Who, What, Bengazi?

Oh Those Conspiracies...

Republicans have the same basic attitude toward conspiracy theories as the Plains Indians had toward the buffalo – they are the basis of life, even religion, and no part, no matter how minor, should go unexploited. Hence Senator John McCain’s milking of the Benghazi attack. Or, rather, not the attack itself but the Obama administration’s response to it.

He and other Republicans seem to think that the White House, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, played down the possibility that Al Qaeda operatives were behind the attack, so that President Obama could boast on the campaign trail that his policies had decimated the terrorist organization. In other words he lied to the American public so that he could win re-election.

It’s an odd theory, because the attack did nothing to change the simple fact that Mr. Obama has been ordering people killed right and left in the war on terrorism, including Osama bin Laden and two American citizens.

Regardless, this theory gained steam when David Petraeus said at a closed hearing last week that although the C.I.A. thought right away that Al Qaeda was responsible, specific references to terrorism were removed from public talking points after an interagency review.

Zounds! thought the conspiracists. The White House must have ordered this heinous deletion!

The theory lost steam when CBS and CNN reported that, actually, the Director of National Intelligence was behind the change, and the White House made no substantial edits.

Mr. McCain, loath to give up the remaining buffalo scraps, found something to complain about. He said he was “somewhat surprised and frustrated” by the news, since in the “hours of hearings,” senior officials said they did not know who made the change. “This latest episode,” he said, “is another reason why many of us are so frustrated with, and suspicious of, the actions of this Administration when it comes to the Benghazi attack.”

He also said, “There are many other questions that remain unanswered.” That’s true. But I fail to see how the Republican focus on a side show— talking points after the fact—instead of the actual attack, will hasten resolution.