Are there non-disclosure agreements on Benghazi?

US House Representative Frank Wolf is attempting to focus attention on the issue of the Benghazi attack September 11, 2012.  Thursday,  his office issued this release:

Thursday July 18, 2013

Contact: Jill Shatzen
(202) 225-5136

WOLF: BENGHAZI QUESTION OF THE DAY #3

Washington, D.C. (July 18, 2013) – In today’s question(s) about what happened in Benghazi, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) asked:

How many Benghazi survivors, including federal employees, military personnel or contractors, have been asked to sign additional Non-Disclosure Agreements by the different agencies relating to what happened in Benghazi?

Do these NDAs apply only to those under cover, or have non-covert State Department and Defense Department employees been directed to sign them too?

In his floor speech today, Wolf also noted that he will be sending letters to the CIA, Defense Department and State Department asking for a list of all of their personnel or contractors they have required to sign original or additional NDAs relating to Benghazi. 
Wolf on Tuesday announced his plan to raise questions about what happened in Benghazi during the weeks before Congress breaks for its August recess, noting that the House has just nine days of legislative business before the break.  When it returns in September, the one-year anniversary will be two days away.

Wolf is the author of a resolution to create a select committee on Benghazi, H. Res. 36, which currently has 160 cosponsors – more than two-thirds of the majority party – as well as the support of family members of the victims, the Special Operations community and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents the Diplomatic Security agents who were at the consulate in Benghazi.

For a full list of endorsements, click here.

For more on Wolf’s work on Benghazi, click here.

The full text of Wolf’s remarks is below. 

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask another question that has not yet been answered by the House.
This question will be the third in a series of critical issues that have not yet been resolved – and I will continue to raise additional questions for the next nine legislative days until we depart for August recess, keeping in mind that the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attacks will be upon us when the Congress returns in September.   

It is also noteworthy that there does not appear to be a single hearing on Benghazi scheduled in any committee between now and the one-year anniversary. 

That is why, in the absence of public hearings to address these questions, I am raising them on the House floor this month. 

On Tuesday, I raised the question of why none of the Benghazi survivors – whether State Department, CIA or private security contractor employee – have testified publicly before Congress. 

Yesterday, I asked about whether there had been any intelligence failures in the vetting of the Libyan militias who abandoned the Americans at the consulate as the assault began.  I also asked who provided the terrorists with a detailed understanding of the consulate property. 

Today, I return again to the Benghazi survivors and other career employees and contractors working for the CIA, Defense Department and the State Department who were involved in the response, or lack thereof, to the Benghazi attacks. 

According to trusted sources that have contacted my office, many, if not all, of the survivors of the Benghazi attacks – along with others at the Department of Defense and CIA – have been asked or directed to sign additional Non-Disclosure Agreements about their involvement in the Benghazi attacks.  Some of these “new” NDAs, as they call them, I have been told, were signed as recently as this summer.

It is also worth noting that the Marine Corps Times yesterday reported that the Marine colonel whose task force was responsible for special operations in northern and western Africa at the time of the attack is still on active duty despite claims that he retired and therefore could not be forced to testify before Congress.      

If these reports are accurate, this would be a stunning revelation to any member of Congress – any member of Congress that finds this out – and to the American people.  It also raises serious concerns about the propriety of the administration’s efforts to silence those with knowledge of the Benghazi attack and response.

So today I ask: How many federal employees, military personal or contractors have been asked to sign additional Non-Disclosure Agreements by each agency? 

And do these NDAs apply only to those under cover, or have non-covert State Department and Defense Department employees been directed to sign them too?   

Later today I will be writing the CIA, Defense Department and State Department to ask for a list of ALL of their personnel or contractors who have required to sign original or additional NDAs relating to Benghazi.  

Perhaps, through a list of all employees that have signed NDAs relating to Benghazi, we may finally develop a witness list to subpoena for eyewitness testimony to learn what happened that night where we lost four American lives. 

I do not expect the Obama Administration to be forthcoming with answers, but if this Congress doesn’t ask for the information and compel its delivery, the American people will never learn the truth.

Any federal employee or contractor who has been coerced into silence through a Non-Disclosure Agreement should expect the Congress to speak out on their behalf and compel their voice to be heard. That is why I, along with 159 of my colleagues, support a Select Committee to hold public hearings to learn the truth about what happened that night in Benghazi.

I say any colleague who is not on our resolution, if you are not on our resolution, please get on so we can find out the truth about what happened in Benghazi.

