Atlantic Writer 'Tuned Out' Benghazi; Now Wants Investigation

August 2nd, 2013 6:34 PM

What happens when a writer with a left of center periodical such as The Atlantic honestly confronts the unfolding and inconvenient facts of what the Obama administration labels as the "phony scandal" of Benghazi? A reality check.  Such was the case with Conor Friedersdorf who although he has enough of a libertarian streak in him to have opposed Obama's re-election, still has enough leftwing bonafides to absurdly slam Rush Limbaugh for "race baiting."

Therefore it must have come as something of a shock to the liberal bubble readers of The Atlantic to read Friedersdorf admit that he had "tuned out" Benghazi as most of the MSM reporters had done but has now changed his mind as you can see in the self-explanatory title of his article: The Attack in Benghazi: Worth Investigating After All. Here is Friedersdorf's explanation for his change of mind:

Suddenly it is imperative that Congress investigate details surrounding the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. I've never felt that way before. But Drew Griffin's scoop changed my mind.

...With House Republicans and talented national-security journalists covering the story even after the election, and nothing to add myself, I tuned out every time I heard the word "Benghazi" on the news. But in May I briefly tuned back in, because it turned out that the Benghazi outpost wasn't a "diplomatic outpost." Why were so many journalists ignoring the fact that it was largely a CIA operation?

...To be clear, it isn't at all certain that the CIA was secretly funneling Libyan weapons to Syria, long before Congress "lifted its hurdles" on arming Syrian rebels. But if CNN's report is correct, the CIA is at minimum trying to hide something huge from Congress, something that CIA agents might otherwise want to reveal -- itself a reason for Congress to press hard for information. And if speculation about moving weapons is grounded in anything substantive, that would be an additional reason to investigate what the CIA is doing in Libya. Dozens of CIA agents were apparently on the ground in Benghazi, Libya last September.

What I want to know is why.

And your humble correspondent wants to know why so many in the MSM continue to ignore Benghazi and treat it as a "phony scandal." In any event, welcome to reality Mr. Friedensdorf but if you want to continue in your search for the facts, I recommend you listen to Rush Limbaugh so you can learn for yourself that he is no race baiter. In fact, if you had been listening to Rush since last September you would have long ago learned many of these same facts about Benghazi that have recently come to you as a shocking revelation.