Who cares who Petraeus was boning, let's talk Benghazi

[RWHamel]

Damn, Petraeus is a four-star general with a master's in public affairs and a doctorate in international relations? Hell, maybe he is the next Eisenhower.

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of this happening.

[Fez]

And this is why I find open Congressional hearings pointless.

[The Progressive]

And this is why I find open Congressional hearings pointless.

Hahaha, just as we have predicted. A Republican witchhunt full of shoutings and accusations re: Obama lying and Susan Rice's qualification.

This part is hilarious and awesome:

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) unloaded, first sarcastically: "Let's just hang the guilty parties."

"The stench of hypocrisy that hangs over this city today emanates from this room," Ackerman ............... that Republicans had "the audacity to come here" when the administration requested, for worldwide security, "$440 million more than you guys wanted to provide. And the answer is that you damn didn't provide it! You REDUCED what the administration asked for to protect these people. Ask not who the guilty party is, it's you! It is us. It is this committee, and the things that we insist that we need have to cost money."

He added, "Could you tell me which of my colleagues on this committee was as bodacious in their insistence that we provide more money for American security in the State Department budget. I would appreciate it."

Ackerman then asked them to raise their hands and gave them a count of five to do so. None did.

[RWHamel]

And this is why I find open Congressional hearings pointless.

I find they provide endless hours of amusement.

[Thlayli]

Despite Kouran's incredibly informative post about how the US military fires mortars, people have managed to hit stuff with them for quite some without benefit of technological rickitarackitta. I think the perpetrators of the mortar attack had more than a passing acquaintance with blowing shit up from afar. There's a lot of leaps between turning the complexity of an Amercian mortar team into cloak and dagger suppositions in Libya. Hell, could've been a lucky shot. For that matter, could've been one dude sittiing in a lawn chair suspended by helium balloons who dropped the shells on the consulate. Don't need a GPS device for that.

[Guest Raidne]

Being in the military is a dangerous job. That does not mean that military officers enjoy killing. Especially, when it's their own people who die. This seems to be a common misconception among civilians. Of course there are exceptions to this, but I think that the majority of officers are less bloodthirsty than the civilian politicians that run our country.

Not at all what I meant. And I honestly don't think any common misconception on the issue of whether military officers like to see their own people get killed - it is not my perspective that this is a common point of view.

What I mean is that the level of acceptable risk to gain a certain tangible benefit is, by necessity, higher in the military than it is in a civilian agency. How could this not be true? Nobody plans an invasion with the expectation that there will be no loss of life, but people plan to set up diplomatic relations with that expectation as a matter of course. Where diplomatic relations get conflated with CIA operational objectives, the risk assessment may be viewed under the lens of what constitutes acceptable risk from a military perspective vs. a civilian perspective. Would you say that our military would not engage in an operation where there was, say, an 80% chance of successfully intercepting tens of thousands of shoulder-fired rockets and, say, a 10% chance that 4 members of your people on the ground would be killed? Surely the risk level for the bin Laden operation was higher. And I'm not saying that Generals overtly and explicitly think that way, but I'd just bet that it biases your thinking on issues like whether our diplomatic staff should stay when other people are leaving when they are critical to our intelligence operations, etc.

[Shryke]

I'm not saying that McCain never does anything that's good. It's just that he's off. Like for instance he is loyal to his friends, but you have to wonder what sort of person is friends with Charles Keating.

Also from what I've heard, if the Tailhook Scandal had taken place when he was a young aviator he would have been right in the middle of the debauchery, and disappointed that he couldn't have participated in all of it.

Here's a good analysis of John McCain.

[Guest Raidne]

For that matter, could've been one dude sittiing in a lawn chair suspended by helium balloons who dropped the shells on the consulate.

I think it's safe to say that we can actually be sure that this did not happen. I think you can also say with some certainty that the people who did do this had formal training that was more extensive than a few days and also were likely familiar with working together. I think given the aim correction, etc., it's also unlikely that the shot was "lucky." Given the amount of surveillance coverage from both the Predator drone and cameras onsite, I think it's likely that the powers that be probably have a pretty good idea what the answers are to all of these questions.

And this is why I find open Congressional hearings pointless.

Oh come on, that's the House Foreign Affairs committee, run by Republicans - what did you expect? Besides, while the story notes that one Representative didn't even ask any questions, none of the other questions, presumably asked by everyone else who spoke, were reported. The story you linked didn't even report who testified today. Let's wait for reporting on the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings before we really judge.

[Shryke]

And this is why I find open Congressional hearings pointless.

Yeah, sounds about right for a congressional investigation.

Which is just fucking depressing since those things should be incredibly useful and good for your country.

[Guest Raidne]

I'm surprised, since it's still the House, but it looks like the House Intelligence Committee hearings were more productive - were they being held jointly with the Senate Committee? It's kind of implied by the language in the article, but I can't really tell:

Lawmakers on congressional intelligence committees got a detailed account Thursday of what happened during an attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya that left four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, dead.

In closed-door sessions, lawmakers saw video recovered from the compound as part of their most comprehensive account, to date, of what happened on the ground in Benghazi on September 11, a senior intelligence official told CNN. They also heard an explanation as to what U.S. officials were doing behind the scenes to respond, the official said, adding that the presentation would clarify some mischaracterizations about the nature of the attack.

Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, described the session as "the most constructive briefing" the House Intelligence Committee has had on the matter to date.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/15/politics/benghazi-hearings/

[Melifeather]

What happened to Petreaus was a character assassination, verbal bullets fired at him through rumors of sexual and other improprieties. He rubbed some powerful interests the wrong way. Whatever the truth behind the Petraeus scandal, it sends a warning to all people in positions of authority. "Do it our way, or we will ruin you."

[Sci-2]

Has McCain made it to any hearings yet? Or is he still being a bullshitting hypocrite in front of the cameras?

[Balefont]

ETA: on topic, what did you think of my Grand Unified Benghazi Theory by the way?

tl;dr

:P

[Minaku]

McCain doesn't need to do shit. He's a maverick.

[RWHamel]

McCan doesn't need to do shit. He's a maverick.

I hear some neocons actually name their children after him. :leaving:

[The Progressive]

I know two neocons who named their kid Maverick.

[Sci-2]

More on McCain fucking up his schedule:

McCain skips Benghazi briefing, gets testy when questioned by CNN

[SpaceChampion]

For that matter, could've been one dude sittiing in a lawn chair suspended by helium balloons who dropped the shells on the consulate. Don't need a GPS device for that.

That sounds like the pilot episode of the A-Team. Murdoch didn't have GPS either.

[TerraPrime]

[mod hat]

Less personal sniping at each other please.

[/mod hat]

[Guest Raidne]

But okay if we rip on McCain? Because FFS. I didn't think the man could be more ridiculous.