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Lemon On T..." -- Isaiah weighs in ObamaCare.

"Iraq snapshot,," "'Fired' State Department staff still drawing paychecks," "Iraq snapshot,"  "Officials disrespect House Judiciary Committeem,"  "Iraq snapshot," "FISA rulings,"  "Proof that we should be thanking Ed Snowden (Wally)" and  "House Judiciary Committee hearing."  --  C.I., Ruth, Ava, Wally and Kat report on Congressional hearings.


"Has Ralph Nader said a word about Ed Snowden?" -- Ann asks an important question.

"Curisoity and other things" -- Betty covers Curiosity.

"What we should have had instead of ObamaCare" -- Trina discusses what was neeeded.

"the lawless barack" -- Rebecca on 'rule of law' Barack.

"Are witnesses being prevented from talking?" -- Ruth continues her Benghazi coverage.

"Rolling Stone" -- Marcia on the controversy.

"Iraq" -- Elaine on the ongoing violence.

"Adam Kokesh" -- Mike offers some coverage of political prisoner Adam Kokesh.


"Easy Green, Greek Salad in the Kitchen" -- Trina has a simple summer recipe.

"Park 666," "The Emmys," "Mistresses" and "Mistresses," "Major Crimes," "Orange Is The New Black"-- Betty, Stan, Ruth and Elaine cover TV.

"Ms. magazine's bad blog post" and "Ms. magazine embraces homophobia" -- Elaine and Trina on Ms.

"Puppy love" and "THIS JUST IN! PRESIDENTIAL LOVE!"  -- Barack finds a roll dog.



"Rachel Jeantel: Homophobe," "About all the Zimmerman coverage," "Rachel Jeantel is still an idiot" and
"Stevie, please" -- some of the wall to wall.


"Ed Snowden" -- Kat on Snowden.

"Media thoughts" -- Ann examines media issues.

"palestinians get screwed over again" -- what's going on with Kerry?


"Jackie Collins and books" -- Kat on books.

"Bradley Manning" -- Marcia covers Bradley.

"The Conjuring" -- Stan goes to the movies.

"War Hawk Youth Mentor" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.


"This is the intelligence community?" and "THIS JUST IN! MISSING THE POINT!" -- Cedric and Wally on how the government misses the point.

Truest statement of the week

The so-called “long war” against “terror” – a patently fraudulent proposition, since the U.S. arms and finances the jihadists – is cover for an endless struggle to re-capture and re-enslave a planet that is not only escaping the clutches of Euro-American capital, but outgrowing it. This war, which is well under way – ask Libya and Syria – will be “total” in the sense that the United States considers itself at war with societies all around the globe (including its European “allies,” whom it spies on and steals from, relentlessly, as Edward Snowden has revealed). In addition to its strictly military “full spectrum dominance” capabilities, Washington has clearly designed its cyber-warfare machinery as offensive weaponry against “enemy” populations. Just last Friday, President Obama ordered his senior security and intelligence staff to draw up a list of potential targets for U.S. cyber attacks – which actually means that the lists and contingencies have long been in existence and are active elements of U.S. war plans.

-- Glen Ford, "The U.S. War Against the World" (Black Agenda Report).

A note to our readers

Hey --
Another Sunday and a Monday.

First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

We thank them all. What did we come up with?

We'll go over it later this week.




Peace.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: The land with no protection

The violence in Iraq never ends and Sunday's violence?


National Iraqi News Agency reports a Baghdad bombing claimed 2 lives and left ten people dead, a Mosayab suicide bombing claimed 12 lives and left twenty-five people injured, 2 Kirkuk attacks left 1 military officer and 2 soldiers dead, 2 Basra bombings left 7 people dead and six more injured, 2 Nasiriya bombings left 1 person dead and twenty-five injured, a Karbala bombing claimed 4 lives and left nineteen people injured, a Kut bombing claimed 4 lives and left thirty-two injured, northeast of Hilla a police officer and a military officer were injured by two car bombings, an armed attack outside of Tikrit left 1 Sahwa dead and four more injured, 2 people were shot dead in Falluja, a Mosul roadside bombing killed 2 police officers, and a Falluja armed attack claimed the life of 1 military officer and left two of his bodyguards injured.


That's a fairly common summary of violence these days.

So common that maybe we stop wondering why the military has bodyguards?  A lot of people have bodyguards in Iraq.

A lot of officials, anyway.

But the bulk of the Iraqi people have no bodyguards.

(Iraqi Spring MC reports a Baquba bombing May 17th that left many dead.)


