CIA Station Chief Benghazi Had Nothing To Do With Protest, Obama Sent Rice To Tell Phony Story Anyway

The Washington Times is reporting, the day before Susan Rice appeared on five Sunday news programs and blamed the Benghazi attack on an anti-Muslim video, the CIA station chief in Libya sent then-Deputy CIA Director Michael J. Morell an email which said, the attack was “not an escalation of protests.”

What we don't know yet is whether Morell shared the station chief’s assessment with the White House or State Department.

Two former intelligence officials have told The Washington Times that this question likely will be answered at a Wednesday hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during which Mr. Morell is scheduled to give his public testimony.

One former intelligence official close to Mr. Morell told The Times on the condition of anonymity that “the whole question of communication with the station chief will be addressed in his testimony.” 

“We’re confident that it will clarify the situation in the minds of many who are asking,” the former official said.  

Another former intelligence official told The Times that Mr. Morell did tell the White House and the State Department that the CIA station chief in Libya had concluded that there was no protest but senior Obama administration and CIA officials in Washington ignored the assessment.

Why they ignored it remains a topic of heated debate within the wider intelligence community.

A third source told The Times on Monday that Mr. Morell and other CIA officials in Washington were weighing several pieces of “conflicting information” streaming in about the Benghazi attack as the talking points were being crafted.

“That’s why they ultimately came up with the analysis that they did,” the source said. “The piece that was coming out of Tripoli was important, but it was one piece amid several streams of information.”

The CIA station chief said there was no protests, Greg Hicks telling Hillary Clinton the night of 9/11/12  there was no protests, and General Ham saying that 15 minutes after the attack began he alerted General Dempsey and Leon Panetta who were on their way to a previously scheduled meeting with the President.

That's three senior people saying the Bengazi attack had nothing to do with a protest over a video, yet the administration ignored their reports...somebody has to explain why. Hopefully Wednesday's committee hearing will be a giant step toward getting the answer.