Sept. 11: Despite anti-video demonstrations in Cairo, Benghazi is tranquil. According to U.S. diplomats, “everything is calm. There’s nothing unusual. There has been nothing unusual during the day at all outside. No protests all day.”
At 9:40 p.m. local time, however, gunfire and explosions rock the consulate.
Sept. 12: As these homicides become clear, Obama says, “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. None.” Obama then skips his daily intelligence briefing and jets to a Las Vegas fundraiser.
Sept. 13: “The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declares. “We absolutely reject its content and message.”
Sept. 14: “The unrest we’ve seen around the region has been in reaction to a video that Muslims, many Muslims find offensive,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announces.
That day, as the murdered Americans’ remains reach Andrews Air Force Base, Clinton says: “We have seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.”
Sept. 16: United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice calls the violence “a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in Cairo as a consequence of the video.”
Sept. 18: Obama tells comedian David Letterman that he rejects the “extremely offensive video directed at Mohammed and Islam.” Obama adds that “extremists and terrorists used this as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies, including the consulate in Libya.”
Sept. 19: Team Obama abruptly changes tunes. National Counterterrorism Director Matthew Olsen informs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, “I would say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy.”
edit on 18-10-2012 by Vitruvian because: (no reason given)