And under Nouri al-Maliki, they have no security.

Saddam Hussein oversaw (and ordered) torture and executions.

Nouri does the same today.

But otherwise, they had a level of safety that they don't have under Nouri.

The Iraqi Prime Minister could argue that the United States brought this pattern to Iraq with the illegal war.

That may be true, that may be false but, most of all, that doesn't matter one damn bit.

It's 2013.  Nouri has been prime minister since 2006.

Where's the security.

And where are the heads of the security ministries?

In July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."   Those ministries still have no ministers over them.  Nouri should have nominated people for the posts back in November 2010.  He didn't.  All this time later, he hasn't.  This not only spits on the Iraqi Constitution and sets a very bad precedent for future prime ministers, it does have to do with the increased violence in Iraq.

The average Iraqi has no bodyguard.  Even sadder, they have no functioning security.

Media: Orange is still orange

The internet offered so many possibilities but quickly, as many mediums before, became about seeing people naked.  We guess that could be seen as progress: People.




In previous mediums, it's largely been women.   So the fact that, every now and then, for a micro-second or two, a male's ass flashes on the screen might be seen as progress.

And maybe some can be really generous and argue that exploiting women, when it's done by other women, is also progress.

Some.

Not us.  Because when a woman's forced to work the streets, the gender of her pimp really isn't the issue.

We felt that way repeatedly while streaming all 13 episodes of Orange Is The New Black.


Jenji Kohan has tremendous talent.  She created Weeds which was breakthrough TV.  There's nothing breakthrough about OITNB.

You keep hoping there will be.

Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Larry (Jason Biggs) are living together and planning their future when the law shows up because someone's ratted Piper out on what she did years earlier -- drug mule.

That was right after college when she was applying to be a waitress and met Alex (Laura Prepon) who worked for an international drug cartel.  It's off to prison ("Prison, not jail," she tells her friend Polly -- played by Maria Dizzia) and she's not sure what she can handle.

In the prison, she quickly pisses off Red (Kate Mulgrew) by insulting the cooking (not realizing Red runs the kitchen), Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) lets Piper use her ear buds and then decides this makes them married and Piper her wife and her homophobic case worker Sam Healy (Michal J. Harney) doesn't know about Piper's past with Alex and sees it as his duty to ensure that Piper doesn't 'turn lesbian' while serving her sentence.

She makes it through assorted struggles, such as Red refusing to serve her any  meals and we're supposed to see it as cute and plucky.  With Red, she gets some hot peppers (by bartering) and some other ingredients and makes a lotion that will help with Red's back pain.  She knows how to make lotions because she and Polly have their own lotions business.  And Red feels better and takes Piper off the hunger strike.  (While on it, Piper flashes back to when she and Larry were on a cleanse.)

At last food for Piper!!!

But we're left thinking, "Who the hell cares?"

We don't find the way she treats Susanna amusing either.  That's "Crazy Eyes."  We could tolerate the way Piper repeatedly looks down on Susanna were it part of the character.  But it's not part of the character, it's the tone of the show.

And this tone really does not work.

It's smug and condescending and it's coming from the woman who will not have a hard post-prison life.  So when Piper's being smug and rude (and the tone of the show is as well), it plays a lot like White Woman Goes To Prison To Laugh At Others.

The fact that none of the non-Anglo Whites really gets a storyline that matters adds to the pompous nature.



Susanna's not always on, the track star is on and off so much you forget her from episode to episode.  Others disappear for entire episodes.  The only African-American who registers is Laverne Cox who plays Sophia. Sophia's loud and alive.  And in prison, that means some will try to destroy her.  When her needed meds are denied her, it registers because Cox provides a full fledged character.  But even with  Cox's amazing performance, she's repeatedly stripped of her integrity as the show preaches Listen To A White Woman over and over.

In Sophia's case, her wife has fallen in love with a preacher and the preacher's also nice to Sophia's son Michael.  It's left to a White nun in prison for political activism to talk Sophia into acceptance of what's happening.

You could argue that the theme for the African-American characters is that they are always victims -- victims of falling for the wrong person (like Susanna falling for Piper or the track star falling for a guy who let her take the fall for robbery), victims of falling for dead-ends when something else seems more frightening (such as the prisoner who returns to prison because life on the outside is too scary), it happens over and over.

By contrast, the Latinas are victims who actively attempt to respond by thinking their way out of problems.  Apparently, because they're Anglo Latina and not Anglo White, they don't think too well.

