped protect our diplomats when they were under attack. But this is a
country that is still rebuilding in the aftermath of Qaddafi. They don’t
necessarily always have the same capabilities that countries with more
established governments might have in helping to provide protection to
our folks. But beyond that, what I want to do is make sure that we know
exactly what happened, how it happened, who perpetrated this action,
then we’ll act accordingly."
These are two crucial answers in the big picture. Right after
getting out of the Rose Garden, where, according to the second debate
and other accounts he definitively called the attack terrorism, Obama is
asked point blank about not calling it terrorism. He blinks and does
not push back.
Understand that this interview is just hours after he gets out of the Rose Garden.
How after this exchange and the CIA explanation of what was being put
up the chain in the intel channels does the Ambassador to the
United Nations
go on the Sunday shows and say what she says about a spontaneous
demonstration sparked by that anti-Islam video? And how does the
president deliver a speech to the
United Nations 13 days later where he references that anti-Islam video six times when referring to the attack in Benghazi?
There are many questions, and here are a few more.
Why did CBS release a clip that appeared to back up Obama's claim in
the second debate on Oct. 19, a few days before the foreign policy
debate, and not release the rest of that interview at the beginning?
Why on the Sunday before the election, almost six weeks after the
attack, at 6 p.m. does an obscure online timeline posted on CBS.com
contain the additional "
60 Minutes" interview material from Sept. 12?
Why wasn't it news after the president said what he said in the second debate, knowing what they had in that "
60 Minutes"
tape -- why didn't they use it then? And why is it taking Fox News to
spur other media organizations to take the Benghazi story seriously?
Whatever your politics, there are a lot of loose ends here, a lot of
unanswered questions and a lot of strange political maneuvers that don't
add up.
That's what reporters should live for, but this time they're not. We will.
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