My new story looks at the parallel news cycle – obscured right now, thanks to the storm – in which the righteously angry father of a SEAL who died fighting terrorist in Libya has proved that Obama watched that death happen.
Whether you believe that depends on whether you believe anything this White House says. “Benghazi-gate,” like so many other stories of 2012, reads differently to people who accept different sources of authority. The most lurid, infuriating version of the Benghazi story appeared days after Woods started talking to the press, in a Fox News exclusive. In this version of the story, the CIA tells Woods to “stand down”—something the CIA denies. But the administration doesn’t sit out the crisis. “An American Quick Reaction Force sent from Tripoli had arrived at the Benghazi airport at 2 a.m.,” reports Fox, “and was delayed for 45 minutes at the airport because they could not at first get transportation.”
It’s possible to believe two things simultaneously. One: The Obama administration failed by not providing more security in Libya in early September, when it was asked for. Two: The Obama administration did not watch Tyrone Woods and three other Americans die on a live drone video feed. For starters, there was no live feed until hours into the attacks, and the rumor that it was being played in the Situation Room is denied by the White House.