So when Daya (Dascha Polanco) ends up pregnant by prison guard  Bennett (Matt McGorry) and her mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez) -- also in the same prison -- convinces her to have the baby, the 'answer' is for Daya to have sex with another guard to throw suspicion off Bennett when Daya begins showing.


Huffington Post quotes Jenji Kohan stating:

I don’t set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I’m introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing… And when I read Piper Kerman’s book, I thought, “This is a way into a really interesting world. It’s the yuppie’s eye view to get you in there.” If you go to a network and say, “I wanna do prison stories about black women and Latino women and old women,” you’re not gonna make a sale. But, if you’ve got this blonde girl going to prison, you can get in there, and then you can tell all the stories. I just thought it was a terrific gateway drug into all the things I wanted to get into.

She has given parts to a very diverse group of performers.  But it's a shame that their talent is repeatedly undermined.  Wouldn't it be great if, for example, she could show an African-American solving the White nun's problems, for example?

Does nothing on the show work?

Individual scenes by the actresses we've named above (with one exception) work.

Laura Prepon is amazing.  A (White) woman vows revenge on Piper because Piper (and Alex) got the woman locked away in the psyche ward before Piper came forward with the truth.  Now the woman's out, Alex reminds her and Piper?  "She's cleaning toilets every morning like Private f**king Benjamin!"  In the scene, she gets across that Alex loves Piper, that Alex feels guilt (including for betraying Piper) and so much more.  When she blows up at Piper ("Is that what I am to you?  A f**king binky for you to suck on to feel better!"), it feels true and she lets just enough rage show that the point that no one hurts Alex more than Alex really comes across.

Natasha Lyonne (Nicky) is another one who's amazing.  Kate Mulgrew, Lea DeLaria, Laverne Cox and Dascha Polanco are part of an incredible cast and manage to stand out.  But Danielle Brooks . . .


The woman can act.  She can make you feel for her character.  But she's the one who gets paroled and comes back -- by choice. And that can happen but with the way the show works in the first 13 episodes and  so much more, Brooks is stuck with a storyline that makes an argument akin to "slavery wasn't all bad and many slaves loved it."

Taylor Schilling can't act -- no matter how much you expand the meaning of 'act.'  As the lead, she offers a third-rate impression of Mary-Louise Parker playing Nancy on Weeds.  It doesn't work and nothing about her does for most episodes.  It doesn't help that she's paired with Biggs who seems to have read a book on acting -- a pre-method book, one of those 'natural drama poses and expressions' books -- and it left him so drained that he's dull and boring.

Hint to Biggs, if you're not offering any surprises in your by-rote-performance, why are you involved in this project?

Jason Biggs has talent.  He's not showing it in this series.

To Huffington Post, Jenji Kohan explained the sugar she'd found that would help the medicine go down.


And, again, it is a racially and ethnically diverse cast.  And so that is a good thing.

But there's also a cost being paid.  Basically, Jenji sees herself as Piper and Netflix as Sam Healy in that she feels she has the upper hand and she's tricking them.

But what we're seeing is bunch of bare breasts, fingering, eating out in the shower and assorted other scenes that, if a male was behind this show, people would be screaming their heads off.


Orange Is The New Black is the first Netflix original series to feature women in important roles -- let alone in the main roles and composing the bulk of the cast.  But was it really necessary to trade on women's bodies to do that?

We can hear someone insisting, 'Women's bodies do not need to be hidden!'

And we're not saying they do.  But we are saying that exploitation is wrong.


Yes, there are many same-sex couples in female prisons.

But why is it that on Orange Is The New Black, the couples are always 'lipstick lesbians.'  Lyonne fingering Prepon, Prepon and Schilling having sex in the chapel, Lyonne eating out an attractive woman in the showers, . . .



Meanwhile, there's Lea DeLaria in the Jack McFarland role.  Like Jack on Will & Grace, Lea has a sexual past.  Past.  In an apparent consolation, they've given her a dog.  Seriously, she's in prison and has a dog.  But she doesn't have a girlfriend.  Lea's been a star for some time now and she became it with the force of her personality.  And that makes it even harder to accept that her Big Boo would go thirteen episodes without having sex with any other woman in the prison.


Even when a woman's in charge of a show, she's going to apply male heterosexual conceptions of beauty and sex appeal?  Orange Is The New Black isn't new at all.   It's Prisoner: Cell Block H but with lots of nudity and the sex is shown, not implied.

Since this review is going to piss off a lot of people (we're referring to friends with the show, not readers of this site), let's go ahead and say it: Is diversity even that applause worthy on this show?

