A longtime Clinton confidante advised Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state to use Osama bin Laden’s death to portray congressional Republicans as “liegemen bowing before” Barack Obama after the terrorist’s death was announced.
In an email revealed by WikiLeaks, Sid Blumenthal, the father of notorious anti-Israel activist Max Blumenthal, told Clinton to only permit certain members of Congress to view the death photos of bin Laden.
The dual objective, he suggested, would be to enhance the stature of the president and degrade his political opponents.
“Here are the reasons: Having the members file through will provide testimony to the president’s feat,” Blumenthal wrote. “They will be not only be acknowledging but also enhancing his power. They will in effect become liegemen bowing before him, but not in any way they will resent or will protest. They will serve as witnesseto [sic] the magnitude of what he has done.”
A liegeman is a vassal who owes feudal service or allegiance to a nobleman.
As Blumenthal observed, such a ritualistic display could politically benefit Democrats by making Republicans more pliable on other issues. He suggested allowing all of Congress to see the photos as part of a gambit to embarrass tea party Republicans.
“The far right wing Tea Party Republicans would by their mere presence admit to the president’s status above them and to his effectiveness,” he said. “There would also be a salutary effect at the beginning of the negotiations on the debt ceiling. It would curb the ability of the Republicans to appeal to partisan sentiment and indulge in partisan rhetoric, giving the administration more edge.”
Blumenthal suggested the Obama administration could draw out the spectacle over time to gain maximum political “edge.”
“This event should be staged over two or three days, occupying most of a work week, and continuing to dominate the public and congressional mind,” he wrote. “Don’t let the photos serve as trophies; instead take the Congress as trophy using the photos.”
The email also contains intriguing suggestions that Clinton and her inner circle were concerned about the rise of the so-called “Deather” movement, which claims bin Laden was never actually killed by the American military or that the Obama administration lied about crucial details.
Blumenthal’s scheme to silence these critics was to have congressional Republicans’ testimony support the administration’s claims.
“Having members of Congress testify to the reality of the photos will suppress any potential ‘Deather’ movement, that the administration has either fabricated the event or suppressed some aspect of it,” Blumenthal stated.
He also links and forwards the text of an article from the Daily Beast describing how so-called “birther” activists were raising questions about bin Laden’s death.
Among them was independent researcher Andy Martin, who demanded answers about how Bin Laden was buried at sea, why Navy SEALs were not able to detain him without killing him and who gave the orders for the mission.
Such answers have not been forthcoming.
Reports since the 2011 assassination of bin Laden suggest the Obama administration did lie about certain details of the mission, notably the supposed lack of Pakistani involvement.
Other reports indicate Obama did not know of the raid in Abbottabad until after the helicopters of SEAL Team Six had crossed into Pakistani airspace.
The reports complicate Blumenthal’s narrative in the emails bragging about the “president’s feat” and the “magnitude of what he has done.”
The public has not seen the supposed photos of bin Laden’s death, nor has the federal government released the details about the funeral and burial. Efforts by groups such as Judicial Watch to obtain the information have not been successful.
However, it appears Blumenthal’s plan was at least partially followed.
Among those who saw the photos was conservative champion and Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe. Inhofe testified to the legitimacy of the photos.
“That was him,” he said. “He is gone. He’s history.”
At the same time, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration had “no need to publish those photographs to establish that Osama Bin Laden was killed.”
Though Wikileaks continues to release new information, the supposed death photos of bin Laden are, as yet, not among them.
But there is reason to believe at least some of the photos may have been seen by those outside Obama’s national security team and select members of Congress.
Earlier this year, Navy SEAL Matthew Bissonnette reportedly turned over a hard drive to federal authorities that contained an unauthorized picture of bin Laden’s corpse, in exchange for not being prosecuted.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/11/02/hillary-was-urged-to-make-gop-bow-to-obama-over-osama-death/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/11/02/hillary-was-urged-to-make-gop-bow-to-obama-over-osama-death/
No comments:
Post a Comment