Former Obama Speechwriter Behind Benghazi Cover-Up?

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by AWR Hawkins 9 May 2013 post a comment

Writing at American Thinker, Ed Lasky points to Obama National Security Team member Ben Rhodes as the man possibly behind the Benghazi cover-up.

Lasky notes that when the Benghazi attacks took place, "CIA career officials clearly and repeatedly identified Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorists as the culprits behind the murder of four Americans." But the theory is that this news was suppressed because it "would cause embarrassment for the Obama team," which had spent years telling us Al Qaeda's best years were behind it and the "'tide of war' was receding."
Lasky asserts that Obama's 2009 Cairo speech began presenting this erroneous view of the world and progress in the War on Terror, but once the Benghazi attacks filled Americans' television screens on September 11, 2012, Rhodes was there to "alter CIA talking points," conforming them to the unrealistic depiction of the world Obama had presented in Cairo.
Rhodes, who authored the 2009 Cairo speech, is accused by Lasky of being the one who turned "attacks" into "demonstrations," and he or "someone [else] at White House level" allegedly injected the idea of a YouTube video "triggering spontaneous protests."
Politico profiled Rhodes in 2009, saying:

Not long ago, Rhodes was one of the obscure guys who wrote Obama's campaign speeches at Starbucks and played video games into the early morning hours. Now he attends national security meetings and takes writer's refuge in a secret office on the third floor of the Eisenhower Executive Building.

Lasky believes its high time Rhodes's role in the cover-up was investigated: "[He] should be called into account for trying divert blame away from Islamic terrorists and the Obama team members whose feckless negligence led to the Benghazi massacre."