Bunheads comes along with all White leads.  Few bat an eye.  But set a show in prison and we're all supposed to cut some slack for the diverse cast?  And we're also supposed to ignore that the show chooses to have Pepon and Schilling make out to a male vocalist?  (This is pre-prison.)  We're supposed to give credit there, too?  If you're doing a series that revolves around Piper and her (female) ex-lover, maybe you should have spent some time learning about Womyn's music?  At best, the show offers a  facade of equality.

You wouldn't do it to a dog

"We're really interested in our four-legged family members eating not just healthy but also home grown."

"That's not a problem here at Pet Love," Pet Expert Pete explained.  "We have many healthy choices for feeding.


"That makes us feel so good," the woman standing with the man said to Pete.

Pete smiled back, turned and waived to indicate they should follow.

"We've come a long way from the days of Purina dry chow,"  Pete said laughing causing the couple to grin at one another.

"Well, we lover the whole idea behind Pet Love," the man said.

"Don't you? Isn't it just an idea that seemed so obvious but we all overlooked it.  It is so important not to waste.

With that, Pete punched in a code on a key pad causing a large door to slide open.

As the three stepped inside the bright, glowing, large room, the woman said, "I like that it's so well lit.  It makes me feel that Pet Love has nothing to hide."

Pete led them from station to station, conducting a mini-tour that really couldn't be termed 'impromptu' since Pet Love employees conducted these tours several times a day.

"That's Gerald," Pete said pointing.  "He broke his leg before we got him.  We set it and were very careful about his diet to avoid bone spurs or other problems.  He's largely had a grain diet."

"And shots?" the man asked.  "What about shots?"

"Gerald hasn't had the need for shots.  At Pet Love, we believe that a little pain is part of life and we don't want to inject a lot of pain killers or other things."

"That seems a little cruel," said the woman.

"No, honey," the man said. "If you think about it, it makes a great deal of sense."

Pete nodded to the woman in agreement with her partner.

"Well . . ." the woman said slowly, "Gerald does seem happy, I guess."

Pete, "Yes, he does.  Who's the good boy, Gerald?  Who's the good boy?"

The woman still appeared unsure and was looking around at the various stations.  Pete noticed.

"If you see one you want," Pete said, still smiling, "just let us know. Otherwise, we'll match your profile and select one for you."

"I don't . . .  I'm not . . .,"  the woman fumbled.

"Hon, are you okay?" the man asked her.

She looked at him, then peered at Pete, "Really, are they happy?"

"They love this setting.  It's bright, like you pointed out, and they can see friends and be fed and, yes, they are happy."

"Well . . ."

"Hon, what's wrong?"

Looking at her partner, the woman nervously said, "I'm just not comfortable with our Fifi eating a living thing."

Pete grabbed the woman by the shoulders and pressed his face close to her own, "Look, green living is all about not wasting anything.  These strays get to serve a great purpose by becoming food.  I mean, what are you proposing as an alternative?  That we go back to using plastic bags?"

"No, no . . ." the woman said clearly distressed.

"Good.  So let's look around and see if we can find --"

"Gerald," the man said.  "Gerald will do."

"Alright, that's great, let me take you over to the cashier and we can get your rung up right away and figure out what cuts would be best for your pet."

As the man and Pete walked off, the woman stood staring worriedly at Gerald.

"Are you okay with this really?"  she asked him.

Gerald shook his head back and forth frantically.  But he could not speak.

The ball gag in his mouth -- in all the mouths of the homeless -- prevented speech.

As the  government repeatedly refused to address the homeless problem in the United States it grew and grew until President Richard Nixon IV Feed The Homeless proposal was warmly embraced.

It was a great relief to Nixon because he didn't want to have his limbs torn asunder -- as had been the fate of Richard Nixon III.  Even clones had feelings.  Hadn't the tears of President Barack Obama 2.5 demonstrated that?

Over

 

I don't want to know you.
I don't want just to be free,
Or just to be away.
I really don't want to know you

Not anymore.
And I can live with what we did,
And with what we are,
I just don't want to know you.

Time doesn't need to be dialed back
Or even reset.
I will live with all that happened.
I'll live with all but you.

Not life before,
And I'll gladly go off the grid,
I'll carry the scar,
I just don't want to know you.

Wish the sun would darken and crack,
Or a mountain rise,
A cloud flattened, me saddened,
I don't want to think of you.


I don't want to know you.
I don't want just to be free,
Or just to be away.
I really don't want to know you